Is the recording industry trying to kill CD's?

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by Lotus

This is a civil case.

What does that have to do with anything?
They are trying to set a legal precedent.
If they find a judge foolish enough to rule in there favor it will be bad for anyone that rips their own CD'S.

[deacongreg]

This is bad news. As long as you are not selling the music after you rip them to your computer, whats the problem. This goes back to my day and time of yester year when they tried to make a big deal of making your own music, or recording LPs on to cassettes. And went after those who mixed tapes, and then sold them.

They need to spend their time doing something else. Like making high res Dolby Master Audio, DTS etc.....

[mrmusic]

Originally Posted by deacongreg

This is bad news. As long as you are not selling the music after you rip them to your computer, whats the problem. This goes back to my day and time of yester year when they tried to make a big deal of making your own music, or recording LPs on to cassettes. And went after those who mixed tapes, and then sold them.

They need to spend their time doing something else. Like making high res Dolby Master Audio, DTS etc.....

Amen, Deacon!!

First of all, as an editor, I'm bothered by the title of this thread. It's "CDs," not "CD's." I think that was covered in third or fourth grade.

Second, this thread is in the wrong area. It's not off-topic, unless you think music and recording and playback and all the issues upon which this venerable publication was founded and about which Jerry constantly rants so passionately are off-topic. "High Resolution Music: CDs ..." would be the better place for people interested in this. We've had lots of other threads there around this kind of topic.

But most importantly, I can't believe anyone is so anxious to send people to jail. Over music!

Yes, the topic is the issue of making it illegal to even transfer the music you paid for to your own computer, which is so 1984 it would be shocking if we weren't used to it by now (like Winston, I'll never get used to it), our current administration having become so bold in their unfettered brainwashing of the masses to accept such constitutionally illegal (remember the Constitution? anybody?) Big Brother intrusion as good and necessary in a 9/11 world.

And yes, I agree that taking something for free that the creative artist deserves to be paid for is wrong. But it's a complex issue with a history, not some cut-and-dried it's-stealing-and-it's-wrong-and-you-should-go-to-jail thing.

Bottom line is you can't legislate morality. Witness prohibition, the failed "war" on drugs, criminalization of homosexuality, Jim Crow, and so on. Technology convergance got us to a place where this is possible, now we need to use that technology to find a just resolution. The recording industry, the RIAA, needs to solve this thorny problem, but their answer is to flaunt the law and trash all privacy issues and the democratic traditions of our once-great nation and go after their customers and slam them in jail.

I don't know the answer yet, but I know that's not right. As a career music writer/editor/fanatic who has spent his life around musicians and with a wife and daughter who are professional musicians, I'm certainly sympathetic to the artists' cause. But complex issues require thoughtful, fair resolution. The easy response is the simpleminded, violent one: throw 'em in jail! bomb 'em to kingdom come! -- oh, we destroyed mostly innocents in our fervor to get the bad guys? Too bad! Collateral damage, can't be helped, there's no other way. 9/11.

The recording INDUSTRY is clueless as to how to save their own worthless position, because they detached themselves from the creative end decades ago and put the suits in charge. There are solutions, I'm sure, which may even put the artist in a better position than ever before (what do you mean, our debut album sold 2,000,000 copies and all we get is a pass to Disneyland?!), but I'm also sure by now that those solutions are not going to come from the RIAA.

Check out Terry McBride and his Nettwerk label, started in 1984 (whoa!!) in Vancouver. What Radiohead did with their last album was really interesting.

Long live Free (meaning, unfettered) Music! Long live the Artists, not the bloodsuckers nor their vengeful minions.

[bekbob]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

What is the recording industry thinking?

What are they thinking indeed. It truly boggles my mind when I see how they behave. I swear they want to kill the entire industry. It's the corporate version of watching Jimi or Janis or Jim or Kurt go down the tubes.

Do they really think consumers are going to forget about the iPod or never use their computer for music ever again? We'll just erase the mp3 from history and stop all further advancement. The industry has stumbled and screwed up for so long that you now have an entire generation of teens out there that have NO EXPERIENCE in paying for music. What a mess. How did they f**k it all up so badly?

DRM will kill music. Closed systems will kill it. Copy protection will kill it. Fair pricing and greater quality, greater flexibility and better interactivity could save it.

The CD should be killed, TOMORROW. It was obsolete a week after the DVD caught on. Now that we have blu-ray, we're onto the third optical disc generation. (many more so if you count mini-disc and SACD and DVD-A, all of which I own.) The CD is now a pathetic, obsolete joke. We may be laughing, but we're not buying.


Starting tomorrow, release only music on DVD or better. Because Sony killed DVD-A with yet another format war, just release it as high def PCM, DD 5.1, DTS. That's still far better than what CD offers. Have the DVDs graphical UI to show the tracks, liner notes lyrics, etc.

Most importantly, put a folder on every DVD with the mp3 files for your iPod / zune / car / whatever. Market the mp3 folder as the "low-res" portable files for you to take with you. Market the DVD files with the current buzz word, high def. Yes market it as high-def audio, consumers will understand that.

Or jump right to blu-ray if you want. Same thing, put a damn folder of mp3s on every disc for people to travel with. Market the main files as high-def audio. Have the graphical UI and bring back liner notes, lyrics and pictures on everyone's nice new HDTVs.

Charge $15 a disc and people WILL start buying their same old favorites all over again. With the included mp3 folders, there will be little or no ripping of the HD files. Yes there will be some trading of the mp3 files. Look at that as the new promotion, the new radio. It's the high-def music you'll be selling.

End the CD tomorrow. Then follow a path like this and you have a chance. Or don't and die.

p.s - drop the dual-disc or cd-dvd packs. the ONLY purpose of the CD side is to rip to mp3. just put the mp3 folder on the DVD and be done with it. then the masses will move away from ripping, which is what you want.

[kennyt]

Originally Posted by bekbob

Starting tomorrow, release only music on DVD or better. Because Sony killed DVD-A with yet another format war, just release it as high def PCM, DD 5.1, DTS. That's still far better than what CD offers. Have the DVDs graphical UI to show the tracks, liner notes lyrics, etc.

Most importantly, put a folder on every DVD with the mp3 files for your iPod / zune / car / whatever. Market the mp3 folder as the "low-res" portable files for you to take with you. Market the DVD files with the current buzz word, high def. Yes market it as high-def audio, consumers will understand that.

Yeah, the music industry seem to be the only ones still sniffing glue! The only company I know that is doing what you suggest here is Monster with their Monster Music discs. I own all but the new Al Jareau one and they are fantastic discs (the Ray Charles Genius Loves Company is AWESOME) and they have MP3 files on them to directly import to your computer. This is a great idea, but yet another one the corporate bosses have shunned.

Seems the music business actually believes that CD made them rich, so it should keep them rich. I guess one day, when all the old codgers die away and are replaced by younger people, maybe we'll see this happen, or maybe they'll just sit back and watch the entire industry die off.....

[prerich]

Originally Posted by bekbob

What are they thinking indeed. It truly boggles my mind when I see how they behave. I swear they want to kill the entire industry. It's the corporate version of watching Jimi or Janis or Jim or Kurt go down the tubes.

Do they really think consumers are going to forget about the iPod or never use their computer for music ever again? We'll just erase the mp3 from history and stop all further advancement. The industry has stumbled and screwed up for so long that you now have an entire generation of teens out there that have NO EXPERIENCE in paying for music. What a mess. How did they f**k it all up so badly?

DRM will kill music. Closed systems will kill it. Copy protection will kill it. Fair pricing and greater quality, greater flexibility and better interactivity could save it.

The CD should be killed, TOMORROW. It was obsolete a week after the DVD caught on. Now that we have blu-ray, we're onto the third optical disc generation. (many more so if you count mini-disc and SACD and DVD-A, all of which I own.) The CD is now a pathetic, obsolete joke. We may be laughing, but we're not buying.


Starting tomorrow, release only music on DVD or better. Because Sony killed DVD-A with yet another format war, just release it as high def PCM, DD 5.1, DTS. That's still far better than what CD offers. Have the DVDs graphical UI to show the tracks, liner notes lyrics, etc.

Most importantly, put a folder on every DVD with the mp3 files for your iPod / zune / car / whatever. Market the mp3 folder as the "low-res" portable files for you to take with you. Market the DVD files with the current buzz word, high def. Yes market it as high-def audio, consumers will understand that.

Or jump right to blu-ray if you want. Same thing, put a damn folder of mp3s on every disc for people to travel with. Market the main files as high-def audio. Have the graphical UI and bring back liner notes, lyrics and pictures on everyone's nice new HDTVs.

Charge $15 a disc and people WILL start buying their same old favorites all over again. With the included mp3 folders, there will be little or no ripping of the HD files. Yes there will be some trading of the mp3 files. Look at that as the new promotion, the new radio. It's the high-def music you'll be selling.

End the CD tomorrow. Then follow a path like this and you have a chance. Or don't and die.

p.s - drop the dual-disc or cd-dvd packs. the ONLY purpose of the CD side is to rip to mp3. just put the mp3 folder on the DVD and be done with it. then the masses will move away from ripping, which is what you want.

I don't know, I was told on a forum yesterday that because I support AnyDVD HD, I'm helping kill HD movies before the get to the masses (by bypassing HDCP so I can use multiple monitor) - isn't this like DRM? Isn't this copy protection? I'm saying this to make a point - this is what the industry is coming to. Mark my words - Remember we own no content only the rights to use said content as the owners see fit.