The new Buymusic store
Well we all knew it was inevitable. Buy.com has launched their online music store with a very large iTunes Music Store feel to it.
They're pushing the pricing as songs go from 79 cents each and albums are as low as $7.95, though all 5 albums I randomly clicked on, that are on the front page, are all $9.99 for the album and 99 cents per track. I'm guessing it's only 1% of tracks that go for 79 cents.
The commercials that you can view on the main page are exact rip-off's of the Apple commercials and these even take a shot at Apple with the slogan "Music for the rest of us". Kind of a cheap shot if you ask me, since the Windows iTunes is coming later this year.
For the technical angle, here's the DRM and such:
- They claim a catalog of 300,000 songs.
-You can only listen to tracks on Windows Media Player 9
- All tracks are WMA 128 with DRM built in.
- You must have a SMDI enabled portable device to use the songs.
- Each song & album has a different number of times you can transfer the songs to a CD, portable device, or download them. These limits are set by the labels.
This is really interesting because of the contrast of differences. 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin" has 1 download, but unlimited burns and portable transfers, while The Atari's "So Long Astoria" has 3 downloads, 5 portable transfers, and 5 burns. I think this inconsistancy sucks, IMO.
- Finally, all the ads show people all holding Zen's. An obvious attempt for exposure for Creative.
Anyhow, if you wanna see what this is all about, check out www.buymusic.com and see the hoopla. I'm personally never giving up my iPod and I ain't downloading 128 WMA. Blech.
[1807 byte] By [
Slider10] at [2007-11-9 12:55:08]
# 1 Re: The new Buymusic store
i'm defenetly not gonna be using this crap
# 2 Re: The new Buymusic store
I must agree with you, this is seriously a joke. The restrictions are just going to make it too difficult for the consumer to decipher which tracks they can port and which they can't.
And the fact that restrictions are placed on media that you purchase on-line whereas restrictions are not (for the most part) put on media you buy in a brick-and-mortar store is a further hurdle that will make this unpalatable.
And WMA? C'mon! I'm mean, doens't the iPod have a preponderance of the market share of portable media? They want to just ignore that market entirely?
Strange....
Adam
# 3 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by ashawley
Strange....
Adam
Not really Adam. Everything that I have read about the RIAA, Microsoft and the recording industry talks about their love of subscription services. They want to be able to rent music to you by the month, but to be able to do it they need a way for the music to disappear off of computers and players once you subscription runs out. This is easy to do on computers but is a real pain to pull off on players. This is what is taking Microsoft so long. Also, did you notice that you have to use specific .wma players?
Is there any hope. Yes! The success of the Apple Music Store is starting to convince a few recording companies that the consumer won't accept subscription services, and if Apple would just release iTunes for Windows then the last nail would be driven into the coffin of subscription services.
Has anyone seen the Apple Itunes Music Store Billboard top 10? Pretty amazing that the number 1 song only sold 1500 copies. The only way to explain the number of songs that Apple has sold to the number of songs sold on the top 10 is that Music Store customers are ordering a little bit of everything for the Apple Library, otherwise it's impossible for Apple to have sold 2+ million songs.
Bill McNair
# 4 Re: The new Buymusic store
I see that Buymusic.com is a new "itunes store" like thing right. Well it also says it'snnot compatable with the Apple iPod. Well I think they might be wrong. It says that your have to use Windows Media Player. Well if you have Windows XP (Maybe Me) and you have XPlay installed then you say sync music to your ipod with Windows Media Player. So if you have xPlay and the flies are .mp3 then maybe your can sink music. Does anyone know if this will work?? Well let me know Kayle
# 5 Re: The new Buymusic store
Merged threads to keep the discussion consolidated. Anyone think we should move this to the General Music section, since it doesn't pertain to the iPod itself?
# 6 Re: The new Buymusic store
Kayle,
It won't work with the iPod because the files are in Windows Media format, a proprietary file format the iPod does not support.
# 7 Re: The new Buymusic store
The BuyMusic store is a joke. And their ads are not only rip-offs, they're insulting too. And, everytime I log onto the store, a female announcer says "Get loaded." It almost sounds like they're trying to sell you porn in order to get more sales. And, they lie. Most songs are 99 cents, on top of inconsistent user rights.
# 8 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by SouthsideIrish
<snip>
Not really Adam. Everything that I have read about the RIAA, Microsoft and the recording industry talks about their love of subscription services.
</snip>
I certainly don't find strange what the RIAA et al, is doing Bill. Greedy and short-sighted yes, but not strange. ;)
What I do find strange is that a company could actually put together a business plan that shows a market for this service (with all the restrictions they've placed on it.
I'm mean, c'mon, how are you going to remember how many times you've downloaded a song to a portable or how many times you've burned another song. It's silly. Or does WMP9 give you that information? Still, seems like a pain.
In looking at the prices for some of the albums, I could pay $4 more, get the CD w/all the accompanying goodies and actually do what I want with it...forever.
Again, I could see a model like this flying in the late 90's when people would throw money at Dogfood over the internet, but I thought those days were over. ;)
</end rant>
Adam
# 9 Re: The new Buymusic store
Actually they know there isn't a market for it, but they want to try and force a market. The problem they have is Microsoft was too slow in coming up with a way to have drm run full time on a chip in the players, It was supposed to be released at the last CES, but they missed it, and now Apple has come up with a real music store.
The recording industry over and over say that the future of music is in renting, not buying., but as you say who wants to put up with all of the DRM rules. Under there system it is very likely that you will have to pay more than once for some songs. Nice scam, isn't it.
Bill McNair
# 10 Re: The new Buymusic store
Well, i browsed their site for the first time today. I was quite disgusted ( strong word i know ) at the so called shoppers corner part of the site. They suggest portable players, burners, software and "portable media storage".
They of course dont even have Nero on sale for the software, which is by far the most powerful burning program available now. The portable storage are external drives. I dont know about you, but im not going to transfer WMA files onto a drive and lug it around with me.
The whole method they've come up with is not attractive at all. The iTunes music store is much easier to browse, and alot more recognized. Alot of people wont be able to distinguish what from where.
Guess everyone is trying to take a chunk of a company's design. For heaven's sake they copied Apple's commericial!!
Creativity has really gone down hill recently. Anyone agree ?
The simple math below can sum up everything i've raved about.
iTunes Music Store > *
* := any character
> := Greater, or "Owns" hehe
# 11 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by caterinka
Merged threads to keep the discussion consolidated. Anyone think we should move this to the General Music section, since it doesn't pertain to the iPod itself?
Being that I started this thread, I'll respond. I think this is VERY iPod related because lets face it: lots of iPod owners are Windows users (myself included) and it honestly ####es me off that they're trying to market to "the rest of us" as they put it, meanwhile, I'm still left in the dust because my favorite mp3 player / the mp3 player I own isn't supported.
It's relevant to the iPod also because they're featuring the Zen in their Apple-like ads and taking their stabs at Apple's potential market. I can see people watching the ad and thinking "Oh wow I can buy a Zen because the iPod is Apple. It won't work with Windows".
You know how many people say to me "You can use that on Windows?" or "Isn't that from Apple?" ? It's terrible.
# 12 Re: The new Buymusic store
hehe, glad that i'm not the only one who thought they were trying to sell porn after watching the tommy lee commercial with the porno narrator saying "get loaded". it's also a horrible slogan. "get loaded." what? get loaded with what? maybe they mean you can only load your music onto your creative jukebox once, so you better "get loaded" fast before your DRM license expires. sad.
# 13 Re: The new Buymusic store
Huge rip off of iMS. What a joke that it's in WMA...Making it incompatible with a majority of players...
# 14 Re: The new Buymusic store
isn't 128Kbs WMA just gonna sound terrible? I mean AAC sounds much better than this, I know that, but you are basically paying for KaZaa quality music! what a rip!!!
carlin at 2007-11-15 14:29:05 >
# 15 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by carlin
isn't 128Kbs WMA just gonna sound terrible? I mean AAC sounds much better than this, I know that, but you are basically paying for KaZaa quality music! what a rip!!!
I've gotton some excellent quality music over KaZaa!
# 16 Re: The new Buymusic store
Exactly, just because on Kazaa a song might've been ripped by a 7 year old who doesn't encode and tag correctly, doesn't mean you can't trust it...
No, of course not.
# 17 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by carlin
isn't 128Kbs WMA just gonna sound terrible? I mean AAC sounds much better than this, I know that, but you are basically paying for KaZaa quality music! what a rip!!!
As a matter of fact, WMA is a great format. It is roughly double the quality of mp3 at a given bitrate. In other words, 128kbs WMA = 256kbs MP3. And of course significantly smaller file sizes than 256kbs MP3. A wee bit better than Kazaa quality music. I find it amusing that people are decrying Buymusic's use of WMA because it is incompatible with many players (about 50% of mp3 players support WMA) yet no one minds AAC, when only a handful of players support it. Now don't get me wrong, I haven't even visited Buymusic yet so I have no opinion of them at all, but criticisms of WMA compared to AAC are silly.
# 18 Re: The new Buymusic store
I think the biggest reason you're seeing criticism of the WMA format and the Buymusic store around here is because we simply can't use it on our beloved iPods. Further, their site is plainly disdainful of our treasured toys, which I find insulting.
# 19 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by mongoos150
Huge rip off of iMS. What a joke that it's in WMA...Making it incompatible with a majority of players...
But from reading the fine print they seem to want their music to only be played on certain players from certain manufacturers. Basically the only players you have permission to use are the ones they sell. This is probably because of the DRM Microsoft is implementing.
Oh, and I don't think the wma files they are selling will sound any worse than the aac file Apple is selling. WMA really isn't that bad, except for the DRM.
Bill McNair
# 20 Re: The new Buymusic store
I can see why Buymusic.com is going with .WMA. It is the same reason why iMS went with AAC. It sucks that it won't work with the iPod. The DRM, dont' even get me started on that rant. I mean come on. The RIAA is sitting there just feeding the fire with all this DRM crap. DRM just doesn't work period!
ToddW at 2007-11-15 14:35:18 >
# 21 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by tonicboy
As a matter of fact, WMA is a great format. It is roughly double the quality of mp3 at a given bitrate. In other words, 128kbs WMA = 256kbs MP3. And of course significantly smaller file sizes than 256kbs MP3. A wee bit better than Kazaa quality music.
256 is a wee bit better?
The majority of music on kazza is ripped in 128, 80%+/-. Those 128 Kbs songs have probably been transcoded a dozen times. 256 CBR/VBR/ABR is ALOT better than kazza.
# 22 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by stasyna
256 is a wee bit better?
The majority of music on kazza is ripped in 128, 80%+/-. Those 128 Kbs songs have probably been transcoded a dozen times. 256 CBR/VBR/ABR is ALOT better than kazza. that statement was a wee bit sarcastic.
# 23 Re: The new Buymusic store
I've been seeing the attempts to licence music using WMA files for a while now, and I genuinely don't like it. Forcing me to change the way I use my computer is not going to gain me as a customer.
And after watching those tutorials on their site, at times i honestly thought this was a spoof, because they were counting up to like "Step seven..."
I don't think they sold their product with those tutorials at all. and i'm not an AppleHead or whatever you'll call it, but i think it's genuinely weak.
I dont plan on using the apple music store, but at least they have the idea with their DRM, or lack thereof.
# 24 Re: The new Buymusic store
who cares if we cant run wma files, we've got the iTunes Music Store, the original and the best ;D and the Windows version coming later
scarf at 2007-11-15 14:39:21 >
# 25 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by scarf
who cares if we cant run wma files, we've got the iTunes Music Store, the original and the best ;D and the Windows version coming later
The lesson here, boys and girls, is that you can imitate a good thing but you can never truly replicate it.
# 26 Re: The new Buymusic store
well WMA is just as bad, and just as good as the AAC offered by apple. The big difference in is the included DRM. Apple is being a bit more casual with theirs, as opposed to the Microsoft/buynow.com DRM which is a lot more strict.
The quality of the songs isn't the question, it's the restrictions of the files that's more prevelant here.
# 27 Re: The new Buymusic store
big brother is most definatly watching over us......
# 28 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by sandeep
And after watching those tutorials on their site, at times i honestly thought this was a spoof, because they were counting up to like "Step seven..."
You know, this made me laugh because when I watched the video and they said "step seven" I thought "wow. iTunes Music Store is 1 or 2 steps." Then I chuckled.
I think we all could see Steve Jobs losing his cool in our minds. I could just imagine him seeing the buymusic store and saying "seven f'ing steps!??!?! GET IT RIGHT! MAKE IT SIMPLE!!! GOD!" then storming out. lol. That's how I see this crap from buy.com
:-D
ps- I wonder how many songs they'll sell in the first week. Comparisons anyone?
# 29 Re: The new Buymusic store
tonicboy:
As far as I know, WMA is very good at low bit rate, but it loose it at higher, so lame preset mp3 is a lot better than 128 wma.
well, according to them that is:
http://www.mp3-tech.org/tests/wma9/
# 30 Re: The new Buymusic store
Wow. Now I'm REALLY happy that they changed the HTML so that if you're not using Internet Explorer, you can't even get into the website. I'm using Opera, identifying itself as IE and it doesn't work. Sucks. I can't even browse their crappy site now.
# 31 Re: The new Buymusic store
Originally posted by Slider10
Wow. Now I'm REALLY happy that they changed the HTML so that if you're not using Internet Explorer, you can't even get into the website. I'm using Opera, identifying itself as IE and it doesn't work. Sucks. I can't even browse their crappy site now.
You can tell these people don't wan't REAL music fans looking at the site and exposing it for the crapola it is. Those commercials were complete garbage, as far as I'm concerned. Somewhere, Steve Jobs is cringing in laughter over this poor imitation of a music service.
# 32 Re: The new Buymusic store
here's the code which checks your browser if you're at all interested:
var mac = navigator.appVersion.indexOf("Mac")>-1
var opera = navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Opera")>-1
//IE5+ required, netscape, macs, and opera are not supported
if (navigator.appName == "Netscape" || mac || opera) {
musicLink = false
window.location.href="/ierequired.htm";
} else {
//find out if its ie, then version 5+
var tmpIEVerInfo = navigator.userAgent.indexOf("MSIE ") + 5;
if(tmpIEVerInfo != -1)
{
if(parseInt(navigator.userAgent.substring(tmpIEVer Info, tmpIEVerInfo+1)) < 5)
window.location.href="/ierequired.htm";
}
else
{
window.location.href="/ierequired.htm";
}
musicLink = true
}
you could copy the rest of the code, and get a 'edited' copy of the page mirrored. though this is prolly illegal.
# 33 Re: The new Buymusic store
It's my guess that they're trying to prevent the Safari users from accessing their site because the iTunes Music Store doesn't allow Windows users to even browse its site yet.
