Monday, September 28, 2009

Alternatives to Piracy. But Are They Worth It?

A new article at Giga Om analyzes the state of digital music and the outlets that are available. It makes the claim that because of the increase of streaming music sites, ownership of music might not be as important. I don't think that's true, I enjoy having my music in the palm of my hand even when the Internet is down. But this article does give a good rundown of the services out, including the ones without an Apple emblem.
I've checked out the new iTunes LP (this is a good explanation of it) format that he talks about. It's a pretty cool idea and a step forward (or would that be back?) to giving the art back to the artists, but it's still not having the records in hand so that's up to the individual consumer. The format is DRM-free, so that's appropriate for this blog. In the digital age, one of the things I have missed most is the liner notes and album art that used to be part and parcel to the music. The little tiny "selected artwork" window just isn't doing it for me.
Now all we have to do is remind MTV what the acronym stands for and we might be able to get our music back on track!