Friday, August 11, 2006

I HATE DRM

And its bloody annoying. I bought 9 songs in all from itunes, and because of DRM I can't convert them from aac to mp3, so I can't play them on my Creative. Even JHymn has been defeated (a program that strips most DRM from music files). I'd bought some nuggets too.

Take The Beloved's Sweet Harmony. Recently featured shamefacedly on the Homebase adverts during the World Cup. The chorus goes, "Let's come together, right now, oh yeah, in sweet harmony" which could mean any number things now that I think about it, but can I suppose it could also apply to football, and DIY. Its a bit like The Shamen's Ebeneezer Goode. Yes that song really is about a man called Ebeneezer. Not pills. As it so obviously was. Not that the frenetic video with a saucer eyed Mr.C gave anything away. But Sweet Harmony song is tops for a number of reasons, not like Ebeneezer which really is shit. First off, Beavis & Butthead liked it as the video was full of naked women. Then there's a saxophone which sounds wrong, but this came from the M People era and sounded just fine then. And the whole thing runs along quite nicely, and its an old favourite.

DRM spoiled my party, and I ended up buying it again on Windows Media Library or whatever the Microsoft site is called.

And DRM? Its the equivalent of buying a CD which will only work on one CD player and there's no way to get it to work anywhere else. Bloody Digital Rights Management. Designed to shaft the customer by head in the sand music execs, who all have bloody ipods, and that says it all.

I heard a rumour recently that when Microsoft launches the Zune, it'll allow users to exchange any tracks bought on itunes with the equivalent wma files on its own music shop. That would be good.

By the way has anyone noticed that songs bought on itunes have a really low bit rate and therefore sound a bit crap?

Superb Reggae

If you ever see this cd on sale, just buy it, as it is awesome. For me I found it for a quid while out music shopping. Even with all these mp3s of which I have about 50gbs, of which I actively listen to only about 10gbs, I can't get away from the joy of second-hand music shops. So much music, such cheap prices, and the joy of finding a complete gem that you'd just never find on the internet, unless you knew what you were looking for which I don't in music shops. I just fix a price in my head and immerse myself for an hour, and come out with some bundles of joy, and some real crap, but that's all part of the fun. Still, people are flogging off their cds for a pittance now (bloody ipod generation, in my day etc) so bring it on, indulge me. God I'm sad sometimes...

Its a friend of mine's 30th birthday soon. I gave him two choices for presents. Dolphin Hammering or Thermo-Nuclear Whale Hunting. He went with the whale nuke.