Music not worth paying for
The record industry, in its infinite wisdom, is fighting the good fight against the dangerous terrorists known as ‘consumers’. These shady individuals are known not only to buy music, but to play it how they see fit as well!
This criminal underclass, with sloping brow and tiny brains, must (understandably) be controlled. So, enter the brilliant concept of Digital Right Management.
DRM places control of music back where it belongs, in the Sony-BMG-Universal-BMI annual shareholders’ meeting. Online music stores use DRM to prevent files from being shared over the internet, or (God forbid) played back on unauthorized playback systems – for example, tracks bought from an OD2 shill such as Virgin are only permitted to be played back on certain Microsoft-licensed devices (Apple or Linux users, especially those with iPods, need not apply). The same goes for Apple’s store, which freezes out everybody NOT using iTunes or an iPod. For those buying online, there exist irresponsible record labels with an online store trafficking in dirty, unprotected MP3 files that just anybody could use for any purpose. Sickening.
Back in the real world, the shining knights of the record industry, (fighting tirelessly for what the artists want) have been working hard on new technology to help punish people who would dare to buy their product. The genius idea of Copy Protected CDs was born. These are just like ordinary CDs, but suffer far far worse from the effects of minor scratches (needing replacing fairly frequently), will not play in hardware such as walkmans, or car stereos (and will severely damage some equipment badly enough to require a several hundred pound repair), and cannot be transferred from CD to digital music (for use with an iPod or Rio Karma or similar device) in the majority of cases. Some less committed labels put sub-AM-radio quality copies of the tracks in Windows Media Audio format on the disc, but those labels lack the balls to carry through the masterplan.
The big labels all decided that this campaign of punishment for consumers was the best course of action (well not in Japan, they got cold feet), real music CDs are no longer produced and sold.
And since I don’t like being told what I can or can’t do, here’s a list of “CD’s” which I would buy if they were sold in a real format, not anti-freedom format
- Massive Attack – 100th Window
- Radiohead – Hail to the Thief
- Eels – Shootenanny
- Goldfrapp – Black Cherry – I was in HMV, and one of their copies of Black Cherry was opened. The disc inside had the holy Compact Disc Digital Audio logo, so I bought it.
- Prodigy – Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned
- Air – Talkie Walkie – Christmas sales, CDDA logo. Bought it.
- The Beastie Boys – To The Five Boroughs
- U.N.K.L.E. – Never, Never, Land – There are two versions of this album, one released on MoWax Records, one on Global Records. A friend of mine bought both versions for their slightly differing content, and reported back that both carried a full CDDA logo. Subsequently, I went to Virgin Megastores to look. They had both versions in, plus a third – A MoWax CD-DVD box set, for a mere 10 pounds. This version was also a real CDDA, so I bought it – bargain!
- Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head
- Zero 7 – When it Falls
- The Cooper Temple Clause – Kick Up the Fire and Let the Flames Break Loose – Big Cactus200 label on the back informing you helpfully that it only works in Hi-Fis or Windows. Screw that.
- Rob Dougan – Furious Angels – Christmas sales and CDDA. Hurrah.
- The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots – Same shopping trip as the above, once I tore of the shrink-wrap in the shop to check for CDDA.
- Daft Punk – Human After All – New out. Printed in black, on a black background, on the disc surface, is the message I like to see – the one that makes me buy things.
- Feeder – Pushing the Senses – Limited edition DVD box. I like those.
- Beck – Guero – A closer look at the actual plastic casing showed a CDDA logo in the disc holder part of the case – and I checked a few copies in a few stores. FAR from obvious though.
It’s always possible this list is inaccurate (I’ll keep it up to date), so if you have any evidence an entry is actually available as a real cd, send me said evidence, and the name of the shop, and i’ll go buy it.