Open Shop

29/07/2007

Open Shop
Andy muses on his 'dream' online music store, and wonders whether the music industry will ever embrace openness.

29/07/2007

An interesting article, if only for the fact even those who know a lot more about the technical issues involved in buying downloadable music online still find it an enormous headache and turn off for the not inconsiderable restrictions created by this medium over simply ripping a shop bought (or borrowed) CD.

Personally, I'd like to purchase music to download online if those requirements of re-transcoding were available not to mention being able to play back the music when and where you liked: PC, MP3 player or on someone else's system. I agree that even 192kbps encoded MP3s are too restrictive in themselves even if they come DRM free. If you've got good gear to play them back on then it still makes sense to go for original CD quality.

The fact is and has been (imo) the music industry has ripped us off for a long long time - I remember buying CDs in the 90s and baulking at the prices, £15 for a new album? And often with only a handful of truly good tracks with replayable value to them as well. I stopped buying music as often as I did back then but now with so many avenues open for buying music you actually like available and so readily accessible (and much cheaper too), it really is a shame these issues still remain with us today.

Incidentally, where do the good people of the TR forum get their music from?

Hugo · 30/07/2007

We're not at liberty to divulge that

.

Only kidding, personally I have a bit of an OCD thing about owning an entire album even if I only want one track, so I still buy albums on CD and rip them myself - will continue to do so until iTunes offer 320kbps DRM-free mp3 downloads.

30/07/2007

I started buying CD's for the first time in many years (and at the rate I was buying them, the first time ever) after experiencing a couple of OD2-run music websites and then finally, for quite a stint, Napster.

Napster was good, but bloomin' heck, Microsoft DRM is horrific

So restrictive, and I hated the popup password boxes in WMP that would interrupt playlists... I mean, FFS, just store the password and authorise songs *before* they begin to play!

Fortunately iTunes manages this, along with slightly looser DRM restrictions and very very easy management of authorised computers. Despite being ridiculously late to the iTunes party, I now use it for the majority of my music (and having an iPod nano makes it worthwhile, otherwise it'd be a pain I agree).

I will pay extra for DRM-free tracks, and I don't mind if they have 'personal' information embedded into them to help ensure I don't pop them all on a P2P app. Until I can get what I want DRM-free, I'll still buy CD's of my favourite artists - so I know I'll always, theoretically, have access to MY music.

The music industry had years to come around to Internet distribution, but from the first days of Napster it has been on the defensive. It saddens me that they've done such a bad job of converting the worlds most efficient distribution system into a new revenue stream.

29/07/2007	#1
TrustedReviews Guest Posts: n/a	Open Shop Open Shop Andy muses on his 'dream' online music store, and wonders whether the music industry will ever embrace openness.

30/07/2007	#3
Hugo Staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: TR HQ Posts: 1,412	We're not at liberty to divulge that . Only kidding, personally I have a bit of an OCD thing about owning an entire album even if I only want one track, so I still buy albums on CD and rip them myself - will continue to do so until iTunes offer 320kbps DRM-free mp3 downloads. Last edited by Hugo; 08/08/2007 at 10:34..

29/07/2007	#2
Spook Tooth Guest Posts: n/a	An interesting article, if only for the fact even those who know a lot more about the technical issues involved in buying downloadable music online still find it an enormous headache and turn off for the not inconsiderable restrictions created by this medium over simply ripping a shop bought (or borrowed) CD. Personally, I'd like to purchase music to download online if those requirements of re-transcoding were available not to mention being able to play back the music when and where you liked: PC, MP3 player or on someone else's system. I agree that even 192kbps encoded MP3s are too restrictive in themselves even if they come DRM free. If you've got good gear to play them back on then it still makes sense to go for original CD quality. The fact is and has been (imo) the music industry has ripped us off for a long long time - I remember buying CDs in the 90s and baulking at the prices, £15 for a new album? And often with only a handful of truly good tracks with replayable value to them as well. I stopped buying music as often as I did back then but now with so many avenues open for buying music you actually like available and so readily accessible (and much cheaper too), it really is a shame these issues still remain with us today. Incidentally, where do the good people of the TR forum get their music from?

30/07/2007	#4
Ben Guest Posts: n/a	I started buying CD's for the first time in many years (and at the rate I was buying them, the first time ever) after experiencing a couple of OD2-run music websites and then finally, for quite a stint, Napster. Napster was good, but bloomin' heck, Microsoft DRM is horrific So restrictive, and I hated the popup password boxes in WMP that would interrupt playlists... I mean, FFS, just store the password and authorise songs before they begin to play! Fortunately iTunes manages this, along with slightly looser DRM restrictions and very very easy management of authorised computers. Despite being ridiculously late to the iTunes party, I now use it for the majority of my music (and having an iPod nano makes it worthwhile, otherwise it'd be a pain I agree). I will pay extra for DRM-free tracks, and I don't mind if they have 'personal' information embedded into them to help ensure I don't pop them all on a P2P app. Until I can get what I want DRM-free, I'll still buy CD's of my favourite artists - so I know I'll always, theoretically, have access to MY music. The music industry had years to come around to Internet distribution, but from the first days of Napster it has been on the defensive. It saddens me that they've done such a bad job of converting the worlds most efficient distribution system into a new revenue stream.