Sunday, February 27, 2005
Grab it while it's hot, kids (or, In which I vent profusely)
You might, if you were to spend a length of time with me, think that I like Russia. This could reasonably be inferred, and is to some extent true.
I also like music, and I like getting it digitally with a maximal selection and a minimum of fuss. Therefore, I officially endorse Allofmp3.com. I think Tycho of Penny Arcade! said it pretty well:
He's right, of course. I attempted an experiment in a similar vein this weekend with a thirty-dollar online cheque, and managed to find a veritable slew of music, all of it quality. Thanks to some recent (unwelcome, unhappy, etc etc) press, however, Allofmp3.com may be hit with the big, smelly arm of the recording industry. I highly recommend you carpe diem your way over there and take advantage of same while you can.
The interesting, the truly TRULY interesting bit about the Allofmp3.com story is how ironic it is. Here we have a music service that works. No DRM, lots of selection, incredible prices (~10c per track, or 1.70$ per album, depending on encoding, as you pay by file size), the format of your choice (yes, even OGGs), the list goes on. This service is popular and people like it. (If they didn't, it would not be getting the press or attention it is currently getting.) The entertainment industry gives the Me Too! treatment to every song that hits it big, and to every artist that scores a bit of mindshare. These same suit-types actively poll North America to try and find out who is appealing and who isn't. This economic machine has even gone so far as to try and take the whole "figure out if this is quality or not" out of their own hands!* And yet, they cannot mime a successful service**, nor listen to the customers when they say what they want to save their lives. I look at this, and all I can do is shake my head. People want to be able to do what they will with the things they buy. Customers do not want to be treated like criminals. WHY CAN'T YOU LISTEN!?
In the same post I linked to above, Tycho said that in trying to shut down Allofmp3, Christmas was being stolen. I postulate that since you can't "steal" a date or zeitgeist, instead, Santa Claus is being murdered with a hatchet. And nobody wants that, do they?
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* Trust me, I am so very aware that this is just another recipient of the patented Me Too! technique, you have no idea.
** One could make the argument that iTunes is a successful music service that works, and I would merely laugh at you, and point, and laugh some more (perhaps harder this time). Here's why. ¶ 10:02 p.m.
You might, if you were to spend a length of time with me, think that I like Russia. This could reasonably be inferred, and is to some extent true.
I also like music, and I like getting it digitally with a maximal selection and a minimum of fuss. Therefore, I officially endorse Allofmp3.com. I think Tycho of Penny Arcade! said it pretty well:
Every one of you already knows about this Soviet music service, but the experience has been so profound that I had to mention it. Quick information for you, if you don't know what I'm talking about: imagine that you could purchase digital media "by the pound," that is to say, purchase it according to the amount of space it takes up on the hard disk. Music as raw bits, a true commodity. That's essentially what the service is.
He's right, of course. I attempted an experiment in a similar vein this weekend with a thirty-dollar online cheque, and managed to find a veritable slew of music, all of it quality. Thanks to some recent (unwelcome, unhappy, etc etc) press, however, Allofmp3.com may be hit with the big, smelly arm of the recording industry. I highly recommend you carpe diem your way over there and take advantage of same while you can.
The interesting, the truly TRULY interesting bit about the Allofmp3.com story is how ironic it is. Here we have a music service that works. No DRM, lots of selection, incredible prices (~10c per track, or 1.70$ per album, depending on encoding, as you pay by file size), the format of your choice (yes, even OGGs), the list goes on. This service is popular and people like it. (If they didn't, it would not be getting the press or attention it is currently getting.) The entertainment industry gives the Me Too! treatment to every song that hits it big, and to every artist that scores a bit of mindshare. These same suit-types actively poll North America to try and find out who is appealing and who isn't. This economic machine has even gone so far as to try and take the whole "figure out if this is quality or not" out of their own hands!* And yet, they cannot mime a successful service**, nor listen to the customers when they say what they want to save their lives. I look at this, and all I can do is shake my head. People want to be able to do what they will with the things they buy. Customers do not want to be treated like criminals. WHY CAN'T YOU LISTEN!?
In the same post I linked to above, Tycho said that in trying to shut down Allofmp3, Christmas was being stolen. I postulate that since you can't "steal" a date or zeitgeist, instead, Santa Claus is being murdered with a hatchet. And nobody wants that, do they?
--------------------------------------------
* Trust me, I am so very aware that this is just another recipient of the patented Me Too! technique, you have no idea.
** One could make the argument that iTunes is a successful music service that works, and I would merely laugh at you, and point, and laugh some more (perhaps harder this time). Here's why. ¶ 10:02 p.m.
