The inventors of the MP3 file format have announced that they have created a new file format called MusicDNA. There’s a decent article on it at Wired.
While this does promise to resolve at least part of my issue with the current digital music marketplace (lack of cover art and liner notes) it raises other issues.
I really have to wonder about the ‘self-updating’ feature of the files. Leaving alone the DRM type issues raised by the commenters at Wired, I have to wonder what would happen when you fire up the player and 10,000 songs start trying to download updates. Even on a high-speed connection that could be a major pain.
If I wanted auxiliary content like blog posts or tour announcements, I’d rather rely on Google to find it. At least it does say that you can shut off the extras. Because personally, I would shut off everything but the lyrics and the cover art. The rest of the stuff is just clutter that will eat disk space like candy. Disk space on the desktop may not be at a premium, but it is on portable players like iPods. Also, I certainly wouldn’t pay extra for the privilege of having to shut off a pile of promotional junk attached to the files.
I think I’m still sticking with buying physical CDs. It’s just less of a hassle.
Related posts:
- Cover Art, Liner Notes, iTunes and Zunes
- The Circle Cover Art
- Storm Thorgerson slideshow
- When We Were Beautiful (album track)
Tags: cover art, liner notes