[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto

While I completely understand the music industries need to try something new that they can DRM

There's no DRM here though: 320 kbps MP3 seems to be the format they've chosen. Really, this is about trying to get people back into buying the album again, rather than singles. That's what record companies hate most about online song sales: that people can buy the song they like instead of buying the whole album and finding that they only like that one song (Naturally 7 anyone? ).

Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto

There are so many other ways this is wrong, the first being the size of microSD cards. Lets say you're going on a adventure or road trip with a few friends. Do they really expect you to walk around with a pocketful of microSD cards each containing a different album?

Yeah, I agree completely. I think they need to sell the microSD cards with an SD card adaptor, and the SD card adaptor can have the album art on it. But still, it's not like you're going to wear a bandolier with all your SD card albums...

And I forgot to mention perhaps the biggest hurdle of all: cars. Yes, there are a lot of "iPod enabled" cars on the road, but far more cars that aren't are out there, and right now popping a CD in the deck is the way most people listen to music. There are a tiny number of CD decks that have SD card slots, but not enough to matter. And what about home theatre setups, boom boxes, clock radios with CD players, etc.? CD-compatible devices are everywhere. Dislodging that is going to be virtually impossible.

Lastly, there's the "10x factor". Generally, unless a technology is a 10x improvement over a previous technology, the new technology isn't going to take off. DVD was a 10x improvement over VHS. Blu-ray is not a 10x improvement over DVD, hence the near-flatline of growth.

Ok, so my slight optimism over this new format is now completely dead. Though if I see it come to a store, I'll buy one just for fun.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto

While I completely understand the music industries need to try something new that they can DRM

There's no DRM here though: 320 kbps MP3 seems to be the format they've chosen. Really, this is about trying to get people back into buying the album again, rather than singles. That's what record companies hate most about online song sales: that people can buy the song they like instead of buying the whole album and finding that they only like that one song (Naturally 7 anyone? ).

Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto

There are so many other ways this is wrong, the first being the size of microSD cards. Lets say you're going on a adventure or road trip with a few friends. Do they really expect you to walk around with a pocketful of microSD cards each containing a different album?

Yeah, I agree completely. I think they need to sell the microSD cards with an SD card adaptor, and the SD card adaptor can have the album art on it. But still, it's not like you're going to wear a bandolier with all your SD card albums...

And I forgot to mention perhaps the biggest hurdle of all: cars. Yes, there are a lot of "iPod enabled" cars on the road, but far more cars that aren't are out there, and right now popping a CD in the deck is the way most people listen to music. There are a tiny number of CD decks that have SD card slots, but not enough to matter. And what about home theatre setups, boom boxes, clock radios with CD players, etc.? CD-compatible devices are everywhere. Dislodging that is going to be virtually impossible.

Lastly, there's the "10x factor". Generally, unless a technology is a 10x improvement over a previous technology, the new technology isn't going to take off. DVD was a 10x improvement over VHS. Blu-ray is not a 10x improvement over DVD, hence the near-flatline of growth.

Ok, so my slight optimism over this new format is now completely dead. Though if I see it come to a store, I'll buy one just for fun.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by martin_ayton

Can Sony BMG install rootkits via microSD cards?

Haha...nice one! I bet they'll try.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Underwater Mike

MP3 is a relatively old technology. Rather than 320kbps, I'd prefer to see a lossless format.

Well...yes, MP3 is an old technology, but it's compatible with everything out there. If they went with WMA Lossless, or FLAC, the customer would have to convert the files before they could use them - and transcoding files is something most people don't understand how to do (nor should they have to).

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Felix Torres

Cell-phones have Micro slots rather than the full ones.
Unfortunately, the majority of phones *hide* the MicroSD slot inside the case, often under the battery.

Shh...don't ruin their fun! They think those crazy kids are going to "lock and load" a new album into their phone before they head out to do crazy kid stuff.

[Rocco Augusto]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

There's no DRM here though: 320 kbps MP3 seems to be the format they've chosen.

I retract my DRM statement. The previous article I read earlier in the day mentioned DRM and the fact that this doesn't have DRM makes it more appealing but still not really. If they were smart they would have just set up digital distrobution centers, ala McDonalds DVD Rentals, that would just let you browse the music catalog and download the files to your own memory card of your choosing. Because even though they do include a USB adapter, are you really going to need a million USB adapters floating around your house? The leftover waste and clutter of this new format alone is reason enough not to go with it.

This is totally not a 'green' solution. I'm surprised they're not getting blasted by this one simple fact alone. Less clutter, more simplicity!

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

...But still, it's not like you're going to wear a bandolier with all your SD card albums...

Actually, that might not be a bad idea. You could also collect them like warriors do in movies and wear them on a necklace like some evil beast's teeth.

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

And I forgot to mention perhaps the biggest hurdle of all: cars.

Or even more importantly, car vacuums. You're trying to clean up the Cheerios your child spilled or the crumbs your obnoxious friend left for you and in your absent minded daze suck your entire music collection into the trash with one swipe of the nozzle.

I am starting to seriously think I should rent my services of find a worse case scenario for any problem to the Powers That Be for all these big music companies. I could probably never run out of ideas for why this is a somewhat stupid idea. In fact, there are so many ways in which this is terrible, coming up with ideas for it could quickly become a drinking game or could even take over 'punch buggy' as the official game of all road trips.

[Pony99CA]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

And if they encode the MP3s at 320 kbps, higher than the major online music stores, that also creates some value - although only for the people that actually know what the term "bit rate" actually means.

I downloaded some free tracks from Amazon MP3 and they were 320 kbps, I believe. I don't know if all of their tracks are, but it wouldn't surprise me.

If you're worried about people understanding bit rates, the industry could just come up with a new name -- something like HD MP3s -- and say they're compatible with your existing players.

Steve

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Pony99CA

I downloaded some free tracks from Amazon MP3 and they were 320 kbps, I believe. I don't know if all of their tracks are, but it wouldn't surprise me

Ah, you're right, I checked an album I downloaded from Amazon.com and it's 320 kbps. Not all their albums are though, I think some of them are 256 kbps. But you're right in that 320 kbps isn't exactly a huge advantage over other formats...though iTunes Plus tracks are 256 kbps.

[Pony99CA]

Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto

Because even though they do include a USB adapter, are you really going to need a million USB adapters floating around your house? The leftover waste and clutter of this new format alone is reason enough not to go with it.

I guess they can't win with you. First you said

When was the last time you saw a computer with a microSD slot? Usually you have to connect the microSD card to a full size SD card adapter, are these going to be included with the album?

And then, when you realized they were including a USB sleeve, you criticize that. Are those much worse than including a full-size SD adapter?

Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto

This is totally not a 'green' solution. I'm surprised they're not getting blasted by this one simple fact alone. Less clutter, more simplicity!

Yes, it's extra clutter, but they're still probably less wasteful than CD jewel cases.

Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto

Or even more importantly, car vacuums. You're trying to clean up the Cheerios your child spilled or the crumbs your obnoxious friend left for you and in your absent minded daze suck your entire music collection into the trash with one swipe of the nozzle.

Hardly worse. Unless you're using a vacuum at a car wash or a central vacuum system, every vacuum I'm aware of has a way to empty what got sucked up. If you can empty it, you can retrieve it.

Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto

I am starting to seriously think I should rent my services of find a worse case scenario for any problem to the Powers That Be for all these big music companies. I could probably never run out of ideas for why this is a somewhat stupid idea.

There were plenty of people doing that when people were trying to invent flying machines. I'm glad the Wright Brothers didn't hire them.

Look, I don't think this is the ideal solution for a lot of environments, where CDs work perfectly well. However, if you're into digital music, it's not that bad and has a lot of positives:

• It's DRM-free, so you can copy the files onto larger cards (I have an 8 GB MicroSD in my Motorola Q9m) and not carry so many cards.
• The cards aren't protected, either, so you can copy stuff onto the cards.
• It's high quality, so probably very close to CD quality (and, if they work directly from studio masters, probably better quality than if you ripped it yourself from a CD).
• They include a USB connector so you can use it on almost any PC. (That also makes it easy to copy the contents into your iTunes catalog, I assume.)
• You can probably include most bands' entire catalogs (probably 5 albums or so) on one card, making it easy to sell those.
• You could easily bundle them with CDs in mixed-media collections.

I'll probably still buy CDs and rip what I want, but I'm not a golden ear audiophile. I even still listen to FM radio.

Steve

[Rob Alexander]

There's just nothing about this to like; it's a solution in search of a problem. If you want to buy entire albums, this has no advantages over CDs. No one is going to slip these into their phones... as has already been pointed out, my microSD slot takes 3-4 minutes to access and swap a card to. All anyone would do is buy this, copy the tracks to their computer and then sync them with their Phone, PPC or music player. And if you're going to do that, I'd rather just download them and choose only the songs I want.

[Rocco Augusto]

Originally Posted by Pony99CA

And then, when you realized they were including a USB sleeve, you criticize that. Are those much worse than including a full-size SD adapter?

That is a fair question.

I feel the SD sleeve would be more acceptable because it would make the albums compatible with more devices on the market without the need to transfer the computer from your SD card to your computer and then to your device. This would be perfect for all of those TV sets out there that are equipped with SD card slots as well. As it was mentioned earlier, boom boxes and CD players are not equipped to play these but a lot of other electronics would be in the regular SD fashion. Still incredibly annoying for a physical format, but more forgivable.

All in all I feel like this was an overly engineered solution for a problem that only hypothetically existed. It isn't like the masses were banging down the doors because CD sales were down and demanding they put out a new physical medium to buy. You would think they would realize that the decline in CD sales was resulting from a change in lifestyle choices by consumers.

Originally Posted by Pony99CA

Hardly worse. Unless you're using a vacuum at a car wash or a central vacuum system, every vacuum I'm aware of has a way to empty what got sucked up. If you can empty it, you can retrieve it.

Ah yes, I was referring to the car wash/gas station vacuum. It has been so long since I owned a portable one that I completely forgot you could purchase them.