Friday, October 19th 2007

Record Labels Replacing CD Single Albums for USB Sticks

Oct 19th, 2007 10:02 Discuss (18 Comments)

Well, according to some analysts, the CD simply isn't cool anymore among 12-24 year olds, the demographic most record labels target. And so, they're trying to make it 'cool' by replacing the 'square' CD with a much sleeker USB stick. The USB stick would include songs, videos, and some multimedia content from the artist. Keane and The Pussycat Dolls will be the pioneers in USB stick single albums, with their latest stuff coming out before Halloween on the USB stick. While USB sticks may be smaller and sleeker than CDs, they don't appear to be much cheaper. The average USB single album would cost about £5 (€7/$10) per stick, about £2 more than the CD single album. The fact that most car radios do not have a USB slot may also restrict adoption of the new media format.

Source: Reg Hardware

Add your own comment

18 Comments on Record Labels Replacing CD Single Albums for USB Sticks

Fuse-Wire

i would like to see USB music released more and more, its the type of format im interested in. I mean i break and scratch CD's quicker than i acquire them so a USB stick would be ideal, only problem is paying MORE for the same privilege of 1 or 2 3 minute songs. I would back it but at the moment as ZEK rightfully reported some people just dont have the hardware to use this new format. i see CD's lasting a couple of more years yet!

mdm-adph

While that price is stupid, it reminds me about how odd it is that my 13-year-old car actually does have USB input. (Don't ask.)

Fuse-Wire

mdm-adphWhile that price is stupid, it reminds me about how odd it is that my 13-year-old car actually does/I] have USB input. (Don't ask.)

lucky for you, there not that expensive for cars only a couple of hundred quid tops, but how many young drivers have that money for a USB player when they could always use standard CD players or do as i did to my friend shauns, wire his PSP upto his Head Unit!! :toast:

mdm-adph

Fuse-Wirelucky for you, there not that expensive for cars only a couple of hundred quid tops

Good lord -- several hundred pounds? My USB/SD/CD player for my car cost $89 at Wal-mart, brand new.

Sigh -- sometimes I almost love the Chinese, when I'm not completely loathing them and everything they stand for.

Fuse-Wire

mdm-adphGood lord -- several hundred pounds? My USB/SD/CD player for my car cost $89 at Wal-mart, brand new.

you have a Wal-mart. in the UK we have to look for cheapness, usually US sites!!

zekrahminator

McLovin

I think that what most people do to get their MP3 players working in their cars is to get a FM transmitter, which is like $40, and a lot easier than replacing your car stereo :).

Fuse-Wire

yeah or buy wee tape like devises for £5 that do the job just as well in older stereos, can link and MP3 and USB device into them,

AsRock

TPU addict

mdm-adphWhile that price is stupid, it reminds me about how odd it is that my 13-year-old car actually does have USB input. (Don't ask.)

Well USB were on Mobo's MANY years before they started actually using it. BUT dam on cars to lol....

Well don't really buy music these days but sounds kinda cool.

XooM

shame for the big four that barenaked ladies did this first a few years ago iirc.

#10

Woah Mama!

Single CDs should be banned outright, a waste of production energy. I'm still waiting for something like a 4MB USB device that will replace the need for a RAID driver floppy. I'm counting down the days that the floppy is finally outdated and replaced solely with room in your 3.5" bay for a multi USB reader.

Edit: Nevermind, was just informed it's already staretd to happen at least in Canada. LMAO, that is the advantage of living in Australia. We are at the technology fore-front of the world....

Who uses floppys, and who the hell still buys CDs? Being able to buy music throughout so many online places, you'd think CD marketing would be obsolete aside for being able to read MP3 CDs in your car head unit.

#11

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator

While it's not a bad idea, there are some other issues that I can see.

For instance, normally when you store your CDs in cases you align them so that you can see the album and artist on the edge of the CD for easy perusing of your collection. How are they going to label the USB sticks so it's easy to see what's on it?

Just some ponderings...

#12

zekrahminator

McLovin

Woah Mama!Single CDs should be banned outright, a waste of production energy. I'm still waiting for something like a 4MB USB device that will replace the need for a RAID driver floppy. I'm counting down the days that the floppy is finally outdated and replaced solely with room in your 3.5" bay for a multi USB reader.

Edit: Nevermind, was just informed it's already staretd to happen at least in Canada. LMAO, that is the advantage of living in Australia. We are at the technology fore-front of the world....

Who uses floppys, and who the hell still buys CDs? Being able to buy music throughout so many online places, you'd think CD marketing would be obsolete aside for being able to read MP3 CDs in your car head unit.

I have to ask, can you drive yet?

If you can, well then, I suppose you plug your iPod into the car, or don't like music on the road.

If you can't, then I think you'll take CD's into a whole new light as soon as you start going on road-trips :).

#13

wtf8269

Boooo LP is where it's at.:rockout:

#14

Unregistered

as I type this, I'm listening to an 8-track

#15

simlariver

This is plain stupid.

Sorry for my unconstructive post

#16

Wile E

Power User

Woah Mama!Single CDs should be banned outright, a waste of production energy. I'm still waiting for something like a 4MB USB device that will replace the need for a RAID driver floppy. I'm counting down the days that the floppy is finally outdated and replaced solely with room in your 3.5" bay for a multi USB reader.

Edit: Nevermind, was just informed it's already staretd to happen at least in Canada. LMAO, that is the advantage of living in Australia. We are at the technology fore-front of the world....

Who uses floppys, and who the hell still buys CDs? Being able to buy music throughout so many online places, you'd think CD marketing would be obsolete aside for being able to read MP3 CDs in your car head unit.

I still buy CDs. I HATE mp3s. They sound like total crap to me. I'll never buy an mp3 from an online etailer. (Or any other lossy compressed format, for that matter) Hell, I still own vinyl. I agree with your assessment of floppy drives tho.

Which leads to my next question, what format are these USB singles in? If it's .wav, I'm OK with it. If it's mp3, count me out.

#17

Ravenas

zekrahminatorWell, according to some analysts, the CD simply isn't cool anymore among 12-24 year olds, the demographic most record labels target. And so, they're trying to make it 'cool' by replacing the 'square' CD with a much sleeker USB stick. The USB stick would include songs, videos, and some multimedia content from the artist. Keane and The Pussycat Dolls will be the pioneers in USB stick single albums, with their latest stuff coming out before Halloween on the USB stick. While USB sticks may be smaller and sleeker than CDs, they don't appear to be much cheaper. The average USB single album would cost about £5 (€7/$10) per stick, about £2 more than the CD single album. The fact that most car radios do not have a USB slot may also restrict adoption of the new media format.

Source: Reg Hardware

Now hopefully the movie industry will follow suit.

#18

tkpenalty

MP3s... are okay I guess, however, online stores, 128kbps is simply far too poor for me. If they go ahead with this idea, I'd really want them to encode it at like 640kbps; WAV. Moreover, remove the write function as well. But anyway, they should offer both options, i'd prefer to carry several USB sticks around then one card. It will do several things:

-Save in-store space
-Timesaving to put on shelves in comparison
-Medium less susceptible to damage (thats IF the sticks will have the metal guard installed, if they dont... well...SNAP)
-Save on packaging costs

If you have a CD Player, just burn the songs...

Add your own comment

Record Labels Replacing CD Single Albums for USB Sticks

18 Comments on Record Labels Replacing CD Single Albums for USB Sticks

Latest GPU Drivers

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts