Music Companies Bemoan New High-Cap Portables 347
An anonymous reader writes "New Scientist reports: 'The music industry this week condemned the launch of two recording systems that will let people copy between 30 and 100 hours of music onto a single disc.'" The Sony system is supposed to use "ultra-efficient data compression system used in MiniDiscs" to fit "30 hours of MP3 music" on a CD-R. (I thought MD used ATRAC rather than MP3, and that ATRAC's standard bitrate was 285.3 Kbps -- can some MD gurus bring us up to speed?) Philips' system skips CDs, and instead uses a DVD burner, with the resulting disks playable in a to-be-released portable player. I wonder what kind of DRM features the companies will use to cripple each system.
Condemning doesn't mean much.. (Score:1, Interesting)
In other news... (Score:2, Interesting)
Apple Released a 100 GB iPod, to much fanfare
Notice how Sony's music division... (Score:5, Interesting)
Mike Tsurumi, a president of Sony Consumer Electronics in Berlin, insists that the move makes sense. "The music companies need to change their business model," he says.
Now if only the "content industry" were to hear and believe this.
It actually is (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sony is Schizophrenic (Score:5, Interesting)
Isn't there a CEO of Sony corporate who keeps his divisions in line with the goals (i.e. bottom line interests) of the company as a whole?
Japanese companies seem to have a thing for conglomerates. I suppose it helps to diversify, but how can something as scattered as Sony be said to have a coherent vision? The only unifying theme I can think of is tech - Sony makes just about anything that holds a computer chip, but they don't do snacks, and they don't do textiles. Strangely, they do make thermoses.
Amazing (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:As usual (Score:5, Interesting)
Because consumer copying, now equals piracy...
AOL (yes I use AOL and I don't care what you have to say on that subject) has on their exit screen an advert for the MusicNet thing.
It says:
"MusicNet on AOL: Burn CDs safely and legally with satisfaction guaranteed."
Erm... since when was burning a CD illegal... or risky (assuming low burn speeds?)
I mean... safely... is that a threat?
What would really rock... (Score:4, Interesting)
I Must Be Missing Something (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:In other news... (Score:1, Interesting)
How about a "DVD-Man"? (Score:2, Interesting)
Compete with yourself (Score:2, Interesting)
Funny, that's what compression is all about.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Lossy compression works by dropping the file size in a way that's meant to be difficult to perceive.
I have no idea what you're trying to say : )
Re:Philips incentive (Score:3, Interesting)
That only applies to the existing RedBook audio CD format (or Orange book? Whatever). I'm sure they wouldn't care -- and may even support -- new standards supporting DRM techniques.
What they disapproved of was companies bastardizing a format that Philips helped invent, breaking the established standards and then putting the logo on the disc as though it were compliant.
This would be like the W3C telling Microsoft that they can't put the term "CSS" on their browser. Microsoft would of course be free to invent a new, similar standard, and the W3C would likely even support it as a new standard. Just so they aren't claiming that it is CSS (not the best analogy, full of holes, but it let me get a jab in at MSIE
Anyway, I don't think Philips is in any way against DRM. As you said, they have no direct interest in it, in either direction, but they *do* have an interest in making money. If that means creating/supporting a new technology that provides for the recording companies' needs (and their support would certainly help the format to take off), then I'm sure they'd be in full support of it.
Just waiting for a meltdown (Score:3, Interesting)
Sony sue's itself due to percieved copyright infringement
Sony uses the DMCA against itself in America.
StarTux
Sony portable MP3/DVD Player ($299) (Score:2, Interesting)
A single DVD can contain 57 hours of 192kbps mp3, as you can imagine you could just hear the yells from the RIAA 20 blocks away when this beauty was released.
Re:See, the problem is... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:ATRAC3 (Score:2, Interesting)
It's a good site if you're into MP3. It's out of date now, as the author stopped updating last year sometime, but it's still a valuable resource and a great start on learning how to encode superior-quality MP3s.
Re:ATRAC3 (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't know much of the technical specs of the technology, but I do know this much:
There are three compression settings when recording, they all sound exactly the same to me, except that on the highest setting, I can easily get 5 hours of music to a single minidisk, and on the lowest setting I can barely get 1 hour of music to a minidisk.
So, since I can't hear the difference, 1 minidisk == 5 CDs, for me.
single tracks vs whole album argument sucks (Score:1, Interesting)
can i buy a titanium ibook case alone, to use as a legal pad holder?
can i subscribe to cable one channel at a time?
can i pay for only the interesting lectures at defcon?
half a serving of fries at mcdonald's?
half-shot of expresso at starbucks?
it's a fact of life that not every product is distributed in the way you prefer. it's not a divine mandated right that products must be delivered in the form you demand.
some claim to be willing to pay more for distribution in ways that they prefer. that's a start, but are you willing to pay *enough*?
if bill gates offered $1 million a track to get his music one track at a time, would the riaa not jump at the opportunity and embrace single-track distribution? if not them, then someone else.
but when some slashdot drone offers a whopping fifty cents a track, how can we be shocked when nobody bites?
paying more is not enough. you have to pay enough extra to make it worth their while.
some guy said he'd gladly pay a whopping FIFTY DOLLARS to buy all the greatest rolling stone hits ever on one uber-compressed cd.
right. and we still wonder why the riaa see's no reason to embrace this new technology.
Re:Sony had an interesting stance. (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm sure that the Sony Music Division (like most members of the RIAA [riaa.org]) isn't too excited about developing new business models, unless they can maintain their current control of the music industry.
Here's [com.com] a link about the arguments between the electronic and recording divisions of Sony.
Musician's POV (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, we own all the copyrights. But we don't mind the music being spread around for free. Four words: Word Of Mouth Advertising. Works wonders for any business. The more people hear it, the more people show up at gigs and buy CDs, T's, etc.
A device like this is a musician's dream. When you want to move music around, you're limited to the capacity of CD-Rs and RW's. Well, us po' musicians, anyway. LOL. But I digress. A device like this would save us a WORLD of trouble. All band members record whatever they work on, passing it back and forth via handheld devices such as this, and their computers at home.
The format to record and compress should be open standard, DRM-free codecs, like anything Vorbis. Since I'm the singer, but also something of a geek, I would much prefer Open Source options. Linux-based onboard OS? We know Sony's at least halfway Linux-friendly. They did put out a PS2 kit...
That'd most certainly be something I'd use. Screw DRM. Oh no, I'm going to pirate my own music! Better stop me before I can! I don't want a whole bunch of encryption crap in my music, just the music codec itself. That's just being a pain in the ass, and you know Microsoft is going to lobby for proprietary control. No, no, a hundred times no. Open Source, DRM-Free.
Oh wait. I'm sorry. Everything I stand for isn't what the RIAA/MPAA/MS want. This technology gives me more freedom, allows me to absorb some of the cost of getting a break, and makes things easier all-around. It lessens their involvment, and thus lessens the amount of bucks they deserve. That's bad, isn't it.
I'm just a dumb, awe-struck-by-the-business musician, what do I know...
Re:ATRAC3 (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:ATRAC3 (Score:3, Interesting)
My solution? I bought an Eiderol UA-5. 96 khz, 24-bit audio. Very nice mic pre's, balanced inputs, optical and coax digital I/Os, phantom power, for about the same price of a new minidisc deck. Coupled with a good mic, superior recording quality, and the 24-bit gives some headroom while setting recording levels.
Re:So did you do a double-blind test? (Score:1, Interesting)
Any half serious Audiophile probably won't be using PC equipment anyways. (Not unless it's a fairly customized system.) Many are either still stuck on Vinyl or SACDs.