I've got a general question regarding the direction of audio 'content delivery'.
The current situation is that we have files, and we also have streaming. Streaming fits the modern pattern: information in the cloud, available anywhere there is an internet connection. It is inherently controlled by DRM.
But files have a feeling of 'legacy' about them. The idea of the user even being aware of the nature of files and formats is very 1990s. That I have access to the raw digital stream and can implement my own DSP-based crossover can only be a temporary blip.
Whether it's MQA or some other invisible format, does anyone here think that there is any future for visibly file-based music at all? I don't. And therefore I don't think there's a future for non-DRM music. All we will have is pointers to content in the cloud that may, or may not, have restrictions placed on who has access to it and how much our bank accounts will be debited by.
Isn't Apple's iTune Match an example of the way this will happen? If I understand it, in order to access your music across all your devices, anywhere, Apple merely points to its own repository of music - and will even substitute one common version of a track for the different versions the subscribers may have uploaded. And over time, the original files will get lost as hardware devices die.
Amir, what do you think?
The current situation is that we have files, and we also have streaming. Streaming fits the modern pattern: information in the cloud, available anywhere there is an internet connection. It is inherently controlled by DRM.
But files have a feeling of 'legacy' about them. The idea of the user even being aware of the nature of files and formats is very 1990s. That I have access to the raw digital stream and can implement my own DSP-based crossover can only be a temporary blip.
Whether it's MQA or some other invisible format, does anyone here think that there is any future for visibly file-based music at all? I don't. And therefore I don't think there's a future for non-DRM music. All we will have is pointers to content in the cloud that may, or may not, have restrictions placed on who has access to it and how much our bank accounts will be debited by.
Isn't Apple's iTune Match an example of the way this will happen? If I understand it, in order to access your music across all your devices, anywhere, Apple merely points to its own repository of music - and will even substitute one common version of a track for the different versions the subscribers may have uploaded. And over time, the original files will get lost as hardware devices die.
If, because of consumer demand, the special light on the front panel, and unhackable secure hardware advantages for content providers (because it's a chip or equivalent), MQA gets into the position of being the default format instead of '256 Kbps AAC', it could be in a good position to take over the world...When iTunes Match creates a 256 Kbps AAC version of a song, it only uploads that version to your iCloud Music Library. It doesn't delete the original song, so those songs stay in their original format on your hard drive. If you download one of these songs from iTunes Match onto another device, it will be the 256 Kbps AAC version.
Amir, what do you think?