Posted 11/03/09 at 04:01:59 PM by Bart Salisbury

The traditional music industry has long been busy building the image of music pirates as scofflaws and reprobates, the type of people that would kick granny to the curb and steal candy from babies; an evil that must be crushed at any cost. Pity the industry didn’t actually expand that same energy trying to understand them as consumers in an emergent marketplace, thus better positioning themselves to meet the needs of that market rather than threaten it with a cudgel.

A United Kingdom research group, Demos, did just that, and surprise, surprise, they discovered that those people who confessed to pirating music were also those who spent the most on music. Pirates spend, on average, $126 per year on CDs, MP3s, and vinyl. Non-pirates (landlubbers?), on the other hand, only spend, on average, $72 per year.

Interestingly, only 10% of the respondents fessed-up to having illegally downloaded music. But, as the study was conducted in Great Britain, where the repercussions for illegal downloading are way more severe than in the United States, it’s surprising any did. (The Performing Rights Society (PRS), Great Britain’s RIAA doppelgänger, is presently pushing legislation to ban from the Internet any one caught illegally downloading music three times--a modern day version of walking the plank.)

Respondents indicated they were willing to buy more music, provided the price is right. It might be that, as consumers, they’ve recognized that downloaded music is a quality notch or two below CDs, and pricing should better reflect that differential. The tipping point appears to be 73 cents, at or below purchasing becomes more likely.

"Politicians and music companies need to recognize that the nature of music consumption has changed and consumers are demanding lower prices and easier access to music,” says Peter Bradwell, a Demos researcher.

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Posted 01/05/09 at 02:31:09 PM by Andy Salisbury

As digital music stores become more common and convenient, the age of the compact disc as the preferred medium is coming to a close. In fact, according to year-end sales figures released by The Nielsen Co., sales of CDs are down a whopping 20 percent.

The sales of physical discs have dropped from 450.5 million in 2007 to only 362.6 million in 2008. And during this time, digital album sales made a gigantic jump of 32 percent over their previous year’s sales.

Apple’s iTunes music store has been particularly successful, having broken the 1 billion song mark with 1.07 billion sold. Along with this, their sales went up 27 percent over the previous year.

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Posted 11/20/08 at 08:17:07 PM by Mark Edward Soper

This holiday season, Microsoft is taking aim at arch-rival Apple's iPod - and its companion iTunes software. This week, Microsoft cut the retail prices on 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB Zunes as well as on the Car Pack, Home/AV Pack, and Dock Pack. With the 8GB Zune now selling for $139 (was $149) and the 16GB model now selling for $179 (was $199), Microsoft is undercutting the price of comparable Nanos by $10 (8GB) and by $20 (16GB). The 4GB Zune anchors the lineup at $99, down $30 from its old price.

The Car Pack now sells for $69 (was $79), but the Home/AV Pack, also formerly $79, is now just $59. The Dock Pack is also cheaper at $39 (was $49).

To find out how Microsoft plans to use Zune software to drive hardware sales, join us after the jump.

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Posted 10/11/08 at 07:34:08 PM by Justin Kerr

Intense customer backlash has forced the online music arm of Wal-Mart to reverse its position on its controversial plan to deactivate all DRM authentication servers on October 9th. The move would have left countless customers with music files that could never be re-authenticated should they wish to play them on a new PC. Deactivating DRM server’s isn’t a new trend, but the announcement differed from other vendors simply because of the sheer lack of notice customers were given to backup music. The first notice only went out on September 28th giving a mere two weeks warning. For those who aren’t sure if they are affected, the DRM servers are only necessary for authenticating tracks purchased prior to February 2008. In February the retailer made the popular shift from DRM-ed WMA’s to unprotected MP3’s. 

Even though the servers are safe for now, the vaguely worded email from Wal-Mart continues to urge customers to make backups of their music by burning them on CD. Music burned to an audio CD can be copied back to your hard drive DRM free using many free applications such as iTunes, but unfortunately not without an unavoidable loss of quality. No new dates are given for the server deactivation but the email doesn’t suggest the retailer’s commitment to the DRM servers will be long term. With the industry shift to copy protection free music well underway, this and other similar announcements are a lesson to us all. No authentication server (Apple included) is likely to be around forever. Now is as good a time as any to backup your tunes. 

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Posted 09/29/08 at 03:55:39 PM by Mark Edward Soper

The market has spoken: getting rid of DRM shackles on digital music is a good thing. But what if you purchased music before the DRM handcuffs were removed?

If you bought music from Walmart.com before February 2008 (when Walmart.com started selling MP3 music), your ability to move music files from PC to PC has a very short shelf life. How short? Try October 9, 2008. That's the date that Walmart.com will shut down the DRM servers that control your ability to play non-MP3 music purchased from Walmart.com.

After 10/9/2008, you won't be able to move your music to another computer or access the songs on your system if you upgrade to another operating system or reinstall your current OS after a crash or to refresh its bits and bytes.

Fortunately, there's a bit of good news. While there's no way to extend the shelf life of that half-gallon of milk you lost a month ago in the back of your refridgerator, Walmart "strongly recommend[s] that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer."

It's almost enough to make you agree with BoingBoing's Cory Doctorow, who posted Walmart.com's message (excerpted above) and added this rejoinder:

Boy, the entertainment industry sure makes a good case for ripping them off, huh? Buy your media and risk having it confiscated by a DRM-server shutdown. Take it for free and keep it forever.

My answer? I buy CDs and rip them myself. What's yours? Hit the jump for your chance to sound off.

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Posted 09/12/07 at 04:20:24 PM by Mark Soper

Microsoft wins patent rights for inaudible digital watermark technology. What does this mean for so-called 'DRM-free' music - and you?

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Posted 05/30/07 at 10:37:56 AM by Michael Brown

Our listening challenge reveals that songs encoded at 256Kb/s are only slighty better than 128Kb/s tracks.

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Posted 04/04/07 at 07:26:43 PM by Will Smith

Your MP3s have inconsistent and frequently wrong ID3 tags. This handy app will automagically detect and repair bad tags

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