Velvet Revolver: Sweetness and Sorrow (716 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 2 on 8 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by gbusman (View user info) at 2004-10-11 16:34:56 EDT
Dear RCA Records,
Congratulations on signing the greatest new band in years, Velvet Revolver. I loved their sound from the moment I first heard them. I downloaded a few tunes and enjoyed them as much as the songs getting radio play, so I purchased their new album, Contraband.
I am an avid guitarist and love to play along with the CD music. Like many people these days, I have a rather impressive sound system on my computer near my guitar amp. I couldn't wait to get home and learn the remainder of the album's songs. However I quickly became agitated when my CD wouldn't play in Windows Media Player or Winamp. Instead I was presented with a "Mediamax" setup screen about licenses and keys, with a piece-meal html player that shrouded my whole screen and required security controls that I normally disable in my web browser.
I realize I could have copied the songs with your obnoxious app using some locked codec format intended to thwart would-be copyright infringers. I could have gone through the tedious task of making the songs Winamp compatible within the confines of your music format restrictions. But if I was going to go through all that trouble, why wouldn't I just circumvent your whole process and create new universally compatible mp3 files myself? Surely anyone with the knowledge to use your "copyright protection" enabled CD would know how to do this, as it is quite a simple procedure with the right tools. The rest of the non-technical public would just be lost in confusion.
Instead of succeeding in protecting your oh-so-valuable content, all you've succeeded in doing is pissing me off. I already paid the $16 for this CD when I could have downloaded it for free. Instead of reaping the benefit of owning the CD, I am treated immediately like a criminal. It's bad enough to treat potential customers as criminals by prosecuting suspected file-swappers, but to treat paying customers as such is despicable.
If someone wants to break the law by infringing on your copyrights, they will. Your attempts at stopping them only serve to inconvenience, irritate, and insult the honorable public. Furthermore, the RIAA's (of which you are a member) invasive practice of suing kids for listening to and publicizing music to the tune of thousands of dollars does nothing to rally support or sympathy for your cause. Instead it makes me loathe copyright holding corporations that abuse their power and influence to cling to antiquated technologies and methods instead of innovating their business strategy to keep pace with the changing world.
If aggravation and incompatibility are the consequences of purchasing your CD's, then why should anyone be expected to buy them? If I want to support the band, I'll buy concert tickets. And while I am grateful to you for indirectly bringing Velvet Revolver to my attention, supporting RCA Records falls last on my priority list of people that make their music possible. I'm grateful that I am already a tech-savvy individual, otherwise your product would only motivate me to search for ways to not need it.
I'm very much looking forward to the band's next album, but if this CD is any indication of how it will be delivered to me, I seriously doubt that I will be purchasing it.
-Bus
User Reviews
Submitted by kochier (user info) at 2004-12-29 01:47:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Degreeless_Capibara (user info) at 2004-10-11 22:44:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That bands kicks ass. Unfortunately, however, all the new CDs seem to have similar technologies to try and protect from people burning the songs. What they don't realize, however, is that not only does it turn down those who wanted to just listen to it, but does jack shit to stop people who wanted to burn it. Ever hear of ripping songs? Then converting them to mp3? Retards.
Submitted by gibberish (user info) at 2004-10-11 22:41:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by whiskey_jack (user info) at 2004-10-11 22:26:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Contraband is an awesome CD, and I totally agree with you on every point. The dumb licensing crap was just irrating, seeing as how in less then 5 minutes I had copied the fills into a folder that can be burned at will(and I don't really know that much about computers). But big record companies don't care as long as they get their money so looks like we're going to have to put up with this crap in the future.
Submitted by Stabkill (user info) at 2004-10-11 21:15:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
They pay millions on making security when they can just knock down the god damn price of the CD. (Remember when those bastards were given a slap on the wrist after ripping off consumers for many years?)
Fuck the RIAA & Music industry.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2004-10-11 18:20:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
They are one of the very few real rock bands left on the planet.
Submitted by gbusman (user info) at 2004-10-11 17:48:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Sent.
I'll let you know if I get a reply.
-Bus
Submitted by The_Walrus (user info) at 2004-10-11 16:50:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I could not agree with you more and I hope you actually do or have sent this to the company.
Although I happened to have burned that CD from a friend using ITunes, I'm not sure how that all works. But still. Rock on.