Don't buy our music
Jul 23, 2003
You don't have to dig very deep at BuyMusic.com, the new iTunes Music Store "me too" for Windows users, to realize that the music business is a few clues shy of an idea of who their customers are.
I've already given up on the music business as a whole, they don't want me to buy their music, so I won't. Even if I wanted to, they wouldn't let me. I listen to MP3s and that's it, not just because I can get them for free, but because it's convenient; it's how I prefer to listen to the product they're trying to sell. Now that CDs are largely and increasingly being "copy protected" and thereby made it impossible for me to listen to it, they've excluded me from whatever they define as their customer profile.
I was ripping my honestly purchased CDs to MP3s way before they even knew it was out there. One, because it gave me greater moveability; I could move my music around to any player or computer effortlessly. Two, because it made it easier to put them on my MiniDisc.
Is BuyMusic.com an effort to try to get me into that customer profile of theirs again? Nope. I don't know who the hell they're trying to attract with it, honestly, but it sure as hell isn't me. Whoever it is, that certain someone doesn't mind being restricted to Windows Media Player 9, thinks the WMA format is good enough, and doesn't transfer his or her music very often to music player devices, if ever.
I've browsed around the site for a while and most of the songs that I looked at are restricted to three or less downloads, five or less "transfers" and five or less burns.
I can, sort of, grasp the logic behind restricting to three or less downloads, and I can comprehend the opinion that five burns to a CD should be enough, too. But five or less "transfers"? At first, I thought I must be misunderstanding them, but I looked it up and this is their definition of a "transfer":
["Transfers" is] the number of transfers of each Digital Download to approved electronic Portable Devices. Your digital media player must be SDMI compliant or it will not play music from BuyMusic.com. To verify if your player is SDMI compliant, check the manufacturer's specifications or contact the manufacturer. BuyMusic.com
Let's get this straight; the music file that I've purchased and downloaded, which is now mine, I can only transfer five times to my MP3 player? What.. How.. What do you mean five times? What if I get tired of the same sound over and over and want to transfer some other fresh music to my MP3 player? Unless my MP3 player is large enough to hold virtually all my MP3s, I'm going to have to systematically delete files from the player to have room for more. Once I've done that five times, it's over.
That's pretty fucking likely to happen with the 64Mb Nomad IIc that they, among others players, recommend.
The music of BuyMusic.com's spokesperson, Tommy Lee -- famous for being the former Motley Crue drummer, and infamous for being the guy who videotaped Pamela Anderson while she gave him head -- is also available on the site. But unlike most artists' music, Tommy Lee's, like Eminem's and former drug dealer 50 Cent's, their music is free to "transfer" and burn as many times as you like.
So stop the presses, the music business still doesn't get it.
Comments
Wow, that does sound like a horrible service. Take a look at http://emusic.com/ sometime. I've just recently signed up, and I've been quite impressed. What you download is mp3s, as many times as you want, to as many computers as you want, and with no restrictions on what you can do with the files. The only caveat is that they don't have much (any) top-40 artists available; it's all pretty much indie labels who have signed on. For me that's perfect, and the site is so-so easy to get around in.
Comment by Bill at 16:06, 23 Jul, 2003 #
It would seem Bill is right. That emusic.com services does indeed look very good. It's a subscription service with a monthly fee, so you get unlimited downloads and you get them in a good and DRM-free format. And it basically featured more artists that I like to listen to than any other music download service that I've ever seen. Not many top-40 artists, that's true. But then again, why would you want that?
That being said, it still can't hold a candle to downloading using Direct Connect. :)
Comment by Magnus Lagerstedt at 18:00, 23 Jul, 2003 #
Quite right Tomas, it seems those Music moguls can do nothing but put their foot wrong with every step they take. Greedy, or just plain old braindead... I wonder.
Comment by Ryan at 19:13, 23 Jul, 2003 #
So, let me get this straight about the non-copy protection on legally purchased CD:s. Are you not able to transfer them on to MD:s? 'Cause the way I thought it worked with MD:s is that they do not process the songs as bits of data information, but simply recording the sound itself.
So, can you copy a copy-protected CD onto a MD? If not, what the recordmoguls are doing is illegal basically, since you - according to the law - are allowed to copy music for your own usage (and I believe, also for your immediate family members and closest friends). Could somebody clearify this copy-protection thingy for me? 'Cause I don't know what it does.
Comment by talisyn at 20:31, 25 Jul, 2003 #
Talisyn: Sure it's possible to do transfer songs from copy-protected CDs to MDs, and I did that when I had an MD in ca 1996-1998 (although back then they weren't copy-protected). But it was considerably smoother to upload an MP3 via the computer instead, since that didn't take the full time of the song's length to do. To make matters a tiny bit worse, many of my favourite songs are bloody long, 9-11 minutes or so.
I said that converting songs to MP3s made it easier, not that it was the only way.
The copy-protection thing makes it impossible to play the CD in your computer CD-ROM. And also in many, if not most, car stereos. The copy-protection is designed to only play the CD in a "traditional" CD player, the kind you have in your home stereo.
The fact that you can't play copy-protected CDs on your computer CD-ROM is the problem in its entirety. Those who really want to rip a CD to MP3s can still do it of course, the audio way which you describe works with a computer in the receiving end, too. It's just a pain in the ass.
I don't have a "traditional" CD player. I want my music in MP3 format and I want to play it any which way I want to, anywhere I want to, thus I don't qualify as a possible music CD customer.
Comment by Tomas at 21:32, 25 Jul, 2003 #
No matter WHAT the music industry does from now on, it's TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE. I've been burned too many times in the record stores. I'll never buy recorded music again. If I can't get it free, I don't want it. I've got boxful after boxful of cassettes & CDs with only one good song on them cluttering up my house. I'm tired of the ripoff that's been going on for at least the last 15 years, maybe 20.
So they've alienated me forever. Screw them. I won't buy a CD, won't attend a concert, opera, or any other live musical performance unless it is FREE. And I'll diligently vote against any politician who defends them.
I've downloaded a little, and burned lots of single tracks mostly from CDs I already own, and now have begun swapping the original CDs themselves with friends. Our music files are growing rapidly, and it's all by word of mouth, and physically handing CDs to each other. HAH! Let the RIAA try to track THAT down.
Comment by H8 Ripoffs at 10:11, 23 Sep, 2003 #
The discussion has been closed on this entry. Thanks to everybody who participated.