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Warp Records Reject DRM, Go Bleep

Posted by simoniker on from the pushing-squares-of-sound dept.

DJ Phase writes "Warp Records, an independent label for electronic music (featuring artists such as Aphex Twin, Autechre, and Boards of Canada), has made their entire back catalog available thru Bleep, a new digital download service. Individual tracks are $1.35 for those of us in the USA, with EPs and full albums in the $4 to $10 price range. You can download Aphex Twin's rare, groundbreaking Hangable Auto Bulb EP for $4.29. To quote from the FAQ: 'We are at present the only store to offer very high quality MP3 files,' and 'Bleep music has no DRM or copy protection built in. We believe that most people like to be treated as customers and not potential criminals'."

4 of 565 comments (clear)

  1. Re:and there's only one problem by 1984 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You might not have heard of them, but lots of people have. Lots of people who might not be avid Slashdot readers or care much about the issues usually discussed here. And they're artists who -- until now -- haven't generally been available on other download services. For those of thus who like the stuff Warp puts out, this is a good thing.

  2. Re:and there's only one problem by darkov · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah I'm heartbroken that I can't download Brittany Spears from the service. Instead I can buy the really cool bands that I listened to as a young teenager. I can't help you if you haven't got taste. Maybe you should invest in some of the files offered on the service.

    The point is that this is the way that songs should be sold on the internet - whole back catalogues offered by the labels themselves. Maybe one day we can have some API that will let companies offer many labels' music from one site, but right now the lowest-common-denominator approach taken by Apple and others will not promote competition and better deals for customers.

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  3. Re:At last! by hayds · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I cant see companies offering downloads in lossless format anytime in the near future, it would cost them way too much. AFAIK, typical lossless audio codecs only have a compression ratio of about .5.

    For a busy site, there is a huge difference between customers downloading an album in 40Mb of MP3 and downloading an album in 350Mb of FLAC or whatever. They would need way more bandwidth, way more disk space, way more infrastructure.

    Considering that most people couldnt tell the difference, it just wouldnt be worth their while.

  4. Nope... by phorm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In many cases, the criminals are better off than the customers. Of course, in these cases the criminals are also known as "executives"