Barenaked USB Drive 519
CryptoKnight writes "The Barenaked Ladies are releasing their next album via a reusable 128 MB USB flash drive. From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer article: 'Rather than distribute via CD, DVD or download, the Barenaked Ladies are making their newest selection of songs, videos and exclusive material available on a USB flash drive. Nettwerk Music Group is releasing Barenaked on a Stick beginning today, says the Hollywood Reporter. It plays on PCs, Macs and any other audio product with a USB port -- like some car stereos -- and costs $30.'"
Re:Wow only $30... (Score:5, Interesting)
For a one-album set of songs, I don't see this working except for the novelty, unless it's billed as "128 MB USB stick (with Barenaked Ladies songs)" instead of "Barenaked Ladies songs (on a USB stick)." It reminds me of school fundraisers where you're selling tickets to an event with candy. It's always easier to sell people candy with a ticket as a bonus than to sell them a ticket with candy as a bonus.
On the other hand, for 29 songs, the cost should really be compared to a 2-CD set. At that point, $30 isn't that much more than $25.
FTFA (Score:3, Interesting)
"This 128 reusable drive contains 29 songs, including the band's 2004 "Barenaked for the Holidays" album, in MP3 format along with live tracks, in-concert spoken quips, album art, photos, videos and more."
Reusable. MP3 format.
I may actually get it. Granted, 128MB isn't nearly large enough for my BNL boot collection (~2gb or so), but I could use a memory key and $30 isn't too bad a price.. Here's hoping _McDonald's Girl_ and/or _Lovers in a Dangerous Time_ are on there...
OK, big BNL fan here, but... (Score:2, Interesting)
What worries me is that it'll be a little too easy to *lose* your music from that drive. Maybe that's a small worry, since you'll *probably* be able to back the music up on your own. Still, it just means that now I have to create a CD of it in order to listen to it in my car. Too many "ifs" to make me feel totally comfortable with purchasing this (even though I totally will). Plus, it'll look like hell on my CD rack. ^)_(^
Heh. I suppose what would've been an even better gimmick would be if they had released this USB drive in a package that includes a blank CD with artwork specific to this album. Then you could record it yourself, or even use the disc to record your own mixes. Include a little album artwork on the USB stick (front/back covers) and you can print out a pretty CD for your shelves if you wanted.
"Compression" (Score:2, Interesting)
If I am paying for music, I want to get all the bits
Are you getting all the bits even when you buy a CD? Nowadays, most pop music is mastered through a limiter and a saturator to make it sound louder on portable CD players. Sending the signal against the -1 and +1 rails discards almost all the information during a drum hit, making the end result much less natural and less "punchy". See also loudness race [google.com].
Here's why not (Score:1, Interesting)
A glimpse of the future (sort of) (Score:5, Interesting)
By the way, I *do* understand that in TFA the tracks are unencumbered MP3, but my point is about the limited future for CD distribution. No slight against BNL is intended, though I'm not thrilled that they're only distributing lossy encodings.
-DA
Oh, and by the way, here are a few stores where you can buy unencumbered music electronically:
www.magnatune.com (lossless even!)
www.bleep.com (lots of great electronica, including Boards of Canada)
Let me make it clearer (Score:5, Interesting)
Are you sure you're talking about the same meaning of "compression?"
I know there are two different kinds of audio compression (as evidenced by Wikipedia's disambiguation page [wikipedia.org]), and they can sit at various points in the production chain:
They just can't do anything right, can they? (Score:1, Interesting)
So what does the lot of slashdot crowd does when some non-indie band release their albrums on mp3, which doesn't have the dreaded DRM, bundled with extra stuff, on a USB memory stick that you can reuse? A whole bunch of slashdot (Not all, but some far alot) wants to complain about how they dislike MP3s or how the memory stick is too small? So what will make the slashdot crowd happy? Free music on ipod shuffle give away? Gimme a break. Some parent post already worked out that they are not making extra on the USB keys, so how about some common sense and be grateful?
It's about time... (Score:2, Interesting)
Tech Front Runners (Score:5, Interesting)
I've bought their last three CD's online (including a solo project by Steven Page) with great ease and little expense. The last two were available in flac format so no lossless problems there. They even came with all the album artwork and lyric sheet info available in PDF format.
When 'Maroon' was released they were one of the first bands to provide dummy versions of the song on file sharing networks. (You could download a 40 meg uncompressed file where the song started up but then to band members came on and started shilling their CD in a good natured way over the top of the tunes)
When 'Everything to Everyone' was released a few years ago, I recall trying to get a copy of it from a file sharing network because here in Australia I couldn't get my hands on the CD for months. They flooded the network with all the tracks from the new album without the vocal tracks, so I had to wait. Now, because of their embracement of selling on the web, I don't have to.
Re:If I had a million dollars... (Score:3, Interesting)
So, you can get most of the music, but it'd cost ~$30, and you don't get the extra stuff or a USB stick out of the deal. (Buying on your own though, you get a CD and a full show in perfect quality, so I guess it's a tossup which you prefer.)
Re:Don't be so down on it (Score:3, Interesting)
I think it's a cool idea - definitely new & creative. They'll get a lot of free publicity.
Keep 128MB? As in recycle it? What for?
Someone totes a 128MB stick?
I must be getting lazy. Right now, I only have 2 USB 2GB sticks[1], a USB WiFi on-a-stick, and a Cross Ion pen on my lanyard. I'm shopping for a laser pointer, but I haven't found the right one yet.
I've thought about getting one of the green ones which melts styrofoam cups from across the room. Think Geek used to have them, but now, I only see them on eBay.
It might liven up boring meetings.
_____________________________________
[1] $99 total (retail: $199 each), thanks to a Best Buy sale + rebate + luck. They format to NTFS well (original FAT) and the only things I keep on one of them permanently are my cover letter, resume, and the small drivers for the Wi-Fi stick.
Lossy != Degraded Sound (Score:4, Interesting)
Then you're just being silly. "Lossy" refers to the data stream, not the sound. "Lossy" does not mean that the sound is audibly inferior or that you could hear the difference in a blind test. In fact, I've administered such tests to a few fellow audiophiles and proved that I could create a "lossy" MP3 that is audibly indistinguishable from the original recording. (The tests I conducted involved skilled listeners in their 20's and 30's using a Rega Planet CD player through Sennheiser SR-325 headphones and a Creek headphone amp. They selected the music. I encoded it to MP3 and then brought it back to WAV. I recorded a CD with several copies of each track - encoded and virgin. They were unable to detect the difference and their results were, statistically speaking, no better than a coin toss.)
That said, most of the online services have substandard, low-bit-rate recordings which do sound audibly inferior to CDs. That's the reason to boycott those services, not because the codecs are lossy.
Re:If I had a million dollars... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Don't be so down on it (Score:3, Interesting)
http://megalaser.com/ [megalaser.com]
Or, for the REALLY serious laser pointer enthusiast:
http://www.wickedlasers.com/products.php?var=ok&c
Nothing like a 125mW green compared to a puny 3mw red pointer
Re:Don't be so down on it (Score:3, Interesting)