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Format Wars

Major Labels Still Trying To Be Creative With Physical Media

Undaunted by the lack of success seen by the ringtone/CD-single hybrid known as the Ringle, the four major labels have decided to dive back into the brick-and-mortar world with a new format that brings together one-gigabyte memory cards and full-length albums. The new format, which will supposedly be compatible with both mobile phones and home PCs, has been given the unwieldy name SlotMusic*; the Wall Street Journal says each album in the line will cost $15, while the New York Times claims that the format’s price point will be in the single-digit range. MORE »

9:30 AM on Mon Sep 22 2008
By Maura
2 Comments

Latest by okiedoke:

I'm still thrilled with SACD and any other high res 5.1 content. It's always a revelation compared to conventional two dimensional stereo mixes.

But, granted, the industry muffed much of this opportunity.

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Format Wars

Why Buy Digitally Recorded Albums On Vinyl?

AP070125052012.jpgIf you’ve picked up an arts section lately, you’ve probably seen a story with one (or both) of the following theses: “Vinyl is making a comeback.” “If you want great sound, you buy vinyl.” The hype is even starting to annoy some label folk, as it calls into question why non-audiophiles would bother buying tangible music at all. Sure, analog grooves of a vinyl record hold more information than any digital sample rate. But if an album was recorded digitally–a situation that’s becoming more and more common–are you getting more information by buying it on vinyl? MORE »

4:45 AM on Thu Mar 27 2008
By anthonyjmiccio
18 Comments

Latest by Neil: As mentioned previously, it's all about mastering. A mastering engineer putting a digital album onto vinyl will have to make some adjustments -- less compression, reduced levels on the bottom (<150hz), etc. I think the simple reason vinyl sounds 'better' sometimes is simply that the source material can't be abused in the same way as is often done for digital formats. A record pressed with strong bass and a dynamic range of 4dB is going to sound like crap and/or bounce the needle, whereas the same, digitally-encoded, will play fine (but still sound like the crap you hear on the radio nowadays). MORE »

Format Wars

German Company Hoping Scratch And Sniff CDs Will Prop Up Sagging Market

cd_vinyl.jpgListening Post got the chance to hear those “vinyl on one side, CD on the other” CDs that are sure to increase CD sales by at least dozens of copies, and guess what: They don’t sound that bad! And really, the vinyl-CD twofer doesn’t sound that far-fetched as a gimmick when you compare it to the other “special CD” offerings available from Optimal Media Production, the German company that manufactures the dualdiscs: MORE »

2:00 AM on Wed Nov 7 2007
By Maura
1 Comment

Latest by SuperUnison:

I'm not skeptical of the dualdisc because it's a weird idea so much as because every time try to play one of those cute little 5" records, my turntable thinks the record is over before the needle has even dropped.

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videodrone

Will The Launch Of AmazonMP3 Result In A Digital-Music Price War?

amazonmp3.jpgIt’s been a couple of days since Amazon’s foray into the MP3 world finally opened, and so far the response has been positive despite the lack of two major labels. (It probably helps that one of the majors on board is Universal, which puts out more music than pretty much anyone else.) But over at TheStreet.com, one writer sees Amazon’s entry into the market as a sign that prices for MP3s–and not files with copy protection–will take a nosedive, thus bringing music down to a price point where people might actually want to pay for it again: MORE »

5:38 AM on Thu Sep 27 2007
By Maura
10 Comments

Latest by syd:

I rather agree that there will be a "price war", but I also think Apple will do it's best to turn attention away from just the price issue, but also towards their own more "feature rich" experience. And while I hope they do bring down prices, it seems to me the "new Apple" would be more likely to emphasize the added experience/content/slickness of using iTMS over amzMP3.

It's an interesting time to watch all this unfold bc Apple's whole strategy is based on protecting their brand and their end-user and while I think Apple ultimately has what they think is their customers best interest in mind, they don't always act in *my* best interest. Which, as a former "apple fanboy", is actually starting to piss me off. Buy an iPhone--you can't manually manage music or copy and paste. And King Jobs would have you believe you don't actually *want* to do either of those things. Which, in fact *I* do.

In this instance amazon came in and offered The Magic Numbers record I've been meaning to buy for a few bucks less at a MUCH higher bitrate, WITHOUT DRM and my impulse buying began---I think I've bought a total of 5 amzMP3 records in the last two days, contrast that with maybe 1 every 2 weeks from iTMS. The DRM is always what keeps me from buying from iTunes more regularly and, yes, pirating.

Usually my purchase cycle is pirate before it comes out, compile a best of the year list and buy all of those albums on vinyl. I find most of my favorites are. That's neither here nor there really...

I would point out to DHMBIB that while I agree with most of your points, your conluding point stating the fact that music bloggers and tech geeks are stripping DRM from protected AAC files is, as far as I know, false. It has been a couple of versions of iTunes since we were able to do that, JHymn, the only project I know, has since been relatively quiet. But I could be wrong (and would *love* to know if I am)

Anyway, great piece Maura, I think you offer an excellent point of view.

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