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The Death of the Music CD
Rick Zeman writes "According to the Washington Post, the next new music format will be...no format. From the article: 'What the consumer would buy is a data file, and you could create whatever you need. If you want to make an MP3, you make an MP3. If you want a DVD-Audio surround disc, you make that.'"
Newsflash!
Not everyone in the world is a nerd.
Keep things simple. Buying CDs are simple. Hence, people will buy CDs.
Sounds good on the surface. But this is only another way for them to force DRM down our throats to the point that we have no other choice but to either accept it or not buy music. My choice? Not buy music...
I'm also willing to bet Microsoft conveniently has patents on whatever technology would be proposed to "secure" the digital file.
bash: rtfm: command not found
The music industry would *LOVE* to get rid of the music CD, so I see this as a trial balloon.
CD's are great because they have really good quality music in non-DRM format.
Keeping the CD's lets you rip to whatever new format or device that comes along.
Think it through...CD's are the consumer's best *and only* friend in the music business right now.
Is there a place in my preferences where I can turn off viewing "Death of ..." articles?
DT
Is this thing on? Hello?
The death of the CD will come from RIAA tactics. Leave aside their random lawsuits of 80 year old grandmas, the reason people will stop buying CD's is because they are made to pay $20 for 15 tracks from an artist when only 1-2 of them are good. Back in the day when LPs were popular, you could buy a disc with just the one song you wanted. Now you're force fed tripe from the industry pushing their flavor of the month, big breasted, tiny brained, diva wannabes. Why would I want to pay $20 for a Jessica Simpson CD when there's maybe one track on there that I might like. Much better to be able to pay a buck and get the one song I want and put it on my Rio. That's actually another point, media size. When's the last time you've seen anyone walk around with a discman?
The nice thing about owning the CD is it gives you proof of ownership (unless you physically stole it).
but, so far, all the major only music distribution has been in formats inferior to cd (probably all of it started out as the same bits as the cd release). .flac. I'd pay a little more than the cost of a cd to download the .flac out of a vast library including all the stuff I want and have yet to find. And it would cost the distributor far less as well.
I buy loads of music, and have a reasonably high-end computer-as-transport, headphone rig to listen to it. But I've yet to buy a single track online because of the quality issue (and drm). I buy and rip around 10 cds a month. Its a pain in the a$$ for me to find the music that suits my eclectic taste in CD form and then rip it to
If we could buy stuff in whatever format the artist wanted to output it in (pre-mixing/rendering even (opensource music)), the last remaining desire to have hard copy would be nullified for me:)
Most ordinary people like the idea of buying something "real" - they will even collect the CDs/LPs of a band (sometimes buying the same recording again) just to have a complete collection. The most famous cover artwork is also a factor, an item people like to own, and have on their bookshelves. The old 33 LPs were superior in that regard- have a look at the prices people are paying for certain old vinyl LPs on ebay..
MP3/downloads-type purchases will saturate out at a certain level - the general public will always go for the "real thing", which will probably still be CDs for the forseeable future..
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
That's what they really want to give us. .no copying, .no sharing, .no moving, .no ripping, .no burning...
Actually, that may not be so bad. The reason that policy issues like extending copyright or introducing DMCA/EUCD-like laws are so hard to decide in 'our' favour is that nobody cares. And the reason for that is that these laws aren't enforced all that much.
If Microsoft really cracked down on Windows piracy, many more people would consider an alternative. GNU/Linux can compete with Windows on price and freedom to help your neighbour, but only if people actually are forced to pay for Windows, and kept from sharing proprietary software.
Indie music that is sold on reasonable terms (unencumbered CDs or DVDs, non-DRMmed Ogg Vorbis or MP3) or distributed under a Creative Commons licence that allows redistribution can compete with RIAA music on ease of use (i.e. pay once, listen anywhere), but only if the RIAA's restrictions are enforced.
I say let them DRM the hell out of everything. Hundreds of millions of people and the whole open counterculture that's come into being in the last decade versus the powerful media conglomerates. I think we'll win.
Sure, just don't legislate DRM making it illegal for me to use the product the way I want. Make it a challenge, but don't put me in jail for coming out on top.
My question is... What format will the datafile be in?
Send whiskey and fresh horses!
Folks who pay for all their content will probably pay (relatively) less than they do now.
/. comment appropriately modded insightful.
At the same time it's completely wrong.
You mean like what happened with the switch from the (relatively) mechanically complex and expensive to manufacture cassettes, to the mind-numbingly simple and cheap CDs?
Hmm, does $4-$9 in 1980-dollars equate to $12-$25 in 2005 dollars? At 2.5% inflation per year, it doesn't even come close. Bummer.
A tipical
A tYpical **AA apologist comment modded insightful. At the same time it directly contradicts historical evidence.
Tell me, do you guys really believe this crap, or do you just post it as a form of trolling? Or do you all work for the **AA and they actually pay you to betray the rights of your own species to your soulless corporate masters?
With electronic distribution, there's a tempation to distribute cut-down copies to save bandwidth (even allowing for more modern codecs). If I've got a pressed CD from a company, I can tell there's a certain minumum.
Fair nuff, though any decent content download system would provide different bitrate versions of the same content. Audible does this, for example, giving you the choice of bitrate/format when you download audiobooks.
The point being don't spend forever telling me how much you love your music if you're listening to it on crappy mp3s, ripped god knows how, at 192, on ear phones that use cone drivers.
To a point, you can definitely cheat with good speakers though. Personally, I prefer Klipsch, best value for money IMHO. OTOH IANAA, and in fact I have a mild case of tinnitus which drowns out the cost-asymptotic 10-20% of difference between a good CD hooked to a clean amp and Klipsches and serious high-end componentry.
Not to mention the portable and automotive experiences really lend themselves to good economical performance. For multi-thousand-dollar aphile componentry to be worth it you really need to own and control the soundstage (even with headphones you need a good quiet (preferably soundproof) room). In a car, that kind of spending is just silly: there's plenty of good-enough stuff at reasonable prices.
Then again, I tend to be a price/performance freak. I'm not the type to typically buy the most expensive/fastest CPU, vidcard, etc.. I buy the best balance at the time which offers the longest service life possible.
Does it really matter?
You can always bring everything down to *.wav and then convert it to whatever you wish.
Converting DRM protected WMA files to WAV (and MP3s)
Small correction: copyright law does not allow you to do whatever in all situations. You cannot publicly (which generally means charge money) show a DVD, even though you bought it. You cannot play a CD at your place of business (this might have changed in the last few years) I think there are a couple other exceptions which are generally designed to charge businesses extra money without interfering with people.
Of course if you have any questions or MIGHT be coming close to some such situation you need to see a lawyer.