Talk Back: The Download Dilemma

[dang]

Checkout our latest Talk Back: The Download Dilemma (http://news.designtechnica.com/talkback22.html)

[Ioman]

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. I find it odd that Apple does not have a downloadable PC version of iTunes which is compatible with other MP3 players or even Windows Media Player. It would mean more money in their pockets.

[Unregistered]

I personally do not care about paying when I can download them from Khazaa for free!

[dang]

I'm not one to get into politics, but:

I personally do not care about paying when I can download them from Khazaa for free!

shows just how lame some people can be.

How about if you were a farmer and when people drover by your farm they just stopped and took your crops with out paying. Here you are working your butt off, paying for materials, supplys, labor to grow your crops, and people just steal your crops. But hey, they would rather just come grab them from your farm then pay you for them and they say stupid crap like "I personally dont care cause I can just hop out my car, run over to his field and take as much as I can for free!"

[neuroking]

I just went out and spent $85 on music. All DVD-As. Give ppl a reason to buy music and they will. iTunes is nice, but it is the same price to buy the album and rip it to mp3. CDs are the first form of media that I can think of that have gone UP in price without opffering anything new. Hell, most the album art is not even included. Remember when ppl loved Best Buy because CDs were $10?

I still love that musician breakdown for the $.99 songs on iTunes. $.12/song. And that's an improvement. Scary scary scary. I'm hesitant to buy any music since I know the RIAA will be getting some of it.

Sorry, the whole topic bothers me. I'm just waiting for some psycho to do a "Fight Club" with the music industry. I swear if they sue a bunch of students that are just starting to play with drugs for amounts of monmey they can't even imagine on their ramen noodle and mac & cheese diets, something interesting will happen.

Brandon

[dang]

LOL. I agree with you Brandon. I really love your last statement though!

[Cloud]

I didn't know Real Networks had a similar service. .79 is hella cheap. I wonder if like IO said, prices will continue to drop because of competitition. After all, an MP3 is an MP3 right? It doesn't matter where it comes from as long as its good quality.

[Ioman]

Originally posted by Cloud
I didn't know Real Networks had a similar service. .79 is hella cheap. I wonder if like IO said, prices will continue to drop because of competitition. After all, an MP3 is an MP3 right? It doesn't matter where it comes from as long as its good quality.

Unfortunately I think that is how a lot of people will look at things. Heck maybe there will be such thing as a music broker who sells songs for dirt cheap!?

[lilbudda]

What people don't understand is that artists get screwed most of the time anyway. The RIAA is the mafia of the music industry. Most idependant or small name labels are lucky to get one or two songs on the air or albums sold becuase RIAA and companies like Clear Channel control the content and distribution.

The sucess of pay per song is a shift in business model and more accurately reflects consumer choice. It's just too bad that it took an mp3 revolution for them to wake up and stop squeezing their customers.

Fair use is still fair use and you may call it steeling but I call it replacing what is rightfully mine.

[Ioman]

Originally posted by lilbudda
What people don't understand is that artists get screwed most of the time anyway. The RIAA is the mafia of the music industry. Most idependant or small name labels are lucky to get one or two songs on the air or albums sold becuase RIAA and companies like Clear Channel control the content and distribution.

The sucess of pay per song is a shift in business model and more accurately reflects consumer choice. It's just too bad that it took an mp3 revolution for them to wake up and stop squeezing their customers.

Fair use is still fair use and you may call it steeling but I call it replacing what is rightfully mine.

How does it more accurately reflect consumer choice if there is a limit as to what you can download though? Every song in existence is not available on the iTunes site for example. Who determines which songs are featured on the front page or which are available for download at all? I think that the RIAA and other companies will surely create a backend business model where they get rewarded for promoting certain songs for download over the others.

The game is the same, the playing field is all that has changed in my opinion.

[Archon]

While the idea of paying a one time fee for a per-song download sounds ideal, fierce competition might mean less in the music artist’s pocket

I was not aware they got any of the money to begin with :rolleyes:

[Ioman]

look slike Neilsen will be getting in on the action as well: http://news.designtechnica.com/article749.html

crazy how this business is skyrocketing

[lilbudda]

Well for one thing, I think that you can download older songs that maybe out of print. from P2P sites, Those songs can be better served on services like iTunes. Who wants to buy a whole album from a one-hit-wonder?

Just becuase not all songs are available, doesn't make it a bad business model. And yeah, I'm sure RIAA will still try to screw people but the artists are now realizing that the RIAA is a dinosaur that is no longer viable now that they can promote themselves directly via the internet. I think that ARTISTS will be the ones who help push the revolution...

[Ioman]

I warned this would happen:

http://news.designtechnica.com/article766.html

"News sources including CNN are reporting that Metallica has opted not to sell its songs on Apple’s newly successful iTunes.

Metallica is claiming that they want to sell their entire album not just the individual songs. This decision comes after Metallica’s public opposition to Napster and other peer to peer file sharing systems that allow people to swap copywritten music files without paying per download. Apple allows users to buy a limited amount of albums on its iTunes 4 system but representatives from Metallica’s management company tell CNN that Apple’s policy is to only sell albums from artists who allow them to sell their singles too.

Other popular bands are reportedly not completely enthused with selling their songs on iTunes including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and Linkin Park. This causes some users to feel even more compelled to try to find the songs for free elsewhere on the internet. Still to this day, ripping songs from a CD to MP3 can be completed in just minutes which can then allow the songs to be immediately posted on file swapping systems.

Searching for “Metallica” on Limewire, a peer to peer file sharing application that runs on the Gnutella network, resulted in 223 different tracks from the band including every song from their latest album, St. Anger. For young fans, the temptation to steal many of the tracks and rip them onto a $0.10 CDR might prove to be stronger than the threat of a lawsuit from the RIAA. Apple’s iTunes is far from a perfect solution, however it does offer music enthusiasts an opportunity to buy music the way many of them want to enjoy it. If bands were looking for new ways to make albums more compelling, they might want to look at copy protected new formats like DVD-Audio which provide higher resolution surround sound mixes, small music videos and hidden feature “Easter eggs.” DVD-Audio discs are priced comparably to CDs and play back perfectly (not in MLP surround however) on DVD-Video based game machines like Sony’s Playstation II and Microsoft’s Xbox. "

Sources: Money.CNN.com

Honestly, I cannot blame them on this one.

[lilbudda]

Well, those bands are going to have to suffer. If this is truely about the artists making money, then they have to staunch the flow of MP3s by using a distribution method that is legitamit.

Who gives a crap if that band is SO proud of their music, they can't sell singles? They can only play 1 song at a time on the radio... Not the whole friggin album. True fans will buy the whole ablum and casual listeners (who are potential fans) will buy the singles... if they choose NOT to make money, it's their own damn fault...

'scuze me while I break out my violin

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by lilbudda
Well, those bands are going to have to suffer. If this is truely about the artists making money, then they have to staunch the flow of MP3s by using a distribution method that is legitamit.

Who gives a crap if that band is SO proud of their music, they can't sell singles? They can only play 1 song at a time on the radio... Not the whole friggin album. True fans will buy the whole ablum and casual listeners (who are potential fans) will buy the singles... if they choose NOT to make money, it's their own damn fault...

'scuze me while I break out my violin

I have to agree here. There are indeed times when I like a few songs enough from a group I don't know well that I want to buy the entire album because I believe I will like the group's overall sound. But there are times as well when I know I only like a song or two and I therefore won't waste the money to buy the entire album. If I could buy the single, they'd at least be making more off of me than they would otherwise.

Sorry, no song by any of these groups is great enough that I can't live without it if they won't sell it to me. Seems to be an over-inflated sense of worth (coupled with the hidden realization that some of their stuff is probably crap).

Boo Hoo for them....

-n

[nedlyj]

Sorry, I hate it when I forget to login before I post....

-n

[neuroking]

One thing in defense of full album purchasing is that there are MANY songs that I hated the first 2-3 times I heard them, and then later ended up loving more than the songs I purchased the album for.

But, just for the record, the RIAA can go lick a goat's anus. :)

B

[Ioman]

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of paying for a song, but I can't help but think this new industry will be tainted by the RIAA and as consumers we will be left out to dry and even new artists will get shoved behind the artists the RIAA wants to promote. We will have to see how it turns out.

[stoliontherocks]

I do all my downloading from AudioLunchbox.com. It's legal, no restrictions, and you get all the artwork. Plus they have high end files for those wanting a better sound. And it's cheap. And it's only indie music, NO corporate crap....Check it, I love this site.... www.audiolunchbox.com

[Archon]

well, some of us like music that is unfortunately part of that "corporate crap."

how about
http://www.mp3-find.com/

[stoliontherocks]

Oh me too.....I just call it crap in a 'tongue in cheek' way...it's all good.