No Universal Music Standard Any Time Soon

[HardOCP News]

For those of you holding out hope that somehow the major record studios would agree on a universal standard any time soon are out of luck.

A world where music-lovers can buy from Apple's iTunes or any of the hundreds of online music stores and services, then listen to it the way they want, looks a long way off. This is what is emerging this week at the world's biggest music industry trade fair, MIDEM, where major record labels have come under increasing pressure from all sides to sell music in unprotected formats.

 

[n1ce_hat]

I wish the entire industry would agree on a new premium format like SACD or something similar. Right now high-def-like audio is so hard to find and the SACD players are few and far apart.

Hopefully whichever video format takes control (HD-DVD / Betaray) also has a solid audio-only version (and supported).

 

[stabilep]

I don't think there is enough demand for hi-def audio except from the audiophile market. Besides they have bigger issues they need to focus on like digital distribution and not selling inferior quality audio online at the same cost of the CD.

 

[Team Obi Juan]

I don't think there is enough demand for hi-def audio except from the audiophile market. Besides they have bigger issues they need to focus on like digital distribution and not selling inferior quality audio online at the same cost of the CD.

LOL

This post is pure win. Read the first sentence, and then the second sentence carefully... I seriously laughed out loud on this.

I thought we already had a standard... m...p...3... anyone trying to change that needs to get bent.

 

[defuseme2k]

mp3 is the only way to get my money. Realistic? Absolutely, at their current rate they'll run out of money trying to fight the one thing that makes any sense.

 

[CyberDeus-RagDoll]

LOL

This post is pure win. Read the first sentence, and then the second sentence carefully... I seriously laughed out loud on this.

I thought we already had a standard... m...p...3... anyone trying to change that needs to get bent.

Does mp3 store 5.1 channel audio?
Does it work without quality loss? (and I don't mean "Detectable" quality loss)

Is it drm friendly, so that the music can't be pirated?


Just because the way the music industry handles protecting product sucks, doesn't mean that the product should not be protected.

Anyone on here who truly thinks that one guy who buys a music cd should be able to legally copy and burn it and hand it out to all his friends is secretly hoping for a future where a large portion of music will never get created.

Do you think bands like the beatles would have ever gotten signed if the projected income from them was from 1 out of 100 people actually buying an LP, and the other 99 copies of "Why don't we do it in the road" were dubbed?

Yes, the music industry is greedy, but, they are also the ones that bring this music to us. I admit, that is changing, and they need to get with the times, but "most" Music that people listen to is still processed through the machine. There are a lot more people who listen to "top40" than some underground band that just cuts their own cd's on a mac (not saying that's a good thing)

Yes, the reverse is true, there are probably some great bands that we've never heard of cause the industry didn't think they were "marketable" ..

I say this from the POV from someone with a 160GB mp3 collection, AND who has released 3 albums in his lifetime. (Working on #4) Our first album would NEVER have seen the light of day were it not for some "record exec", albums 2 & 3 probably sold about 100 copies each, though, but that's because we never really promoted them.

 

[defuseme2k]

'eh nobody is promoting piracy by saying they should move to mp3. I say by not doing that, they are encouraging it. People want to use their music freely, on any device. Its not about giving it to your friends. Copy protection will never, ever, ever work. I want mp3's, and I'll get them one way or another period, or I won't listen to the music. However, that doesn't mean I won't pay for it.

 

[stonedwaldo420]

'eh nobody is promoting piracy by saying they should move to mp3. I say by not doing that, they are encouraging it. People want to use their music freely, on any device. Its not about giving it to your friends. Copy protection will never, ever, ever work. I want mp3's, and I'll get them one way or another period, or I won't listen to the music. However, that doesn't mean I won't pay for it.

You are exactly right. DRM has never worked and will never work. All it takes is ONE person to crack the DRM and it is totally useless. The vast majority of CD’s are not copy protected and people have been able to make copies of CD’s for over a decade now. Following CyberDeus-RagDoll’s logic, no artists should have made any money for the last ten years since there was nothing stopping everyone from just making copies for their friends.

Obviously that is not the case. The fact is that the majority of people who pirate music (be it downloading or getting copies from friends) are below the demand curve. What this means is that they do not have the money to purchase CD’s or legitimate music in the first place. While the recording industry may loose a few percent from people who could afford it but now download, the vast majority if people still purchase their music. WHY? Because it is a pain in the a$$ to deal with crappy burned CD’s from friends or spend all the time to download the music and then have to burn it onto a CD.

However, I have read a few research articles that make the case that in the long run, all this piracy will be good for the recording industry. WHY? There are a lot of people right now listening to music that would otherwise not be able to afford it. Also, most of these people that cannot afford it are in their teens or early 20’s. By having access to free or extremely low cost music (allofmp3.com), these people are developing a life-long love for music. As these people get into their 30’s and 40’s, start families, get good jobs, etc, their disposable income will go up, and their free time will go down. These people will no longer be able to afford the time it takes to pirate their music. However, they will be able to afford those reasonably priced CD’s that the recording industry starts selling in 2015 ($5 - $10 sounds reasonable).

Thanks to piracy, there are tens of thousands of people enjoying music that would normally not have been able to afford it. Even if the recording industry looses a few million dollars (maybe 1% of their total revenue?), the added benefit to society is tremendous. Lets hope that the recording industry figures out a way to sell product at a FAIR price to these new music lovers.

 

[Axiomatic]

Is music worth the cost of protecting it with DRM?
The answer is NO.

Is proven copyright infringement worth fighting in court?
The answer is YES.


The RIAA is just focusing on the wrong target (paying customer) when they should be in the courts suing the right people (pirates) who actually DID break the law.

Any deviation of this violates the paying customers "fair use" rights.

There is no gray area here.

 

[the miser]

However, I have read a few research articles that make the case that in the long run, all this piracy will be good for the recording industry. WHY? There are a lot of people right now listening to music that would otherwise not be able to afford it. Also, most of these people that cannot afford it are in their teens or early 20’s. By having access to free or extremely low cost music (allofmp3.com), these people are developing a life-long love for music. As these people get into their 30’s and 40’s, start families, get good jobs, etc, their disposable income will go up, and their free time will go down. These people will no longer be able to afford the time it takes to pirate their music. However, they will be able to afford those reasonably priced CD’s that the recording industry starts selling in 2015 ($5 - $10 sounds reasonable).

Thanks to piracy, there are tens of thousands of people enjoying music that would normally not have been able to afford it. Even if the recording industry looses a few million dollars (maybe 1% of their total revenue?), the added benefit to society is tremendous. Lets hope that the recording industry figures out a way to sell product at a FAIR price to these new music lovers.

I completely agree. I probably bought more music on cd during the "Napster" days than anytime before or after. I'm pretty sure 80% of the music acquired through napster/morpheus/etc. I have on my pc eventually led me to buy it on cd format. The other 20% is unreleased Drum and Bass tracks. Sadly enough I would have paid more for this 20% as they are by far more rare and harder to find.