DRM-free music seems like an idea long overdue, but the fact of the matter is, we've had DRM free music for a long time now; and best of all, it's free. Whether it's Walmart or iTunes, DRM or DRM-free, 99 cents or $1.29, selling downloads is a digital extension of the "moving units" model that has become obsolete in the post-Napster era. Music can should and will be free. And, strangely enough, it will save the music industry, once they accept it. I write about it extensively here, in my brand spankin new blog (excuse my dust during construction):
I was a big proponent of the new DRM-free offerings, but I've since realized it's yet another non-permanent format that will be hard for me to own for life.
Just as albums, cassettes and CDs have built-in shelf life, so do MP3 files encoded at sub-CD bitrates. If I'm buying a digital copy of a song and the right to use as I want I should really get the highest quality version of that song, especially as I'm paying a premium over the DRM'ed or CD price. For a file format that may sound quite dated in 3-5 years as audio playback capabilities increase.
I was happy to hear the subscription service Rhapsody will be offering CD quality, so hopefully the rest will follow.
But really bandwidth being what it is, there really is no reason you should have to buy a compressed file of any sort.
Until then I'll keep primarily buying CDs and blogging about the recording industry. The time for baby steps is over. They have got to do what their customers want or lose them for good.
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http://freshbreakfast.com/2007/08/21/how-giving...
Just as albums, cassettes and CDs have built-in shelf life, so do MP3 files encoded at sub-CD bitrates. If I'm buying a digital copy of a song and the right to use as I want I should really get the highest quality version of that song, especially as I'm paying a premium over the DRM'ed or CD price. For a file format that may sound quite dated in 3-5 years as audio playback capabilities increase.
I was happy to hear the subscription service Rhapsody will be offering CD quality, so hopefully the rest will follow.
But really bandwidth being what it is, there really is no reason you should have to buy a compressed file of any sort.
Until then I'll keep primarily buying CDs and blogging about the recording industry. The time for baby steps is over. They have got to do what their customers want or lose them for good.
http://www.spideysenses.com/2007/07/08/follow-u...