MP3 Vendors, Stupidity, and the Government
There exists an MP3 site where you can choose your format; be it MP3, Ogg, AAC, WMV, or lossless. Not only that, but you can choose your encoder and bitrate within most of the aforementioned formats. In addition to all of this there is no DRM whatsoever. This means you can convert, copy, and stream these files to your heart's desire. I haven't even mentioned price and I know you're already interested. All of this can be found at AllOfMp3.com. The only problem is that its legality is in question (link to CNN story). If there was a legitimate service that offers these same features I would be willing to pay up to an iTunes 99 cents per track for a lossless song, and pay less for lower quality files. The problem is that there is no alternative to this. The best alternative in the US is currently emusic.com, but emusic requires a subscription, and doesn't have near the flexibility that allofmp3 has. When allofmp3 goes away my best source for high quality hard to find music will be torrents and usenet, and these are hit and miss when it comes to quality and selection.
As a consumer I'm put in a precarious position. RIAA litigation will force me to continue to follow their business model. The problem is that the market has changed dramatically. ITunes is not an alternative for me due to the low quality of the files and restrictive DRM. My rant is this, the RIAA is spending time restricting distribution rather than researching new methods of delivery to the consumer. Lawsuits against pioneer and other electronics manufacturers for a portable media player that can record an over the air XM satellite song broadcast, seem like revisiting an old well tread path; the result of which was that people have the freedom to copy and rewatch an over the air broadcast, and yet lobbyists and their lapdogs are still trying to push restrictive broadcast flags through that would make every TiVo, VCR, and tape recorder obsolete.
Artists should not be angry at the consumers downloading their music; they should be angry at the labels and conglomerates that are trying to force feed their out of date business models via litigation and government corruption. My prediction is: Pirate bay will be back, AllofMp3 will be gone, and I will have a lot more trouble finding a place to buy good music, while piracy becomes easier and easier. In the end I'll just own more T-Shirts of bands I want to support. Who couldn't use more T-Shirts?
As a consumer I'm put in a precarious position. RIAA litigation will force me to continue to follow their business model. The problem is that the market has changed dramatically. ITunes is not an alternative for me due to the low quality of the files and restrictive DRM. My rant is this, the RIAA is spending time restricting distribution rather than researching new methods of delivery to the consumer. Lawsuits against pioneer and other electronics manufacturers for a portable media player that can record an over the air XM satellite song broadcast, seem like revisiting an old well tread path; the result of which was that people have the freedom to copy and rewatch an over the air broadcast, and yet lobbyists and their lapdogs are still trying to push restrictive broadcast flags through that would make every TiVo, VCR, and tape recorder obsolete.
Artists should not be angry at the consumers downloading their music; they should be angry at the labels and conglomerates that are trying to force feed their out of date business models via litigation and government corruption. My prediction is: Pirate bay will be back, AllofMp3 will be gone, and I will have a lot more trouble finding a place to buy good music, while piracy becomes easier and easier. In the end I'll just own more T-Shirts of bands I want to support. Who couldn't use more T-Shirts?
mmmmmmm.... T-Shirts!
ReplyDelete/drool