An open letter to all major record labels (except EMI)
Dear Major Record labels (except EMI):
I would like you to reconsider your opposition to offering DRM free music on the iTunes music store. Why, you ask? Pay attention, this is really important: I want to buy your product. Your musics, let me buy them. I’m in my early thirties; after listening to the radio for most of my life, I have a long list of music I want, and I have a load of disposable income.
Unfortunately, I am not interested in buying 128kbps DRM encrufted garbage. 128kbps AAC sounds like fingernails on a blackboard. Maybe it sounds okay in those tiny iPod earbuds, I wouldn’t know; all three pair that I own are still wrapped in plastic sitting in my junk drawer. And as for DRM, DRM scares me. I’m afraid of getting locked out of my music. Plus, my DRM tunes don’t play in other software applications that can play AAC files. So for me, iTunes Plus is perfect. I can get 224kbps AAC files that I throw on my hard drive, backup to CD, copy to my wife’s computer so she can play them on her iPod, and so on. I can stream them to the Apple TV we’re going to buy later this year.
Yes, I know, you all have your full catalogs on Amazon.com available as MP3 files, and yes, I know that I can play MP3 files on my iPod. Probably you are hoping to hold out and use Amazon as a lever to dictate terms to Steve Jobs or some such Machiavellian shit. Listen, I don’t care about your pissing contest with Steve Jobs. I want to buy my music from iTunes. I do not want to leave the sweet, sweet Apple ecosystem.
Here’s how it would work in my ideal life. Every few weeks, I’d drop 25 or 50 bucks on an iTunes gift card at Target. I’d come home, punch in my code, and start downloading new music. When I got sick of my new music, I’d go out and buy another card. Rinse, lather, repeat.
Which brings me to the problem. I’ve already bought all of the iTunes Plus music I want (all 1 album and three songs worth). I need the rest of you guys to get on board the Appletrain. Normally, at this point I’d be raging at my computer screen, frothing at the mouth, angry as hell that I have money I want to give to you bastards that you don’t want to take for some reason. But earlier this week I had a stunning idea.
No, I’m not talking about downloading music illegally. I graduated from college, I have a full time job, a wife, and a 15 month old child. I don’t have time for that shit. Most of what’s out there is crappily encoded MP3s, anyway. And I may have disposable income but there’s no way I can afford to spend 15-20 bucks a CD to buy everything I want new, especially since in most cases I only want a couple songs off an album.
Nope, I got four words for you: cheap used CD stores. In many cases, I can go to the local Cheapo record store and buy a couple CDs that have one or two tracks I want on them for 3 or 4 bucks each. Sure, it’s more expensive for me than iTunes Plus would be, but, and this is the important point, I can encode this music however I want. Now, I have a modicum of ethics, and I refuse to buy a bunch of cheap used CDs, rip them, and sell them back to the store — that would be wrong. No, I’m just buying used CDs because you won’t sell me brand new, shiny, high quality, DRM free digital tracks.
So, until you labels get your act together and start giving me what I want, I’m going to buy a few used CDs a week, slowly whittling through my list of music I want. Eventually, several thousand dollars from now, I will have purchased my entire list. The question is, do you want any of those dollars? Or are you going to sit around with your heads up your asses at Amazon?
Sincerely,
John Wilson
January 28th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I was rather interested in Qtrax. Its sounding like that whole thing is all falling apart at the last minute though.