Technical Glitches Plague BuyMusic.com 691
An anonymous reader submits: "Despite its much larger target market, BuyMusic.com does not seem to be the runaway success that Apple's iTunes Music Store was. USA Today is reporting that customers have experienced technical glitches that prevent them from playing their purchases. Another customer reports that the BuyMusic tech support does little more than say 'Sorry, but that's YOUR problem.' Finally, a musician whose music is for sale at BuyMusic questions the legality of BuyMusic's catalog." Scriptygoddess's account of her unhappy experience is mirrored here.
What are they trying to prevent? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:5, Interesting)
I just came back from a vacation, and I thought I was smart enough to bring a DVD player along (well, my XBOX, since I could watch movies and play games on that one machine), since I knew the hotel's TV would have at least a composite video jack in.
Plug it in, sit down, and...
Yet another instance where I am attempting to play a legit product, and am stopped by "copy protection." I decided to fark the movie (and possibly return it out of spite) and just play KOTOR instead.
The funny thing was, if I had ripped the DVD and burned it to a DVD-R, I could've enjoyed the movie I PAID FOR, as I obviously couldn't with the original.
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:4, Interesting)
Even better: xbox+modchip = no macrovision, no region protection, and you can even rip games and dvds to the hard drive for faster load times and instant access (no hunting down that disc that's under the pile of clothes in your game room)
And when you upgrade the xbox hd to 120 gigs, you have the perfect media jukebox on the go. (for your situation, at least)
why is this "Interesting?" (Score:4, Insightful)
that's bullshit. It shouldn't have to BE that way. Macrovision sucks, plain & simple.
People shouldn't have to hack their own hardware to play movies that they have purchased legally.
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:3, Interesting)
copy protection -> p2p
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:5, Insightful)
He sure as hell does NOT own it. He has a digital copy of it, which costs the producers NOTHING. It's not a physical thing. Breaching a license/copyright is NOT traditional theft or stealing.
It's exactly this "old economy" logic that makes our current law ineffective, unfair, and completely unsuited to modern issues such as this.
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:5, Interesting)
Clearly you have done something wrong. You have gotten something without paying the asked price. Do they charge too much? Are they ripping off the Actors by controlling distribution of their work? Maybe.
Does that give you the moral/legal right to not pay?
I don't think so. Downloading music instead of buying the CD seems about the same. You aren't stealing. You aren't even a pirate. You are consuming a commercial good/service without paying the asked price. (disclaimer: I have downloaded music without paying)
Occurs to me that this is more like peeking through the fence at the circus. You aren't going in and enjoying the show without paying, you aren't taking anything away from the circus owner since you probably wouldn't have paid anyway. You aren't even trespassing because you are on public property. But you are doing something wrong. You are getting something for free that the circus owner has spent money to put together to make a living from. He has a right to chase you away from the holes in the fence.
Actually, legally it is theft (of services) (Score:4, Insightful)
(see also here [hagmannpi.com] for other examples of theft of services, including telephone and other telecom servcies).
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:5, Informative)
I hear you.
Firstly, for those who don't know (and yes there are many who don't know even on slashdot,) macrovision is a (very poorly implemented and easily bypassed with the right gear) anti-copying technology the causes the picture to get darker and brighter all the time. On analogue media they play around with the luminance signal and on DVD it's just a macrovision bit that they turn on. You can get macrovision filters to clean this sort of thing up.
The last time I tried to use my iBook as a DVD player using the composite jack on an external TV, the same thing happenned. The Apple DVD player sent a macrovision signal out with the composite signal. Fortunately I happenned to have VLC [videolan.org] which allowed me to properly play the DVD that I had bought within my own rights.
Alas, stories like this are considered by the industry to be collateral damage.
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:5, Funny)
I'll tell you what the big deal is! The big deal is that watching movies is STEALING!
If the hotel's TV offers a chance to pay $7.95 to see Dirty Harry, and you bring in your own DVD of Dirty Harry, and your own laptop, so that you can watch the movie without paying the hotel, you're STEALING MONEY RIGHT OUT OF THE INNKEEPER'S WALLET!
And don't even think about buying a six-pack of Coke at the corner store for $2.99 when you're supposed to be paying $4.50 for a 6-oz bottle out of the minibar! (To say nothing of having the unmitigated gall to chill your six-pack with hotel-supplied ice!)
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, the RIAA/MPAA would be long gone, had they not finally realized that audio and video casettes would be the greatest boon to their industry since the gramophone. It may take them some time, but unless they accept p2p as their biggest promoters, they are toast.
I still remember listening to copied Michael Jackson tracks when I was 6 yrs old or so. And playing copied apple ][ games since I got my first system. Since then I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on software and music, and I'm sure I'd barely have spent a dime if I hadn't got a little "free taste".
For Christ's sake, I'm sure this has been going on since the first time some cave man decided to copy his neighbor's clay pot design.
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What are they trying to prevent? (Score:3, Interesting)
Imagine if the RIAA had spent half the money they've spent on lawyers by now pushing tipjar-advocacy instead. e-gold has been around since 1996 and musicians like Courtney Love sure TALK a good game about going around the RIAA quintopoly, but so far I've seen little action from her (she's in her binge-phase again?). Still, it's possible to get paid directly, with e-gold
So true (Score:5, Insightful)
emusic.com DRM free (Score:5, Informative)
Don't like indie? Get a Mac or just pay tower records the $18 they want for the new Britney.
At least there are *some* choices today that weren't here just a year ago.
Re:For a good laugh... (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you for visiting BuyMusic.com.
In order to take full advantage of BuyMusic.com's offerings you must be on a Windows Operating System using Internet Explorer version 5.0 or higher.
Re:For a good laugh... (Score:3, Informative)
Hmm... I used Safari's Debug menu to make out I was using IE6 for Windoze, and the site loaded fine. (Couldn't download, being outside the States, but I've RTFA, so I wouldn't want to ;-)
So they should change it to "This site doesn't actually require either Windoze or IE, but we're too stupid to realise that."
Re:It is your problem not ours... (Score:5, Interesting)
1. Design something whch works well;
2. Make a fair deal (with usually unfair people) and honor your agreement;
4. Treat those who use your service as valued customers and not like necessary evils;
5. Profit ?
Frankly if I were making decisions for Apple, I would seriously cosider *not* making a Windoze version of the Music Store. How long could it possibly take for M$ and the RIAA to agree to somethng obvious.
Re:It is your problem not ours... (Score:5, Funny)
I would like to know how you arrived at this incisive, all inclusive, Apple customer demographic. I only buy what I need and can afford (no iPod yet), and I gave up on being hip 25 years ago. I have no interest in making Apple look good, they seem to be quite good at it themselves.
"Frankly, if I were Apple I would make a version of iTunes and the Music Store that are compatible with Microsoft Windows as soon as possible-- BEFORE Microsoft and someone else come along."
I would love to be a fly on the wall during the M$--RIAA negotiations:
M$: How much will it cost for us to buy you?
RIAA: We're not for sale, however we will sell you a limited license to use our product.
M$: Wait a minute, that's our line.
RIAA: And you'd better act fast; we have solid information that college kids are using your o/s to illegally pirate music, and we are just about to sue them.
Realistically, do you expect that a Wintel version of the iTunes store will work as easily and reliably as Apple's. I would reverse your market plan and use iTunes to sell Macs rather than let the bitter taste left by an M$/RIAA hybrid do the job for me.
You really think that M$ would allow iTunes Music Store to work well with their o/s. It's possible, but where's the precedent?
mmmm, is this good or bad? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:mmmm, is this good or bad? (Score:5, Interesting)
-IE req.
-DRM-enabled WM9.
-Real number of songs are closer to 100000 than 300000.
-128Kpbs.
-From their Cust. Agreem.:"all downloaded Content is sublicensed to End Users and not sold, notwithstanding use of the terms "sell," "purchase," "order," or "buy" on the Site or this Agreement. "
You don't buy the music you just license them.
-And now; bad customer support.
So basically their offer is very unattractive when you can get a better offer from free. Illegal, but still much better if you look compare benefits and risk.
Even the lowest of the low whitin P2P, Kazaa offers the following:
-Any browser to download Kazaa.
-No DRM, MP3 or some OGG.
-Probably above 1 mill. songs
-160-192Kpbs.
-Copy-right enfringment with low probability of getting caught.
-You can keeep the music as long as you want as long as RIAA don't sue you.
-No support but the service is free.
I doubt BuyMusic.com will succeed.
Re:mmmm, is this good or bad? (Score:5, Insightful)
You know it just occurred to me... Maybe this is obvious to everyone, but once you buy something tied to Microsoft's DRM, they now lock you into a cycle of upgrading your OS, and if you don't, you risk losing all "your" purchased music.
Re:mmmm, is this good or bad? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, that's the whole idea. It's also why they killed off IE for the mac. They want to tie you to services that require IE for Windows Longhorn. They proved that they can get away with antics like this when they 'won' the anti-trust case against the DOJ.
Re:Who's the best P2P (Score:4, Informative)
eMule [emule-project.net] (eDonkey network) is the best to get movies, games and software reliably, as well as full albums, ebooks and porn.
What Gnutella [gnutella.com] is good for, I don't know.
Direct Connect ++ [sourceforge.net] is best to get stuff if you have a very fast connection.
BitTorrent [bitconjurer.org] is best to get fresh movie, anime and other releases and some legit stuff like game demos.
FreeNet [sourceforge.net] is not really usefull as of today.
IRC [packetnews.com] is good to get fresh movie and software releases quickly.
Usenet [usenet.com] is good to get fresh stuff quickly if your ISP has a good newsserver or you are willing to subscribe to a paid one, but it's bad for hunting down specific stuff.
Re:mmmm, is this good or bad? (Score:5, Interesting)
Rumor has it they are still pinning down the licensing for the Windows version. I hope that they can point to BuyMusic and say, "See how crappy it is when the licensing is messed up? Our simplicity, consistency, and method of delivery result in *many* more downloads."
They Don't Support Mozilla (Score:5, Informative)
Re:They Don't Support Mozilla (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:They Don't Support Mozilla (Score:4, Insightful)
Why should we?
I get paid a lot for my technical opinions. I haven't seen a dime from BuyMusic.com. Apple's working hard to get a polished interface out for PCs. One that'll have their quality level that we're all used to seeing from them. I can wait til then.
I don't owe BuyMusic.com anything, much less suggestions to keep it's crappy DRM-locked music business afloat. It's their MBAs that came up with this stuff. It didn't roll off of my desktop.
The real problem comes to view... (Score:4, Insightful)
When an artist signs with a distribution point, etc, they may lose their own music. As a musician that would seem horrible, but it happens to many different people (animators, etc).
Maybe the contract with "The Orchard" had certain terms. We really would need to see that to get both sides of the story here...
Maybe they "sold out" and now just don't want to look like "crap" music.
Re:The real problem comes to view... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The real problem comes to view... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sadly, an RIAA email to an ISP, eBay, or college is all it takes to have them remove 'infringing' material, and give up all your user info.
"Assuming" copyright is an RIAA specialty. Unfortunately, it doesn't work the other way 'round.
See MacSlash post on just this question (Score:3, Informative)
The full discussion is <a href="http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/29 / 1510211&mode=thread">here</a> - which someone else linked to as well.
There was an interesting post related to your question that noted the current Orchard terms:
<b>You grant to us throughout the Territory during the Sales Period the NON-EXCLUSIVE rights to sell, c
History repeats itself.... yet again.... (Score:3, Insightful)
I may not have a Doctorate with a thesis written on pattern recognitions, but even I can figure this one out...
Re:History repeats itself.... yet again.... (Score:3, Informative)
An entry level eMac is $1,199 CND and a Titanium PowerBook is $2849 CND...
http://www.apple.com/canadastore/ [apple.com] is your friend.
MP3 is for pirates (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:MP3 is for pirates (Score:5, Interesting)
This has never been proven in court, and has the substantial potential to damage their reputation. The only way that bm.com would be able to get away with allegations such as these, as far as I know (albeit IANAL) would be for a judge to decree that the ONLY use for KaZaA is 'piracy'.
Although, given the fact that probably 60-70% of the activity which takes place on KaZaA is 'piracy' by nature, they'd probably have a hard time making any libel/slander allegations stick.
Definite Technical Glitches (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple, etc. (Score:5, Insightful)
to quote the linked blog:
After all the songs downloaded, I tried to play them. Second problem. Before each song plays - it has to download and verify your license. You can't mulitple select a bunch and do this. You need to do this before EACH SONG will play. [Edited to add: "Verifing your license" means another window pops up that asks for your buymusic login and password... you enter it... it thinks awhile... it thinks some more... Then it comes back and says click "play" to actually play the song...]
This is just sloppy programming on their part. They are forced to make excuses for other people's software in the first week of release. Apple tossed out iTMS to their entire userbase and said "Now go use it. It works. Perfectly. Always."
The simplicity of simply allowing 3 computers for playback through iTMS is great (albeit for some that have 13 computers and want to listen to music on ALL at the same time) Just authorize one computer and it will always be able to playback your music even if it's away from a 'net connection.
BuyMusic.com was rushed and it's apparent in the first damn week. It doesn't hold a candle to iTMS. I can't wait to see it crumble.
Re:Apple, etc. (Score:3, Interesting)
The main difference between Apples bugs and everyone elses bugs is that Apple WILL NOT acknowledge the problem EVER. It took them 8 months to finally come out and say "Y
Re:Apple, etc. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, the iTMS has many partial albums; if it bothers you, just think of them as songs, not albums. At any rate, when you see partials there, it's not Apple's doing, but the licensors (the labels). For whatever reason, they haven't authorized certain songs for release on the iTMS. From what I've seen of the iTMS and BuyMusic, there are a number of albums that are missing the same songs at both outlets, which seems to indicate the labels just don't want to sell certain tracks this way. Neither Apple nor Buy can force the labels to give them specific tracks. Also, FWIW, I've seen albums at the iTMS that had stuff added piecemeal - so that the debut week, for example, there were only three tracks from a particular album available, but a few weeks later, the complete album tracklist was there. I don't know why an album might be added a few tracks at a time, but it's happened; perhaps the later tracks weren't initially planned for availability, but were added in response to user requests, or something...
Re:Apple, etc. (Score:4, Insightful)
First, they have to get people to download it....big hurdle there.
Second, they have to get people to actually buy music. Even bigger hurdle, but it slopes down rapidly once people actually use iTMS and like it.
Finally, they have to get people to move their music over from winamp, windows media player, real, etc. so that iTunes has value outside of download it, move it somewhere else, play it.
That means they need to have import utilities for all the other library management tools ready to go on day one. People have to say "iTunes is the best program under the sun" and ditch everything else for it to become totally successful.
it's not anymore? (Score:3, Interesting)
so do we have to drop the 'runaway' now?
Seriously though, Apple knows how to make a good UI ( 10.3 not withstanding
Ease of use and meeting consumer demands wins this match (for once!).
MacSlash's article BuyMusic's catalog legality... (Score:5, Interesting)
Surprise, surprise. (Score:5, Insightful)
Emphasis on ease of use, customer experience, technical quality.
Focal issue: adding value to Mac systems to attract switchers and sell iPods.
Result: Pretty decent music service, all things considered.
BuyMusic.com:
Emphasis on Being Cheaper than iTMS, locking out non-approved systems, Looking an awful lot like iTMS.
Focal issue: Establish self as competition for iTMS before Apple gets the Windows version out.
Result: left as an exercise for the reader.
Re:Surprise, surprise. (Score:5, Interesting)
Emphasis on ease of use, customer experience, technical quality.
Focal issue: adding value to Mac systems to attract switchers and sell iPods.
Result: Pretty decent music service, all things considered.
I can't believe how easy iTMS is to access and set up, and allowing you to actually own the music you purchase is the selling point. I can play it on three computers including my workstation at the lab, my home workstation and the iTunes music server we have set up at the house. Apple has made a number of purchases of iPods and Macs simply from people coming over to parties at our house and seeing how cool the iTunes music server is. We have our entire music collection on that thing in a searchable, organizable database, and I never have to mess with another jewelcase again. The iTMS has made it possible for me never to have to drive down to the hateful mall music store again.
BuyMusic.com:
Emphasis on Being Cheaper than iTMS, locking out non-approved systems, Looking an awful lot like iTMS.
It looks like iTMS even down to the commercials, but like most things in the computer industry that copy Apple, they copy Apple badly. Also, look at the wording of the sales bit. Songs from.79 cents. I have priced a number of albums, and if they are available, which often times they are not despite being listed, the albums end up being more expensive than iTMS. Also, as mentioned in the linked blog, DRM is a total pain in the ass with BuyMusics version.
Focal issue: Establish self as competition for iTMS before Apple gets the Windows version out.
I tried using BuyMusic.com on a Windows system here and it is a total farce. Songs listed are not actually available, things are expensive, I cannot figure out how to deauthorize the computer I used to attempt to purchase songs, etc...etc...etc... Apple is gonna waste these jokers if they can get iTMS available for Windows in a timely manner.
Result: left as an exercise for the reader.
I know what my experience has been, and I will be happily using iTMS on OS X, thankyou.
Re:Surprise, surprise. (Score:5, Funny)
Oooh! I know! Call on me! Call on me... BuyMusic wins because the first company to introduce a superior product (Apple) always finishes last in a marketplace where success is driven by saturation advertising, truth is defined by how often something is repeated, and cheap bad products triumph over carefully crafted and groundbreaking solutions!
So Apple is toast.
Do I get a little gold star to put on my name tag?
Re:Surprise, surprise. (Score:3, Informative)
Rediculous (Score:3, Insightful)
The Next Step for BuyMusic.com (Score:5, Funny)
So, in short, BuyMusic.com has only one viable business plan: get bought out by Microsoft! They'd fit right in...
Re:The Next Step for BuyMusic.com (Score:3, Funny)
they are offering illegally obtained music for sale.
they are worse than Kazza users because those users are not profiting from the sale of IP theft from the copyright holder.
see www.jodywhitesides.com for the details.
here is the email i sent to the RIAA.
__________________
Subj: Information on copyright theft
i wanted to let the RIAA know about a music pirate i have found out information on.
their IP address is 209.67.181.11. They have on their website illegally obtained music from an arti
When Purchasing "digital media"... (Score:5, Insightful)
The blogger obviously puts in too much trust on such experimental media (as opposed to established formats such as MP3 and Ogg, which many of us knows at least *works*) with a plethora of restrictions, and (legally) playable on one platform! All I can say to her is "Serves you right, ignorant casual user!".
You need to know your stuff before engaging in things such as DRM-enabled "new" media. Perhaps now more people will see evil behind such implementations and the fallacy behind claims that it will make your life easier, add more purchasing power to your dollar, world peace, bla bla bla...
Me too.. Me too.. (Score:5, Insightful)
But, it fits the whole windows environment of weak imitations of software and hardware features. It's not always copied from Apple, but it's not too rare. Remember all the fruit colored computers and components after the first iMac? And all the acrylic and cubish cases after the Mac cube?
Neither my MacOS X cube nor my Linux box can access the service anyway. I'll gladly stick with iTunes. (Now, if only Apply would produce a Linux version of iTunes, I'd be all set.)
Re:Me too.. Me too.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Me too.. Me too.. (Score:5, Informative)
What hypocrisy? I never read a state from Apple claiming to be the champion of every small-marketshare OS out there. They are in the business of making money, most of which is made by them from selling Macs, not software. Of course they want people to code for OS X. Running OS X is a major selling point of Mac hardware. Compare the number of Linux Macs that Terrasoft sells to the total number of Macs sold. I'm sure the figures are statistically insignificant to Apple's bottom line.
As for "half assed" Windows ports, what are you referring to? The only app I know ported to Windows is Quicktime. I have no idea how well it works on Windows, but I'm sure the reason Apple did it was to make sure that the Windows Media format didn't become a de facto standard like
Re:Me too.. Me too.. (Score:5, Insightful)
No, not at all.
Just keep in mind, if you ever use Konqueror in KDE 3.2 (which will be the first release of KHTML with Safari's changes included), or if you ever notice that a few of those Linux programs start to get Rendezvous-enabled, you're using Apple's code. They've given back, and they're still doing so.
Re:Me too.. Me too.. (Score:4, Insightful)
1 -- Rewrite your application for an operating system used by 96% of users, with a single API for burning, playing music, and displaying graphics.
2 -- Rewrite your application for an operating system used by 3% of users, with several different APIs for burning, several different APIs for playing audio, and a half dozen graphics systems and toolkits, the majority of which are fundamentally at odds with your own tight look and feel.
Apple has proven they're not against open source. So if iTunes -- Windows takes off, EXPECT a linux version. But they're not fucking stupid.
No Refunds? (Score:5, Insightful)
I could understand why a local CD store or even Apple wouldn't offer refunds on purchased music, but why do these guys refuse to refund money if they can actually know whether you are still listening to the music or not?
Re:No Refunds? (Score:4, Insightful)
My record is on Buymusic.com :( (Score:5, Interesting)
My record is on there [buymusic.com] It is also on CD NOW [amazon.com] but that was during the contract and all cool with us. I don't have the contract (another member of the band has it) and I don't remember what it says. I haven't spoken to the other guys yet, but I'm pretty sure that contract ran out awhile ago.
Every song you buy off of buymusic.com is not paying the artists, that's for sure. And I don't know how Orchard [theorchard.com] could even have copies to sell, we sent it to them to distribute; they aren't manufacturers.
We payed for that record out of pocket, and still have a zillion. :(
If you like the samples here [amazon.com], let me know and I'll get you a CD. We still have boxes of the album, since the band went down right after releasing it. Ah, the sad stories of Minneapolis...
Re:My record is on Buymusic.com :( (Score:3, Interesting)
Good luck on getting your royalties....hope things go well for you and the old band.
Don't Even Own The Music (Score:3, Interesting)
-Tom
Thank you for visiting BuyMusic.com. (Score:3, Insightful)
Hmm well I guess I'm not ever using their service.
I use Mozilla
If the service does not support MicroSoft alternatives then I wont be using them ever. I'm trying to get away from using a MS based OS not get trapped into it more and more.
Any company that's forcing their users to rely on a operating system and certian products of that operating system are just asking for trouble.
I'm sure if MS released it's code to these buymusic people then that poor girl would not of had that nightmare of the plugin crashing.
Re:Thank you for visiting BuyMusic.com. (Score:3, Insightful)
Not Good for Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
If you are a burned buymusic.com customer, and Apple releases iTunes for Windows - what's the likelihood that you will give that a shot as well?
Apple needs to get iTunes for Windows out ASAP before all these jokers - buymusic, napster 2, etc. ruin the legal music buying experience for everyone.
In the end, people will pay for music - if it's done right.
Re:Not Good for Apple (Score:3, Insightful)
the price (Score:5, Interesting)
Example [buymusic.com]
Re:the price (Score:5, Informative)
These 80's compilations must have made their dough, because they are 79 cents. [buymusic.com]
Download free, legal music with iRATE radio (Score:5, Interesting)
But there is the problem of finding the music, and weeding out the bad stuff without actually having to download and play it all.
This problem is solved with iRATE radio's [sourceforge.net] collaborative filtering:
iRATE radio's server has 46,000 tracks registered in its database - so if you use iRATE, you don't need to go hunting for music anymore. All of these are legal downloads from websites like mine [geometricvisions.com]. (I compose for the piano.)The way iRATE works is that it downloads a few tracks at random at first. It downloads them directly from the artists' Web sites after finding them in its database. (The author of iRATE is careful to register only legal downloads.) After you listen to and rate the tracks, your ratings are sent back to the server where it uses statistical analysis to correllate your ratings with the ratings given by other users. If you like the same kind of music I do, then iRATE will send you all the same music I like. Conversely, if you hate my music, iRATE won't send you the music I like.
iRATE is a java program, known to work on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The client and server are both Free Software, licensed with the GPL.
Here's some screen shots [sourceforge.net].
While iRATE works on Mac OS X, it could stand some improvement. Apple provides a package which can give java programs a native Mac OS look and feel. The project is actively seeking Mac OS X java programmers
Wow, the record industry did something half assed (Score:5, Funny)
Funniest Thing I've seen on BuyMusic... (Score:5, Informative)
I noticed on a random search of favorite artists on their site that they had a complete version of The Beach Boys "Hawthorne, CA" 2 CD set. I looked up the listing, and the complete album download is $39.29. That struck me as kind of steep for some reason, so I double checked, and the CD set (with all the liner notes, packaging, etc.) lists for $26.98. That's a bit of a jump in price, considering you're getting LESS for your money from BuyMusic.
FWIW, the individual tracks ARE available for 99c each, which can be a good thing, except when the price is also applied to link tracks that run as short as 15 seconds. Really thoughtful on their part.
--DocL
---
I love this little gem from their Privacy Policy (Score:5, Informative)
Privacy? What Privacy?
Different methaphor same problems. (Score:5, Interesting)
What we have going on here (which I don't see anyone discussing this in depth) are the 2 heavily conflicting spiels coming out of the 2-mouthed double talkers of the media companies.
OK when you go buy a DVD or a CD, or an electronic song, you are getting essentially 2 things, Media and a license.
Now from all the claptrap that is going a reasonable person would think that the license if the big deal. Pay for the license and all is well. If this were the case then the media would be inconsequential. The format or type of the media would be irrelevant. Fair use could be exercised and all would be well. If this were true then you should able to reasonably get replacement media with reasonable verification of license and a modest replacement fee. (This is what Nintendo basically told me when i asked about if my gamecube games are damaged, I still have the email). Alas this is *FALSE*. There may be a few anecdotes on people who have managed to strong arm someone into doing it, usually right after the sale, but to the best my knowledge there is no such thing.
What problem is this a different metaphor for? DVD regioning. Again if the license was the real issue, and you paid said license, then if you were to move to a new region you should reasonably be able to turn in your old media a reasonable service charge (80-100% is not reasonable, if it were then the license would be only 0-20% of the cost) and get media that will play in your new region.
Now lets walk over to the other side of the fence. Let us say that instead of licensing you *bought* and actually *owned* that copy of the music. Well then you could do all the things you normally do with any other object you own. Use it until if falls apart, sell it, rent it, loan it, try it out in the store maybe? Once you own something its your responsibility to take care of it. If its a manufacturing defect its covered under warranty.
The current state of affairs is neither. You pay for a license with all sorts of restrictions of use, you have media that won't be replaced. With DVDs its illegal to make legit backup copies to prevent damage. The media guys want to have it all their way. This kind of behavior of treating your 'customers' like the scum of the earth is unsustainable.
Thank you for your indulgence.
Re:Different methaphor same problems. (Score:3, Insightful)
Q: When I buy music, am I buying a physical object which stores music, or am I buying a license to enjoy the music on that object?
A: No.
Which is why I try to avoid buying things from the entertainment industry- you don't really get anything (except maybe sued).
From the BuyServices site. (Score:5, Funny)
Early Adopters... (Score:3, Insightful)
Companies should wise up and stop trying to blow people off. All it takes is one angry customer to write something in their blog, get linked from Slashdot, and its all over. Bad first impressions are the hardest to get over.
Usually you have to get the more savvy early adopter type onboard before you start screwing people over. It is the masses who are rather blase when their personal information will be sold and are ripped off.
Why Digital Rights Management will fail (Score:4, Insightful)
- DRM can only further complicate the issue of media transfer; it can never simplify it
- DRM takes the right-of-storage away from the user; people are not getting what they pay for
- DRM, if it takes a hold, will make long term archival of media next to impossible (think long term: this is a significant problem)
- DRM puts questionable authorities in control of media on your computer. In many cases your computer ceases to function as an independant entity.
- DRM is erroneously pushed as a "security enhancement" for user. The reason for the lies is that DRM actually has no benefit for the user.
The key point: DRM offers no benefit for the user.Yes! (Score:3)
What we need is more real world DRM failures like this where legitimate transactions are made riskier than illegal file-sharing.
If more and more DRM implementations fail during real world consumption and not during lab testing, eventually the cost of developing improved DRM methodologies will become so staggering, the entire business model will collapse.
The RIAA would not pull the strings on this model because of the profit potential. It's like a bating a mouse with cheese - any amount will do. There would be no alternative but to ease up on DRM all together or sell MP3s at a price that is comparable to ordinary purchases of CD singles in retail stores. Eventually, the price of CDs would drop, making my dollar go further
Correction (Score:3)
Rentals, not "purchases".
Oh, and nice attitude. Once you've bought - sorry, rented - the music, you get one chance to download, and if they give you the wrong file, or a corrupt file, or it gets eaten by /dev/null, you can get screwed.
Fuck them. Fuck them with every big stick you can think of. Fuck them with the Better Busines Beuro, fuck them with their local Attorney General, fuck them by telling your credit card issuer to issue a chargeback because you didn't receive the goods you paid for. Fuck them right in their stupid, DRM crippled, incompetent, evil, idiotic ear.
Typical of the PC Universe (Score:3, Informative)
Scriptygoddess's description of the BuyMusic.com "experience" is exactly why; it sounds typical of most software and / or services on the Wintel platform. One manufacturer blames another for problems, nothing works, et cetera.
I know there are *a few* good applications and user experiences out there on the Windows platform. I used a Windows PC (with Linux installed on a second partition) for years.... but yeah... it just doesn't compare to the simplicity, consistency, and dependability of using a Mac running OS X.
After programming a computer all day long at work, I really like coming home to one that doesn't piss me off. =)
A true test of iTunes vs. BuyMusic (Score:4, Funny)
iTunes didn't use to have any, but they recently added the album with the Amish rap song on it. Which I will be buying once I get a spare moment at home.
What truer test of iTunes worth to society (and buymusic's worthlessness) can there possibly be?
only buying please (Score:4, Funny)
All I Know... (Score:4, Informative)
1. iTunes Music Service worked the first time and every time after this. Through an OS reinstallation, across three computers, and countless CD burns, it has *always* worked and never restricted me.
2. BuyMusic.com failed the very first time I used it. I still can't play my song (who knows why?) After several suggested reinstalls of WMP9 and subsequent "re-authorizations" of the tune, it now says my maximum auth count was reached. Fortunately it was only $.79. But I'm never going back. What a piss-poor POS that thing is.
And music studio execs will conclude that... (Score:5, Funny)
BuyMusic.com is getting bad reviews from multiple sources. So it's pretty obvious it might well fail from its appalling user interface and its smothering restrictions.
Yet, you can bet that next year, all this will be summarized in a nice, Powerpoint presentation to RIAA execs:
"See", an RIAA exec will pontificate, "we pamper 'em ungrateful Internet pirates and they don't want to use legal downloads. Let's just go back to serving them lawsuit papers."
At which point Powerpoint will BSOD promptly, and the discussion will drift on to Britney's navel jewelry and its marketing tie-ins.
Re:RTFM (Score:3, Informative)
This is why iTunes is so great. You can buy your music, play it, transfer it to an iPod, burn it, etc without downloading updates/patches/plugins for a bunch of different pieces of software from different companies. (Well you have to update iTunes to iTunes 4, but it's hardly the same)
The other issue getting in the way here is the shitty DRM. Only one computer can do the burning, so since it didn't work for her W
Re:RTFM (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm starting to smell fake grass.
Re:RTFM (Score:5, Insightful)
They make this clear before you buy the music. If I tell you before hand not to do something, and you do it anyways, is it my fault or yours?
BuyMusic.com's fault is that they provide horrible service. So people are going to complain, ask for their money back, write nasty messages about them, boycott them, etc. They're much more misleading than most companies people deal with. They knowingly use a relatively unknown and troublesome Microsoft DRM Windows Media format, without making any *active* effort to inform people these aren't MP3's. This makes people mad.
Sure, BuyMusic.com may have their fine print in order, but how many people are going to say "Well, I guess BuyMusic.com is a great company...look at this fine print here, and that fine print there...all together, it means this broken music service is not their fault. Boy, if only I had spent a few hours researching their list of supported programs, legal claims, and tech support pages before I bought my songs."
Re:RTFM (Score:3, Funny)
Sure it is their fault.. never a prob with iTunes (Score:5, Interesting)
iTunes, on the other hand, gives the user EVERYTHING in a neat little package. The connection to the music store is seamless, and you can play, sort, and burn from a single app, without any of this DRM related business, or privacy concerns. If a company expects users to use their service, they could at LEAST make it easy to use, and from this account, that is probably the last thing that it is.
I have visited their site and would like to say that it feels very hollow, and dosn't have a whole lot of content. iTunes offers clip samples that are full quality and 30 seconds long(guarenteed to work because everything is done in a nice, streamlined client). I couldn't even get BuyMusic to even play the sample because of the problems with all the external player stuff. Two more things that piss me off include the fact that BuyMusic has neglected to even catagorize my favroite genre: Electronica, and the fact that it only works with Windows, and seems that they have no plans for the rest of us, and I had to access it from a public terminal because all I have at home is a mac and some Linux boxes. At least Apple is trying to port iTunes to Windows, so I could probably get it to work with WINE.
It clearly is their fault for not providing practical means to accomplish reasonable ends.
If you bought a car (Score:5, Insightful)
If you buy something you usually have at least a bit of understanding that it's going to be useful for something. If I buy a mop and the handle breaks on the first use, back it goes - and stores almost always will take them back. At least the ones that stay in business do...
Which brings us back to BuyMusic, who seemingly does not care if what you bought is functional or not.
I feel a tiny, tiny bit sorry for them because they have to deal with PC's that might have a messed up WMP (like my computer at work that freezes every time you try to use WMP for music or video). Then again, they could have picked some other format that was known to be more compatible and less finicky. I'm sure if they'd tried AskSlashdot they might have had a few suggestions.
Similarly you have to feel a little sorry for them for pirating other people's music, after all they bought it from a third party... but if I bought a few songs from a guy on the corner who said it was "OK to share them" I probably still would not be any less liable for copyright infringement (or would I? Not sure on that one).
My back and forth with BuyMusic technical support (Score:5, Interesting)
My Email:
Their Response:Apple, on the other hand, has a form on their support page that specifically deals with cases where a computer goes down for the count, or where the user sells or formats the computer forgetting to deauthorize it.
http://www.info.apple.com/usen/musicstore/musicsto re.html?topic=computer_authorization
I'm really really surprised that BuyMusic put absolutely NO thought into what would happen if a user loses his computer, or decides its time to retire it. This is not some obscure issue that will never come up for most people. Upgrading one's computer is the one constant of using a PC, really! Its making very little sense to use this at all compared to going to a store and picking up the CD.
Re:technical glitches (Score:5, Insightful)
I think I agree with their tech support.. if they give you a music file their obligation has been fullfilled. if you can't play it how is it their problem?
Simple. You won't come back.
Re:technical glitches (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, y'see, they're called BuyMusic.com, and they're in the business of selling stuff to consumers. One of the best ways to ensure repeat business is to treat customers with grace and generosity: that's where the old maxim "the customer is always right" comes from. Even if that is impractical in the digital age, it seems that it's in BuyMusic's be
Re:Plugin? (Score:4, Informative)
I'm guessing it has to be a WMP plugin so that WMP can validate the license on the music.
I think she had a pretty fair point, they tell you that you are allowed to burn a CD from the music, and they tell you the software that you must use to do it. The software doesn't work, they tell you it's not their problem - I'd be pissed off too.
Re:Apple screwed the pooch. (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think BM will affect Apple's chances with iMS for Windows. I believe that market is Apple's to lose, at least as long as the only competition is as arrogant and incompetent as Mr. Blum and his minions.
That's why you don't run a company. (Score:4, Interesting)
Isn't that just what they did? Though it's been the nicest "beta" I've ever been in.
The BuyMusic fiasco proves exactly why you want a limited beta first (and DRM that doesn't kill your customer experience, but that's another issue), so that when 95% of the market really does get access they have a smooth experience from the start. The first few days of iTunes were a little shaky from an availability standpoint, but now they've figured out how to manage the load and are ramping up for the rest of the world.
Re:Why (Score:5, Informative)
Why are we gloating over the problems of buymusic.com?
Because, as nerds, we want the original and well-designed service (Apple Music Store) to thrive, instead of the half-assed ripoff (BuyMusic).
Re:Why (Score:3, Interesting)
If I can't listen to the thing in my car, on my stereo and in my portable CD player, what good is the damn thing?
You don't buy DVDs and license them for one DVD player in your house, that you can't lend to a friend or watch in your bedroom, do you?
Re:iTunes sucks ass too... (Score:4, Insightful)
Getting better... (Score:4, Insightful)
I read your journal entry on BuyMusic. Some of the issues are similar in iTunes (like The Wall being about the same price). But stuff like that comes from the record companies dictating the price. It would be really, really interesting to see how many albums priced about $9.99 actually sell, as that's really the limit I'm willing to pay for electronic-only content.
Also, AAC is not quite as proprietary as it would seem, there are other players that can use it (with the current DRM? Not sure). It will be really interesting to see what kind of software they end up releasing for Windows...