Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 11 November 2002
Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
From: Richard
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: What? You still buy mainstream CD's?

That might sound a bit odd, but I basically gave up on the
major record labels and their artists over a year ago.

Does that mean I download all their music on MP3?

Hell No!

It means I don't even bother with their music anymore. I
gave up when one of my favourite bands, U2, started making
music that suited ad campaigns and movie soundtracks. These
guys used to be one of the most politcal bands in the world
and their music always said and stood for something. Now,
just like everyone else.

Commercial music today is awful, all production-line kiddy
pop. A muso I know once told me that the biggest consumer
base the labels marketed to was 13 year old girls as they
spent the most of their disposable income on music. Shame
was, he added, that people grow up and want something
decent to listen too when they're older. Their worldview
changes, and their tastes with it.

Do I still buy CD's? Heck yeah! I've bought 0ver 30 in the
last 5 months. Mostly from some of the excellent people
busking in the cities (I'm in the UK, btw) and from live
acts I've gone and seen who bring their own CD's to gigs
for sale.

Their are great places (like Arc Cafe in Dunedin, NZ) who
host live gigs and record them and then make them available
for sale. All profits go back into fostering local music
and from what I've seen with the proliferation of home
recording studios (a direct result of the exceedingly good
studio software and hardware you can now buy at consumer
prices) this trend will only accelerate. Indeed, a muso
friend of mine's next big-ticket purchase will be a Mac
with a totally digital recording studio done _in_software_
running on it. Does his band really wnat to be signed by a
major label? Nope. Why? "Because we'd lose all control over
our work and who get's to listen to our music when we feel
like it, not some bloody accountant. People already buy our
CD's and while we are never going to be millionaires, the
money covers our costs and allows us to just keep having
fun playing what we want."

I sincerely hope that all the efforts of the Music industry
will do is simply drive us back to where music came from,
our homes, our local venues, clubs, oddball little bars and
the streets themselves. (Oh geeze I'm waxing lyrical now :-)

Whatever you choose, make sure you enjoy the music you want
to and not the music you're told to.




From: robert rozee
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: CD copy protection...

"Do they really think that rendering many of all the CD
players out there redundant by introducing incompatible
copy protection schemes is going to boost sales?"

isn't this what microsoft do whenever they release a
new 'bloated' version of windows that requires new, faster
hardware with more memory to run? or have people forgotten
the 'early days' (less than five years ago!) when software
and hardware played a continual game of leapfrog? AT THE
MOMENT the hardware is well ahead of software needs, but
for how long?

and what about the latest beta of office 11, that is locked
to only run on windows 2000 and XP? isn't this just the
same - forcing customers to upgrade 'older' operating
systems because of an artificial incompatibility?

then there are the millions of laptop computers out there
that have absolutely NO hope of ever being upgraded beyond
the OS they shipped with, due to obscure hardware for which
upgraded drivers are unobtainable. and scanners, and inkjet
printers... ever tried to get an older model working? - it
is usually easier to just go out and buy a new one.


i am afraid that the tactic of obsoleting perfectly
servicable hardware for industry's own ends is a VERY well
established practice. it will happen, and clever people
will find workarounds. the only winners will be those who
make the players.




From: Paul
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: The Record Industry

BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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