Music... on USB keys?

[Emzi]

My boyfriend has just told me that record companies are gonna be putting albums on USB keys for people to buy...

I have to say... what is the point?!

Poeople buy CDs so they can play them on a CD player, in the car, in the computer etc. Why are people going to be interested in buy a USB key that will only fit in your computer? Why not just download the albums?

[jinjin]

My initial thoughts are: some people are download challenged, some people fear picking up adware or spyware from distribution sites, and the media may also be used to pass music to people during promos and parties.

I also see car CD players being replaced with tiny multimedia PCs.

The really geek side of me says that nano-motherboards have been around for a while and some people have already taken on DIY projects to install an motherboard with DVD drive and USB port in the dash of their car so they may play any media that they may normally play on their computer.

Hubby and I were talking about doing this DIY project on our cars. (I am hoping that the more manufacturers take notice and start creating tiny multimedia PCs for the car, so I may avoid a DIY project.) Having music on one 16-GB USB drive or 2 DVDs would mean less cluttered than having music on 20+ CDs. Right now I have about 40 CDs in my car, so it would help.


Link to product information
Link to a DIY project

[Emzi]

That sounds very interesting JinJin - they will probably come out with something like that in the near future.

It just seems silly to me to have a USB key for every album you want, when you can easily download albums and put loads onto one CD/DVD... and yes, USB keys. It's just hard to imagine someone having loads of USB keys for each individual album

[nikko]

You have usb ports on loads of car stereo's already and dvd players also and I think that way they could make somekind of better protection for anti copy but all what they will do to try stop piracy is doomed to be cracked.

[squeezing_mwah]

i think its quite an interesting idea. i can certainly see why companies would use it to send to the media for promotion purposes. Certainly, Brian is often sent things on USB keys from various companies, and he thinks its great. it's quick, easy and lightweight. Coming from the music promo side of things, Marillion sent encrypted i-pods containing their new album to certain members of the media at the beginning of the year. this had both positive and negative aspects.
it sure made the media sit up and take notice, it's like "hey, these guys are innovative enough to think laterally, we like it, lets check them out"

on the flip side it gave some complete tossers the chance to upload the new album to various download sites prior to release in April, which could have ultimately affected sales. For my part, the bass player sent me the album in January, so by the time it was released I was dying to get my hands on it.

anyway, i digress....what i meant to say at the outset of this post was that i can see how this might be perceived as the next big thing. for me, however, there is nothing quite like the anticipation of opening my cd, seeing the artwork, noticing any wee messages within the gatefold or insert.

i'll shutup and go back to tracey's ironing now
xx