Who Needs a Good Laugh?
Ah yes, the mp3. That file is just about everywhere. Between that and the .jpg, the internet would be really, really dull. And like the .jpg, the .mp3 format is universal. it is everywhere. Why the other name for an iPod is…an MP3 player!
Yes I know, there is OGG, WAV, AFLAC, and a half a dozen other wonderful formats out there that most players also support. So guess who wants to bring out a brand new format? Not Apple, they all ready have the m4a. No, the record companies. Yes they’re starting to feel spry after a year where sales have actually improved (zero plus one is only one, but you get the drift), so Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI are reportedly preparing a new digital album format that will include songs, lyrics, videos, liner notes and artwork called CMX. (OK, everyone ooh, ahh and feel a slight bit of fear here)
To quote Crunch Gear’s Devin Coldewey,
“What a great idea that would have been in 2003! But it is 2009, and the labels have been abusing consumers for so long that any format solely originating in them will be distrusted and ridiculed.”
To which I’ll add a hearty Amen, brother. Once again the music industry is way late to the party and didn’t even bring a bottle of wine. Now there is a backstory to this. The news comes just weeks after reports of a similar project, Cocktail, being developed by Apple. Apparently, Apple rejected CMX and instead began work on an in-house alternative. It is not clear how Cocktail and CMX will differ, other than ownership.
The music industry spokespeople beg to differ. From the Times:
"Apple at first told us that they were not interested, but now they have decided to do their own, in case ours catches on," a label rep told the Times. "Ours will be a file that you click on, it opens and it would have a brand new look, with a launch page and all the different options. When you click on it you’re not just going to get the 10 tracks, you’re going to get the artwork, the video and mobile products."
If Apple doesn’t play nice on this, well, think of CMX as a newborn and Steve Jobs smothering it in the crib with a pillow shaped like in iPod. It won’t matter if this format, slices, dices and makes thousands of julienne fries-it will be regulated to that third tier, right behind the WMA format.
There are also a couple of other points not mentioned. The most obvious is that surely the new format is really all about DRM. The description should read: “a single file, which included tracks, lyrics, album art, and music videos” and DRM. I’m certain the industry thinks this new format will be harder to pirate. I give it two weeks once the first tracks come out. Maybe less.
The other point that is missed is a generational thing. It used to be you bought an album, which was a collection of songs. Then over the last fifteen years or so, users have moved away from that model to singles. the iPod only hastened that movement. And the CMX format seems better designed for albums, not singles. Besides, I want my MP3 player to play music. If I want more information, there are dozens of places I can go later. Besides, if it something I know, I’ve all ready seen all the other stuff and can probably tell you the gossip and the backstory on the song better than anyone in the industry. Oddly enough, Thom Yorke of Radiohead said in today’s Guardian that his band has no intention to release another album and will instead focus on download-only singles and EPs. From a band that was once a defender of the album format, that’s saying something. But the music industry will have none of that. And they’ll fall flat on their face again. Like they have for the last twenty years.
Now Playing: The Dandy Warhols – Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia – Bohemian Like You
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