Generally I can't afford to buy commercial music so I create my own and share it with friends, in return I get to listen to their music...mainly via Soundcloud. I do occasionally buy CD's in order to support an artist (if I enjoy the music); the last CD I bought was Tinariwen.
I couldn't opt-in to the initial CD market as it was over-priced (in the UK at least)...I used to buy vinyl at record fairs although this became very expensive and it's been 3 years since I've had the budget to do this.

I buy new CDs from my favourite artists, which aren't that few.
I also buy other CDs but I almost stopped buying new unheard: I want to listen at least to half of the songs before I spend my money on them.
I still buy used unheard, though, both CD and vinyl.

I also save up money that I will use on periodic record markets and events, or for visiting a particularly good record store in a different city.

I rarely buy mp3s, I'd much rather get the CD and then import it in iTunes in Apple Lossless: the price is often the same but I get both the physical support and a better file quality

This has actually been a really bad year for me and music. I have probably spent only around $75 the entire year. Many of my favorite artists did not, or have yet to release an album this year. That's what always gets me into the record store. Not to say that there are not other artists I haven't heard of that I like, I just am not having luck finding things this year on my own and haven't been given recommendations from friends. The only new artists I have found were people I worked directly with. Hopefully next year will be better, it's rough knowing I only have one more album to look forward to this year. Maybe I will stumble across something when that drops.

I spent a couple of hundred dollar buying vinyls.....

The Carl Cox idea of a thumb drive with hooks to access more online content later me thinks is a good idea. Just need to make the thingie bigger and with USB connector and SW on the drive that only talks to a certain web server for more content.

http://blog.allusb.com/2011/08/carl-...b-album-debut/

I think the key is that SW development is so cheap nowadays so it's doable to make custom USB devices that take care of the exclusivity part.

PS: Let's call them 'USB albums.'

Doable, yes. Viable, probably not.

Why?

1). Form factor. Let's face it, USB keys aren't sexy. People want eye candy and USB keys just don't give it to them. I suppose you could package the key ion some sort of binder with cover art and liner notes but that kinda negates the alleged convenience of the key.

2.) People hate proprietary formats. Being locked into dealing with a specific site, well we already have iTunes. The thing about iTunes and the iPod is that while they lock you into using proprietary hardware, you're still free to use any generic content you want. It doesn't work well the other way around. Which is a major reason that every service that has attempted to lock people into buying content only from them has failed.

3.) "hooks to access more online content later" - People aren't real big on purchasing promises. I don't know about you, but I'm not spending cash now for a promise of "later". YMMV.

4.) And it still doesn't solve the problem that you can't copy protect music. It's not a solvable problem. I get so tired of pointing this out every time some bright boy thinks that a proprietary format will have any effect on piracy, but all you have to do is redigitize the analog signal to an unprotected format and you're home free. You don't even have to crack the DRM.

Really, on a forum that is supposed to be for audio engineers and those interested in audio engineering I amazed by the number of people who don't understand the technology well enough to recognize that immediately obvious fact.


I'm not saying there may not be new distribution formats. What I'm saying is that for any format to succeed the essential requirement is that it offer the public some perceived benefit - TO THEM, NOT US - that existing formats do not offer. The public does not perceive DRM as a benefit. I doubt the public perceives USB drives as a benefit either - to me a USB drive offers all the drawbacks of both CDs and MP3s with none of the benefits.

> Piece of plastic to lug around. Check.
> No physical liner notes or cover art. Check.
> Vulnerable to physical damage. Check.
> Mediocre audio quality. Most likely.
> Silly DRM format. Check. Otherwise may as well just download files to a generic thumb drive.

I think that is perfect for the "niche" artist who have fans who want everything the artist has ever done, faints when they see the person face to face, and wants their partner to have relations with the artist, so they can get the experience afterwards. For the regular artist, not so much. I wouldn't want to deal with something like that all the time.

I agree. It can also me an effective gimmick for a megastar like The Beatles or Lady Gaga as long as it doesn't get overused. As soon as the novelty goes away so does the appeal.

And all that "additional content" isn't anything that couldn't be easily downloaded from a website. Just include a download code with a conventional release.

One major drawback to the thumb drive format is that the device is not large enough to support a legible label with the name, artist, and songlist. And if you make it big enough you sacrifice the major benefit of a thumb drive - compactness and portability. Plus you make it too big to hang directly off a USB port without support or a cable. And cables wear out.

why can the usb drive come in a box with deluxe artwork?

i need something to hock on ebay in 20 years for cash

A while back I posted an example: CD $14, shipping from Amazon US $17. Shipping from Amazon Germany is even worse.

Well, it could, but then aren't you giving up all the benefits of the USB drive? Smaller size and all that? And the labeling on the drive itself would be tiny.

And USB drives aren't indestructible, either. Really not much more rugged than CDs.

Im ganna buy a couple albums that jusat came out just because I like the material and the artists. If I download music, its because I wanna hear the engineering on the album. But I rarley do that. I buy everything I actually enjoy and the engineering on thoses alums are amazing so I study those anyway lol.
Screw the people who dont pay for shyt!