More formats for the price of one?

[DigiPete]

We are made to pay for the same music again and again.

 

Kasette, stereo LP, quadrophonic LP, CD, MO-FI CD, high-res download, surround 5.1, surround 7.1, surround 9.1, surround 9.1 . . .

 

How many times should we pay?

[mwheelerk]

We are made to pay for the same music again and again.

 

Kasette, stereo LP, quadrophonic LP, CD, MO-FI CD, high-res download, surround 5.1, surround 7.1, surround 9.1, surround 9.1 . . .

 

How many times should we pay?

 

Sorry DigiPete but we are made to do no such thing, we choose to make those purchases.

[DigiPete]

Honestly, music companies are stupid and bad business people.

 

Many more audiophiles would gladly pay to upgrade their music to say 24bit remaster, MOFI or multi-channel

if the price reflected the work and materials that went into it.

[wkhanna]

stupid is paying for remaster that sucks

stupid is thinking technology will solve all ills.

stupid is so much good music engineered so poorly.

 

I am lucky.

the music I like was mostly recorded years ago.

by those that had control of the process & technology.

why would I buy hi-res of music that was mastered poorly to begin with.

I have a whole lot of vinyl & red book that makes hi-res sound like foolish afterthought.

[Jsmith]

Honestly, music companies are stupid and bad business people.

 

Many more audiophiles would gladly pay to upgrade their music to say 24bit remaster, MOFI or multi-channel

if the price reflected the work and materials that went into it.

 

What percent of the market do audiophiles really make up? My guess is we are a way, way, small minority and the music companies cater to their large market customers. They are very smart at business.

 

We are just one little speck that gets little attention.

[souptin]

What percent of the market do audiophiles really make up? My guess is we are a way, way, small minority and the music companies cater to their large market customers. They are very smart at business.

 

We are just one little speck that gets little attention.

 

"Very smart at business" isn't a line I see to often when describing big music business. "Struggling to keep up with the times" and "failing business model" would be closer to the mark imo.

 

I share the frustration with the continuous stream of re-releases / re-masters / luxury super plus good special anniversary editions that get put out. Sometimes you get a good one, but just as often it's a box with lots of (literal) padding and / or scraps of badly printed reproductions of photos, tickets etc. I even got some marbles, drinks coasters (which I can't use, the ink runs) and a scarf (which I can't use, the ink runs on this too) in a Pink Floyd Immersion set. At least they gave some information on the box about the bit rate and resolution of the music on the blu-ray inside, which was the main thing I was interested in.

 

*sigh*

 

But as mwheelerk points out, we do have a choices in whether to buy or not. Also, thanks to places like CA, we can share information about the quality of these re-issues.

[Fox]

I dont really make purchases. All of my library is downloaded from private locations with the exception of promos , alternate studio masters and recording session given to me.

Its not that I dont want to pay for music.. its just that most releases are piss poor, either in presentation or quality. I'd be hard pressed to even buy a CD nowadays because of the limited fidelity, never mind a digital AAC download There are some albums id jump at to buy properly made 24Bit/96kHz digital masters, but those arent the albums they are releasing. For example one of my all time favourite albums, The Wall recently received an immersion set, rushed to press without the master tapes being rebaked / fixed to allow for a multichannel or high fidelity presentation... the week after for FREE Pbthal did a rip of a sealed original UK vinyl thats utterly delightful, that blows the most recent and all previous CD masters out of the water, again for FREE.

If its an independant artist or a small label my views are a little different and I will in some cases buy the album if I like it.. I mean everyone's gotta eat right? Just some cunt big label record executive doesnt need another serving of caviar.

[Jsmith]

"Very smart at business" isn't a line I see to often when describing big music business. "Struggling to keep up with the times" and "failing business model" would be closer to the mark imo.

 

I guess I am viewing it from this perspective.

 

I have had the same album on Tape, CD, and now MP3 / FLAC. I have had the same movie on VHS, DVD, and now Blu-Ray. I don't see a large expectation that the movie industry should provide us with free upgrades. I have also purchased books in physical (softcover), early Sony e-Reader, and now Amazon Kindle.

 

In addition, if I want to convert a CD to MP3 / FLAC you can insert the disk into almost any computer today and rip it, and then play back on most software (some exceptions exist). So it is relatively easy to change format if you want. Try the same thing with DVD or Blu-Ray, and not so much. You need one program to rip it, and another to convert it. Even then it is a crap shoot which players will support the ripped copy. I know of no way to convert my old digital books, so since I no longer have my Sony e-Reader, I have to repurchase those books.

 

Look at magazines and newspapers. You can now get online subscriptions to them through apps like Zinio and iBook, but that has only really been in the last year or two.

 

My point to all of this is I see the music industry as behaving no differently than other industries when it comes to re-releases of formats, and for the most part they have blazed the trail for these other mediums (iTunes --> App Store --> Zinio).