bookmark_borderSony misses the point

Via Light from an Empty Fridge (initially) comes the announcement: Sony unveils online music service.

He points out the kinda obvious flaw in their press release, namely that the service will sell files in a proprietory format – ATRAC3 – which is only usable in Sony ‘devices’.

Now I, sorry Louise, has an iPod. I love it. So does she when she gets a chance to use it. It’s provided party music, background music, commuter music, and sunbathing music so far.

But I’m not tied to it. If another “better” (quantify that!) player comes along I’ll happily switch. On one condition (one of my quantifiers): it MUST support the file format I choose to work with.

Before iPod came along I was already ripping tracks to MP3 thanks to the joy that was Winamp (and still is if you ignore the version 3 debacle). I know it’s not the best format, Ogg Vorbis offers better compression for example, but I already have a large legacy of files that I use and will continue to want to use. So, ultimately, Sony can take their new “music service” and shove it in their patented “Memory Stick” slot!