Been thinking lately about how crappy the future would be if the only way you could purchase your music would be to download it via the internet. In other words, when recordings are no longer being sold as physical objects [LPs/CDs]. I include uncompressed files here too [flac, wav, etc]
Reasons:
1. Promotion: It would be bad for the record companies because promoting files would be much harder than promoting a physical CD. Can you imagine a new music act on Jay Leno and instead of holding up their new CD all he can say is "Here's blah blah playing a song from their new file set"? Yuck!
2. Rights management: A major record company would never give you a unrestricted file. And soon the smaller companies won't either. And the limitations will only become more strict.
3. I believe that it was Sam Tellig who said "It's hard to cherish a file" a few issues back. I agree.
4. People who really like music tend to think more on an "album" basis rather than on a track basis.
5. Physical recordings are coveted things by music lovers. To bend Mr. Tellig's phrase "It's hard to covet a file"
6. Album Art: Can you imagine an album like Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" without the prism cover? When I think of the songs I think of that cover. When I see that cover I think of those songs. The whole package is art. Art that I can hold in my hands. Seeing the cover on some small LCD screen on a music server just isn't the same. Sorry.
I'm sure I could go on but I won't.
The bottom line: I hate to imagine a day when my precious music is stored as files on a hard drive after being dowloaded from some online "store". I will quit buying music!
I know that many audiophiles are embracing this "diskless" future but I cannot. The album art, liner notes, and actual CD/LP are just too important to me to give up for convenience sake.
Thoughts?
Opinions?
Flames?
Been thinking lately about how crappy the future would be if the only way you could purchase your music would be to download it via the internet. In other words, when recordings are no longer being sold as physical objects [LPs/CDs]. I include uncompressed files here too [flac, wav, etc]
Reasons:
1. Promotion: It would be bad for the record companies because promoting files would be much harder than promoting a physical CD. Can you imagine a new music act on Jay Leno and instead of holding up their new CD all he can say is "Here's blah blah playing a song from their new file set"? Yuck!
2. Rights management: A major record company would never give you a unrestricted file. And soon the smaller companies won't either. And the limitations will only become more strict.
3. I believe that it was Sam Tellig who said "It's hard to cherish a file" a few issues back. I agree.
4. People who really like music tend to think more on an "album" basis rather than on a track basis.
5. Physical recordings are coveted things by music lovers. To bend Mr. Tellig's phrase "It's hard to covet a file"
6. Album Art: Can you imagine an album like Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" without the prism cover? When I think of the songs I think of that cover. When I see that cover I think of those songs. The whole package is art. Art that I can hold in my hands. Seeing the cover on some small LCD screen on a music server just isn't the same. Sorry.
I'm sure I could go on but I won't.
The bottom line: I hate to imagine a day when my precious music is stored as files on a hard drive after being dowloaded from some online "store". I will quit buying music!
I know that many audiophiles are embracing this "diskless" future but I cannot. The album art, liner notes, and actual CD/LP are just too important to me to give up for convenience sake.
Thoughts?
Opinions?
Flames?