gregh  2007-10-02 22:15  amazon  john_fogerty  music   

John Fogerty's all new return to the formerly evil Fantasy Records, "Revival", is out. The first video, "Don't You Wish It Were True" is out, too.

Being the big music buyer I am (this is the third album I've bought so far this year!) I finally had the opportunity to try out Amazon's MP3 Downloads store. I preordered the album from Amazon a few weeks ago, but they still hadn't sent it as of today, the release date; what happened to the old days, when preordered stuff was shipped to arrive on release date?

Anyhow, canceled my order for the CD and bought the $1 cheaper album MP3 download. The download helper installed easily, worked well, and automatically stocked my iTunes library with the MP3s. Now, if I can just fine my QuietComforts, I can listen at work tomorrow...

gregh  2007-09-16 20:02  age  Law_School  music   

This weekend, there's a music festival on this little island where I live. Music has been blasting all day. I haven't recognized any of it. When I look at the lineup, I don't recognize any of the groups. (Actually, "The Weather Undergound" sounds familiar, but I wonder if I'm thinking of this one.)

It just reminds me that I'm old. I was talking with some friends at school, as one called the other old. The older was all of 27. Upon being asked how old I am, I replied with my age, which is greater than 27. I hear conversations like this all the time at school. "In 3 years I'll be 30! I can't believe I'm so old." There an older 1L at school who keeps blaring her music in the lounge late at night. I don't care for her music, but I recognize it. I'm afraid to say that I can still declare that one of the groups is "Lisa Lisa with Cult Jam and Full Force." You see, I was around at the birth of MTV. Back when they played music.

I just wish those kids at the concert would stop blaring their music.

gregh  2007-06-11 13:07  music   

Traveling Wilburys CDs reissued with care - CNN.com:

It was a rock album conceived by accident that no one knew would succeed, even though it was made by Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty.

And it was a rock album that disappeared, along with its successor, for a decade despite the fame it achieved.

I had no idea they were no longer available, until checking just now. Largely, that's because I've had both CDs for year, and they're both ripped to my music collection. It's all good stuff. As I read the article linked above, I tried to determine if I could come up with my favorite Wilburys song. I do know that there's no one I would prefer to skip, and I don't think I can say that of any multi-disc artist in my, albeit limited, collection.

gregh  2007-02-06 11:21  apple  drm  itunes  music   

Written by a man who's clearly confident in the position of his company in the marketplace, Steve Jobs writes about why music is sold with DRMs, and how Apple would embrace a marketplace without DRMs. More importantly, he gives a reasonable explanation for why Apple won't license FairPlay to other device makers, and suggests reasons why Microsoft was forced to go its own way with Zune's DRM.

Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.

In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores, while over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on CDs by the music companies themselves. The music companies sell the vast majority of their music DRM-free, and show no signs of changing this behavior, since the overwhelming majority of their revenues depend on selling CDs which must play in CD players that support no DRM system.

So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none. If anything, the technical expertise and overhead required to create, operate and update a DRM system has limited the number of participants selling DRM protected music. If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies.

Read "Thoughts on Music" for the full thing.