Sony Admits MP3 Error

inflex writes "In a rare show admission of taking a wrong turn, Sony's officials have admitted that their stance on MP3 players was wrong." While this was pretty obvious to anyone who has ever shopped for a portable MP3 player, it is nice to see Sony admit their shortcoming. Ken Kutaragi puts it best when he says, "We're growing up," and with any luck future devices won't be crippled with silly formats no one uses.

Comments

Re:The music industry must die and be reborn

[klang]

I like the article by Steve Albini .. it's a classic, as is Janis Ian's articles about the same subject. Makes you think ...

At the moment the rich lawyers of the music industry is suing left and right, striking out at the fans, in the name of the poor, poor artist. The artists are not saying much or they don't dare to say much. The ones that make it to the other end of the pool of shit forget about the ones they pushed under to get there.

Music should not be about making money, but about saying what you have on your heart. If, what you say in you music, apeals to me, I have no problem dishing out the dough, to YOU. I couldn't care less about the studio, the lawyers, the distribution, the stores, the thousands of people that leach on the fruit that you have produced.

Suing Fans Hurts artists. Mp3 is reduced quality, treat it as such. ..but I am off on a rant and should probably just close my browser tab as so many times befor, but I want you to know that you are right!

Re:The music industry must die and be reborn

[amper]

You are hopelessly naive.

The "small minority" of professional musicians that you claim "mostly make their money from live performances" is mostly made up of of cover acts, not acts playing original compositions.

And no, the "vast majority of great music" wasn't "written without the RIAA's help and without the 'protection' of copyright". First of all, copyright has existed for a lot longer than the RIAA, or the invention of recording. Second of all, the sum total of the the musical output of the human race prior to the invention of recording pales in comparison to the weight of the recordings that have been produced since the invention of audio reproduction.

I see you've trotted out Albini's old gem of an essay. While Albini may be correct about *some* of the points he makes, I find I have to take everything he says with a grain of salt, as Albini is not only elitist scum, but has himself made quite a lot of money working the RIAA system.

Musicians only make money from live performances when there is an audience willing to pay for that performance. Before the invention of recording, attending formal live performances was mostly the province of the wealthy. How many times, do you think, in the past ten years, has the average Joe or Jane gone out to see a band that they've never heard before? How many people are willing, in the 21st Century, to take a night out of their lives and spend their hard earned entertainment money on an evening out that may not actually result in entertainment?

This is the reason why DJ's have supplanted live bands in most venues. This is the reason why only large recording acts play the large venues. And don't bother me with anecdotes about the Greatful Dead. The GD machines is one of the most far-reaching corporate enterprises ever developed by mankind. Regardless of what anyone might think of their musical talents, it's recording technologies and copyright protections that got them where they are today.

BTW, *lots* of money is made on poetry. If you don't believe it, go take a look at all the poetry books on your favorite bookstore's shelves. Books don't get published and/or carried in major bookstores unless there's a market for them--that is, paying customers.

I am also a musician. An independent recording musician. Yes, the RIAA sucks. Yes, the general practices of the media empires suck.

But, if you think the situation will much improved by the elimination of mediation in the marketplace, you only have to look at the current state of the independent music marketplace (and this does not mean illegally gotten downloads of copyright protected materials) on the Internet to see that this Great Equalizer of Communications has not had, and will not have, the effect of suddenly causing society to take much more notice of artistic culture.

Let me ask you this: would you be willing to give up any chance of a normal lifestyle so that *you* could play gigs every night, like it's a regular job? I'm not. Do you think that club owners are easier to deal with than the labels? They're not. Where, exactly are all these venues that you think you're going to play? They don't exist--the only markets where live music is performed on a regular basis are in cities, where the cost of real estate pretty much forces every venue that doesn't cater to the popular out of business. Where are the massive audiences willing to shell out the bucks to pay you? They don't exist. In the modern world, most people simply don't have the time to constantly patronize live music establishments.

The reason we're all drowning is a "sea of garbage" produced by the members of the RIAA is that most people, including most musicians, do not have a well-developed sense of musical good taste.

Here's another question for our gentle readers? When's the last time *you* commissioned a live act to play at a function? When's the last time *you* commissioned an original composition? For most people, the answers to the above questions will be:

a. At my wedding (if they can answer this affirmatively, at all).
b. Never.

And again, when is the last time *you* went to see a band you've never heard before?

I repeat, you are hopelessly naive.

Re:Mod Parent Overrated

[ThousandStars]

He shouldn't be modded troll, he should be modded overrated because there is no -1, doesn't get it mod. The reason the iPod is so successful is iTunes, the iTunes Music Store and the iPod's small form factor. The iPod's ease of use is why it's so successful, not some kind of magical Apple marketing. Since he doesn't get that factor and doesn't address it in his post, he doesn't deserved to be highly moderated.

Re:The music industry must die and be reborn

[Anthony Boyd]

If you think I'm wrong, consider this: poetry. Pretty much nobody makes any money out of poetry. But it still gets written.

Uh, yeah. You know, I went to college to get a degree in poetry, and tried like hell to make a living doing what I loved. I published a magazine, I hosted poetry readings, I did interviews, I got my own work published as much as I could. And you know what? I made so little money that I had to get a career in Web publishing, and now I spend my days doing PHP, SQL, and Perl. Do I like programming? Yes. Do I wish I could spend my days doing poetry? Yes. Do I write as much (or even as well) as I used to? No. And I regret that.

So you can hold up the poetry "industry" as a model you wish you could imitate, but I see that as a way to kill off the hopes and dreams (and output) of a huge number of people. The industry will be limited to the rich (who can afford to hone their craft without pay) and hobbyists (who can never rise to the levels that a dedicated career would foster). Thanks, but no thanks.