Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Aggregate me, baby!

David Rush

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 08:28:02 +1300

My music buying behaviour this year has been influenced quite a lot by emusic.com.

Simon Grigg

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 17:20:35 +1300

I think the packaging is pretty expensive. I gather it costs them $90 to produce.

perhaps, but there is a certain irony in seeing The Pin Group and such in such surroundings. It feels like a 180 degree twist from where FN started from.

Then again so was Fiona MacDonald…

Russell Brown

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 16:45:05 +1300

Oh and one more thing totally unrelated but mentioned way back...how on earth do Warners get away with retailing the 4 CD Flying Nun set for $150+ !! What a scam....

I think the packaging is pretty expensive. I gather it costs them $90 to produce.

Simon Grigg

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 15:21:03 +1300

Young people these days just don't know what house music is any more, mutter, grumble, etc ...

Ha ha, yes...my daughter (12) thinks my taste in music (aside from The Beatles which she and her mates all love) sucks.

I actually think its been a hell of a year for…

Robyn Gallagher

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 12:29:17 +1300

I've just realised that I actually use YouTube for discovering a lot of new music. Often I'll read about some cool new song, and then I'll head over to YouTube and watch the video. I also use it to listen to old songs, to make sure they were actually as…

Russell Brown

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 10:57:55 +1300

. For digital downloads, I find www.beatport.com hard to beat, 320 kbps MP3s with no DRM. Soulseek also rocks.

My music buying behaviour this year has been influenced quite a lot by emusic.com. Not only is it much cheaper than buying CDs, it's leading me to some good stuff -…

Simon Grigg

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 23:14:22 +1300

Digital Rights Management...its basically the record companies trying to control the use and distribution of their copyrights..it sucks. I'm far too tired to go into it in detail...best go here

But suffice to sa its a reasonably good indication of why major record companies are in big trouble.

Robyn Gallagher

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:57:55 +1300

Can someone tell me in a nutshell what DRM is?

Boing Boing keep going on about it, but I haven't picked up what it's all about.

Wikipedia gives me a handy choice of 13 DRM acronyms to choose from.

David Rush

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:45:15 +1300

"people used to play their LPs on those stacker things quite happily"...true (and the stacker thing was great for 45s). I once had close to a religious experience listening to an old Sam and Dave record on an circa 60s sterogram. The (valve) distortion was a thing of beauty.

Agree…

bob daktari

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:36:27 +1300

as a child I eagerly awaited the arrival of mcdonalds in the south island – that wait (at the time) was worth it

itunes is not

both are bad for you

I reckon Apple is having a f__king laugh at NZ's expense – just launch ya coks

Danyl, there's many…

Danyl Mclauchlan

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 17:12:09 +1300

why settle for a crappy MPwhatever (Apple etc) file if you really like music? I'd rather have a CD (or an SACD or 24-bit CD or whatever – but CD's all right. vinyl's better!)

A couple of months ago I was looking for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69_Love_Songs | a CD recommended to me…

Simon Grigg

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 14:57:33 +1300

I agree with you Richard but the commercial reality is that most people simply don't care that much. If it sound ok-ish...its fine. Sad but true...30 years ago people used to play their LPs on those stacker things quite happily.

Richard Wain

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 13:49:05 +1300

Damian's right about iTunes, it's DRM-crippled over-priced crap that's there not for music lovers but to help sell iPods.

Damian's wrong on this though:

show me a music lover who doesn't download mp3s via p2p and I'll show you a music lover who hasn't heard of p2p

like sure I've…

Mat Wiseman

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 11:01:12 +1300

Herald are confirming what Russell has been saying: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10413471

Sarah Wedde

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 04:40:05 +1300

Most will deal with that lack of information well, but inevitably human psychology kicks in when dealing with a particularly aggravated individual andthe rep will simply make stuff up to buy themselves some breathing space.

Hey, no aggravation here, until we're quite obviously lied to (and as a first response).…

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 23:04:07 +1300

Argh, sorry for the rant

Hey, I don't see anyone complaining! I thought it was a really interesting take on events from the perspective of a (soon-to-be-ex) insider.

For what it's worth, all the problems I've experienced with Xtra broadband in the past have either been my fault or as…

Andre Alessi

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:17:17 +1300

Argh, sorry for the rant, I'm all hyper about seeing Dimmer and Jakob tonight.

Andre Alessi

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:16:45 +1300

We're not with Telecom, but it annoys me no end that the standard helpdesk response to any broadband problems is, "Oh, it's at your end." No, we have two fairly computer-savvy people living here and it is not at our end. And no, re-entering the configuration data will not suddenly…

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 18:15:37 +1300

Oh, this is interesting.

It looks like a certain long-running NZ-based online music seller is also in position to be an iTunes aggregator.

Compie

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 16:42:20 +1300

Aside note, or back to Flying NUN

Robert Scott has penned a song about the iceburgs off Dunedin and the bats have recorded it?

It was in the ODT today.

jon_knox

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 16:21:42 +1300

There's an old but informative article from Wired about the Long Tail, which uses the CD and DVD biz as an example. It also ponders the economics of big music companies and raises some interesting points/questions about music pricing.

andrew llewellyn

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:45:09 +1300

I can only hope I go out in a fiery meteorite explosion so no-one gets to paw over my stuff.

I've dutifully ftp'd all your sites Sarah, they're up on Trademe the day after yout untimely demise, long time away may that be.

Damian Stewart

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:36:16 +1300

Tell me, why should I be excited about the iTunes store? So I can pay money to get mp3s of the same music I can download for free anyway — why bother? Ok, so it's more 'legal', whatever that might mean in a world of mass corporate media subversion of…

Paul Rowe

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:33:45 +1300

Disregard question about box set. Found it.

Sarah Wedde

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:29:01 +1300

We're not with Telecom, but it annoys me no end that the standard helpdesk response to any broadband problems is, "Oh, it's at your end." No, we have two fairly computer-savvy people living here and it is not at our end. And no, re-entering the configuration data will not suddenly…

Paul Rowe

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:28:02 +1300

It need to be said that at a time when Warners are releasing a mighty Flying Nun (tm) box set

Is there any word on said box set in the interweb? Anybody?

Oh, and I have to point out to anybody who is interested that Paul at Fundypost has linked…

Russell Brown

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:17:18 +1300

What does the aggregator actually do?
Are they just a payment engine to save Apple from having to maintain accounts for thousands of people?
Or do they do traditional record company functions like A&R, plying radio station people with gurls and drugs, etc?

They just interface with the iTunes people (and…

Russell Brown

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:11:36 +1300

A reader among the select band of us on Wired Country has pointed out that they've quietly reconfigured their service.

It was 2Mbit/s synchronous, now it seems to be 3.5Mbit/s down (although I'm only getting 2.5 at the moment) and 850k up.

They really are men of mystery at Wired…

BenWilson

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:10:53 +1300

A little story to warm the cockles of the heart:

My business partner, a very successful software writer, managed to get Telecom to pay back $5000 to him due to pathetic service on one of their most expensive plans.

We both changed our plans simultaneously – I went for the…

Sarah Wedde

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:57:13 +1300

And Syd Barrett's things are being auctioned off.

There's something very sad about seeing someone's things being sold off--particularly the handmade or customised furniture, and the scrapbooks and notebooks.

I can only hope I go out in a fiery meteorite explosion so no-one gets to paw over my stuff.

Damian White

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:55:38 +1300

. . . yeah, we unwittingly jumped on the Unleashed bandwagon at home, too. Initially we were hitting 400+kB/s PvP download, but as the weeks have progressed this has flattened off to something entirely unremarkable.

Noted problems most of last weekend initially, with connection rolling back to 0kB/s . .…

Rich of Observationz

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:54:10 +1300

What does the aggregator actually do?
Are they just a payment engine to save Apple from having to maintain accounts for thousands of people?
Or do they do traditional record company functions like A&R, plying radio station people with gurls and drugs, etc?

jon_knox

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:50:58 +1300

What's up with the govt overruling the war crimes arrest?....something strikes me as a bit fishy, either that the govt has dipped it's oar into determining which laws are enforced when it's role I thought was to create legislation, or that there's some "funny" international politics taking place.

nzMM

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:46:51 +1300

Well as a youngster i just hope some more of the flying nun catalogue goes on-line, cultural disgrace that it isn't easily available. I think i would pay for more of my music, particularly those hard-to-find albums but DRM is, well, a major disincentive. FYI.

Oh yea i changed from…

Simon Grigg

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:23:04 +1300

and as an interesting aside. I would imagine the addition of The Beatles catalogue to iTunes (something that was inevitable after the last court case) is probably taking more time at Apple HQ than iTunes NZ. Based on what I know about it (which is not much to be honest)…

Ian Fish

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:21:04 +1300

Regarding xtra – my connection dropped out (a common occurance) on monday evening. Normally I just re-boot the router and all is ok, but this time nothing.
I rang the help line and got through in less than 3 minutes(!!) but unfortunately they couldn't help me – evidently my router…

Simon Grigg

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:13:49 +1300

It need to be said that at a time when Warners are releasing a mighty Flying Nun (tm) box set, that Mikee at Loop is Roger's natural heir. He is doing more for NZ muisc right now than virtually anyone. I might not like everything he releases but more power…

Russell Brown

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 12:52:20 +1300

Sigh ... having marnused myself by forgetting to enable discussion – and wondering glumly why nobody wanted to talk – I figured I should kick this off here ...

Public Address

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 12:52:20 +1300

Discussion from blog post.