> Boycotting a feature that let's me take whatever music I want...where I > want for the price ranging from 4.99 (Yahoo) to $15 dollars a month? > Not me.
You most certainly can't take this music (every)where you want it. Although I can see merit in streaming on-demand streaming services, as a replacement for radio, NOT instead of CDs. Maybe even DRMed, if there was a single standard. The problem is "owning" copies of music. If the record companies can get away with just leasing content, they'll do that. And if they can sell us music of worse-than-CD quality, they will. After all, with remasters selling so well, reencodes are bound to be a cash cow. These days I'm having a bit of fun going through my granduncle's (there might not be such a word) record collection - this will not be possible for the next generation. Devices and formats will become incompatible (c. f. MS Word), companies will go out of business, licenses will expire or be non-transferable. > DRM format is more than interesting to me...it is required Required for what? Required by whom? Maybe it isn't, really. The main role of the music industry has been the manufacturing and distribution of _copies_ of music. With "the internet in every home" everyone can make and distribute their own copies at cost, makin that part of the record companies' business obsolete. OTOH you have to realize that even people who peruse file sharing methods exclusively _pay_ for the privilege. If it hadn't been for Napster and friends no private households would have broadband now. You have to pay for download bandwidth that makes downloading music bearable, you have to pay per GB of data transferred. The most common internet connections here are 768/256 with a 1 GB traffic limit for $30-$40. That's not all that much music, especially if it is above radio quality. Better connections cost more. Notice how the money is once again going to the distribution channel? It's just not the same companies. DRM is a desperate attempt to keep alive and prosperous corporations society no longer needs. It's a bit like coal miners striking in the face of layoffs and closing mines (because coal was no longer the best way to produce heat or energy). BUT we still need the record companies - for running recording studios and advertising for example. Running a recording studio does not require globally operating corporations, really, it's quite localized, favouring multiple smaller companies. While advertising might benefit from global infrastructure, the internet gives a lot of visibility to smaller players. It's just the music cartel that needs some breaking up. On compensation of artists see http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/jason-rohrer/freeDistribution.html , which is quite the best essay I've seen on the subject, if a little radical. > Before Rhaposody...money was the big issue when it came to exploring > the music I want. Now the only issue is time. When it comes to just exploring music there are *other means*, which I liberally avail myself of. Since I got my sb I've been buying 5 CDs per week (before it was maybe 2 / year). Most of these are either "replacements" for mp3 I've had a long time or bought directly after I've listened to a downloaded album a few times. All because the sb2 and the ability to convert CDs into files have given me the opportunity to actually _listen_ to music again. > Would I like it to be lossless - sure. But 192kbps sounds pretty good to me. Why would you put up with quality that's wore than what we had for years (CDs)? I'd like to buy music online (I even buy my jeans online) provided the following criteria are met: 1) The music is in a lossless format of CD quality or better 2) The music is in a format unrestricted in any way. 3) The music has been "mastered" to this digital music format (i. e. is not just a sanctioned CD rip done in a sweatshop) 4) This music format is a de-facto standard (One company offering flac tracks, one an ape image, one flac with embedded cue and one wma lossless - no thanks) 5) The music is priced right, say <= $10 / hour of music See, that's why I stick to CDs :) C. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
