Members Music Calgary Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 Despite the terrible name slotMusic is coming... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122204010273861109.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hard Truth Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 The concept sounds reasonable, but unless they develop a standard that is accepted throughout the industry I don't think it will last long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 At first I thought it said "SlutMusic." Now THAT would have been interesting. I predict this experiment will fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Music Calgary Posted September 22, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 San Disk is about to be bought by Samsung I read. If so that may bode well for backroom-dealage. I predict this experiment will fail. I predict most people here with also have that as their first/second thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 I predict most people here with also have that as their first/second thought. I predict that you have predicted correctly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 I'm amazed at the capacity of those micro SD chip-cards, especially when I think about my first 10GB hard drive being the size of a microwave oven. But aren't most "appliances" that use SD cards using a proprietary format? You put the card in your camera or cell phone and the hardware has to format it. That won't do for a delivery mechanism, unless you need to buy the card in the correct format for your brand of phone or playback device. Imagine if CDs had to be made differently for playback depending on whether you had a Sony player or some other brand. I don't even like thinking about whether video game cartridges are XBox or Wii or PS3. Seems half-baked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 Continuing to try and find a physical delivery solution is where these companies are blowing it. They should be putting all their efforts into figuring out how to make downloadable distribution work - notwithstanding the fact that Apple already has Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slight-return Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 But aren't most "appliances" that use SD cards using a proprietary format? You put the card in your camera or cell phone and the hardware has to format it. couldn't tell ya abt most, but I'm generally seeing FAT(16 - and some 32 for the higher capacity stuff) [not that I think this will take off, just answering the question] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 couldn't tell ya abt most, but I'm generally seeing FAT(16 - and some 32 for the higher capacity stuff) Yes, that's why you can just stick the card in a card reader if you want to xfer files from your computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rabid Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 Yep. I have several 16 Gig cards that move between cameras, Tascam DR-1 and my computer with no problems and no extra formatting. I hope this format stays around for a while. I hate trying to find old memory cards for old groove boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rabid Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 After reading the article I have to ask, why would someone buy this? It's just extra work and a then useless memory card. As Craig said, I would much rather download than deal with this. Actually, I'd rather rip a CD and then put it in storage as back up like I currently do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members saktr-iyko Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 stillborn tech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 stillborn tech Great line! Let's see if it becomes part of the standard lexicon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 Continuing to try and find a physical delivery solution is where these companies are blowing it. Yeah, especially since they already found one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members doug osborne Posted September 22, 2008 Members Share Posted September 22, 2008 where's the yawn smilie?? (on one hand) What's not to like about this? Easy to carry - much smaller than a CD, tape, or LP. No moving parts in the player - player should last a lot longer than a CD player. No DRM. My phone (a Motorola Q) uses these transparently. (OTOH) If I'm going to buy music, I don't want lossy compression. These are too small - they should be credit card size, since anything smaller is hard to store, requires a big carrier to make it easy to carry, and these things the size of your fingernail are easy to lose. People complain about the graphic and info content on CD compared to LP - content is all virtual on these. Who wants physical media any more? Ten years too late. Twice the reasonable price. SanDisk already did this - Gruvi. One title (Stones Bigger Bang - I bought it, as a curiosity), and kaput. Heavy DRM and specialized PC players (no Mac and only two obscure phones were compatible). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cooterbrown Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 Yeah, especially since they already found one. There was always something magical about pulling that LP out of the sleeve, and pouring over liner notes/lyrics/artwork while that wonderful, full, harmonically rich, non-fatiguing, linear sound washed over me, courtesy of my early-70s Pioneer turntable, an all-tube Sansui reciever/amp that my Dad bought in Japan during his USAF service, in the late 60s, and my beloved Altec cabinets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 where's the yawn smilie??(on one hand) What's not to like about this? Easy to carry - much smaller than a CD, tape, or LP. No moving parts in the player - player should last a lot longer than a CD player. No DRM. My phone (a Motorola Q) uses these transparently.(OTOH) If I'm going to buy music, I don't want lossy compression. These are too small - they should be credit card size, since anything smaller is hard to store, requires a big carrier to make it easy to carry, and these things the size of your fingernail are easy to lose. People complain about the graphic and info content on CD compared to LP - content is all virtual on these. Who wants physical media any more? Ten years too late. Twice the reasonable price.SanDisk already did this - Gruvi. One title (Stones Bigger Bang - I bought it, as a curiosity), and kaput. Heavy DRM and specialized PC players (no Mac and only two obscure phones were compatible). At least business card size, but mini-disc never took off either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitzilla Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 At least business card size, but mini-disc never took off either. Mini disc seemed so cool...I have a home and portable mini disc player....now it is very UNcool. I still find uses for the portable believe it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 There was always something magical about pulling that LP out of the sleeve, and pouring over liner notes/lyrics/artwork while that wonderful, full, harmonically rich, non-fatiguing, linear sound washed over me, courtesy of my early-70s Pioneer turntable, an all-tube Sansui reciever/amp that my Dad bought in Japan during his USAF service, in the late 60s, and my beloved Altec cabinets. Truth is vinyl is as popular as ever in certain circles...and the medium requires a physical interaction that completes the physical delivery medium part. A record makes you pay attention. And the reality is that the audio was more than adequate (excepting some audio snobs and audio engineer types). Look at what people listen to now? (Mp3) From record to tape (in playback-i still stand by tape as the superior recording medium) was actually a regression... What's funny is the record format also ensures repeated sales. You play that sucker until it wears out and then go buy another. It's you favorite album, so you don't have any trouble with buying it again. People do get annoyed having to get burned by constant format changes, but buying another copy because you wore out the first is not the same. The music industry really shot themselves in the foot with digital delivery. At least previous formats guaranteed perpetual resale. Wait!... I just thought that one thing we may all be missing from these discussions is the cool factor. And which playback medium is the coolest? Of course, that would be the record. Which explains it's staying power. And with some decent marketing, the record could make a complete comeback as the main physical distribution format. Digital/mp3 serves as the radio (exposure), and the record is what you go buy if you are really into it. And lets' re-emphasize the marketing: People will do what the media tells them to. I don't think I need evidence to back up this claim. :lem::lem::lem::lem: Time to bring back the record. Billed as the premium way to listen to music (which is actually true, not some marketing hype). Of course, hype it and hype it. Just think of how much old record marketing could be dredged up from the vaults...now we get the vintage throwback factor, which is always a big seller. I swear I really need that record company CEO job. I can just go on for hours. I'm convinced the only reason they don't save the music business is because they don't want to. Because they sure are stupid or just can't see the obvious. I've had a whole mess of ideas I've bounced here at the forum, in addition to the mess of ideas everybody else has. Come on, you can't tell me that the members of this forum are the only people who can see the obvious? These people in the industry can't apply simple logic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 Mini disc seemed so cool...I have a home and portable mini disc player....now it is very UNcool. I still find uses for the portable believe it or not. Good God, you can still get Mini-disc business cards. Remember those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 Truth is vinyl is as popular as ever in certain circles...and the medium requires a physical interaction that completes the physical delivery medium part. That's for darn sure. Some stores have reported a 40% increase in their sales of LPs. And a lot of the big music fans that I know still buy vinyl. And yes, the physical aspect of an LP is what a lot of these music fans enjoy. The artwork, laying it on the turntable, the sound of it all, the whole bit. It's more of an experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 I even get it from watching records spin on Youtube. And that's minus the LP sleeve/etc... I bet it's youtube that caused some of that increase. I'm sure a lot of folks never saw a record spin until they saw it on youtube. The underground hip/hop and metal scenes have been the ones keeping vinyl going, as far as I can tell... Thanks for posting those numbers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 Here's what the Lefsetz newsletter says about slotMusic. Copyright 2008 by Robert Scott Lefsetz and reprinted with the express written permission of the author. -- Craig That's the problem. iPods are too hard to use. You can never find a USB cable. And what's with iTunes launching automatically, that SCARES PEOPLE! And thank god you can turn off automatic sync, to make it harder. And can you PLEASE tell me how to buy from the iTunes Store! What's this credit card information they keep asking for? Do you know what that is? I don't want to borrow any money... Or is it a credit like at the Zune Store? A point? That you can use to purchase music? Thank god we've got people like Rio Caraeff over at Universal Music to help me. To make it easy. Now selling music on micro-SD cards. Yes, I've got a phone with a micro-SD slot. I always take the back off my GSM phone. Yes, I decided on GSM because I travel the world. I believe CDMA carriers provide better service in the States, but... Yes, I'm aware that you can buy a BlackBerry with both chips. But usually when I go to Europe I take my U.S. phone and purchase a local chip and then go on Twitter and let everybody know my overseas number. Now I can bring a collection of micro-SD albums with me overseas! I've purchased a tiny little binder to collect all of them. And I've got a special rubber glove that allows me to pick them up. I love reading the liner notes on my mobile phone. It's so informative. Then I search via 3G technology and look up all the other credits of the players. It's so great living in the material world. ARE YOU {censored}ING NUTS? That's what's wrong with newspapers. Writing articles so neutral as to be uninformative. What's that cliche? If tomorrow Dick Cheney said the earth was flat, even the "New York Times" would write: "Roundness of the Earth in question." I'd be happier if newspapers didn't even give any ink to this inane business concept. Or were at least more critical. The L.A. "Times" article linked below did have some negative comments, but what about the whopper they failed to contradict? That the iPod and iTunes are just too difficult to use and that the micro-SD card is the solution? That's like saying telephones are too hard to use, that's why everybody's switching to VOIP. No, it's worse... That's like saying Mac OS X is too hard to use and everybody's switching to LINUX! Do you even know if you have a micro-SD slot in your phone? And, if you do, what are you going to do with the card inside when you buy an album? Talk about easy to lose... Let's go even worse... Can you remove the back off your phone? On the BlackBerries I've had it's nigh near impossible. As for the tiny card, you've got to raise a door, insert it just so, close the door, put the back back on... FOR EACH AND EVERY ALBUM? Oh, it's easy on an iPhone. Which doesn't have a slot, but has built-in GIGS of memory! But that syncs to the impossible iTunes. As for the BlackBerry itself. I won't say it's counterintuitive, but now that there's push e-mail on the iPhone, I'd switch if AT&T's connections weren't so heinous. slotMusic is an insane idea. Dreamed up by a company that has difficulty competing with Apple because it's got no software and is a heartbeat away from being taken over by Samsung. As for the labels running with this idea... Yup, they endorse nonstarters like this, but come up with an idea to actually give people what they want, online, and they say no. Furthermore, any success in music retail is going to come from LOWER prices, not higher. And, to quote the business cliche, companies are going to make it up on volume. And one more thing. For those so ignorant, for those at the labels getting their music for free... The only people who care about DRM/copyright protection ARE THOSE WHO ARE STEALING THEIR MUSIC! People who pay at the iTunes Store don't give a {censored}. Which is why the DRM-free tracks at Amazon and eventually MySpace Music are not taking over the market. You hear a lot of noise from the Net prognosticators, but those savvy enough to bitch online are also savvy enough to use BitTorrent. Utterly ridiculous idea doomed to failure. Next! http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-sandisk22-2008sep22,0,880869.story -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/--If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 Some guy in OJ said he draws the line at media that carries an "inhalation risk". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted September 23, 2008 Members Share Posted September 23, 2008 Thanks for the reprint, Craig! I still say my gas station idea, combined with rock bottom pricing would easily return viability to the CD format. It's in a thread around here somewhere for the uninitiated. Try a search, what ever term you use from beansaws to quicksand should work...these search engines follow no rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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