515 Crew

[Big Fat Retard]

http://www.slate.com/id/2189888/&GT1=38001

[Joey Chaos]

I think it'd be bullshit if required, because a lot of people don't download music, and shouldn't have to pay for it. That being said, if I could download anything I wanted and not have to worry about virus', partial songs, bullshit with the wrong name etc for 5 bucks a month, I'd be all over it.

[El Rhino]

bullshit with the wrong name etc for 5 bucks a month, I'd be all over it.

No way, I used to have a blast renaming Johnny Rebel songs with P Diddy titles.

[Joey Chaos]

And I had a NOT blast downloading them, dick.

[DaVo]

http://www.slate.com/id/2189888/&GT1=38001

Well, I always looked at Apple as another rich boy toy kind of like the BMW of Computing and Windows/IBM as working guys ford model T. I have worked on both and have had both crash on me and found the apple more restrictive.

That aside, I've been kicking around the idea of getting an I-Pod for a while. My last Scandisk took a shit after about 3 months and I know the I-Pod will hold up longer but the idea of giving more money to Apple bugs the shit out of me. I have never liked the interface with the ipod or the fact that there is no way to expand the storage without shelling out another $200 for a brand new one.

So, when I hear that apple wants a even larger share of the recorded music industry, I have to say Fuck them! That has got to be the dumbest idea thus far. It has taken me a long time to acept computer files as property that is worth as much as something I can hold in my hand. I-tunes is not only a shit program that seems to crash or freeze up about 30% of the time but the copyright and file use is so restricted. Not as bad as Real Player going through my files and deciding that I didn't own rights to 100 cds that I own and ripped to the hard drive but still a pain in the ass.

That all said but why wouldn't the big 4 just set up their own service without the ISP. They are good at marketing shit and have a lot of histroy of it plus almost unlimited capitol. If I spend money for anything, I want to own it not use it for a month. When I buy from I-tunes, I burn a CD and then rip it back into the computer as a MP3. However mostly I buy from emusic and MP3fiesta http://mp3fiesta.com/ which sells mp3s for about 10cents and 99cents an album.

Royalities are a joke. The fact is that unless a band is on an indy, most of the royalities are eaten up by management, promotions, tour support, and recording which is advanced by the record company. The only person that gets really screwed on royalites are the record companies. Bands make money off of merch, touring and publishing rights. This all seems to be a problem that should be handled by the publishing companies.

[ilikehorses]

on the subject of ipods, just buy one on ebay or craigslist. money doesn't go to apple. but it is used.

[Joey Chaos]

I got my IPOD and ITRIP on ebay for a total of 65 bucks shipping included. Granted it's a mini from 2005, and only holds 1000 songs. A week after I got it the headphone jack shit, I spent 6 bucks and got a new one from an ebay store, installed it myself (took under 5 minutes), and it's like brand new. So 71 dollars for both, still a really good deal.

[Smoking Guns]

has anyone had an ipod that lasted more than 3 years?

are there any mp3 players that will?

[teedotjaydot]

i had a little Sansa 256 thumbdrive mp3 player that i gave to Adam that's been in use for roughly 4 years. not a lot of room but the thing is a workhorse.

I've never owned an Ipod and probably never will. I generally stick with Sansa as i can transfer from virtually any computer and it supports most all file types. So i can just drag and drop without worrying about conversion, having the right program installed, etc.

Got my 4 gig Sansa for 40 bucks used, it's an old model probably 2-3 years, and it works like new.

[Smoking Guns]

i think it's sansa that has an mp3 player with an additional external memory card slot.

that sounds like it might be cool.

[teedotjaydot]

yeah, my current Sansa has an external SD slot.

i think it's standard with Sansa nowadays.

also, it's got cool little extras that i don't think ipods have, like voice recording and fm radio

i actually recorded a Skin of Earth practice on the one i gave adam just by setting it in the middle of our space. for recording through a pinhole mic on a device barely bigger than your thumb, it sounded sweet.

[joseph]

i actually recorded a Skin of Earth practice on the one i gave adam just by setting it in the middle of our space. for recording through a pinhole mic on a device barely bigger than your thumb, it sounded sweet.

still want a copy. wtf is with you and copies?>?

[robdigi]

I don't like this idea.

While it seems good in the short term ($5/mo is nothing if it means that the lawsuits will stop) it's only going to prolong the current state of the music industry. The RIAA's role as gatekeeper to music as a business and art form are waning. We're still in the early days of a huge shift to a majority of artists running their own distribution and management. Digital distribution evens the playing field and allows artists to gain fame and popularity by their own merit, rather than industry promotion - and encourages further creativity. The situation looks grim now, but the lawsuits and stubbornness on behalf of the RIAA are the last gasps of a business model that is going extinct. Why throw them a lifeline?

[Hank Fist]

I don't like this idea.

While it seems good in the short term ($5/mo is nothing if it means that the lawsuits will stop) it's only going to prolong the current state of the music industry. The RIAA's role as gatekeeper to music as a business and art form are waning. We're still in the early days of a huge shift to a majority of artists running their own distribution and management. Digital distribution evens the playing field and allows artists to gain fame and popularity by their own merit, rather than industry promotion - and encourages further creativity. The situation looks grim now, but the lawsuits and stubbornness on behalf of the RIAA are the last gasps of a business model that is going extinct. Why throw them a lifeline?

exactly what i was thinking and more.

[robdigi]

So, when I hear that apple wants a even larger share of the recorded music industry, I have to say Fuck them! That has got to be the dumbest idea thus far. It has taken me a long time to acept computer files as property that is worth as much as something I can hold in my hand. I-tunes is not only a shit program that seems to crash or freeze up about 30% of the time but the copyright and file use is so restricted. Not as bad as Real Player going through my files and deciding that I didn't own rights to 100 cds that I own and ripped to the hard drive but still a pain in the ass.

iTunes music store has some of the most forgiving DRM out there. It sucks that it exists at all, but it's not Apple's call. It is forced upon them by the music industry - it's a formality when dealing with the devil. You clearly know how to circumvent it and Apple knows you do, too.. so what's the big deal? If you follow this sort of thing, you would know that there is plenty of DRM-free music available on the music store... because EMI is allowing it. Apple would make all music free of restrictions if the rest of the industry would give its blessing.

I have a hard time paying for digital downloads for the same reason, but these restrictions are not a fundamental aspect of digital distribution. As the digital music business grows these restrictions will become counterproductive and will fade away.


By the way, iTunes only crashes frequently under Windows. So what?

[Wheatstache]

What is DRM again?

[robdigi]

Digital Rights Management. Copy protection.

[DaVo]

yeah, my current Sansa has an external SD slot.

i think it's standard with Sansa nowadays.

also, it's got cool little extras that i don't think ipods have, like voice recording and fm radio

i actually recorded a Skin of Earth practice on the one i gave adam just by setting it in the middle of our space. for recording through a pinhole mic on a device barely bigger than your thumb, it sounded sweet.

I have a sansa scandisk and the thing kept crashing and I can't get the thing to run with windows vista at all. The other problem was that sometimes it would crash during playing and would not shut off.

Other then that the thing is great. Nothing like having a 2g player that can be expanded to 6g. It's the reason that I passed on the I-pod.

I heard a while back that there is a new generation of hard drive that will store up to 1000x more on the same size and use 1/10 the power. They guessed that you could hold a million + songs on an MP3 player and not have to charge it for a month. If someone beats Apple to that the Ipod will become the new 8-track.

[DaVo]

So, when I hear that apple wants a even larger share of the recorded music industry, I have to say Fuck them! That has got to be the dumbest idea thus far. It has taken me a long time to acept computer files as property that is worth as much as something I can hold in my hand. I-tunes is not only a shit program that seems to crash or freeze up about 30% of the time but the copyright and file use is so restricted. Not as bad as Real Player going through my files and deciding that I didn't own rights to 100 cds that I own and ripped to the hard drive but still a pain in the ass.

iTunes music store has some of the most forgiving DRM out there. It sucks that it exists at all, but it's not Apple's call. It is forced upon them by the music industry - it's a formality when dealing with the devil. You clearly know how to circumvent it and Apple knows you do, too.. so what's the big deal? If you follow this sort of thing, you would know that there is plenty of DRM-free music available on the music store... because EMI is allowing it. Apple would make all music free of restrictions if the rest of the industry would give its blessing.

I have a hard time paying for digital downloads for the same reason, but these restrictions are not a fundamental aspect of digital distribution. As the digital music business grows these restrictions will become counterproductive and will fade away.


By the way, iTunes only crashes frequently under Windows. So what?

OH NO, I've seen it freeze up on an apple machine too.

See that's the thing, If you buy it, you should be able to do what you want. I don't know who's fault it is but it is interesting that E-music and others are doing with no DRM restrictions. It would be interesting to know how much of a kick back apple is getting from the big 4 and how much they are really paying for the files. It is getting to the point where you are in fact renting the file.

[robdigi]

No, Apple would just put them in iPods.


Apple doesn't manufacture storage media. Neither does Microsoft, or Creative, or pretty much any portable digital audio player manufacturer. Apple designs the enclosure and software to operate the device. The screen, logic board, headphone jack, hard drive, etc are outsourced. In fact, that's how the production of most computerized devices works.


If iTunes is crashing under Mac OS X, then there is something externally causing it - it's one of the most solid applications developed by Apple. Most likely it was caused by 3rd party plug-ins or corrupted audio files in the library (which is due to hard drive instability, something out of the control of any software developer).


Anyway, Apple doesn't make a whole lot from the iTunes store. The main benefit is the sale of more iPods due to the ease of obtaining music for them through the store. The idea of downloadable files with an expiration date has been toyed with before by other companies, and it hasn't been very successful. It works for movie rentals, but that's about it. I think you are going to see things going the opposite way in the future due to market demand for unrestricted media.