The Problem With Online Music Services

I love music. It can excite me, mellow me out, make me laugh or make me cry.

I love online music, instant access to a much wider variety of music than I can get at any brick and mortar store.

I have a huge music collection that ranges from songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store, Amazon, Rhapsody, Yahoo to those I've ripped from my CDs or encoded from vinyl (you remember record albums, right?)

More years ago than I care to think about (seems like just recently but you'll see different) I found a shareware application that not only would play my music, but would rip CDs, manage my collection, burn audio CDs and provide a "DJ" service that would make dynamic play lists for a given length of time and based on genre, artist or other keywords.

This sounds a lot like iTunes.

But no, Apple was still selling the Quadra... The program as Music Match Jukebox. MMJB was a great program and blew WinAMP (my then favorite MP3 player) out of the water. The only problem was that it only worked on Windows 95 and Windows 98. It wouldn't work on Windows NT Workstation 4.0 which was what I was running at the time. So I wrote them an e-mail and request NT support.

Sure enough as they said in their reply, the next release did support Windows NT and I purchased Music Match Jukebox for (I think) $35. When they e-mailed me my license key, they also stated that it would never expire and was good for all future versions. Very cool!

I used the heck out of it and recommended MMJB to everyone.

Then Music Match got bought out. When the next upgrade came out, my old license no longer worked and I was forced to buy an "upgrade" license. Another $35 for a non-expiring, "good for all future versions."

On the plus side, they added a great "radio" service and created a personal radio station that matched my listening habits perfectly.

I ended up subscribing to their music subscription service, buying music from them, etc. to the point where I bought or subscribed to everything that they offered.

Of course all the new features meant that Music Match Jukebox was getting more and more bloated, losing that svelt figure that was so attractive in the early days. (Just like most of us.)

Then the hammer fell. Music Match was sold yet again, this time to Yahoo. Yahoo promised the Music Match customers that they'd develop a way to transer our MMJB licenses to the Yahoo Jukebox.

Yahoo finally did that in the last six months or so. Just in time to announce that they were shutting down the Yahoo Jukebox service and transferring everyone to their competitor, Rhapsody.

Yahoo jukebox was ok, but it was never as good as Music Match Jukebox, especially MMJB's auto-DJ.

Now, I'm fortunate in that when I purchase DRM'd (crippled) music online, the first thing I do is burn it to CD, rip it back to MP3 and then delete the store bought version. However, there are thousands of folks out there who didn't/don't do that.

Imagine if I'd explicitly followed the terms of service of those online music stores. I'd have songs I'd "bought" from Music Match and Yahoo, that I'd no longer be able to play when I get a new computer. I'd have to try to keep old versions of each player running just to play my current music.

The folks from Music Match and Yahoo don't care. They already got our money plus in the case of Music Match, the money for selling the company. The record lables don't care. They got our money from the royalties paid on our purchases.

Microsoft of course has already closed their music store.

Yahoo and Microsoft both announced that they will no longer issue keys (licenses) for DRM'd music purchased from them. Though in Microsoft's case, the bad publicity caused them to extend their deadline for three more years.

Will I continue to buy music from iTunes? Of course. Will I use Rhapsody? Probably. But I will continue to take the minor hit in fidelity and immediately de-DRM any music I buy. I refuse to be held hostage by an industry that has a proven track record of wiping out your purchases any time they wish.

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Computers, Software, MP3, Music

I Am Your Dog

This morning, I saw the following on the motorcycle forum I frequent and felt I had to share it.
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I Am Your Dog
Author Unknown


I am your dog, and I have a little something I'd like to whisper in your ear. I know that you humans lead busy lives. Some have to work, some have children to raise. It always seems like you are running here and there, often much too fast, often never noticing the truly grand things in life.

Look down at me now, while you sit there at your computer. See the way my dark brown eyes look at yours? They are slightly cloudy now. That comes with age. The gray hairs are beginning to ring my soft muzzle. You smile at me; I see love in your eyes. What do you see in mine? Do you see a spirit? A soul inside, who loves you as no other could in the world? A spirit that would forgive all trespasses of prior wrong doing for just a simple moment of your time? That is all I ask. To slow down, if even for a few minutes to be with me.

So many times you have been saddened by the words you read on that screen, of other of my kind, passing. Sometimes we die young and oh so quickly, sometimes so suddenly it wrenches your heart out of your throat. Sometimes, we age so slowly before your eyes that you may not even seem to know until the very end, when we look at you with grizzled muzzles and cataract clouded eyes. Still the love is always there, even when we must take that long sleep, to run free in a distant land. I may not be here tomorrow; I may not be here next week. Someday you will shed the water from your eyes, that humans have when deep grief fills their souls, and you will be angry at yourself that you did not have just "One more day" with me.

Because I love you so, your sorrow touches my spirit and grieves me. We have NOW, together. So come, sit down here next to me on the floor, and look deep into my eyes. What do you see? If you look hard and deep enough we will talk, you and I, heart to heart. Come to me not as "alpha" or as "trainer" or even "Mom or Dad," come to me as a living soul and stroke my fur and let us look deep into one another's eyes, and talk. I may tell you something about the fun of chasing a tennis ball, or I may tell you something profound about myself, or even life in general.

You decided to have me in your life because you wanted a soul to share such things with, someone very different from you. And, here I am. I am a dog, but I am alive. I feel emotion, I feel physical senses, and I can revel in the differences of our spirits and souls. I do not think of you as a "Dog on two feet" -- I know what you are. You are human, in all your quirkiness, and I love you still.

Now, come sit with me, on the floor. Enter my world, and let time slow down if only for 15 minutes. Look deep into my eyes, and whisper to my ears. Speak with your heart, with your joy and I will know your true self. We may not have tomorrow, and life is oh so very short.

Love,
Your Dog