I seem to remember this coming up before & I think it's relevant. Electronic
music is closely
tied to DJ culture, which has meant vinyl records and the relatively small,
usually independent
companies that release them. It's a complex system of distribution in which
it's often difficult
to even find the product for sale and just "breaking even" is considered
financial success. It
does eem fragile in a way and with the financial risk involved I can understand
why a new
technology would seem threatening.
It's important to remember that vinyl pressings are usually numbered in the
low thousands - at
most. With luck, the label may sell enough of them to have a second release.
Many don't, and it's
not always simply because the music was bad. Consider the records in your
collection on labels
which are long gone and records which were intentionally limited in number.
Consider all the
classic records that for one reason or another are simply out-of-print and
likely to stay that
way:
This is where I see a market for something like Final Scratch; you can leave
your precious,
limited-edition, glow-in-the-dark vinyl, autographed & hand-numbered record at
home & still take
the music on that record with you. Maybe you take along a few mp3's of stuff
that you don't own
(naughty!) or can't find, or something you just wrote yourself. I doubt it's
expected or even
intended to mark the end of the vinyl record industry. It's a means of
*playing* digital media,
*not* a means of distribution, so I don't follow these Napster comparisons. If
you look at the
setup area of the website you'll notice the mixer still has the phono ins set
up for playing
records the old-fashioned way. ("Back in my day, sonny..")
As others have pointed out, mpeg compression doesn't compare to vinyl or CD
quality sound. The
system does support .wav files, but .wav's are impractical for trade over the
internet even with
broadband cable or DSL connections. Though this makes LAN parties more fun,
otherwise it still
leaves you to record the .wav's yourself; from vinyl or CD aquired in the usual
manner and with
the labels and artists [hopefully] getting paid enough to keep ourselves in
ramen noodles & still
be able to afford the electricity to run a studio, let alone press more
records. Personally, even
though I'd want to run Final Scratch I won't stop buying records if I do.
They're tangible,
there's label artwork, and if you later decide it's crap you have the
satisfaction of skipping it
up the street like a frisbee... Who knows, it may even create a new market for
"loop
library"-style CD's of popular songs, allowing you to create your own remixes..
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