Since I first read about iTunes, I’ve been craving the same service for those of us who don’t use Macs. Today, I read that www.buymusic.com had started such a service. Great, thinks I. I read the article with growing glee. A song costs $0.79-1.20. Great. An entire album for $8-12. Great. 100.000 more titles than iTunes have. Great. Windows Media Format. Gre…
WHAT?
Windows Media? Why in the name of the blue blazes of hell and damnation? What rational explanation could there possibly be for using a proprietary nonstandard format instead of mp3, which is already used by everyone? It isn’t even mentioned in their FAQs, which is pure deception on their part since I’m pretty bloody sure it’s one of the most frequent questions they get.
I pray to God they crash and burn. Losers. And that someone else learns from their mistake and opens a music store selling mp3s. Then, we’ll be getting somewhere.
Are you sure you can? I would expect that the DRM would prevent that, at least directly. You probably have to jump through some hoops, and maybe lose some quality (like go through an analog step).
No, I probably can’t, due to the DRM. Analog recording could be an option, though.
I’ve been reading their website a couple of times over, and I can’t see what the point of DRM is. All it seems to do is restrict what players and portable devices you can use. How does it actually “protect the integrity of their content so that their intellectual property, including copyright, is not misappropriated”? I can still burn the music to CDs, move it to another computer, and so on.
I read a bit more, and apparently they do have a lot more restrictions than that. You can only listen to the song on a certain number of computers, burn it to CD a certain number of times, and so on.
These guys need to realize they’re competing with what is essentially unlimited, free music. If their potential advantages of legality, convenience and consistency aren’t enough to offset that, they won’t make it.
Perhaps they are banking on the P2P pirating going into decline now that the RIAA is targeting individual users. I agree that if P2P pirating survives mostly intact, BuyMusic is doomed.
Once again, Apple introduces a quality product, and the fly-by-night clowns come along with a half-assed knockoff.
What I especially like is how BuyMusic.com’s selection have different DRM restrictions according to what you buy – one track might allow unlimited burning, another might not allow burning at all, and a third might only let you burn it twice. Guess who has to keep track of all that crap?
(And pray your computer doesn’t ever need replacing, since the music you’ve bought won’t play any more if you switch machines…)
There will most likely not be a legal music download service with the major labels on board that uses MP3s until DRM is integrated with the operating system and/or computer hardware. Sorry.
At least Apple had the good sense to use AAC (MPEG2 Audio), which can, in some cases, actually perform pretty well. Windows Media Audio, on the other hand, sounds like ass. Rotten, nasty, shit-encrusted ass.
Wait…only burn it to cd a number of times? What’s to prevent you from ripping the track you just burned into a .wav file and then reincoding into a format that doesn’t blow goats? Morons.
Bahh, there’s like 1% of the population that can tell the difference with the minimal signal loss you’ll get. Audiophiles will always be a different breed willing to pay top dollar for the absolute best in sound quality. Joe Schmoe’s CD player only cost him $50 and his speakers are smaller than a breadbox…do you really think a slight decrease, and I mean slight decrease in quality, will stop anyone from ripping the files into a better format?
In case there was any doubt that they’re trying to copy the iTunes Music Store, their TV commercial is initially almost indistinguishable from the iTMS commercials. Buncha people, wearing headphones and holding portable mp3 players, dancing about and singing out loud to the music, against a white background.
Given the terms of the downloading, it’s misleading that they’re called BuyMusic. I hope that bites them on the ass.
