Silly Record Companies

[freespace21]

Too Little, Too Late, Too Proprietary

For years you’ve been using the well-supported, ubiquitous file format called MP3. It’s an international standard, it works just fine in every media player, and other universally-accepted formats are in place for the album artwork, lyrics, and what have you. Sounds like you’re ready for a new, unified format that no one has ever heard of and, if introduced five or six years ago, might have been revolutionary! Universal, Sony, Warner, and EMI are all throwing their weight behind the CMX format, soon to be the laughing stock of the internet. Oh, did I mention that Apple, who makes like 200% of the MP3 players in the USA, is making their own competing format, which pretty much guarantees that CMX will only be usable by things like Windows Media Player?

There’s not else much to say. The big labels brainstormed (for several years, apparently), and eventually decided that they would sell a single file, which included tracks, lyrics, album art, and music videos. What a great idea that would have been in 2003! But it is 2009, and the labels have been abusing consumers for so long that any format solely originating in them will be distrusted and ridiculed. They’re not even putting a lot of weight behind it!

We are not going out in force. What you are going to see is a couple of releases thrown out there to see what people like.

Sorry, people like what they’ve got, which was the technology that arose in the vacuum you guys created by not addressing this years ago.

While I respect the initiative being shown by our friends in the music industry (a few years late, but still), I have a question: how exactly do you see this little foray succeeding without that music device which has risen in prominence since the day of the compact disc — I think it’s called an i-Something?

apparently, they thought about this in the late 90's. they figured it wasn't worth it cause they reasoned no one would want their music on their computers or in portable devices.

i'm sure now no one will go for the idea. the internet <3's it some mp3s.

Info on Apple's new format

[Deya]

Wtf?

Really?

Phaze out MP3?

NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

[burn95]

Arent mp3's kinda outdated? I mean, about half of my collection is in mp3, but that was before I knew better.

[Deya]

Before you knew better?

[freespace21]

well you could download FLAC files, but they're so huge, it's not worth the space (though they are perfect fidelity-wise).

[CapitalRadioTwo]

I still use .wav myself.

Kidding.

But it's unbelievable that the recording industry is still so archaic. Then again, the price of CDs still hasn't dropped.

[primehunter14]

I still use .wav myself.Then again, the price of CDs still hasn't dropped.

but they need their money for another solid gold Hum-Vee and diamond-studded swimming pools. These things don't grow on trees.

[bass.exe21]

With hard drives being bigger and cheaper, FLAC files are already preferred by almost everyone serious with their collection. I bet this will die after the first album is released.

[DemonEyesLeo]

"Too late" is an understatement.

I gotta agree though, the music industry has dug itself into a hole so deep it's going to take a revolutionary idea (or more) to get it out; but this is not it.

Which sucks because I still love music and still like buying CDs (I like having a hard copy in case something happens; plus the visual aesthetic of having them on display). So put your collective heads together again and come back with something that might actually save your asses instead of digging you deeper and deeper. You keep going the way you're going then you really will become obsolete.

[Mobius 1]

but they need their money for another solid gold Hum-Vee and diamond-studded swimming pools. These things don't grow on trees.