03-22-2006, 12:50 AM
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.
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.
