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Apr 22, 2006

MusicGaints, Little Potential

I was excited to see the launch of http://www.MusicGiants.com. MusicGiants claims to be the first online music store that sells music in a lossless compression format, which preserves the original sound quality of the CD. That's exactly the online music store I'd like to use. Unfortunately, I won't be purchasing any music from MusicGiants. Here's why:

I searched MusicGiants for Van Halen's 5150 album. They have it available. Cool. Here's what you get:

• Price: $15.29
• Format: WMA Lossless file format
• Delivery: Will take somewhere around 10 minutes to download
• Restrictions: Windows Media DRM , meaning the files can only be played on the computer that downloaded the music, or on a Microsoft Plays For Sure compatible device

For comparison, I looked for the same album on Amazon.com :

• Price: $8.97
• Format: Uncompressed straight digital audio, including 650MB storage media (the CD itself!), printed liner notes and storage case
• Delivery: Varies, 2-Day free shipping for Amazon Prime members
• Restrictions: None! Music can be played anywhere, converted to any known digital audio format

Clearly, the price and DRM restrictions make music from MusicGiants a total ripoff. I can't imagine paying a 50% premium for the "convenience" of downloading restricted music. When are the labels going to realize that online music has less value to consumers than music on a CD?

Van Halen: 5150

category: /media |
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