Go Fred! And here are some reasons to use last.fm rather than iTunes recommendations.
Fair Play Means Fair Use Means No DRM
Its not just iTunes should be boycotted, but DRM encumbered music in general. I certainly wouldn’t advise boycotting iTunes only to install a rootkit from a “music” company.
Sorry folks that means no Coldplay… thank heaven for small mercies.
Sadly we can’t listen to “free” Elvis Costello either. Naughty Elvis, so much for what you said a while back. Phil Collins (more small mercies).
That’s Capitol Records and Warner Brothers.
Does anyone know of a registry or directory of unencumbered music or a blacklist of CDs not to buy? BoingBoing is a great source on this stuff, but doesn’t seem to run a directory. Cory?
Pledgebank, by the way, is carrying a freeculture petition against DRM.
Lets close out with a call from one of my all time favourite artists.When I started buying my own records I didn’t tape my dad’s Talking Heads albums- I bought my own. The music was worth it.
David Byrne just posted a blog entitled Happy New Year: Don’t Buy CDs from the Big 5
So, first they start off suing their customers, and now they are maliciously making it hard for their customers to even listen to music, and they will cripple your music and media player to boot. These guys deserve to go out of business, they obviously don’t love music, and they don’t understand their own customers.
Just to prove there is some good music we need to boycott here is David’s list:
1. Neil Diamond — 12 Songs (supposed to be a good CD, too)
2. Trey Anastasio — Shine
3. Foo Fighters — In Your Honor
4. Dave Matthews — Stand Up
5. Alicia Keys — Unplugged (standard)
6. Angie Stone — Stone Love
7. Babyface — Grown and Sexy
8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — Howl
9. Charlie Wilson — Charlie last name Wilson
10. Imogen Heap — Speak For Yourself(I almost bought this one)
11. J-Kwon — Hood Hop
12. Kasabian — Kasabian
13. Kings of Leon — Aha Shake Heartbreak
14. Maroon 5 — Live Friday the 13th
15. My Morning Jacket — Z
16. Pink — Try This
17. Santana — All That I Am
18. Sarah McLachlin (her too!?) — Bloom Remix
19. Velvet revolver — Contraband
20. Silvertide — Show and Tell
2. Trey Anastasio — Shine
3. Foo Fighters — In Your Honor
4. Dave Matthews — Stand Up
5. Alicia Keys — Unplugged (standard)
6. Angie Stone — Stone Love
7. Babyface — Grown and Sexy
8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — Howl
9. Charlie Wilson — Charlie last name Wilson
10. Imogen Heap — Speak For Yourself(I almost bought this one)
11. J-Kwon — Hood Hop
12. Kasabian — Kasabian
13. Kings of Leon — Aha Shake Heartbreak
14. Maroon 5 — Live Friday the 13th
15. My Morning Jacket — Z
16. Pink — Try This
17. Santana — All That I Am
18. Sarah McLachlin (her too!?) — Bloom Remix
19. Velvet revolver — Contraband
20. Silvertide — Show and Tell
Doh! In Your Honor was probably my favourite album of 2005. And Imogen Heap? Say it isn’t so…See how DRM creeps up on you?
Harry Alton says:
January 23, 2006 at 11:09 pm
Well I’m on your side but the BBC tells a different story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4639880.stm
This analysis by Marc Wagner
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2444&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdblog
has hope but is also grim.
Seth Anderson says:
January 24, 2006 at 4:47 pm
I like your idea (well, David Byrne’s idea – a personal hero of mine), but My Morning Jacket emailed me that they (the band) would burn me a copy without DRM if I asked nicely. So, is it fair to penalize the bands who don’t always have control whether or not their label uses DRM?
Talk about a plantation system!
Cote' says:
January 24, 2006 at 6:42 pm
For those who don’t know, I’ll tag my bias up-front: I’m an Apple nutbird.
That out of the way, I agree that the iTunes Music store sucks. I only buy throw away stuff from there . It’s kind of like candy impulse buys in the check out isle: sure, it costs $1, and I’ll eat it right there in seconds flat, it’s not a lasting purchase, but it was good while I had it, and certainly worth a dollar.
And *that* said, I love the non-DRM part of iTunes: how easy it is to rip CDs, create playlists (both smart and “dumb”), and integrate with podcatchers and my iPod. (To all the Doc Searles’s out there, I realize it’s a walled garden, yadda, yadda, and that does annoy me: I have to choose my battles).
I’d be extremely dismayed if I didn’t have iTunes for all those things. I know Dave Wiener has panned iTunes’s usability, but, as he might say with a Gary Coleman picture to the left, “different strokes for different folks.” And, of course, all the people I know who run Macs or Windows (sorry *nix-nuts) use iTunes in much the same way.
Point being: when thinking of iTunes, it’s good to separate out DRM iTunes from Rip-it-all iTunes. Of course, if the first started infecting the second, *then* I’d start getting my britches all swished up.
Cote' says:
January 24, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Correction: the Gary Coleman picture would be to the right.