Ben Harper - Both Sides of the Gun and Why I Hate EMI

Ben Harper - Both Sides of the Gun and Why I Hate EMI - Printable Version

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Ben Harper - Both Sides of the Gun and Why I Hate EMI - cferneyh - 03-22-2006

Picked it up today and I am completely floored. Awesome from beginning to end. If you've ever been into Ben Harper I guarantee there is something in here for you - and Serve Your Soul is the best album closer I've heard since Emperor Penguin. Get your copy today - you won't be disappointed......with Ben Harper at least. EMI? Well, that's another story.

WARNING - RANT COMING
My music collection is completely digital. When I buy a new CD, the first thing I do is rip the tracks and store the CD in my big assed CD binder. All of my portable listening and listening at work is done off my iPod. At home I stream from iTunes over the stereo. A traditional CD has ZERO functionality for me. None.

So I buy the Ben Harper CD this morning and plop it into my laptop. Rather than the CD appearing in iTunes some Windows Media Player with a Ben Harper user interface comes up. Uh oh I think. This isn't good. I take a look at the CD cover and discover that on the back corner - below where the HMV sticker was - is a warning that the CD may not work with iTunes or iPods. I try a few different things but nothing is making it show up in iTunes. The WMP DRM allows me to copy the CD to my computer, but only in WMA format. Or I can burn a copy of the CD (a maximum of 3 burns).

So I try to burn the CD thinking that I should be able to rip the burned copy the way that I want to. NOPE! The burned version is an exact replica, meaning that the same stupid WMP comes up when I put the burned CD in the disc drive. So I opt to rip the files the only way the DRM allows me to - in WMA format. But I can't find the options that would allow me to ensure that I am ripping losses files. Thankfully the local WMP expert tells me to hit CTRL-R and doing so a few times brings up the ripping options, so I'm able to rip the files in Lossless WMA. I then take those files and burn them to a CD and voila, I've got a perfect lossless copy of the CD with no DRM on the files, which I then use to rip into iTunes.

I find it unf*ckingbelievable that a record company is doing this. Why?

(1) All they have done is alienate a paying customer
(2) Despite all of their DRM controls and their idiotic auto-run mini-player, I am eventully able to circumvent everything anyway. So all they are doing is wasting my time and adding another coaster to a landfill.

So, next time I go to buy a CD from EMI, why would I bother when I know that if I purchase a legitimate copy of the CD I am going to have to rip the CD and then burn a copy and then rip the copied CD just to get the files in the format I want for my personal listening habits? I mean the other option of downloading from a file sharing service or allofmp3.com guarantees I'll get the music the way I want in one simple step, rather than having to jump through hoops. I'd much rather download it and send Ben Harper a cheque for $15 than give money to the company that is complicating the process.

Idiots.

- opiated - 03-22-2006

you know what else i don't get about emi? how little they are promoting this album..we haven't been sent a single yet, and i'm not sure if it's only cause we're a meduim market...kind of bullshit..i'm sure i'll play a bit of it this weekend if i get a chance, but it's not fair to ben...he should be getting more of a push for this, a double cd..a brilliant album..must go and absorb it some more

- chancellor - 03-22-2006

i have only tried this once and it seemed to work with the type of discs you were talking about.

i downloaded wavepad, free wave editor from the net, and I was able to copies of each song in wav. format and have been able to do whatever i like with them. i like to burn cds that i buy and use them in the car and save to real ones so they dont get all scratched up.

- chris - 03-22-2006

What happens if you insert it in your Mac? I haven't had this problem yet but I know it will happen eventually. As well, does the old trick of holding down shift when you insert a disc no longer work? There was a time when if you inserted a disc while holding down the shift key it would prevent the autorun on the disc from starting... allowing the disc to show up as you had hoped in iTunes.

- longseason - 03-22-2006

Turning off autorun -- either shift key or as a setting -- has always worked for me -- even with EMI discs -- latest one was the Gorillaz.

- cferneyh - 03-22-2006

Geeze Chris - since it didn't work the way I wanted on my work laptop I just assumed that it wouldn't work on the Mac - but I just stuck it in and the files show up in iTunes no problem. I guess they don't want to bother making life difficult for the 10% of computer users using Macs. Yay!

BTW, holding down the shift key - had worked for me before on my laptop (I think with a Radiohead CD) - but it didn't work this time around. What's more, when you went into the file directory of the disc there was no sign of the WAV files. You could see the WMA files and the program file and image files, but you couldn't see the WAVs. When I tried programs like Audiograbber to get at the WAVs, it thought the CD was a blank.

Geeze - another unexpected benefit of using a Mac!

- FighterAndLover - 03-22-2006

cferneyh Wrote:Geeze - another unexpected benefit of using a Mac!

There's more than one?

*ducks before running away*

- chris - 03-23-2006

FighterAndLover Wrote:
cferneyh Wrote:Geeze - another unexpected benefit of using a Mac!

There's more than one?

*ducks before running away*

No need to run... but here's another great use of a Mac!

- aaronck - 03-27-2006

Makes me feel better about being able to "preview" it 3 weeks ago....I will buy it as well, but his last CD was the same, I had to download it in order to get it on my IPOD

- chris - 04-03-2006

I just found this software, <a class="postlink" href="http://www.easywma.com/">http://www.easywma.com/</a> but it doesn't get around DRM...

- NMAS - 04-03-2006

Picked up this record on friday, Great album, Bens best work to date, I highly recomend it!

- aaronck - 04-03-2006

I just came across the bonus CD from the limited edition of this CD, great version of Gather round the Stone and a stripped down Morning Yearning among others, really great

- sherpahigh - 04-03-2006

I'm loving the new disc but I'm super pissed I can't get it on iPod easily. I haven't had time to screw around with the thing to find a work around. What a pain in the ass. :nooooo

- tigerthelion - 05-27-2006

<a class="postlink" href="http://video.sympatico.msn.com/v/en-ca/v.htm?g=25aa6dfd-0c5c-4a62-8b41-32e8276c9dc6&t=c233&f=37/81&p=encamusic_encaconcerts">http://video.sympatico.msn.com/v/en-ca/ ... caconcerts</a>

Ben Harper performed at the Mod Club not too long ago. Just thought some Ben Harper fans might like this if they haven't seen it already.

:thumb:

- opiated - 05-27-2006

y'know the more i listen to this, the more i'm NOT liking it as much as his older stuff..i'm not sure quite what it is, but it sounds to me like he's trying to hard or something...