Currently listening to: NOT the new Switchfoot album, that's for sure!!
Current mood: Salty
Oh, I'm salty alright. FRIGGIN' SALTY!!
The saltiness is directed at EMI, Columbia Records, and their parent company, Sony. You see, the new Switchfoot album, Nothing is Sound, comes equipped with RI-DONK-U-LOUS copy-protection software - so ridonkulous, in fact, that it only allows you to rip the audio file to a computer in protected WMA format. Are these files compatible with iTunes, and by extension, my trusty iPod?
No, they are not.
I don't listen to music these days unless it's coming through my iPod.
Hence the saltiness.
When are record labels going to learn that taking measures such as these do NOTHING to stop piracy and EVERYTHING to infuriate loyal customers? Honestly, they're so paranoid about piracy that they're willing to massively inconvenience users of the MOST POPULAR digital music player in the world just to feel like they're doing something about the problem!
Hey, here's a thought, music industry: STOP PUTTING YOUR ENTIRE MARKETING BUDGET BEHIND CRAPPY, FLASH-IN-THE-PAN ARTISTS!! IT'S CALLED ARTIST DEVELOPMENT - LOOK INTO IT!! People are willing to pay for things that they love and are loyal to. Family Guy is probably one of the most downloaded things on BitTorrent, yet their DVDs still set sales records? Why is this? Try extreme loyalty based on extreme quality. It's that simple.
Grrr...I am so peeved about this. (I bet you can tell.) I started out just feeling mildly inconvenienced and rapidly progressed to decrying the state of the entire music industry. (Yes, I do this often, but come on. I don't need reminding.) And I just watched Switchfoot on Conan and feel bad that they have to be swept up in all of this. They're such a great band and from what I can tell, care very little about making money from their music. I highly doubt that they had anything to do with all of this. Maybe they don't even know.
Anyway, you can bet that some highly-charged e-mails will come out of this. President of Sony, look out. My tongue is a-fiery.
I guess it's just a good things I have uber-haxxor friends that have nothing better to do than figure out workarounds to this.
EDIT: I was right about the band not knowing about this whole thing. Check out this post from Tim Foreman on Switchfoot's message boards. Glad to know I can still stand proudly as a Switchfoot fan.
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10 comments:
The new Switchfoot is worth the headache, broseph. Esspecially the first track. Dang.
Try ripping the files to your PC, then burn them to a CD. Once you've done that you can use your copy to rip them again using RealPlayer or iTunes. There's probably a more efficient way to convert a protected WMA to the iTunes format, but I'm sort of an idiot. That's been my way around these copyright things in the past (ie the last 4 albums I've bought). Or you could forego the album art and the CD jacket that somebody probably worked very hard on and just buy the album on iTunes.
But don't ask me. I'm not a member of the iCult. I certainly have better ways to show people that I am ignoring them than by having little white wires projecting from my ears 24 hours a day.
MiniZing!
AM
It's comments like, "I don't listen to music these days unless it's coming through my iPod" that give people like Meez reason to call it icult... well. among other things, but you don't help! I'm all about ipods but you have other options...
I bought the album I also have it on itunes so go ahead and buy it and i'll send it to you in m4p (or whatever) format. I know that's not the principle of the matter, but whatever.
See? Columbia's happy, Switchfoot is happy, Steve Jobs is happy... I think you should still feel salty, though. At least until you write a few nasty emails. Make sure you include at least one rant again American Idol for me, okay?
Keri
Yeah, I suppose that line came off a little arrogant, but I didn't mean to. It's just pretty much fact. If I'm listening to music in the car, it's from my iPod piped through my radio adapter. (Or else it's NPR - I listened to some of Roberts' confirmation hearing yesterday. I was riveted.) And if I'm listening to music at home, it's from my iPod piped through my computer speakers. So I'm sorry I'm a member of the iCult, but that thing is just so cool.
Side note - the ripped files have a special license that doesn't let you burn them to a CD. So that workaround's out. But don't worry, my hacker friends are on the case.
I was going to take it back to Family Christian Stores, where I bought it (yeah yeah, I had gift certificates), but they don't allow returns on opened music. So I'm working on it.
Hey The Meez, did your new advisor Clive Elliot come to DICEY this week?
Naw. Clive didn't make it this week, but I think he wants to come play games sometime, which will be sweet. But your baby is now recognized with temporary status. How do you feel about that? When I draft the constitution and everyone agrees to it, I'd like you to sign it. Deal?
AM
Aww...thanks, man. That would be sweet. I'm so proud of you, doing all this official stuff that I neglected to do last year. Makes me feel like I left my mark on things, you know? But yeah, that's awesome. I would be honored. What was the attendance like? Still sky high?
I think that all the founding members of DICEY should sign. But that's just me and I just like my signature. It's pretty sweet. I kind of wish that I had any desire to ever be famous, because I think my autograph bring a pretty high price on ebay just because of how sweet it is.
Siosh
I think the bigger problem here is that you're trying to listen to a Switchfoot album.
So I just read your 2 am jokes entry, and I must say that after a 10 hour work day...They are pretty humorous to me! Ask me sometime when I"m not slap happy and we'll see! :-)
Weaves
Jake, you're much more agreeable when you're drunk dialing me. And I believe we've already established that your taste in music leaves absolutely NO ROOM for you to make fun of other's selections.
The Weave, I've found that a 10 hour work day produces the ideal amount of delirium to find my jokes humorous. It's perfect.
So hopefully you already figured this out, but this might be the solution to your CD problem. This is from the Relevant newsletter that goes out every week:
"You probably know this by now, but if you bought Switchfoot's latest album, Nothing Is Sound, from a Christian retail outlet, there's a good chance you can't import the tracks onto your iPod. According to MTV, EMI CMG, which distributes Switchfoot's albums to Christian retail only, discovered a manufacturing defect that prevents fans from burning copies of the album or transferring the tracks to portable MP3 devices. So, if your album has a Sparrow Records logo on it, return it for a new one..."
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