Beware of Sony cd's

jimlintott said:
I don't know why the music business doesn't counter MP3 downloads with DVD Audio discs. I guess maybe no one cares about real fidelity anymore.
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Seriously? Maybe it's because MP3 players can be had dirt cheap. Not so for DVD Audio disc players. Maybe it's because MP3s can be ripped and burned any way you want them (well, mostly). No so for DVD Audio. Maybe it's because MP3 players are designed to be portable. Not so for DVD Audio players. MP3 and DVD Audio are completely different animals designed for different markets.

Anyway, I do agree that MP3 quality doesn't compare, but honestly, where do you listen to music the most? For me it's generally in the car, on the computer, and as background music. MP3 works fine for those settings. I don't put on too many concerts in my living room.

ETA: To stay on topic, bad Sony, bad....
 
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Sony suspends controversial CD production

'Nonetheless, as a precautionary measure, Sony BMG is temporarily suspending the manufacture of CDs containing First4Internet XCP technology. We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use,' the company said in a statement.
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Actually an IPod is more expensive than my DVD player that does DVD Audio playback. Alpine makes car decks that do DVD Audio playback (as well as CD, MP3 and WMA).

I didn't make my point clear enough though. I think that instead of being so paranoid that someone might make a compressed copy of a music track the music industry should push the high fidelity angle. In other words if you want to rip a CD to mp3 for your portable go ahead. If you want to download some music go ahead. But if you want to hear it the way it was meant to be heard then you'll want the DVD Audio disc. Otherwise you are just listening to compressed crap. Then they wouldn't need to bother with this DRM stuff. I want to buy the uncompressed format for the experience. Or, maybe as I said before people don't really care about fidelity.
 
High fidelity is why the FLAC and Apple Lossless formats were developed. They provided minimal, lossless encoding that produces a file that is good as the original.

http://flac.sourceforge.net/

I don't think the music industry can push just high-fidelity as selling point except to niche users -- they need other benefits too.

I can use my ipod to play music at home, and in the car. Your DVD audio recommendation requires two seperate players. My ipod currently has 5508 songs on it (around 30% of my total collection -- all legal), 6 videos (tv quality), and 70 photos on it and it fits in my pocket. Plus I already have an iPod.

If i wanted to switch to higher-fidelity DVD Audio I'd need another portable player (my DVD at home does play them already) -- that's the expense I'm referring to. DVD Audio may be able to get people deciding between MP3 player and something else by touting higher fidelity, but they've missed the boat for the millions with existing players.

Hmm, since I'm on third iPod (one got stolen) there is the possiblity of encouraging people to move when they want to upgrade, but I still prefer the smaller size and higher capacity of my ipod to a portable DVD Audio player.
 
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jimlintott said:
But if you want to hear it the way it was meant to be heard then you'll want the DVD Audio disc. Otherwise you are just listening to compressed crap. Then they wouldn't need to bother with this DRM stuff.
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Why wouldn't they need to bother with the DRM stuff? If DVD Audio discs were more popular then they'd be just as easy to copy as Hollywood movies.
 
Why wouldn't they need to bother with the DRM stuff? If DVD Audio discs were more popular then they'd be just as easy to copy as Hollywood movies.
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Have you downloaded a DVD image lately? Most people wouldn't bother especially if they offered them at a reasonable price. There will always be a group of people who will jump through hoops to 'beat the man' and get material for free. Most of us can't be bothered and will just buy the stuff. Recording music isn't exactly new. In the vinyl days many would immediately record their new record to cassette tape to save wear and tear on the fragile vinyl. I knew people who would record to open reel.

DVD Audio may be able to get people deciding between MP3 player and something else by touting higher fidelity, but they've missed the boat for the millions with existing players.
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MP3 players are perfect for portable music listening. Remember I was responding to someone wondering who buys CDs anymore. I can play MP3s through my home system as well and often do but only for background. If I want to sit and listen I would always get out the CD.

I still think that the recording industry is missing the boat. People are buying very good and sometimes very high quality home theatre systems. Good enough to benefit from the higher fidelity offered by DVD audio. Instead of trying to market to these consumers the music industry is running around in a panic and damaging their relationship with their customers.

If it was trivial for you to plug your iPod into a DVD player and dump tracks I bet you would be interested. You would get the benefit of the superior fidelity at home and the convenience of portability. This whole DRM thing is a bit of a red herring anyway. They moan that with digital you can make perfect copies. Yet the copies that are out there are far from perfect. With a high quality turntable and high end cassette deck we used to make better copies thirty years ago than most MP3s are today.

Online MP3 sales isn't going anywhere. It's a perfect portable format. However they are not suitable for serious listening and I hope that serious listening isn't a 'niche market'.
 
As far as buying CDs or DVDAs for higher quality music, well, I have two things to mention:
1) CDs and DVDs are a stupid format. An uprotected playing surface is stupid.
2) Anyone who pays for a 128kbit MP3 gets what they pay for. That's why higher bitrates exist, and we don't live in 1993 anymore...
 
Sony to pull controversial CDs, offer swap

LOS ANGELES — Sony BMG Music Entertainment said Monday it will pull some of its most popular CDs from stores in response to backlash over copy-protection software on the discs.

Sony also said it will offer exchanges for consumers who purchased the discs, which contain hidden files that leave them vulnerable to computer viruses when played on a PC.

"Sony BMG deeply regrets any inconvenience to our customers and remains committed to providing an enjoyable and safe music experience," the company said. Sony says more than 20 titles have been released with the XCP copy-protection software, and of those CDs, over 4 million have been manufactured, and 2.1 million sold.

Details about how long it will take to replace the XCP CDs and about its consumer exchange program will come later in the week, Sony said.
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It looks like I can't post URL's yet. Go on Ars Technica, and look for an article on Sony using Open-source code in it's disc's.
I'm very disappointed in Sony at the moment.
 
jimlintott said:
Have you downloaded a DVD image lately? Most people wouldn't bother especially if they offered them at a reasonable price.
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I've never downloaded a DVD image. With high speed internet I'm sure that many people do. But copying disks doesn't mean they have to downloaded. Look at all the pirated disks that are sold physically (there must be a lot since the music industry continues to worry about it).

jimlintott said:
If it was trivial for you to plug your iPod into a DVD player and dump tracks I bet you would be interested.
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??? If I wanted to dump tracks to an iPod it would be trivial. Just a matter of copying the disk to my hard drive and converting them. Not much more difficult (and much faster) that copying a vinyl album to a cassette tape.


jimlintott said:
This whole DRM thing is a bit of a red herring anyway. They moan that with digital you can make perfect copies. Yet the copies that are out there are far from perfect. With a high quality turntable and high end cassette deck we used to make better copies thirty years ago than most MP3s are today.
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With digital you can make perfect copies. The fact that most people prefer to make smaller files and lesser quality copies doesn't change the fact that it's just as easy to make a perfect copy as it is to make a 128 kb mp3. No matter how high the quality of a turntable and high end cassette deck you could never make an exact copy- and after just a few generations of copied copies there would always be a noticable quality loss. Digital exact copies after 100 generations of copying will still be exactly the same quality as the original.
 
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