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Review of pressplay and RealOne
c64guy writes: "Okay, so we all know that the music labels launched their own digital music subscription services, and that the new for-pay Napster should be debuting any minute. Here's a particularly in-depth review that compares the nitty-gritty of the services. For example, with RealOne, you can only ever have 200 tracks activated on your system. Even if you've been subscribed for eight months and downloaded 1600 tracks, you can still only listen to 200 of them in one month."
What's the point in only being able to listen to 200? How many albums is that? I know that I listen to alot more music than that that I buy on a CD. Why not just limit it to say 1 song / month = set rate. That way the more I pay the more I can listen to... with no limit on the total # of songs. I don't see this helping their pay service very much
"Pressplay and RealOnes media formats hacked"
One unknown source was stated as saying "We can't give those little bastards anything! They have no right to fair use!"
-- Knowing too much can get you killed, but knowing who knows too much can make you rich.
OK. So I am now going to pay to listen to less music? You can say goodbye to these schemes now, as they have no chance of suceeding. Do these people honestly think there is a market for this, now that music is free for all intents and purposes? The proverbial genie has been let out of the bottle.
What helped make Napster so popular was the ability to find nearly anything under the sun. These networks lack popular artists like Madonna, U2 and the Beatles.
A lot of indie music is really good, but for most people, they want the mainstream stuff.
Unless they expand the choices, these pay services likely will not take off.
If I weren't nailed to the penis, I'd be pushing up the daisies!
I tried the beta of RealOne and I must say that it was very annoying. When I install it, I want it simply to play Real files and listen to Real streams. But RealOne insisted on having programs running resident, forced me to create a account on their system, and then continued to inform me of "great" things via the player.
:-) :)
Now this things might have changed in the official release so I am going to give it a try. A lot of sites are using Real as the streaming media, including the radio stations I listen to so I need the player. It's great for them that people choose their format to broadcast their content but if that means that I am forced to get a lot of "noise" in the process, I'm sad to say that I'd rather use Mediaplayer where I can listen to radio and watch newsbroadcasts without all the junk.
I have always been happy about Real and choosen it above other formats, because I liked it and that I could get a server for FreeBSD.
I guess they are in need of money, just like so many others, and the recent increase of emails from distributers regarding their products, that have my email because I have installed servers, seems to verify this.
I want to see Real continue, it is nice to have a alternative to MediaPlayer of course one could take a look at Apple's quicktime but it does not seem to be as widely uses as Real but that could of course change now that there's a free server for Quicktime. Now if only Quicktime could play in full-screen.
OK, now it's time to see the new version of RealOne and if I can install it without all the "static".
The real tragedy in all of this is that the music studios are going to release these crappy, restricted music download services for probably the next year or so. No one's going to use them because of the extra rules they impose (like the 200 track max - who wants their music collection limited to twenty CDs?) and their proprietary formats that won't go onto a CD or mp3 portable. They'll fail like Circuit City's DivX did, not because there's anything wrong with the concept, people just won't want to deal with the hassle of managing when their songs "expire" or which one they have to delete to make room for the new N'Sync single.
The record labels are then going to go to Congress and say "Look, we tried letting these people download music, but the thieves won't use them. We have to have draconian legislation and internet police in order to keep our disgustingly fat and corrupt industry alive!". Congress will examine their campaign funds, find a way to slip RIAA money past McCain-Feingold, and pass the law.
I bet they've got this entire plan in an MS Project file at RIAA headquarters.
This tagline is umop apisdn.
I think their real goal is to pay lip service to the online crowd and the DOJ by presenting an option no sane digital dude(ette) would pay for, then they can claim "...sorry,just can't make it work!" and get back to raising CD prices and doing things the old-fashioned way.
This has probably been stated before, but the Feds are investigating the wrong end of this. While the RIAA can hardly be described as a monopoly, this is CERTAINLY collusion: We have a small number of competitors in an exclusive business conspiring in a way to eliminate competition and fix prices. I doesn't matter how many Napster/RealOne subscription front-ends are on the system, the license structures have been set to make this unattractive. Real and Napster are stupid for even TRYING to play ball.
The fact is that the RIAA (like the telcos with ISDN and broadband and MS with virtually everyone else that writes software) wants this to go away and they're willing to flush a lot of $$ down the john to make it happen. There are really only three things that will stop this nonsense:
DOJ Breaks up RIAA (and MPAA for that matter)
Artists stop signing away their rights and produce "the stuff" themselves
We stop sending money to Hollywood and live without "the stuff"
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
I don't think the RIAA is stupid enough to think there is a market for their "product" now.
But they are attempting to create a market through legislation.
And, who knows, if they can buy the US and make the US stronarm the rest of the world then this might actually work. A small step for their bottom line, and a huge leap backwards for mankind, artists and audience alike.
The "copyright industry" is quickly becoming obsolete, they are turning into useless middle men that doesn't provide any value to customers or artists. They can only continue existing in their current form through legislation.
I have no problem with supporting the artists, but I'll be damned if I let the middle men get their hands on my money. I completely stopped buying retail CD's a year ago. Nowdays I only buy second hand or directly from the artists, and if I can't do that, then I'll rather pirate than support these dinosaurs.
Obsolete bussines models are supposed to die. Darwin's laws should apply to businesses to, especially businesses.
Lets all give them a little push on the way.
I am doing my part, are you?
"First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end."
If the target market is the people who listen to top 40 radio, then they only need about 50 active songs at a time - after all normal commercial radio programs those 50 songs and rotates the crap out of them. The corporation that owns the radio station says you only need to hear 50 songs, that's all you need to hear. The corporation that owns the music says you only need to hear 200 songs, then that's all you need to hear.
It reminds me of a commercial from the mid 80s. It was supposed to be a Soviet fashon show - a stocky older woman walked up and down a catwalk wearing the same overalls while a Russian-accented announcer said "Is Eveningwear", "Is Swim Wear" and so on. The point was that in the "Free World" we have many choices, while in the "Communist World" you get what the oligarchy offers you. So we beat the awful Communists, now the corporate oligarchy offers us a choice of 40 movies and 200 songs. Hurray! Victory!
It seems to me as if these companies are setting up these services to fail. They go on and on to the press about opportunity and demand, but really they can't figure out how to make the profits they are accustomed to using this new medium. So they make a token effort, and in a year when they are unable to make a profit (due largely to consumer disgust at their overly restrictive policies), they can turn to legislators and the press and get that much more sympathy. They want to look like the good guys--if they make it look like they're trying and can't succeed against the vicious criminal consumer, they'll do just that.
The worst possible thing that could happen is that these services actually succeed and become competitive. Then they can say goodbye to that 86% cut off the top and actually have to work for a living.
When 23% of surveyed music consumers say they are not buying more music because they are downloading or copying their music for free,
That same survey also showed 25% of respondents buying MORE music because they are downloading or copying music for free.
> Have you heard of Bush?
Yes, they suck.