New online music store...

[drewmcd24]

The New York Times doesn't have much praise for the new Sony online music store (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/technology/circuits/06stat.html?pagewanted=1&8hpib).

[Nobody]

I don't want to subscribe. I won't ask you to violate copyrights and post the article, but could you just outline what their complaints were?

[mdobilas]

I installed the new sony web site on my computer last night... oh my freaking god does it stink. First it puts two icons on your desk top and very vaguely explains why it's doing this. Installing the sucker takes longer then anything i've ever downloaded... keeps installing bits and pieces over and over again... once it was installed I launched it, imported music to it, denied it the right to be my player (it didnt like this, hung up for a minute).
Once I got to the web site to download music I just started laughing.... i would say (and this is being easy on Sony) 50% of the albums for sale had no cover art shown, just a little "no image" kinda symbol in it's place..... this has so obviously rushed to shippment that I'm afraid of really using it for fear of the bad mojo it could cause to XP. The interface is clunky and not at all intuitive.
It's kind of amazing that Sony would allow it's name to be put on something that looks worse then that freaky russian MP3 site in term of quality and functionality.


A big old two thumbs down to Sony Connect.:eek:



http://www.connect.com/images/features_fill_3.jpg

[drewmcd24]

Sorry, didn't realize you have to subscribe. Here are some quotes from the article:

"it's an easy-to-use but, in its debut version, almost embarrassingly crude imitation of the music services that preceded it. "

"But Sony Connect makes the rules of the online music game more confusing. Music fans already had to contend with two incompatible music copy-protection formats: Apple's AAC files (compatible only with iPods) and Microsoft's WMA format (used by Napster, Musicmatch, Wal-Mart and others). Sony's music service employs yet another format, called Atrac. Predictably, Atrac files don't play on any of the three million iPods or the four million WMA-compatible players in use. Unless you have a Sony player, Atrac may as well be 8-track."

"Expect to do a lot of scrolling. And a lot of cursing. The "live" area inside Sony's enormous waste of pixels is much too small for the software's seven columns of information (title, artist, album and so on). As a result, many song or album names are chopped off, abbreviated by ellipses. Search for "Britney Spears,'' and you find a song called "Me Against the " (Wind? Establishment? Grammarian?). A jazz album is called "Louis Armstrong and " (Friends? Company? His All-Zither Band?). Billy Joel offers "Scenes From an " (Anthill? Antiwar Demonstration? -noying Software Designers?).

"Now, in most jukebox software - like Apple's, Napster's or Musicmatch's - you would simply adjust the column widths or hide the columns you don't need. But the columns in SonicStage are fixed in width, and you can't hide or rearrange them."

"Most songs are $1, but Sony arbitrarily doubles the price of any song longer than seven minutes. (Billy Joel's "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" on Musicmatch.com or iTunes costs $1. On Sony Connect: $2.) This tactic makes no logical sense - since when is a song's value determined by its length? - and therefore smacks of simple greed."

"the fine print reveals that you can burn only five standard audio CD's. The other five must be Atrac CD's, a kind of disc that holds many more songs but plays back only on 11 models of Sony CD players. (In other words, you can't play an Atrac CD in your car, which is a chief reason for burning a CD in the first place.) "

"Note, too, that SonicStage can't rip audio CD's (that is, copy their songs onto your hard drive) into the most popular music format, MP3"

"But in its first incarnation, you'd never guess that this service comes from a company that's both the world's most recognized consumer-electronics brand and the owner of one of the world's biggest record companies. For the time being, maybe they ought to call it Sony Disconnect."

[Cameron_Talley]

Originally posted by drewmcd24
Sorry, didn't realize you have to subscribe. Here are some quotes from the article:

Unless you have a Sony player, Atrac may as well be 8-track"

"Note, too, that SonicStage can't rip audio CD's (that is, copy their songs onto your hard drive) into the most popular music format, MP3"


The first line is just hilarious. Good writing from the NYT (something I don't see often). :)

The second quote: it seems ridiculous to me that Sony wouldn't let you rip into Mp3. They obviously want their own standard to be King of the Hill. My question, though, is this: is this a new Audio format, or simply a new DRM standard?

Also, are the songs from the Sony store ONLY Sony label music? One would think that it is...

[drewmcd24]

I don't know. The technical details weren't really discussed in the article. I assume it's a totally different format because it only works on certain Sony players. You'd think that if it was just a DRM thing Sony would allow these files to be read on all it's music players. I have no idea though.

They say that they have 500,000 songs available. I don't know if that's only Sony stuff though.

[Starboard]

hm, yet another service without a competitive advantage. or do they think that the Sony name is enough to get them by? So far, Walmart's 88? is the only stand out, as far as offering something that's distinctly different.

[Quicksilver]

I dont like them or Napster. I would never go to napster cause there a sell out and there format sucks. iTunes is the best by far. Better quality, easy to use, and good selection for the most part. I mean it is the premire music download store of the net. Hey but i hope something comes to rival it because a corporation rivalry only benefits the costomer.

[dcmacnut]

Sony's ATRAC file format is the company's own compression technology, which they designed for use on MD players. Those are the songs you see the big-headed blue alien be-bopping to on all the commercials. It also incorporates DRM and only works on a select few Sony products.

The Washington Post has similar gripes about the Sony store, particularly it's extremely draconian DRM. There is a nice compare and contrast with the iTMS in the article. No subscription necessary to view the article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10109-2004May8.html

Chris

[elob]

ATRAC has been around for a long time, and it's a very good sounding compression algorythm. It has hardly been used outside MiniDisc, though, and I don't expect it to take over the other formats this late in the game. Given that Sony's announced 20 GB player is larger and heavier than the iPod, and seemingly lacking in Apple's elegance, I think Sony will misfire with this offering.

elob

[Polkster13]

Tried to look at the Washington Post article and it said that I was not reqistered and that REGISTRATION was required! So no go on the article. I guess I will just have to take your word for it.

[drewmcd24]

Registration is free at the New York Times Website and the Washington Post website. It only takes a second, and they won't send you any junk mail.