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Apple and U2 developing new music format to boost digital sales

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Mr. Wonderful said:
Spotify is DRM too, guys.
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Difference is that Spotify and other streaming services, the customer base knows that they are only renting the music and they don't own it; once they stop subscribing they cease to have access to both streaming and downloaded music. This new format looks like it is an actual purchase, that is just plagued with DRM.
 
Expanding 'interactivity' for an audio format sounds like an interesting challenge. Timed lyrics sound like a cool idea. Or perhaps interactive cover artwork: Being able to hold (and view) all pages of a booklet, for instance.

Hell, maybe a non-linear format that allows the user to individually control the layers. Turn off vocals and boom - karaoke version. Though this would mean the files would have to be generated close to the station and/or early in the production.

My guess is these will be especiallyonly beneficial for Apple device users.
 
Lol no one wanted the album you gave away for free Bono. Why make it more unpleasant to get shit people don't want?
 
Heard about this earlier today, could be interesting if it's done right. Obviously it will only be an Apple thing for the time being but I could see them doing lossless audio (?) and more interactive visual elements.

Guess we'll see how it works out but any effort to make buying music digitally more attractive than it is now is fine by me. Haters be damned.
 
As a graphic designer I was always sad about the death of album artwork. I've been wondering for years, though, when someone would kind of bring it back in a big way. We all have these devices that we listen to music on, and we can interact with them in big ways. Why aren't we utilizing that for artwork? I wondered why buying a digital album on iTunes or something didn't include more. Why wasn't there videos during some songs, lyrics for everything, and more interaction in total. Right now it's just a static image, and that's really strange given, as I said, the ability to really interact with these devices in many ways.
 
mackattk said:
Difference is that Spotify and other streaming services, the customer base knows that they are only renting the music and they don't own it; once they stop subscribing they cease to have access to both streaming and downloaded music. This new format looks like it is an actual purchase, that is just plagued with DRM.
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Yeah, bringing up Spotify is like using Netflix as a counter for DRM stuff: of course it's different it's a fucking subscription service, not buying individual movies/music/games/whatever for personal use. Similar applies to radio for that matter, we use it with ads and require a constant connection and are at the whim of what they want to play, while buying a tape/disc/digital download shouldn't have any of those restrictions but working speakers, players, and electrical sources.
 
Maybe the files themselves will stream content from a server like a streaming service but you still have to purchase access to each file unlike a normal streaming service.

That would make it "unpiratable" as well, I suppose. And if they make it "interactive" with lyrics and shit like that?
 
RDreamer said:
As a graphic designer I was always sad about the death of album artwork. I've been wondering for years, though, when someone would kind of bring it back in a big way. We all have these devices that we listen to music on, and we can interact with them in big ways. Why aren't we utilizing that for artwork? I wondered why buying a digital album on iTunes or something didn't include more. Why wasn't there videos during some songs, lyrics for everything, and more interaction in total. Right now it's just a static image, and that's really strange given, as I said, the ability to really interact with these devices in many ways.
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As a guy who still buys vinyl, I agree with all of this.
 
It's weird how music and movie business people are trying ways to play catch up to pirates and other things but can't due to laws, greed, etc. Muscians must know that the money is now in concerts. Tracks don't sell, tickets sell. People are easily willing to shell out $150 for crap seats for a Katy Perry concert. I can't recall what band but they went and did tours in South America and made bank. Go to your audience.
 
Apple have tried a few times at this.

It won't work. People just want to listen to the damn music!
 
Sobriquet said:
As a guy who still buys vinyl, I agree with all of this.
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I still buy some vinyl too. The large artwork is nice, and I love hanging them on my wall. That's the strength of that format with regard to artwork.

Nowadays we can't have large artwork with what we buy. That's fine, but no one is utilizing the strength of the current format. The devices we listen to music on have changed a lot, but nothing about the artwork has changed. Nothing. We just shrunk the images. That's insane.
 
ComputerMKII said:
How-standards-proliferate1.png
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I've come to dislike when people post this. It makes it seem like standards don't exist and are futile, when technology thrives on that being false.
 
I only listen to cds anyway, but if I got to have a say in a new digital format, I would give it much better tagging capabilities. Most of my music is classical, and the id3-system is not at all suitable for that genre.
 
RDreamer said:
As a graphic designer I was always sad about the death of album artwork. I've been wondering for years, though, when someone would kind of bring it back in a big way. We all have these devices that we listen to music on, and we can interact with them in big ways. Why aren't we utilizing that for artwork? I wondered why buying a digital album on iTunes or something didn't include more. Why wasn't there videos during some songs, lyrics for everything, and more interaction in total. Right now it's just a static image, and that's really strange given, as I said, the ability to really interact with these devices in many ways.
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album artwork is not dead at all.
 
mackattk said:
Difference is that Spotify and other streaming services, the customer base knows that they are only renting the music and they don't own it; once they stop subscribing they cease to have access to both streaming and downloaded music. This new format looks like it is an actual purchase, that is just plagued with DRM.
Click to expand...

I really don't think we can make conclusions yet about what this format is going to be.

SegaShack said:
FLAC and WAV are lossless, no need for another format. What they should be doing is set a new standard for record company mastering instead of accepting the same old bullshit compressed music that we have been getting since the mid 90s.
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They did!

It's called Mastered For iTunes, and is actually kind of awesome in that it has also impacted other music formats' mastering, like Spotify and CDs. Unfortunately, the only requirement they enforce is that the source file given to Apple is 24-bit. In most cases, however, the mixers have chosen to at least follow Apple's guidelines to leave head room that has eliminated clipping, if not necessarily increased dynamic range. There are plenty of pop albums out there Mastered for iTunes that score a 4 on the Dynamic Range database.
 
Sobriquet said:
Bono Vox = "good voice"

Pretentious!

And The Edge's name isn't really The Edge, either. :(

edit: Damn, beaten! With almost exactly the same post!
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Actually his friends gave him the name because there was bonavox hearing aid shop (www.bonavox.ie) across from their rehearsal room. It was actually a slagging, it just got shortened to Bono over time.
 
I don't get it. Apple already did DRM and failed. They already did itunes LP with album art/digital booklets which failed. How will this be any different? People don't want to own their own music and those that do, don't want to be tied down by DRM. I assume Apple think that so many people have a house full of Apple or airplay compatible gear it doesn't matter if it has DRM?

And timed lyrics have been around for years - .lrc is just a text file with optional time stamps. Yes I know it isn't often supplied by the record labels - but I'm just saying that it isn't some technological marvel
 
poppabk said:
I'm guessing it's the latter, embedded notes, artwork, lyrics etc.
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Still can't see how they can sell this.
Music for 99% of users is an audio only experience.
Press play on my phone playlist and off we go, only looking at screen when I want to change things up or its part of a multitasking activity.

Changing it to audio and visual experience is crazy. Who is going to watch their "new" music experience like a dedicated app.
 
Music sales are dead, with the exception of huge names like Beyonce

Spotify like service is the only thing people would be interested in 2014
 
Feels like this will be developed just for big artists too, people with the budgets to develop multimedia experiences. Two tiered system incoming.
 
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