So the time has arrived, and I knew it would. Some see this as 'earth shattering' news, and I guess to some degree it is. So whats all the fuss about?
Apple and EMI have now announced that they will be offering downloadable music without the DRM encoding. What's DRM? It stands for Digital Rights Management. And this short video below (which was created few days ago, *before* this announcement) will give you a light hearted version of what DRM is all about.
Give it a watch...(don't skim, watch all of it, it's very short).
So now that you're an expert on DRM you can see how utterly annoying it can be. From today though, things have changed. Most of the songs which you download from the world famous iTunes browser will now be 'easily transferable' to other music devices. This means you don't have to rip the darn thing to your PC first to ransfer it to another device.
Not only that, but they have also announced that the 'new music files' will be better quality -- at 256kbps. I'll be honest with you, most people won't notice the change in sound. It's only those who 'care enough' about the sound, that will actually significantly *hear* the difference.
They are also asking us to pay for these privileges -- songs will be $1.29 a pop, as oppose to the usual $0.79.
I for one have never really been an Apple fan -- and I may be in the minority here. The thought of being totally restricted to the Ipod really does my head in. It's silly when you think about it... why pay for music that you can ONLY listen to on your Ipod? Makes no sense. Of course, things are different now. Who knows, I might consider the Ipod now that they've finally woken up.
The main thing that bugs me is that Apple work by an audio format AAC. And although some non-Ipod players can handle non-protected AAC, it's hardly in the same league as an mp3 file -- which ten times more universally accepted.
What do you think about all this? Are you a ipod user? Are you happier that this change has been embraced by EMI? What about all the file sharing that's going on right now.... is it only a matter of time before music doesn't have a value anyway? Are we headed that way? I would love to know your thoughts.....
Post a comment here on the blog
Shamir
[formally Calvin]
Monday, April 02, 2007
Emi & Apple Offering Better Quality Files That You Can Trasnfer To Any Device...
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13 comments:
wow the industry is trying to catch up it might be to late. they should of considered the earliest products when napster was first release. Now they seem to be going after the mixtape game. Trying to find every little dime they can. They know the major labels days are numbered
the whole music industry is changing.....again !maybe the the big record company is in for a huge let down but I don't think they will let themselves be ousted by technology.I think they will embrace it and flow with the times.just as they did from pressing vinal to making C.D.
If they want to stay competitive they must roll with the punches or die or even better , they must through the punches before anyone else does.
The music industry has come a long way from the Tin Pan Alley days and there have been lots of changes. and there are going to be lots more changes before there is any stability again in the music industry. The only constant thing is change.
I think it's pretty neat but i don't have an ipod and prefer mp3 files. But I thought this was about songwriting. I haven't seen anything about song writing since I bought this course. To be honest I haven't really learned anything.
Hmmmm... I too am defintly not an iPod fan, I dislike not being able to bring songs from them to a computer. C.R.A.P Like that anoys me quite a bit. Going to 256 realy wont make it that much better not the the normal persons ear anyway. all its going to do is make it a bigger file therefore taking up that much more space on my little 512mb MP3 player. Heck yeah for the obsoleat!
what you have to understand is that people in the music business are greedy and like their money. Apple put the protective encoding on there because that is what they were told to do. And if you wanted to put them onto another music player just burn the CD and put it into the encoding you would like. stop complaining and get your lazy butt off that chair and do something that doesn't have to do with complaining about the fact that Apple doesn't allow me to do this the way i want to. it's not Apple's falt that you and your nabster counterparts ruined it for all of us by downloading illegally. yes, mp3's are used more than AAC, but that is because people really don't know any better. AAC's quality is a whole lot better than mp3's quality. and it is smaller.
Actually, I believe Apple put their DRM encoding mainly because of branding. They love the idea of people having to use THEIR device (ie. ipod) for everything under the sun. It's always been the way of the Apple.`:)
I might be wrong though. I don't have an ipod, so what do I know.
Now file sharing is on the increase. There is no doubt about it. I think Apple will still have trouble in months and even years to come.
Soon, artists/bands/groups will only market and sell their own music themselves through their own websites. If Apple were smart, they would get involved with branding and marketing some of these artists. In say, 10 years time, people will look at buying in a different light.
Music might be free.
Whats left? LIVE gigs. That's when the real test of talent will come out.
It is hard to believe anyone in the music industry can make any money anymore but there are a lot of people out there having a go. So unless somebody gets a 'break' the bottom line is that money makes money.
there will soon be no incentive for anyone to write music.
That's interesting. I think there will be an incentive, but the 'focus' will be different. What I mean by that is people who end up wanting a career in music will have to be assured of themselves that they can pull of live gigs -- and good ones too.
Why?...
Because that's the only way they will eventually get paid.
I don't have an ipod i probaly
never will but I have experienced
C.R.A.P on many occasions and it is
extremely annoying!
ipod are the leaders in
"make an aiii gadget, sell it at top doller to the dumb masses. their adverts work well on sheep.
I feel any of these issues that are about music sharing and the technology and it's evolution is based on making a buck. I for one love music, sing and songwrite and purposely don't listen to the current music scene so it doesn't influence my songwriting. I don't understand though why so many people have headphones on 24/7. What happened to regular interaction amongst people? The record industry along with Ipod and all the others are always going to try to control what they can in their respective markets. All we can do is let them know what we want.
Toddman26
Hi
Loving the emails and the tips... keep up the excellent work!
Love, Melissa
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