Sony's Idea of DRM-Free Music

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."'"

Comments

failure

[spatialguy]

And in a few months time, they'll evaluate and state that the consumers aren't ready yet for DRM-free music.

Best idea

[sqrt(2)]

I'll stay home and get the torrent with the FLAC files.

That is, if any music Sony put out was even worth downloading.

Re:thepiratebay

[mwvdlee]

Odd as it is, there is a point to your comment though.

Non-paying people get a BETTER product all-round than paying consumers.

Great move

[Bud]

[...] first have to go to a retail store [...] 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."'"

Uhh... great artist selection, there. If I have to walk down to the retail store and then choose between Britney and Barry Manilow, I would rather save my hard-earned money.

Within a couple of months Sony will "accidentally" leak the sad numbers of their non-DRM trial to select members of the press, who will then write scathing opinion pieces about how the rampant piracy is so widespread that even removing DRM can't help the music industry.

--Bud

In Summary

[Crypto Gnome]

• US and Canada only
• retail Brix-N-Mortar visit required
• Purchase a "Card with secret code"
• Card enables download of one album from a selection of 37 (another album means another visit and another card)
• TFA says "MP3 format" but for all you know it's encoded as mono@32kbps with literally zero info in the ID3 tags
• For all those hoops you just jumped through, not significantly cheaper than just purchasing the CD
• does this work on Linux? MacOS? BeOS? AmigaOS? (before you whine about "it's just a download" you've *all* had some site you went to where it simply did not work on "your OS and browser of choice")

Or you could read the short version: MultiNational MegaCorp with a History of fair-use violating DRM enforcement and downright corporate shenanigans (rootkit, anyone?) releases DRM-free program more difficult to operate than the-clock-on-your-vcr and of actual negative value to end-customers.

Consensus seems to be that 6 months from now SonyBMG will issue an "I Told You So" press release claiming they went all out to allow DRM-free downloads and nobody wanted it.

Failure...with a twist

[IndustrialComplex]

Actually this sounds like some suppliers twisted Sony's arm in a failed attempt to keep the 'brick and mortar' style music store alive. I'm certain that the eventual failure of the 'pirate-friendly' mp3s is a pleasant side effect.

Kind of like how release dates for most games are tied to the physical retail releases.

Sony Continues to Amaze

[MattW]

Just when you thought Sony couldn't demonstrate any more incompetence in the marketplace...

Let's make our product:

* Hard to get
* More expensive than the (legal!) competition
* Packaged in bundles consumers don't want
* Install dangerous malware on our customers' computers (and get sued)

Sony once again proves adept at charting a beeline directly for the scrapheap of history. About what you'd expect from the company that thought up the "Ringle".

Re:thepiratebay

[Kirth]

Absolutely. And you not only get a product without limitations, but a better product too, because you can download something other than Britney Spears.

It's a complete misunderstanding on Sonys part on how basic economics work:

An illegal copy basically is a COMPETING PRODUCT, with no limitations, for a better price.

Re:thepiratebay

[JoeFromPhilly]

I mean, would you accept the availability of low-cost stolen car stereos and GPS-devices as a valid argument for why the electronics manufacturers should lower their prices? Absolutely. Or they could design stereos that are more difficult to steal. Or they could work with police to shut down the markets for stolen goods. But they are competing with stolen goods. Pretending that they aren't doesn't solve the problem.

Re:thepiratebay

[sm62704]

Not every country has the ridiculous fine/damage levels as the US. This means that in some countries, you could get caught without being indebted for the rest of your life.

What annoys and at the same time greatly amuses me is that if you walk into a store and steal a CD and get caught, you have a choice of paying a small misdemeanor fine or can demand a criminal trial where you are presumed innocent until found guilty of a misdemeanor and pay a relatively small fine.

But if you infringe copyright by downloading you will be offered to pay a several thousand dollar settlement or go to civil court where you are presumed giolty and have to pay up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If we didn't have the best legislators money could buy would our laws be so brain-dead? I've said it before, when they start writing respectable laws I'll start respecting the law.

That hooker I paid last night really sucked (journal coming soon). But she didn't suck as much as Sony.