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More from Cory Doctorow
2006-12-03 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdlbearBoing Boing: Barenaked Ladies Are Me tour - great music, politics, and tech!
At the show, I bought BLAM on a 256MB USB key, for $25. The key came loaded with the entire new album in MP3 form, a ton of live tracks, graphics, videos, ringtones, and basically everything else you could want -- and when I was done moving all that stuff to my laptop, I was left with a useful USB key, instead of a lump of CD plastic that I would have to lug around with me every time I moved, pay to stick in a storage locker, and never listen to again.So, who out there would pay $25 for an album of mine on a USB key? Worth doing?
The USB key is part of the BNL political/technical/social picture. Recently, BNL front-man Steve Page founded an upstart association for Canadian musicians and labels that takes the radically sensible position that DRM sucks, fans shouldn't be sued, and musicians should work the the Internet, not against it.
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Date: 2006-12-04 03:57 am (UTC)I love the idea of distributing music on USB keys. I would just prefer a lossless format -- FLAC would do beautifully -- except that it would greatly increase file size.
Failing that, I see no reason why I wouldn't pay $25 for an album on USB, yes, including yours.
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Date: 2006-12-04 04:11 am (UTC)And, as it turns out, even CD format is lossy -- the masters are Audacity project files with 24 bits of precision. I will be selling Audacity projects as "super singles" at some point.
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Date: 2006-12-04 04:08 am (UTC)What they also need to do is "If you supply a replacement USB key..." for those of us who want to recycle the things.
How many 256MB usb keys do I need? She says looking at the little pile of them she already has around the house...
But they have gotten so cheap lately, I can see the reason for using them. Fry's is almost giving them away.
I suppose if it has the group logo or something stamped on it, it can become a collector's item in addition to a useful way to store the music.
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Date: 2006-12-04 04:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-04 05:47 am (UTC)It's a nice bonus that they rock as a live band too. :)
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Date: 2006-12-04 10:21 pm (UTC)