Dig-i-tal, dig-i-tal, dig-i-tal!
Posted on 01/06/2007 3:18:08 AM PST by ShadowDancer
After the Ipod updates why doesn't he just drag and drop the songs he wants to keep in a folder you can create and name on the C drive. That way they're protected and you can bring them back in his playlist after it updates.
...I guess I didn't look hard enough
in the Help file!! ;-)
Thanks!
Wouldn't be that no one is producing music worth buying, would it?
The bigger issue, or the real issue here, is not that I'm not buying CD but instead going digital, it's that I don't buy the filth being produced these days that passes for music. I also won't buy crap that the Chixie Dicks, Britney Spears, Madonna or any number of other degenerates have produced. They are assuming CD sales are falling becasuse people are going digital, the product sucks so I'm not doing either.
"Gosh, the same music industry that's always crying about how digital prices need to go up sells nearly a quarter of all albums via digital sales, not having to pay for all the creation, marketing, etc to get it done with so many companies out there selling their stuff for them."
Ah, but there you see why the music industry fears digital sales. They contribute nothing to the process, so what's to stop the artists from cutting them out of the process?"
Ding ding ding, we have a winnah!
That's part of the problem. The part is that the labels, the big ones anyway, are NOT signing or releasing anything of quality, and their output is WAY, WAY down from what it once was. Of COURSE sales are down, they release LESS. That's part they want you to not notice - and will deny until they're blue in the face.
Ask anyone from a major label this question: how much lost sales have you suffered in the last five years from the numbers of acts you dropped from your label, for "poor" performance, or during mergers and aquisitions?
Don't expect an honest answer.
Also, the entire industry is in a slump. There's no big fad going, no trend, nothing to sell into. We've had slumps like this before, they pass, when a new trend hits, and they start signing acts again. And everytime it slumps like this, the RIAA and the labels start running around sniveling and wringing their hands and crying poor, and start attacking their customers - they did this same poor pity me act during the 80's around the time of the PMRC and Tipper's follies, and were bemoaning the fact that people had the AUDACITY to buy a blank cassette when they bought an album, so they could...gasp...TAPE IT. (You know, one for the car, one for the office, one for the Walkman...) So they got Al Gore to pass a blank tape tax that's still levied, and they shut up and went away, hair metal blew up, and they made billions.
I work in the music industry. I hate the business side of it, it's as corrupt and sleazy and would make the dirtiest politician alive cringe at horror with their antics. But I love the creative side of it, so I put up with it, like many, many people do. And a LOT of people are questioning why they need the labels, and it's getting hard to find any - the labels are killing the preverbial Golden Goose, and blaming everything around them but their own hands around it's neck.
The common attitude I hear now is, there's no point to being signed to a major label, all they do is rip you off and hold you back.
I tell musicians starting out, learn ProTools, get a decent home studio, and do it yourself. The tools are all there - ProTools, websites, MySpace, touring, and you can publish your music yourself through ASCAP/BMI yourself, no labels needed. A couple of grand for a decent lawyer, a decent booking agent, and you're good to go. These are things a label used to provide, but they dont even bother to do that anymore, most bands pay for it themselves anyway (even if the label provides it, they still have to pay for it anyway). Make your own label, sell through iTunes, or the other music portals. Radio is dead anyway, so don't bother, but XM will play "unsigned" music. (Sirius needs a lot of work here).
It's basic math: 3% of 20K albums sold, or 100% of 20K albums sold (minus production costs, lets say 10K).
You bet the labels are worried - they have every reason to be.
Technology marches on.
But a word of warning (and I'm SURE the guys who OWN the originals of this music and any other MAGNETICALLY STORED digital data have protected themselves).
At some point, it is believed that the folks who hate the West will trigger one or more large EMP devices over the US or selected cities to try to cripple our commerce/culture. If ALL this data is stored on MAGNETICALLY BASED DEVICES, it will be damaged or distroyed.
As long as the industry continues to offer OPTICALLY BASED DEVICES AND MEDIA, I'll be backing up that way.
Something to ponder.
In Portland we have some really cool music stores. The best thing about them is that they have really huge selections of used CD's. I'm just not going to pay $17.00+ dollars for most CD's. My favorite, Everyday Music has a classical and Jazz/Blues section that is larger than most music stores.
"Some innovative kid will come up with an idea to deliver music and art together via digital DL in a package which is truly neat."
It's already done. On the P2P networks they package albums in .rar archives (like .zip) with scanned in artwork from the CD along with all the tracks from the CD. ....not that I would know :)
Don't buy Apple products they are based upon a narrow minded business model that insures eventual extinction of both the Mac and Ipod.
BUMP
Or a 78?
Personally I like having the actual CD. Not only do I copy it to disk to play on my stereo system, but I retain the rights to the music.
And of course the quality trounces mp3. Mp3 is the devil.
Now if I could download SACD, then we can talk.
Wow, you really summed it up. Rock yeah, may be dead but not quite. There's a pulse and it could be revived.
Really like your comment about rap. I've always felt it was nursery rhymes with curses for idiots.
As for Kurt, well all this fame and fortune, I can't stand it. Where's my rifle?
Still like checking out some house, but the staples are the blues and jazz now for me. There's still a great deal going on with artists in these genres.
And at least they are honestly creating culture albeit, largely overlooked.
Check out Eric Lewis via google. And if you can see him live, wow!!!
Pop is dead.
If you still have the memories, you obviously didn't use the paper.
Don't forget the Roger Dean stuff on the Yes albums.
The same is true of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. It's where the entertainment industry is going. iTunes, Napster and others have been doing this for years yet you give them a pass. So, take your mis-directed crisis mentality and be off with you.
They produce no music. They are in fact the "metalised plastic disc distribution industry".
Dig-i-tal, dig-i-tal, dig-i-tal!
Download music is only really worth it if it is DRM free. There is no reason to buy music which evaporates after a set period of time.
This is a major flaw with the zune.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.