More Music To Leave on the Shelf at the Record Store

I can not say I am a fan of Coldplay, but what is on their latest release is important to me. Pandagon, via BoingBoing is reporting that the CD has anti-piracy measures on it.

It seems to me that one of the reasons people want music in MP3 format (or any of the other plethora of digital audio formats out there) is for portability--so that I can have the same music at home as at work, and in the car. From the looks of things, this CD will only play in certain players.

I wonder how frustrated this makes the band? As a user, I don't want to put a new CD in my car stereo on the way home from the store and find that it will not play. Further, I don't want to put it into any kind of player and find that it will not play.

I don't advocate stealing someone else's intellectual property. However, this situation seems like it is going to drive more users to piracy instead of away from it--one person figures out a workaround, copies the CD for a couple of buddies, and it spreads.

To echo what others have said already; the record companies seem so desperate to lock down their rights to the material that they have forgotten about the customer. The have forgotten about the musicians a long time ago.

Maybe the record companies are trying to save their bottom line, but I think in the process they are killing it, and you know what “they” say: The customer is always right.

[posted with ecto]