MP3 downloads

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Pricey

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Just a feasibility study at the moment, but the technology is definitely out there. Considering we're all logged on to the forum these days it wouldn't be hard to click on a purchase button on a site to buy an MP3 (or Ogg Vorbis / whatever) track.

I'm not thinking as a replacement to CDs, but a way of getting exactly what you want when you want it (how many times do you just want tracks 1,5 and 7...).

Obviously this would only work with the full co-operation of the labels out there, and it's never going to work if people buy once and then let their mates copy it (and so on).

Just an idea at the moment, and I wanted to get a feel for the perception of it in the marketplace before pursuing further. Comments and criticisms welcome…
 
At a quid a track a full album is still going to cost about a tenner, even at 50p a track it's a fiver which I consider too much for a download especially considering that you can pick up plenty of great Psy CD's for that sort of money with cases and everything and you don't have to put up with someone elses rips.

(EDIT)
OK so you did say that it won't be to replace CD's - but it will be difficult to get that message across to the market as evidenced by my hasty response
 
One of the main problems this approach runs into right away is quality of recording. People will bang on all day about how 192kbps is fine, they can't hear any difference, etc, right up to the point where you say "OK then, 192kbps, £1 a track, roll up roll up". At which point no-one wants to know because who wants to pay for an inferior rip? :) WAV files are still a bit big for most people to download and lossy compression (mp3, ogg, wma etc) is, well, lossy.
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (generaljoe @ Jan 27 2004, 02:01 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> One of the main problems this approach runs into right away is quality of recording. People will bang on all day about how 192kbps is fine, they can't hear any difference, etc, right up to the point where you say "OK then, 192kbps, £1 a track, roll up roll up". At which point no-one wants to know because who wants to pay for an inferior rip? :) WAV files are still a bit big for most people to download and lossy compression (mp3, ogg, wma etc) is, well, lossy. [/quote:41735da9c9]
Agreed...Mp3s are shite quality...if you *have* to have em, then they need to be 320Kbps (or greater) and, at that point, they are getting big...

The music industry, in general, is in a quandry over this...Just how can you charge for something that is obviously poor quality? And, assuming that you persuade folks to download at all, how much would they pay for 128K, 160K or 192K track, bearing in mind that alot of the world is still on 56K dial-up links?

Personally, I wouldn't pay at all....I might (and occassionally do) download tracks for a quick shufty or to play on my PC as background while I do other things....

But, as you said, I'd rather fork out for a proper CD than pay for a download!
 
This is something flo has been saying for some time, As a dj it gets very expensive to get hold of the tunes... and out of each album your lucky if you get 3 or four tunes you really like .... it would be so cool if you could pay by track to download a full high quality wav files and make up your own compilations.... the tunes would be out faster a much better service for the dj

just because most of the world is on dial up doesnt mean the service shouldn't be available. so come on mick chaos.. talk to the powers that be...
 
All seems like a good idea as long as the download dosn't bomb out half way when you have already paid. You may need some kind of message conferming a compleat download before funds can be transferd.
Lets face it people pay well over 50p or even a quid for a shity ring tone so why not a full tune even if it's only MP3

Apparently as my dear brother has just informed me OGG files are much better quality and compressed to smaller sizes. but they can't be played on an Mp3 player.
 
since when were tracks released to give good service to the DJ???

Here was me thinking that if i bought an album say, that someone had spent who knows how many hours pondering about what went where, and how the tracks interrelated...

...artists are getting shafted by MP3's. the scene is getting shafted by MP3's. that means less artists producing, which means less music, which means smaller scene, etc, etc, etc.

this gives a bad service to the DJ.

I think that a lot of people out there somehow think that they are excluded from the MP3 embargo, i.e. an 'it won't matter if I do it.' mentality. All I can say is stop being so fookin' selfish.

No prizes as to guessing where my vote went then.

:peace:
 
um, yeah, as floroworld said, id be very happy to pay up to a quid for a download of a full quality wav. this could be quite a good thing for the scene in a sense as i feel that, as there are so many releases these days (anyone can hop onto logic and put the time in and make some half decent tunes), you have to admit that it might get rid of the crap that sits among the two or three good tunes on an album (serious generalistation, obvously there are cds where everything is amazing, just we need more like this) as only the good tunes would sell therefor pushing the artists to make better music therefor 'cleansing' the scene a bit. you d end up paying 3 quid for the tunes you want, not 13 quid for 6 tunes you werent too impressed with.
dont really know what im rambling on about and i think i might have lost the plot a bit, but what the hell..

:huh: :huh:

:D
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Pricey @ Jan 27 2004, 11:48 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> it's never going to work if people buy once and then let their mates copy it (and so on). [/quote:c369b82e05]
Theres your fatal flaw right there. Why spend even 50p when you can get it for nothing?

Until there is a significant advantage to buying a CD [or whatever medium comes next] a huge number of people will opt for "free" over "not free" every time.

Sticking a movie or a load of gfx on the end of the CD adds no significant value to most people - the music is 99.99999999% of the deal so no real incentive there. Not to mention, of course, that a movie is just as easy to rip and stick on Kazaa as a bunch of mp3 tracks.

Mates copying is not the problem. That has been going on for years and years with cassettes and has caused the music industry no major problems. Sharing it with 250 million [the number of times Kazaa has been downloaded to date] mates simultaneously is what is strangling the labels and the distributors.

One the music is out there, it is out there and if you're relying on the goodwill and conscience of 250 million file-swappers for the future of your industry - you are well and truly shafted.

Bottom line is - all music - in fact all recorded media - can be digitised and distributed via p2p networks and nothing short of a miracle will stop it.

Miracles do happen, and who knows what the future holds?

Not me until I get my crystal ball back from the menders.
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (chris H @ Apr 20 2004, 10:53 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> (anyone can hop onto logic and put the time in and make some half decent tunes) [/quote:c2419f6fe5]
Great - just what we need.

More "half-decent" tunes.


:blink:
 
i reckon a small part of the reason there is such a problem is that there are just too many artists (who just dont produce consistently good innovative music) and to be honest, im getting a bit sick of buying albums where i dont feel ive got value for money. you cant stop people making music, and thats wicked and if people wanna release it then fair play! spose there are so many labels that will keep releasing...having said that though if the problem with mp3s persists mabey a lot of record labels will go under, thus leading to less releases and more quality on each album... dont know whether thats a good or bad thing really...
i hope someone sets up a pay for wav thing soon, i reckon theres a nich, at least i hope so... at least the downloaders need to have the option of paying for it!

i dunno, its a crap situation all this :no:

:peace:
 
the other thing i've noticed, is that it's mainly the good stuff that distirbuted on P2P networks. I mean, you will find all the big releases, but you are much less likely to find something out on say 'elektrik orgasm' records.

This would have a reverse effect to the one you just outlined above, Chris. The major players, who are producing the better quality records will get pissed off that no-one is buying their records and desert the scene. That would leave the part timers with lesser talents holding the fort. Not good for scene.

Please note, that is no reflection on Elektrik Orgasm records - they are in fact one of my favourite labels. :D
 
I download _a_lot_ of music, I also buy _a_lot_ of music, usually after I've downloaded it to check that I actually like it. If I was a record company I would release all my tracks at a lame quality for free downoad, say 96kbs, this way you could track the downloads, maybe introduce some sort of subscription and targetted marketting (similar to amazon). If you are worried about the bandwidth issues on servers, then embrace modern technology such as bittorrent, offer people incentives to do your hosting for you.

If I like an album I pretty much always buy it. If I don't, well I don't. Until CDs become cheaper I will continue to download. I don't see how you can be expected to fork out nearly 20 quid in some instances for something that you haven't heard and sometime can be utter shite.

I really recommend anyone interested in the danger record companies are putting the development of new technology in, to read books or articles by a guy called lawrence lessig. http://www.lessig.org/

I could rant on about paralells to the catholic church in the seventeenth centry but I'll leave that for another day :)
 
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