EMI Shakes Up Music Downloads
EMI has announced that they will offer downloads from their catalogue with no protective code in.
They can then be copied or transferred to disc etc. This will surely lead to a huge shake-up in the industry.
The biggest player in the legal download market is Apple’s iTunes who offer tracks playable of their system but code protected so they cannot be used elsewhere.
This new deal will see them offer totally unprotected tracks for 99p each and is sure to bring a whole raft of new users into the market.
Presumably, the rest of the major record labels will follow meaning we are witnessing the demise of the CD and shops that sell them.
Many will welcome this move I’m sure and I understand why it has to be done. The only way they can even try to combat the illegal downloads is by offering a reasonably priced , free from viruses etc, service themselves.
I see all that but my problems are:
Sound quality
I note they say “near CD quality” what about those of us who buy CDs for audio quality ?
I suspect these are going to become a specialist mail order job !
Retail Outlets
How many chains such as HMV and Virgin etc will survive the next few years ?
Will I also have to buy all my DVDs online soon ?
You No Longer Really Own Things
A whole generation will have their music on computer or iPod, many will crash, fail or get lost. Doubtless most will not be backed up and all is lost. I play CDs bought many years ago, will people be doing this in future ?
I am also reminded of my usual rant, anything burnt on CD jumps on my hifi, I can only play them on my computer’s CD drive.
Femme Fatale said,
April 4, 2007 @ 9:01 am
Rod,
What you need is a cheap hi-fi, they play anything, especially songs illegally downloaded!!!!
I believe that we will soon see the demise of high street chains like HMV etc, which will not be so bad as they charge astronomical prices anyway, supermarkets are much cheaper.
What is the world coming to?
I say,”bring back the LP”, there is no better sound than that of a needle scratching on your favourite tune!!!!!!
Love
FF
xx
Witches of Eastwick said,
April 4, 2007 @ 9:49 am
Rod,
Why should the quality be ‘near CD’? Is this a marketing ploy to keep both methods afloat and inevitably charge more for the best sound quality. Some of the ipods we’ve seen look very fragile and easily broken …. should the Witches invest in one, we want ours made of the black box stuff aircraft have!
WoE
Rod said,
April 4, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
FF
exactly what the guy who sold me a small fortune’s worth of equipment said, to quote “go to Asdas and get something for £40, it’ll play everything”
As to LPs, there is a collectors record shop in Hull and schools run field trips there so kids can see what a record is
Supermarkets are all OK, same as with books, providing you want only the latest releases or Elvis’ Greatest Hits as sung by Matt Munro (?spelling) you’ll be OK.
Not much chance of Metallica - looks like Blubster Rules OK from now on !
Cheers
RC
Rod said,
April 4, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
WoE
It’s what’s lost in transmission would be my presumption. Every time you transfer something there is data or quality loss, much depending on resistance.
Hence the use of gold terminals etc in higher end gear.
The length of cable can be a factor in many cases with hifi etc, imagine the loss over the internet.
Another factor will be the quality of your CD burner I imagine
we want ours made of the black box stuff aircraft have!
Reminds of a line I once heard:
If the black box always survives an air crash why don’t they make the plane out of the same material
Craig said,
April 6, 2007 @ 8:59 am
The protected songs currently on iTunes are 128Kbps, the new EMI unprotected ones will be 256Kbps. This also makes the newer songs file size larger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3
Hopefully this move by EMI will give the other content protection schemes the much needed kick up the rear, so that they realise that when we buy media, we want it to play on whatever system we own, not the ones they say we should.
Rod, does your stereo have an AUX input/output? If so buy a cheap DVD player and plug that in. Quite a few will play MP3s straight from CD.
Rod said,
April 6, 2007 @ 9:17 am
Craig
thanks for the technical info. I think this move by EMI will start the ball rolling properly. When you pay for music it should be in a format that can be played or transferred anywhere.
I expect all the record labels will have to go down this route and should do so sooner rather than later. The longer they leave it the more established illegal downloads will become.
I do have AUX sockets, great idea, I’ll look into it
Enjoy the weekend
Regards
Rod