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Sony's Idea of DRM-Free Music

Posted by kdawson on from the about-as-expected dept.

edmicman writes "Leave it to Sony to mess up DRM-free music downloads. What is the point of DRM-free tracks if you still have to go to a retail store to buy them? From the Infoworld article: 'The tracks will be offered in MP3 format, without DRM, from Jan. 15 in the U.S. and from late January in Canada... The move is far from the all-digital service offered by its rivals, though. To obtain the Sony-BMG tracks, would-be listeners will first have to go to a retail store to buy a Platinum MusicPass, a card containing a secret code, for a suggested retail price of $12.99. Once they have scratched off the card's covering to expose the code, they will be able to download one of just 37 albums available through the service, including Britney Spears' "Blackout" and Barry Manilow's "The Greatest Songs of the Seventies."'"

8 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. thepiratebay by jacquesm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Has lots of DRM free sony downloads, without any of that hassle of going to a store :)

    coming soon to a bittorrent client near you...

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    MP3 Search Engine
    1. Re:thepiratebay by ComaVN · · Score: 5, Funny

      I blame Java courses for people not understanding the difference.

      --
      Be wary of any facts that confirm your opinion.
    2. Re:thepiratebay by sorak · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh great, Pirate Bay is going to be slashdotted now...Their sys admins will report that Manilow, spears, and sucky music in general have become a cultural phenomena. The word "manilowed" will become a verb meaning "was crappy for fifty years, and, for no apparent reason, became incredibly popular".

      The "Encyclopedia of Crap that Never happened" (not to be confused with the O'Reilly factor) will attribute it to Sony's "It's cool to be old and curly-haired" campaign, but we'll both know the real reason.

      I hate you more than you'll ever know.

  2. Barry Manilow and Britney Spears! by Nicolas+MONNET · · Score: 5, Funny

    With such quality music, how is it possible they're losing market share??!

  3. Britney Spears by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

    I dunno, I'd pay to hear a Britney cover of "Wait for the Blackout". Particularly now she's a lot fucking crazier now than Dave Vanian ever was.

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    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  4. Dear Sony by AbandonAllHope · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://adrinael.net/wrong2.jpg

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    Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here
  5. Better idea by noidentity · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've got a better idea, if it's something you have to go to a store to get. They could put DRM-free lossless versions of the songs on small optical discs (they'd be cheap) that you buy at the counter, no codes or anything. They might even be able to get them to play in current portable music players. They'd be digital, of course. Maybe some other company has tried this before?

  6. Re:Best idea by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 5, Funny

    True, but doing it my way means you get some exercise and fresh air.

    Granted, if you drive or use public transport you probably won't get much exercise. And if you live in the city then it'd probably be better for you to stay inside.

    Plus I have to spend money.

    Shit, your way's much better. I'm going to do that instead from now on.

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    Summation 2