new format to replace CDs?

[dongmin]

NYTimes article

Yet another media format hits the market, this one pushed by the recording industry.

Seems like a really lame attempt to me. I don't see any advantages in it, except for the recording industry. If you want to go small, why not just get an mp3 player?


Excerps:

'The newly released portable music format, called DataPlay digital media, is the latest technology joining a cornucopia of choices for consumers to play their favorite tunes through headphones connected to palm-size devices. The discs, contained in a clear plastic shell, are about the size of the ring in the center of a CD, or about one-fourth the size of a minidisc. They will be available in blank, recordable form as well as prerecorded, copy-protected albums.

Because of that last feature, DataPlay is being embraced by major record labels. So far BMG, Universal Music and EMI Group have signed on, say officials for DataPlay, which developed the technology.'

'Waves of prerecorded DataPlay discs will soon wash into record stores, starting with re-releases of top-selling albums by the likes of Britney Spears, 'N Sync, Pink, Usher, OutKast, Sarah McLachlan and Brooks & Dunn, BMG record executives say. Some musicians, including Carlos Santana, are scheduled to have new albums released simultaneously on CD and DataPlay.'

'The selling points borrow a page from the DVD playbook, the success story of the video marketplace. The prerecorded versions will also incorporate features like digital photo galleries and music videos that can be viewed when the player is connected to a PC, and even interviews, extended liner notes and music-related games. Future players may well include color L.C.D. screens to play music videos.'

'"We're excited," said Aahmek Richards, who is in charge of new media for Arista Records, which is part of BMG. "Technology should allow the business to change and grow in so many ways it never had an opportunity to do."'

'"Even though CD's have been good to it, the music industry would like CD's to go away," said Josh Bernoff, a principal analyst for Forrester Research, a technology consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. "They're too easy to rip."'

 

[djkut]

Post quote etc...

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Thanks

 

[Durandal7]

I heard from inside sources at Apple that CDs are slowly getting replaced by a newfangled thing called DVDs

 

[ShaolinMiddleFinger]

Originally posted by asurace
I heard from inside sources at Apple that CDs are slowly getting replaced by a newfangled thing called DVDs

no.....really?!?!?!

i hope they bring back those big black cd's, though....

 

[big]

do you remember LASERDISKS? those huge record like sized cd's?

 

[King Cobra]

I clearly remember LaserDisks like it was yesterday. My father has a stereo store in NY, and, when I was younger, I used to watch LaserDisk movies all the time, ranging from the comedy of The Private Eyes, to the graphic violence of Predator, to the fun and emotional passion of Free Willy. [Yes, I was watching Predator before I was 10. ] I was able to watch one hour of a movie before the LaserDisk had to be flipped over. It was a real pain, since it was big, heavy, and incredibly easy to ruin.

dongmin, and to anyone else with access to the NYTimes, I don't feel the need to register and send in personal information to get free news, and I am sure many others feel the same way.

So, if you don't mind, dongmin, will you post the article?

 

[Rajj]

Yeah it is called an iPod!!!

 

[rugby]

My question is regarding this quote:

'"We're excited," said Aahmek Richards, who is in charge of new media for Arista Records, which is part of BMG. "Technology should allow the business to change and grow in so many ways it never had an opportunity to do."'


How is this change going to benefit anyone but the RIAA? Sorry, I'll stick with cd's and my iPod (as long as they allow me to)

 

[748s]

the"industry" tried pushing those 8 track cartridge things as well. no 8 track recorders so it died.
saw a 1980's vinyl lp......had a "home taping is killing music" sticker on it...yeah right!

 

[clubsport]

DataPlay sucks.

I much prefer this new thing called a Mac... you can use it to store all of your music in this cool thing called iTunes and then transfer it to this other thing called an iPod...

 

[gopher]

Dataplay has one distinct advantage and that is that its cartidges are hard to scratch. And if it is non-magnetic, it could be the best of floppy and the best of CD. That's what I'd like to see. So far removable media either consisted of CDs which you would have problems if you accidently scratched the underside of (even worse when double sided), and all other media which has been magnetic and easily erased by electromagnetic fields. Still I don't like the copy protection. What ever happened to fair use? I should be able to make my own archival backups of data. If I can't then it is a waste of money on media and buying upgrades from software vendors. And then that eventually forces you to buy a new computer because an update may not run on your old one.

 

[Gatorman]

Originally posted by 748s
the"industry" tried pushing those 8 track cartridge things as well.

Actually, I thought 8 Track was the predacessor to today's Audio Tapes. Maybe I'm wrong.

Hey, also....I actually heard that Audio DVD's were making their way to the market to replace CD's. Anyone else heard about this?

 

[FattyMembrane]

if you go on cdnow.com you can buy audio dvds that will play through your home theater system. i like the compact, scratch resistant, multimedia capabilities of this new product, and can honestly understand publishing companies concerns with piracy, but gopher is absolutely right about fair use, and i think a lot of people are fed up with the RIAA$$holes destroying software products and wanting to go so far as to hack into our computers and delete our property. i think it will take a few years for the industry to realize that copy protected media really aggrevate people, especially the ones smart enough to get around its limitations.

 

[mnkeybsness]

the problem with DVD Audio is that your dvd player must be specified to work with DVD Audio discs...and most people have dvd players now and would not spring to buy a new one within at least 3 years...

...and SACD...what a waste...they are just too expensive and there is such a limited selection right now they would not catch on for years and years...

...lasers can actually read depth now and at one point in time they were talking about bringing 1"x1"x1" cubes that would hold data/music...haven't heard anything for about 2 years though.

 

[Pepzhez]

Dataplay has one distinct advantage and that is that its cartridges are hard to scratch.

There's already a reliable, well-established - at least in Asia and Europe - format that meets this criterion. It's called MiniDisc and has existed for 10 years now. A real shame that it remains a cult/niche format in the US because it truly is a fantastic medium.

The music industry gets stupider everyday. Dataplay is the most Draconian format I've ever heard about. If you read the fine print at their website, you'll discover that the (blank) discs are write-once, expensive and immune to copying. Dataplay also will require collection of personal info in order for you to "unlock" certain features of pre-recorded discs. That is, after you pay again. This format should be avoided like the plague.

And I'm sure that it will. Is anyone really going to buy this? I doubt it. It will fail miserably. Good riddance.

I guess the music industry is getting more and more desperate. They are confusedly and half-heartedly trying to market SACD, DVD-A and now Dataplay simultaneously - and meeting only with huge public indifference. Well, I don't buy anything on RIAA-related labels anyway, so I really don't care. I am, however, enjoying sitting back and watching it all collapse.

One should always REFUSE OUTRIGHT any format/device that infringes on your fair use rights. (I guarantee you that there is no way you will ever be able to get a Dataplay track into your ipod.)

 

[mdman]

Originally posted by Pepzhez


There's already a reliable, well-established - at least in Asia and Europe - format that meets this criterion. It's called MiniDisc and has existed for 10 years now. A real shame that it remains a cult/niche format in the US because it truly is a fantastic medium.

I've been using MD for over 2 years now. And I can't say enough good things about it. Although MD is hugh in Asia and starting to get really big in Europe, it just hasn't caught on here, I think because of the RIAA et al. They pretty much killed DAT, and would probably love to do the same thing to MD. I am still amazed that they sell systems with tape players. I would have thought by now people who have done away with their tape collections years ago.

Although I wish I would have waited when I bought my last MD player, as shortly after the iPod was released

 

[peterjhill]

This thing is going to sink as fast as Divx, and I don't mean the divx that lets you put a movie on a single cdr. Do you remember the competitor to dvd, that you need a special player for.

This thing will not sell. If an artist releases something on this format only, it will not sell. Or if it does, it will be to crypto-hackers who will break the format. They are insane if they think this will take off. If I can't take a song from a cd and load it up onto the iPod that is on it's way from apple to me as we speak, I will not purchase it. No fricking way.

 

[davidc2182]

yeppers y'all are right!

yep either the hackers are going to break the encryption or people will continue to buy CDs and then burn it to the new dataplay disks the blanks. Minidisc is an awesome format, the functionality of a CD without the hassle of scratches. I say if the world of music lovers unites and f*cks the RIAA and doesnt purchase any new music at all for umm 3 years and just pirates everything then they'll see how much we don't accept copy protection! and that we don't even have to purchase CD's to get the music we want and they cannot force us to!

 

[zaltar]

Copy protection...?

Cant basically any kind of copy protection be bypassed by hooking whatever playing media it is, say a CD player playing a copy-protected cd, up to the microphone input on a computer and recording it in analog? Sure there is a little loss of quality, but with high quality cables the quality loss would be less than whats lost in a conversion to MP3. Remember back in the days when people just recorded to tapes from the radio? Why all this technological encryption crap when we can bypass it that easily? Am i missing something? Please correct me if im wrong in this.

 

[vniow]

Yep, you can. The quality's not as good as a well-encoded MP3 but it can be done.

 

[zimv20]

Re: Copy protection...?

Originally posted by zaltar
Cant basically any kind of copy protection be bypassed by hooking whatever playing media it is, say a CD player playing a copy-protected cd, up to the microphone input on a computer and recording it in analog? Am i missing something?

you are missing nothing.

the "benefit" of analog tape, from the viewpoint of the record industry, is that successive copies degrade.

with the growing popularity of loss-less digital to digital copying, the RI is getting more and more desperate, as they (correctly) see a threat to the way they've done business for decades.

in your scenario, you'd be making one analog pass back to a digital format that doesn't have an anti-copy scheme built in. so you're good. we're all good. as long as blank CDs are made. or minidisks. or DAT. or computers.

the record industry as we know it is dead. it's just making a lot of noise as it goes down.

 

[zaltar]

To add to that, I think instead of wasting their money trying to stop the copying of music through MP3s and such, the RIAA develops a new standard of media of higher quality / content that we can't copy as easily. Such as when CDs first emerged replacing cassette tapes, burners and MP3s as we know them today didn't exist. Just a thought..... Its just the American way, i guess, to try to take everything to the courts.

 

[BongHits]

Originally posted by Gatorman

Originally posted by 748s
the"industry" tried pushing those 8 track cartridge things as well.

Actually, I thought 8 Track was the predacessor to today's Audio Tapes. Maybe I'm wrong.

Hey, also....I actually heard that Audio DVD's were making their way to the market to replace CD's. Anyone else heard about this?

they're trying to push new formats...super audio cd for audiophiles (which strangely is stereo...not really an audiophiles dream...) and then DVD Audio which is like a multimeda cd with videos and options for sound (5.1, stereo, etc.). You can find them in the DVD section at most best buys...but the selection is rather slim. here's to good old audio cd's.

 

[BongHits]

Originally posted by Pepzhez

I guarantee you that there is no way you will ever be able to get a Dataplay track into your ipod.

i guarantee your wrong, the question is will people hack dataplay's encryption if nobody buys it?? i say don't even pay attention to it...just let the recording industry invest their money in a lost cause so their's less money in the pot when they start suing individuals... i wonder how much longer the public will support them after the first lawsuit hits newstands...

o and btw, if they offered a $1.99 per month fee that allowed you to d/l any and all music on the label and burn to cd or ipod or whatever, would you go for it? I know i would. the only way the recording industry will stay afloat is if they realize $12.99 for 15 songs is ********. I could buy a quality movie for 7 more. make us a good offer and maybe we'll stop circumventing your methods.

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by big
do you remember LASERDISKS? those huge record like sized cd's?

haha! sure do. i still have a Pioneer LD player and about 20 disks. they were awesome because you could make awesome quality VHS copies without the protection laws of today's DVDs. i have no idea what i'll do with it. i think i'll hang onto them for awhile. imagine how funny those big 12" CDs will look in 20 years.