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Replace Your Music....Again

sethadam1 writes "I was not at all surprised to find that experts are predicting the death of the compact disc in as little as 5 years. This article over at Ananova suggests the next format of music will be little fingernail-sized cards. As cool as these sound, is anyone else worried that sneaky industry folks might try to distribute all new music in DRM'ed WMA files?" Yeah, this description sounds basically like bigger Magic Gate, that wonderful situation where you can pay more than normal to get DRM. Update: 11/13 16:45 GMT by H : As RobertB-DC pointed, this is sort of a dupe - see our previous article.

21 of 538 comments (clear)

  1. They Won't Get Me! by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 5, Funny
    I've got 10 CD Players and 10 CD Recorders and 10 copies of every CD I own safely stored away in my technology cellar gathering dust. If these bastards try to switch to some DRM nonsense, I'll live safely off my reserves.

    --
    I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
    1. Re:They Won't Get Me! by kakos · · Score: 3, Funny

      Too bad those CDs will degrade in a few years and your reserves consist soley of Britney Spears and N'Sync.

    2. Re:They Won't Get Me! by pebs · · Score: 2, Funny

      Too bad those CDs will degrade in a few years and your reserves consist soley of Britney Spears and N'Sync.

      I believe he also has a robot in his technology cellar that goes and makes a copy of each and every CD every few years. That's what I do anyways.

      --
      #!/
    3. Re:They Won't Get Me! by Neop2Lemus · · Score: 2, Funny
      My robot also copies itself every few years to prevent its' own degradation.

      Now I have hundreds...

      --
      Needle Nardle Noo
  2. Re:yeah by mike77 · · Score: 5, Funny
    sure there is!

    Giant EMP'S!

    Tell me Mr. Anderson, what good is an mp3 if you have nothing to play it on?

    --

    --Keeping the flame wars alive, one post at a time

  3. they sound small... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    finally i can put my music with my coin collection... in the couch.

  4. Re:No thanks by Pyro226 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Ergo, I stand pat.

    Am I the only one thats increased an increase in the use of the word Ergo since the architect scene in the Matrix? Is therefore not good enough anymore?

    --
    This message is encrypted with Quad ROT-13 to protect the author's copyright under the DMCA.
  5. Re:wierd dimensions by cgenman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Perhaps they mean the justification is paper thin?

  6. Re:wierd dimensions by Threni · · Score: 5, Funny

    >So they are fingertip sized, paper thin, and a cubic centimeter? I'm having trouble forming
    >a mental image of this...

    Hey guys, check out old human-fingers over there!! He doesn't have paper cubes at the end of this fingers! Weirdo!

  7. Cassette Tapes Rule by fleener · · Score: 4, Funny

    This news comes as fresh amusement because I am on the verge of converting my CD collection to cassette tape. Cassettes are cheaper media, devoid of DRM, and my car came with a cassette player by default.

    I don't dislike CDs, but every CD player I've owned has eventually broken, while my portable cassette players from the '80s are still rollin'.

    I'm pretty darn sure that whatever The Corporation decides will be The Next Best Thing, I will still be able to dub it to tape.

  8. Re:DRM is a *feature* by darkstar949 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I disagree, smaller does not always mean better. Yes, a good sized collection of CD's tend to take up some space, but people like to display their CD collection, and it is harder to lose a CD than a small memory stick (I have already lost one)

  9. Re:Fingernail-sized cards? -- wait til its smaller by donutz · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does anyone else think that fingernail-sized cards for music is a BAD idea? I have enough problems keeping track of CDs sometimes, these things would be incredible easy to lose.

    That's why I'm going to wait until music is distributed on a pill-sized pill. That way, you just swallow it, and the music is absorbed into your brain cells, giving you a permanent copy -- no worries about losing it or it being stolen.

    Come to think of it, this should be a cure (or at least a treatment) for when you get a song stuck in your head...you just eat a different song to overwrite it.

    And I'm sure the RIAA will be all over this new music format, positively love it: how are you going to share what's in your head? They can't lose!

  10. Size? You must be kidding... by nosfucious · · Score: 2, Funny

    1cm cubed? Huh, i'll probably miss it and stuff it in my morning, not very awake, coffee.

    I thought credit card size and form was about right. Then my memory jogged and I recalled my days at my previous job. How many PCMCIA cards were lost by "accident" by thoughtless management PHBs?

    (I reckon I know that more than a few early expensive ones ended up at Crown Casino via Cash Converters).

    Yeah, and I'd better be able to get the music off this thing and put it back my Nex-II. AND I want to back this up or gaurenteed low cost ($1 ~ $2 max) should it be faulty/or I already own the CD.

    --
    Q:I was listening to a CD in Grip and it sounded horrible! What's up? A:Perhaps you are listening to country music
  11. cover art! by feed_those_kitties · · Score: 2, Funny
    Look at this 'album' cover! It's a DOT!!

    Sometimes, smaller isn't better...

  12. To quote Tommy Lee Jones in MIB by sydbarrett74 · · Score: 4, Funny

    'Oh great, now I have to get the White Album all over again.'

    --
    'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
  13. Re:wierd dimensions by CaptainBaz · · Score: 4, Funny

    You know you've been using a word processor too long when it takes you several minutes to comprehend how justification could be anything other than "left", "center", "right" or "full" :-)

  14. Re:DRM is a *feature* by untaken_name · · Score: 2, Funny

    >Once again, I'll refer to the old "Only Criminals Would Oppose This" arguement.

    The one which is wheeled out whenever freedom is being threatened, such as cctv, id cards, drug tests at work etc etc?


    My favorite thing to do when this hoary old chestnut gets trotted out is ask the trotter-outer whether he/she is for daily body cavity searches for each and every citizen of the US. If not, I ask them what exactly it is they have to hide, since only criminals have anything to fear. Plus, it would help early-detection rates of prostate cancer, and thus anyone who opposes this measure is demonstrably pro-cancer and probably a criminal, too.

  15. Re:Shortsighted by pi+radians · · Score: 2, Funny

    what's cool is that they can scale it down.

    Exactly! Just like I can scale down Gentoo to make it operate on any system!

    --

    sin(6cos(r)+5A)
  16. Good News! by gad_zuki! · · Score: 4, Funny

    Farnsworth: "This is a chance for Fry to test out my experimental MP3 pill."
    Fry: "I can't swallow that!"
    Farnsworth: "Well then, good news! It's a suppository."

  17. Re:Benefit of the upgrade by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 5, Funny
    However, if they're willing to sell these things at a reasonable price as the primary medium for music, and end the gouging that exists with CDs, I'd consider it a step forward. If it's just a new medium the industry can overcharge for, then screw it.

    Of course they will! Now, naturally they will have to start out a little more than CD's, but just to recoup the equipment investment. But soon the prices will drop dramatically!
    Really!
    No, no. This time they will!
    Promise!
    --
    "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
    --- Jerry Garcia
  18. Re:Already here in Montreal by jedidiah · · Score: 2, Funny

    You're kidding right?

    Linux was ported to the Amiga before most of you even heard of it.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.