For years you’ve been using the well-supported, ubiquitous file format called MP3. It’s an international standard, it works just fine in every media player, and other universally-accepted formats are in place for the album artwork, lyrics, and what have you. Sounds like you’re ready for a new, unified format that no one has ever heard of and, if introduced five or six years ago, might have been revolutionary! Universal, Sony, Warner, and EMI are all throwing their weight behind the CMX format, soon to be the laughing stock of the internet. Oh, did I mention that Apple, who makes like 200% of the MP3 players in the USA, is making their own competing format, which pretty much guarantees that CMX will only be usable by things like Windows Media Player?
There’s not else much to say. The big labels brainstormed (for several years, apparently), and eventually decided that they would sell a single file, which included tracks, lyrics, album art, and music videos. What a great idea that would have been in 2003! But it is 2009, and the labels have been abusing consumers for so long that any format solely originating in them will be distrusted and ridiculed. They’re not even putting a lot of weight behind it!
We are not going out in force. What you are going to see is a couple of releases thrown out there to see what people like.
Sorry, people like what they’ve got, which was the technology that arose in the vacuum you guys created by not addressing this years ago.
While I respect the initiative being shown by our friends in the music industry (a few years late, but still), I have a question: how exactly do you see this little foray succeeding without that music device which has risen in prominence since the day of the compact disc — I think it’s called an i-Something?
lol i’m sorry but if these record companies pulled their music from itunes wouldn’t apple be “forced” to make their ipod compatible with this new format cause i mean amazon [one of itunes biggest competitors] will not mind itunes losing the music of these big companies while amazon adds the new file format and thus gains [ridiculous] market share?
still, 70% of the media player ppls will be left with unsupported music then i guess..
i’d think the record companies themselves have more power over the music though. i.e. apple doesn’t call the shots!
Record companies pulling their music from iTunes store is kind of like Coca Cola pulling out of 7-11 or Wal Mart. They will certain hurt more than Apple.
Also if the labels are “teaming” up to do this Apple might sue them for collusion and anti-trust practice.
Yep, it’s called buying a CD and burning it! Pulling out would only increase piracy while destroying their ability to sell music for the entire time. Perhaps 20% at best would go to competing stores to make purchases.
It will be interesting to see what evolves out of this. Frankly, I would place my bets on applications, for the iPhone and iPod touch, that include lyrics, photos, and videos. We built some of these apps and are waiting for Apple to approve them (6 months)… Being able to extract the music from the app would be beneficial. An entirely new format is questionable, but we’ll see.
Wouldn’t it be pointless to pull anything since the iPod works fine and no one is going to buy a new $200 device just to get a new album when the CD can be imported into iTunes just fine. Whole thing just seems pointless.
People would just buy from Amazon MP3.
They would barely notice a difference, except the files would be cheaper and higher quality.
Except for people like me who can’t buy from Amazon because we don’t have an Australian Amazon store. Until the backwards inter-country copyright laws are fixed, we’re always going to be behind and stuck with whatever we’re given if we don’t want to resort to illegal downloading.
Good thought, but I don’t think these record labels will follow through with something that consumers are sure to out-rightly reject. In the end, it’s still about customer satisfaction — likely why they’re not “putting their weight” behind this before they test the waters with a few releases.
My bet is the new file format is closely followed by an easy way to convert the music to traditional file formats (albeit, while losing some of the metadata).
Just my 2 cents, though.
First of all, they absolutely would do that. There has not been one time in my life where I thought “Hey, the major labels care about my satisfaction as a customer”.
Also, this “easy way” to convert these files will not come from these labels, but from hackers who will promptly be sued for violating the DMCA and reverse-engineering the format.
Good thing the DCMA is US only, and hackers are worldwide.
Don’t forget that these albums will be sold separately from the single songs which will be still for sale! Its not like this format will replace mp3 (if succesfull (unlikely))
There will be a program or seven that separates the components of a CMX file into MP3, JPG and HTML/PDF/TXT whatever before the first CMX player hits the shelves. A couple of days after the file format specs are released.
With Hulu suprising everyone I would guess this has a very small chance of success, before Hulu I would say this is DOA.
The guys over at cmx.com should sell now while the press is hot, cnet seems to love these domains.
Is Hulu really a success though? Yes, many Americans are checking it out, but it’s really not crushing the piracy of video because they still put restrictions (only a few episodes allowed online, etc) that cause people to have to get what they want elsewhere…
Plus, Hulu is exclusively available in only the United States. Everywhere else in the world is probably still pirating video, because they have no other option…
” Oh, did I mention that Apple, who makes like 200% of the MP3 makers in the USA”
?????
It’s called hyperbole. He’s trying to point out apple’s frightening dominance of the market which has been consistently at or well above 70% for as long as anyone’s been keeping track. Seriously they’ve sold something like 200 MILLION iPods. Making a music format without their involvement would be like making a car that only works on your block. An expensive trip to nowhere no matter how nice it is.
…who MAKES like 200% of the mp3 MAKERS…
I like that analogy!
“like 200%”…OMG, that’s, like, totally awesome dude..
you got that didn’t you :)
Wow, I never realized how “literal” people can be. No wonder the country thinks that a health care plan would entail euthanizing people.
Darwin, where art thou?
“makes like 200% of the mp3 MAKERS” instead of PLAYERS
If you increase demand and supply is the same, you have to do something curtail excess demand. As old people are the biggest drain on health care in terms of dollars consumed, they wold be systematically discriminated against.
Unfortunately for that arugmetn, that’s not what happens in all of the other countries in the world with public healthcare.
Justin, um, yeah, it pretty much is:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1159506/Life-prolonging-cancer-drugs-banned-cost-much.html
wahaha. I had that corrected in the main post but not in the excerpt on the front page there.
hey we’re just trying to understand! Don’t “wahaha” your readers, that is so rude. Geez
Grow a thick skin and don’t take everything personally. You might learn a thing or two.
PS, my first impression was: What the hell? The Headline is a whole article in itself! (3 line, 20 word, three commas headline???)
Instead of “In a Move I’m Calling “Too Little, Too Late, Too Proprietary,” Major Labels, Apple Are Introducing Their Own File Format”
How about: “Major Labels introduce File Format: Too little, too late”
Edit, reduce, edit again. Why say something in 20 words when ten will do. And why stretch it out longer than it needs to be. Especially in a headline. Why make it long? People don’t like long. Succinct is better. People like succinct. See my point?
” Edit, reduce, edit again. Why say something in 20 words when ten will do. And why stretch it out longer than it needs to be. Especially in a headline. Why make it long? People don’t like long. Succinct is better. People like succinct. See my point? ”
Edit, reduce, edit again was enough. Maybe you need to practice your shit before preaching it.
Who’s taking things personally? I was laughing at myself for missing a typo.
Ashwin:
*woosh*
“See my point?”
Devin, sorry, I read your wahaha to mean “quit your whining”
@manu
Hardly. If all of the major record labels were to pull their music off of iTunes, Apple might miss a step but they would certianly not tumble over. The iPod has become far too ubiquitous and Apple makes almost no profit from songs sold in iTunes anyway. Thus, were the major labels to suddenly decide to pull all their music (which I don’t believe they can; contractual obligations with Apple, but I could be wrong) Apple would carry on selling iPods by the boatload and more people would simply pirate their music, this seems to be lose-lose either way for the record industry; but hey, thats what you get for having waited so long to address these issues.
“Apple makes almost no profit from songs sold in iTunes anyway. ”
I have a hard time believing the largest music retailer in the US selling at .99 cents per song with virtually no overhead makes “almost no profit.”
Otherwise, yes, this is a strange foray for the labels.
If they’ve sold 8 billions songs (as of June 09) at 99c each (approx) – that’s about $8bil gross income – they get a 30% cut which is about $2.4bil in five years.
They have server costs of course. So – what $300-500mil profit a year from music sales? Not to be sniffed at, but only a small portion of their overall annual profits which are about $4bil a year.
13% is not a small portion :)
“which pretty much guarantees that CMX will only be usable by things like Windows Media Player?”
I guess you never used audio conversion software? To think that any proprietary format (even if it is popular) isn’t being converted, so consumers can listen to their music on any device, sounds rather ignorant & fanboyish.
In my personal opinion, I think this idea would work out great if they were to make this new format lossless (like FLAC, WMA 9.2, m4a). Of course they would have to charge more than an mp3 d/l but it would still be cheaper than CD,yet, when you convert it to .wav, you would have real CD quality.
Honestly,The record companies are going to have to sacrifice just a bit to get back in the game & offer something significant to pull people away from iTunes or Piracy.
It doesn’t matter how much work it will take to convert that crap if possible at all…nobody wants to anyway!
Why should lossless have to cost more?
Because of the file size, to support network bandwidth, storage etc.,
This CMX file is going to be a one-piece container (if I’m not mistaken). There will be special software around to extract the audio and so on I guess, but for everyone the industry wants to sell this to, that’s pretty advanced.
Yes, exactly what the market needs – another lossless format, proprietary no less – that will sit and collect dust (Optimfrog, etc.) while people interested in the lossless storage method continue to gravitate toward the major players in the lossless codec game like FLAC and WavPack.
“a single file, which included tracks, lyrics, album art, and music videos”. If I’m looking to stick a ton of music on my iPod/Zune/etc I don’t necessarily want my individual tracks to weigh 30+ megabytes because they include a music video. We’ve actually regressed in storage space over the past few years because of the switch from hard drives to flash memory. I do realize that this will even out over the next few years. But for now, file size does matter.
I was thinking the same thing.
We created an “album supplement” that contains an hour plus of video and five songs from the artists discography, and the application is 200 meg. While that is a lot, the objective of iTunes is to manage such libraries. I have 200 gigs of completely legal music. There is no single device to manage that much music as a cohesive package.
I really hope those of you that say this will never work out are right. I will never buy anything that is M4A, WMA-DRM or some other proprietary piece of crap like that, and definitely not this CMX garbage. Never.
Why Apple has to be “Devil” always introducing proprietary formats in everything they create? Are they one big fat greedy PIG? Four users, I remembered those days where there were many different operating systems, file formats, disk formats, file transfer protocols, etc. It is a nightmare. Please, for all users in the world, use a standard where it is OPEN and agreed by Standard Committees.
MPEG is a standard. Apple added a layer of DRM, which as you may recall the labels requested in order to use it. Also, please remember that you can purchase music with no DRM from iTMS.
The “Devil” is disinformation and fear. Try to read up on a topic before spouting inaccurate information.
Doesnt matter if it is DRM or DRM-free they use AAC while most players support MP3 they should be using MP3 regardless of anything its the defacto standard.
It is just a different standard. It’s like saying that I prefer to stay with JPEGs and GIFs, and will never consider PNGs no matter how much better a new standard may be.
Lossless AAC is pretty damn effective, but YMMV.
most players should support AAC! it sounds better compared at equivalent bit rates.
Hey Que, where did you learn how to write English, fortune cookies?
1) iPod support MP3
2) iTunes supports MP3
3) iTunes-bought music comes in AAC, but iTunes software offers VERY EASY way to convert to MP3 if you like.
No lock-in anywhere in sight. Get your facts right!
Mp3 is proprietary, too.
I can almost guarantee this is another step towards DRM domination. WMA couldn’t do it, AAC can’t do it, so will CMX finally shut down all us format hackers? It won’t work, but I’m glad you’re wasting a lot of time and money on it :-)
Sounds like an effective way to boost demand for music piracy.
Great article btw., I love your sarcasm.
Honestly, who are the retards running the major labels? Pathetic.
I find it interesting that Sony is attached to this product. I think we can guarantee it will work as well as their previous entrees into DRM audio: ATRAC and the MiniDisk. Don’t worry folks, we’ll be laughing at the CMX players next year showing up on the shelves at BigLots.
“Apple, who makes like 200% of the MP3 makers in the USA”
“makes LIKE 200%”? or makes around 200%?
Why the hell can’t writers keep it a little professional instead of writing it like a teen diary?
Your grammatical prowess is impressive!
Because this is a weblog. Which is, essentially, a diary.
I kin write professional-like when I wanna. I wrote this post on the snack table at a going-away party.
and you are proud of that?
Bob…seriously? Give it a break, dude. You already proved your douchness in your previous post. We get it already. If you can’t appreciate sarcasm, go somewhere else.
What’s wrong with a standardized music file format that features metadata?
I’m hate having to have all these extra files hanging around with my MP3s. It’d be much neater to have it all in one file.
It’s a last ditch effort to save themselves. Back in the 80’s, when all of their mistakes were catching up with them, and luck was running out– along came the CD and propelled them back into prosperity because everyone wanted the new, “better sounding” format. The funny thing about the CD – they didn’t want it at first. They thought they’d lose control.
I think the labels are hoping for a repeat performance with this new CMX format, but Elvis has left the building.
If the majors stopped CREATING artists, and started DISCOVERING artists again, worried less about piracy (which has always existed) and focused on the music, they might be able to save themselves. Three new letters at the end of a file name isn’t going to cut it.
Up The Irons,
Phil
“If the majors stopped CREATING artists, and started DISCOVERING artists again, worried less about piracy (which has always existed) and focused on the music, they might be able to save themselves. Three new letters at the end of a file name isn’t going to cut it.”
You mean like in the old days when the Monkees and Milli Vanilli were discovered? Producers creating pop artists has been going on since the 1950’s at least.
First, the Monkees were created as part of a TV show, and the music grew and gained popularity from there. Yes they were created, but not in the sense that Britney, and the “boy bands” were/are.
Second, I never said that artists were never created – Elvis is the biggest “creation” ever. The mold they used for him, has been used, and reused. The thing is, back then they mostly discovered, now it’s the other way around.
Wait, wait, let me get this straight: the labels are inventing a new bundled file format and that’s stupid, right? Nobody needs that?
But hey, Apple are also releasing a competing, bundled file format. But that’s ok, right? I mean, they’ve got the market cornered, so it’s not a stupid idea when they do it?
Yep, you understand correctly.
Its incredible to see that this record companies are still trying to go against the opening up, they got to come up with better things to keep users actually purchasing music.
Can’t they see as long as piracy is going on whatever they come up with it will get pirated.
Process
1. New format comes out.
2. Someone makes a decoder out of this new format.
3. Pirates decode into mp3 or any format
4. Published all over the net for free
5. 5 Years later they create a new format
6. Repeat from step 1
Hey! My best friend had one of those round radio 8-track players. Too cool!
Instead of catering to the materialistic goobs out there, they should be creating for the masses and making it easier and cheaper to use their products.
All “proprietary” means is “expensive” and for “those who have money”.
It is completely disgusting!
Holly
http://www.thessayist.com
I like the idea but the execution is the problem.
I and everybody i know likes getting the linner notes to read and look through them; we do download albums and when we buy single songs we still find a way to get them through other means.
A lot of people may not like linner notes but a lot of people also dont like Itunes but use it because of exclusive songs that are only on there and other online stores dont have the same amount of artist in their catalog.
If you dont like getting liner notes just delete them or should everybody have to suffer for you.
Surely the new format is really all about DRM. The description should read: “a single file, which included tracks, lyrics, album art, and music videos” and DRM. I’m certain the industry thinks this new format will be harder to pirate. Hopefully it will be rejected entirely, I for one am perfectly happy with my mp3s, but even if it isn’t, they show a complete lack of understanding of the nature of piracy. It doesn’t matter what technology the industry and the programmers it hires create, there are always many more pirates who will quickly crack it.
I wonder if it was absolute denial that a problem existed for them or a lack of any sort of adaption/innovation that lead these record companies to wait SIX YEARS to deal with it…
They did deal with it, by opting out of every online opportunity that came their way back in the day (early 90’s). They actually had the opportunity to be a PART of napster, but they chose to kill it instead.
The majors refuse to accept that the internet and music go together like peanut butter and jelly.
I will now make a CMX=>MP3 converter. With all songs converted to Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger” (random song chosen; just as randomly stupid as this decision by the record labels).
I am not against innovations or more advanced formats as technology improves and changes. But please, for the sake of all users in the world, work with OPEN standard committee or equivalent, and create a standard where everyone agrees. Simple.
Except for “else much,” overall this is one of the bet-written pieces I’ve ever seen. Short, witty, sarcastic, detailed. Good.
It’s all about the money and the American Way – locking the user into my product!
Imagine everyone agreeing to NOT give any sort of ‘media’ as a present this Christmas season! No movies and no music. Hmmmm, sounds like it would be a bit of a bump in the road for the movie/music industry. Lets do it!
Ok … I give up !
For 2 years now I have been trying to talk to someone … anyone in the music Industry with just a little courtesy. It seems that humble freelancers like me are not worthy.
I basically put a paper together called ‘redefining the album’, and the substantive point was that I had simply created a file that was globally available, non threatening, contained audio, video, lyrics, artwork, form data collation, mobile phone compatible collateral etc etc etc.
For a very, very, very, basic example, go to http://www.davidgilmour.com/freedom/index.htm make sure you have reader 9 This is just one flavour of a whole host of options that can be created and delivers via streaming or download … AND you can print your own CD sleeves, have your own posters or desktops etc etc etc….. GIVE ME STRENGH
… HARRY HEMUS UK
@Harry
Your document is password protected…what happened to the “open-ness” :)
I’m afraid this was a decision taken out of my hands … you know those lovely music industry people !
Any way, when this file format comes out ( CMX or whatever ) I’m gonna have great fun simply delivering it all wrapped up in my RIFF .pdf ( Rich Interactive File Format
Cheers
Harry
PS I’m going to be talking about this when I fly over to LA from the UK in October … If you want to have a look at a demo piece I’ve just put together ( its 150mb though ) please go to
http://www.cwcorpcomms.co.uk/1EYE_Whiskey_Business_Publicity2.pdf
a little precision helps most discussions. MP3 is indeed still in wide use, but it is out of date. MP4 is the current standard. Apple uses its AAC version as the iTunes music default, and its H264 video version for movies etc. (they are multiple versions within the MP4 standard). both standards allow some metadata to be added to the file, and also for the file to be “wrapped” in a DRM container.
i can’t find a description of the actual CMX codec or architecture. does anyone have a link? it sounds more akin to a DVD than anything else.
MP4 is the growing industry standard for sure, but it’s lacking in cultural currency, which is why I used MP3.
There won’t be any CMX stuff for a while, I think – the labels are working on it and will want to keep it secret until the last minute (not that it’ll help)
Seems like Streaming formats are starting to dominate. My entire family uses streaming audio and video 95% of the time for our entertainment. I love MP3 for road trips and playing special tracks.
Also cracking/hacking DRM formats is a hobby for some people :-)
The RIAA actually did something similar just over 10 years ago when they attempted to create a unified DRM standard called SDMI. They subsequently sought a court order to block shipments of the first portable MP3 player, developed by Rio.
10-year cycle!
More on this: http://rdotm.com/post/160653834/major-labels-are-introducing-their-own-file-format
i had that rio :)
ahhh. the memories.
Doesn’t sound like the worst idea to have a bundled format. Would be nice if it was universally supported.
“Apple is making a competing format”. Thanks Apple!!! Just what we wanted!!!!
I’d like to see music album releases give more value with video, art, interviews etc. However, if the plan is to get back to a $20 album that’s an uphill climb.
These people forgot why the MP3 format really became popular in the first place: It turned a 35MB wave file to a 5MB MP3, CD quality file – no format has even come close to this kind of industry shift since then (1996). So don’t expect it to replace the MP3 format if your “new” format isn’t in the same ball park.
mp3 is out of date for who? It is usable across players with ease, lots of music is in mp3 format, people tend to rip CDs into mp3, and those who have already ripped their whole collection aren’t about to change format, and frankly, and if another format has better sound quality, only the most hard core audiophile will notice. That’s why mp3 is the de facto standard, no matter what Apple or Microsoft or the recording industry want the standard to be.
There is something wrong with Americans about Apple. If Open Source/Free Software crowd do it, it is communist. If Microsoft/(sometimes) Google do it, it is monopoly. If Apple does it, it is miracle. When several large record companies back a file format, it is laugh-stock, but when Apple, who has long been muddling with its users’ private data and imposed draconian rule, refuses to play nice, breaks its own promise, then it will be okay, only the people/partners who are stupid enough to believe in Apple will be in shame.
I don’t know if I should laugh or cry at such stupidity and close-mindedness.
I don’t want Apple’s proprietary format either. No one does. I prefer to leave file formats in the hands of researchers, open-source projects, and internet users. And then Apple and Sony and others can support one or another. CMX is perhaps silly because Apple isn’t going to use it and, therefore, it probably won’t succeed. The fact that Apple has its own proprietary format makes this even more likely.
>I don’t know if I should laugh or cry at such stupidity and close-mindedness.
I’m laughing, but crying on the inside.
I’m not sure replacing MP3s with another format is necessary. I’d also have a hard time believing a company like Apple will have any weight in deciding what file format is successful. Before iTunes was a big thing, we were all playing MP3s with Winamp while PCs owned 90% of the computer market during the 90s. It doesn’t matter which software company distributes the software to play a file format, the companies that really decide which format is right are the music industry leaders and consumers.
The companies that specialize in the industry will ultimately, in combination with consumer-backing, decide which format succeeds. In this case, it will either remain as MP3 or go to this new CMX format.
Apple is not a music specialist, they manufacture electronics/software and don’t have the support of the thousands of signed artists that Sony, Universal, etc… have. When the big music companies force their big signed artists to use CMX, Apple will have no choice but to accept, because then no artists would be selling on iTunes Store. It’s likely Amazon and other music-selling retailers will bend in every direction feasible, just because no matter which direction they bend in, they make a profit.
Regardless of format, monopolization of the sound purchasing market, or technological advance, the point of all this may very well be that we have hopefully seen the last backlash against the advancement of music sharing. Either we’re finally going to see the major restructuring of the industry that the prophets have been proclaiming for the past 15 years, or Corporate Music will fall in line with GM, Bear Stearns, and other failed big-money brands & products and file Chapter 11. It’s gonna suck for alot of people who work at the labels if & when they decide to downsize and figure out what’s next, but F it, leveling the playing field is something I have to qualm against…if that’s to be the outcome of all of this.
let’s make some sense here.
since Apple lead the anti-DRM effort for digital music, finally winning that war, there is no reason to assume it is now inventing a new proprietary digital music format for the future. to repeat, the AAC and H264 file formats Apple uses are not proprietary as many dumb people still assert. they versions of the MP4 open standards group anyone can use. however, the FairPlay DRM that Apple then applies to the movie/video files it rents/sells is proprietary, and Apple refuses to license it to other companies.
over the last decade some combination “Super Video CD’s” that include both the full music album plus some music videos and extras in the MPEG2 format (the same as cable TV) have been released for major acts. but sales were poor. this new CMX format sounds like an attempt to create a download version of this, probably adding web hyperlinks like some DVD’s now do. big question is whether it will be wrapped in DRM.
An Apple version would almost certainly be integrated to play within iTunes rather than run in a standalone player like Quicktime Player or DVD Player. THAT would be the big difference from CMX. iTunes already merges local download file playback with web interaction in several ways (like automatic cover art downloads and links to the iTune store next to each song you’re playing), you just don’t notice it. this would take that one step further with new control options in a playback window and so on.
sounds interesting.
Do a little research before calling everyone else dumb.
for AAC
Licensing and patents
However, a patent license is required for all manufacturers or developers of AAC codecs. It is for this reason FOSS implementations such as FAAC and FAAD are distributed in source form only, in order to avoid patent infringement. (See below under Products that support AAC, Software.)
http://www.vialicensing.com/Licensing/AAC_fees.cfm
For H264:
check US Patents 5,452,104 and 5,576,767
When I was a kid (late 70ies, early 80ies), I bought albums. Singles were for girls and people with the attention spans of gold fishes.
An album was something you spent your monthly allowance on. You took it home, listened to it, listened to it again. It was a temple, something to get lost in. It showed your friends and the world that you cared about your band.
I even buy albums today. Even where iTunes allows me to pre-listen, even when it’s obvious that two or three of those ten songs from the new Zoot Woman oeuvre are crap, I still buy the whole thing.
Why? Because I appreciate the work of the artist. Because I don’t bring my own fork and wine to the restaurant, saying “Hey guys; I only want your lobster.”
But … Do I think a new, one-size-fits-all file format representing an album will work?
Hahaha.
No way.
You can have my 9.99, time and time again.
But you cannot force me into another stupid container format, whether you call it “CMX” or “Cocktail”.
Sorry. I still appreciate art; but the time for blackmail is over.
All the guys behind this idea should be fired because 10 years later (yes this should had been dealt with 10 years ago), they still don’t understand anything about their market… fraking LOSERS.
You finish your article saying you “respect the initiative”. If you were a shareholder of these companies you would not pay any respect to them…
All the guys behind this idea should be fired because 10 years later (yes this should had been dealt with 10 years ago), they still don’t understand anything about their market… fraking LOSERS.
You finish your article saying you “respect the initiative
Your document is password protected…what happened to the “open-ness” :)
reply
Harry Hemus – August 12th, 2009 at 6:44 am PDT
I’m afraid this was a decision taken out of my hands … you know those lovely music industry people !
Any way, when this file format comes out ( CMX or whatever ) I’m gonna have great fun simply delivering it all wrapped up in my RIFF .pdf ( Rich Interactive File Format
Cheers
Harry
PS I’m going to be talking about this when I fly over to LA from the UK in October … If you want to have a look at a demo piece I’ve just put together ( its 150mb though ) please go to
http://www.cwcorpcomms.co.uk/1EYE_Whiskey_Business_Publicity2.pdf
reply
Did you ever think that maybe that Apple is offering “Cocktail” and that’s proprietary to the Apple eco-system that the labels wanted to offer their other partners (aka Amazon) similar capabilites with a compatible format? Not everything needs to be a “killer”
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