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Playbutton

DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
edited October 2010 in Strut Central
The very model of a cool idea.
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  Comments

  • dj_cityboydj_cityboy 1,481 Posts
    ^^ shit yeah! thats dope!
  • BreezBreez 1,706 Posts
    simple is always better. This will get real big, real quick.
  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    Wow - like a crap ipod. Now why didn't I thi...
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Alternately, it's a great way of making an entire album available for review/preview/promo in a non-piratable format.
  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    Alternately, it's a great way of making an entire album available for review/preview/promo in a non-piratable format.

    Fair enough - I hadn't thought of it from a promo standpoint. If it's cheap to mass produce and hand out at venues that could work. But I can't see it catching on beyond that. Maybe I'll be eating my words in year's time
  • BreezBreez 1,706 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    Alternately, it's a great way of making an entire album available for review/preview/promo in a non-piratable format.

    This would definitely boost album sales again.
  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    Breez said:
    DocMcCoy said:
    Alternately, it's a great way of making an entire album available for review/preview/promo in a non-piratable format.

    This would definitely boost album sales again.

    I can't see how. Who other than diggers actually goes to music stores these days? Everyone buys online - either ordering a CD or downloading legally or illegally. Either way you get a file that you can stick on your ipod, store on your hard drive, listen to via your ampli and speakers etc. Why with all this flexibility would you opt for a device that prevents you from doing this and condems you to listening to the music via a tiny output? The only advantage that I can see it as an extra promo to hand out at concerts.
  • BreezBreez 1,706 Posts
    tabira said:
    Breez said:
    DocMcCoy said:
    Alternately, it's a great way of making an entire album available for review/preview/promo in a non-piratable format.

    This would definitely boost album sales again.

    I can't see how. Who other than diggers actually goes to music stores these days? Everyone buys online - either ordering a CD or downloading legally or illegally. Either way you get a file that you can stick on your ipod, store on your hard drive, listen to via your ampli and speakers etc. Why with all this flexibility would you opt for a device that prevents you from doing this and condems you to listening to the music via a tiny output? The only advantage that I can see it as an extra promo to hand out at concerts.

    You're right. The only way this would work is if they released it as "buttton" only and that will never happen. It would be the ultimate promo item though.
  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    Breez said:
    tabira said:
    Breez said:
    DocMcCoy said:
    Alternately, it's a great way of making an entire album available for review/preview/promo in a non-piratable format.

    This would definitely boost album sales again.

    I can't see how. Who other than diggers actually goes to music stores these days? Everyone buys online - either ordering a CD or downloading legally or illegally. Either way you get a file that you can stick on your ipod, store on your hard drive, listen to via your ampli and speakers etc. Why with all this flexibility would you opt for a device that prevents you from doing this and condems you to listening to the music via a tiny output? The only advantage that I can see it as an extra promo to hand out at concerts.

    You're right. The only way this would work is if they released it as "buttton" only and that will never happen. It would be the ultimate promo item though.

    Yeah I can see them years from now on ebay already. But it's a mistake letting you customize the cover - why when the whole charm of it, like the music, is that it's fixed and can't be modified?
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    If you're going to give music away - and it appears that people are - then why not do it in an interesting way?

    DJs could pre-load them with mixtapes and use them as calling-cards. Labels could use them for samplers. Bands could put their demos on them and give them out at gigs. Possibilities are considerable.
  • JehovWetJehovWet 40 Posts
    It's a nice delivery mechanism and I could see it as a promo item, but:

    and cannot be changed or downloaded

    WRONG
  • phatmoneysackphatmoneysack Melbourne 1,124 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    If you're going to give music away - and it appears that people are - then why not do it in an interesting way?

    DJs could pre-load them with mixtapes and use them as calling-cards. Labels could use them for samplers. Bands could put their demos on them and give them out at gigs. Possibilities are considerable.

    Agreed. I think it would be an excellant promo item
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    JehovWet said:
    It's a nice delivery mechanism and I could see it as a promo item, but:

    and cannot be changed or downloaded

    WRONG

    Why?

    I agree that it oughtn't to be seen as a serious challenger to existing sound carriers/delivery mechanisms, but look at it like this. If people want free music, this is a way of providing it. If artists are concerned that the album format has been diminished by the pick-and-choose aspect of the iTunes model, this is a way to reassert its significance. If consumers want a downloadable version or a traditional hard-copy version, let them pay for it.
  • BreezBreez 1,706 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    If consumers want a downloadable version or a traditional hard-copy version, let them pay for it.
  • JehovWetJehovWet 40 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    JehovWet said:
    It's a nice delivery mechanism and I could see it as a promo item, but:

    and cannot be changed or downloaded
    WRONG
    Why?
    Why can't it be changed or downloaded? It's pretty simple hardware (has to be, since it's intended to be mass produced cheaply) so it's probably cheap flash memory, which could be read pretty easily with a logic analyzer and some SMT probes. Changing is tougher, but probably do-able. People will jump through a shit load of hoops to pirate media, and this doesn't set the bar high at all. Especially if it would have playbutton-only/pre-release material on it.

    (simple pirating solution: plug headphone jack into mic-in on laptop, hit record)
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    JehovWet said:
    DocMcCoy said:
    JehovWet said:
    It's a nice delivery mechanism and I could see it as a promo item, but:

    and cannot be changed or downloaded
    WRONG
    Why?
    Why can't it be changed or downloaded? It's pretty simple hardware (has to be, since it's intended to be mass produced cheaply) so it's probably cheap flash memory, which could be read pretty easily with a logic analyzer and some SMT probes. Changing is tougher, but probably do-able. People will jump through a shit load of hoops to pirate media, and this doesn't set the bar high at all. Especially if it would have playbutton-only/pre-release material on it.

    (simple pirating solution: plug headphone jack into mic-in on laptop, hit record)

    See, to me that is fucked up. Whilst on one level I understand the l33t h@xx0rz compulsion to find a way to crack something like this, it speaks volumes that people would go to such lengths in order to pirate something they already got for nothing. Is it that important a principle that they don't pay for music, ever?

    Also, I interpreted your "WRONG" as meaning "wrong that it isn't downloadable/changeable, and that it ought to be", rather than "wrong of the manufacturers to think that it couldn't be downloaded or modified".
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Nobody is going to put out something on this that they need to have be secure, but I'm sure it'll make a good promo item.

    I would consider doing this for something I would otherwise provide download cards for, or release for free digitally in some other way.
  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    indie rock will jump on this
    great idea/concept
  • nzshadownzshadow 5,526 Posts
    pcmr said:
    indie rock will jump on this
    great idea/concept
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    Bands should want their music to be pirated (spread freely); the music should only be non-downloadable because the components of the button are so basic that they don't support that extra function.
  • z_illaz_illa 867 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:

    See, to me that is fucked up. Whilst on one level I understand the l33t h@xx0rz compulsion to find a way to crack something like this, it speaks volumes that people would go to such lengths in order to pirate something they already got for nothing. Is it that important a principle that they don't pay for music, ever?

    Replace the word pirate with share and your answer will jump out at you.
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    Yup. These Old Media dudes still don't get it.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Oh, I get it, all right.

    Messing with Rey's money = bad.
    Messing with someone else's money = so what?

    Also, sharing something's all well and good when it's yours to share. If you're sharing out someone else's shit, you can't really complain if they happen to object, or if they take measures to stop you. "Music should be free" is not an acceptable answer.
  • z_illaz_illa 867 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    Oh, I get it, all right.

    Messing with Rey's money = bad.
    Messing with someone else's money = so what?

    Also, sharing something's all well and good when it's yours to share. If you're sharing out someone else's shit, you can't really complain if they happen to object, or if they take measures to stop you. "Music should be free" is not an acceptable answer.

    I did not take a position on "sharing." The argument that you can own a collection of notes/recording process is just as valid and muddy in my mind as the idea that you can't stop people from sharing things they like.

    I certainly don't buy into the argument that sharing hurts art. It sure hurts business though.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    It also hurts the artist's ability to make a living from his/her art.
  • z_illaz_illa 867 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    It also hurts the artist's ability to make a living from his/her art.

    Making a living does not drive an artist to create, art exists whether it is supported financially or not. /devils advocate
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    Struggling makes many artists better and helps weed out the weak and uncommitted ones. In the end they'll thank the pirates for changing the game.
  • brokenrecordbrokenrecord 338 Posts
    This thing has trade show trinket written all over it. Or marketing tool. Like, test drive a Scion, get a button full of cheesy music. Or, be used as rich kids sweet sixteen invitations. Or, they could put museum guided tours type things on them. Or, book on button? That'd be actually cool.
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,475 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    "Music should be free" is not an acceptable answer.

    You're right; it's not an acceptable answer. But to an ever-growing chunk of the population, it's the only answer.
  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    Some major armchair conjecturing going on here. Y'all coming at this from a digger's perspective - unearthing quality releases on private presses and obscure labels - you see the artist's struggle and content yourselves that it was instrumental to the quality.

    Making a living does not drive an artist to create,
    But the prosepct of it spurs them on. How many LPs did Matthew Larkin Cassel release after his first two demos bombed? Why Did Terry Callier jack it in 1982? Cassel became a helper for mentally handicapped children and Callier a computer programmer for Chicago University: their art did not pay their rent. These guys and countless others only got back into the game when they had the prospect anew of shifting some units.

    Struggling ........ helps weed out the weak and uncommitted ones.
    You're probably insulting 25% of the artists in your own collection who bombed after their first or second release.
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