THREE ANSWERS for “What’s coming up next when the CD is dead?!”
Short: Digital Downloads. Yeah, no big news, right, so let’s get a little more into detail. Digital downloads are definitely on their way to replace the Compact Disc as main music-media format. But this process is rather slow (especially in Europe) which can be attributed to the fact that most people (mostly the so-called “digital immigrants“) are still insisting on a certain “haptic” of their sound carriers. Still no big news, I guess everyone can follow me so far.
Talking to friends and familiy over the past months I had to answer the question mentioned above quite often (I wish they would ask me more questions about horror movies, though). My answer usually is pretty much like this (short version, of course):
- FIRST: Music will be primarily available in a digital format. The difference between what is currently available at iTunes, Musicload, Allmusic, etc. is the following: This digital format will include all kinds of (multi-)media bonus data such as fully readable booklets / lyric-sheets you can skim through, high resolution cover artworks, HD quality music videos and ‘making of’s’, various live- and band-pictures, fanart, wallpapers, aim icons, weblinks, download-codes, fanclub-registration information, etc. There’s basically no end to this list.
- SECOND: To “use” this new digital format in a satisfying way and also to make it accessible, affordable and most of all ESSENTIAL for 99,9% of all music-comsumers there will be a new media-player/-device that will take a position comparable to the Walkman in the 1980s. Everyone (and I MEAN everyone) will own it, no exceptions, no alternatives. This new media-player will be the perfect amalgamation of functionality, usability and (life-)style combined with an intelligent pricing policy that makes it affordable for everyone.
- THIRD: Since the new digital format will by far exceed the 60-80 MBs a full album + small cover art enquires these days (I expect it to be something between 1 and 3 GB per album), the “personal media library” will not be stored on the device. Every music-fan will own large or unlimited web-space (most likely purchased for a low price together with the device mentioned above) where he/she stores all their music and media. This web-storage can be accessed everytime and everywhere with the help of new and intelligent streaming and compression technologies and the ever expanding UMTS- & Wifi-Networks.
Sounds good, huh? The next question would be “How close are we to this ‘next generation of music comsumption’?” Well, I’d say something between 2 and 5 years. Regarding the fact that US ‘fruit’ mega-corporation has already established an audioplayer which can be easily connected to the internet and is a perfect blend of style, usability and technology, I doubt that it will be any other corporation but this one which will provide all three neccesities mentioned above.
UPDATE: I just rece
ntly read this article: “CMX gegen COCKTAIL” (sorry, german language only). It looks as if Apple also has already solved the FIRST point and partly the SECOND and THIRD one.
