A Modest Construct

Will they ever learn?

Warner, the world’s fourth-largest music company, is in the final stages of securing technical licenses that will enable it to sell a bundle of music and extra features on a single DVD, according to people familiar with the matter. The DVD would include a music album that plays in both stereo and surround-sound on a standard DVD player — plus video footage that plays on a DVD player or a computer. There will also be song remixes, ring tones, photos and other digital extras that can be accessed on a computer [...]

But there are some stumbling blocks that may discourage consumers from embracing DVD albums. The new discs would not play on normal CD players, meaning consumers could not simply pop their new discs into their car stereos or other players. And users would not be able to copy the main audio mix onto their computers. On the proposed DVD album, the main audio mix is to be protected by the same software that already protects the content on normal DVDs.

There are so many things wrong here that I don’t even know where to begin (the answer, as always, is “from the beginning.”)

1. Labels have been bundling music + extra features for years. And I’ll be honest: I’ve never ever given a shit about the “extra features,” which are almost always lame. And the fact that so many users are happy to just download mp3s instead of clamoring to get their hands on “extra features” like short, low-res video clips or fucking wallpapers or something leads me to believe that I am not alone in my sentiment.
2. We’ve also had DVD-A for a while, and it hasn’t caught on, either. The fact is, nobody’s car stereos or home stereos like to play DVD, and nobody is going to rush out to buy any new portable DVD-A players when iPods are all the rage. But gee, there’s a great idea! Let’s take a standard like CDDA that everybody supports and replace it with something that nobody supports—they tried that with DualDiscs, and everyone I’ve spoken to who was unfortunate to purchase a DualDisc (myself included) has vowed to never waste money on such an awful thing ever again. Face it: the CD is not going to die anytime soon.
3. DRM? Are you fucking kidding me? They haven’t learned yet? When everybody and their mother is using descrambling programs to rip their DVDs anyway? When even major retailers like Circuit City are circumventing the DCMA so that users can create backups? When Sony and BGA got dropkicked and dragged through the mud for their intrusive and overreaching DRM? When it seems like all physical media is good for is putting into a computer and ripping to MP3? Despite knowing all this—and having the money to hire a hundred consulting firms who should have a firm grasp of the obvious—Warner is still trying to push a ridiculous new format that won’t allow the user to copy or rip their music? They expect this to sell?