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Universal signs deal to offer free music downloads

news.bbc.co.uk — Universal has signed a deal with Spiralfrog to offer free music downloads to anyone in the US and Canada. The service will launch in December and will be ad-supported. They aim to offer a simple, easy-to-use, free alternative to iTunes.

Who dugg this? Made popular Aug 29, 2006

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  • brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+45"We interrupt this Metallica song to tell you about new extra-strenth Tide, makes colors brighter and whites whiter! Now back to your regularly scheduled headbanging..."
  • DerGeist, on 10/12/2007, -3/+32Possible, but beware the coupons.com effect -- they may have "free legal downloads" that play ONLY in their "approved player" which is laden with ads, spyware, runs constantly in the background, conumes 96% CPU and 2.5 GB of RAM while idle, disables iTunes, formats your iPod daily, breaks your CD burner and makes ripping CDs impossible all while sending personally identifiable information back to Universal HQ and infesting your computer with nonstop popups. Oh and if you have any files on your HDD with an MP3 extension it floods your house with Zyklon-B. And kills your grandmother.

    Trojan horse, anyone? (The real kind, not the virus :-P)
  • explorer509, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22Digg = entirely ad-supported.
  • stealthboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Great idea! Now, can I put these songs on my iPod? No? Ok, thanks for playing, there's the door.
  • doctorvee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Details on this seem thin. I'm guessing this is going to be streaming rather than MP3s or anything else. My brother says they were talking about MP3s on the radio this morning, but that probably means nothing coming from a journalist.
  • justice7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14this sounds very cool but at what cost?

    Heavy DRM? Ads before / after songs? Ads during songs?

    Seriously , when it sounds too good to be true is almost always is.

    This imo will be a propietary music format, with audio ads built into the player that cannot be skipped between songs.
  • sincewednesday, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Slightly more information from the Financial Times (via NYTimes):

    http://www.nytimes.com/financialtimes/business/FT20060829_24058_1741.html?hp&ex=1156910400&en=83e5692ad12f54e1&ei=5094&partner=homepage

    "Customers will be able to download an unlimited number of Universal songs to their computer and one other device. They will not be able to transfer those songs onto a compact disc, and they must visit the site at least once a month to maintain access to their music."
  • escheppa, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Yeah, DRM will be the main sticking point for many people. I don't care if its free if I have to be tethered to my computer. Besides you can just go to Pandora if you want something that streams mp3's.
  • Flyinace2000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12You are an idiot.

    Fair Use is a great thing. The fact that iTunes and any other music download service ties me to a specific platform keeps me from buying all my music from them. I am at the point right now where i would rather download the song and just mail the artist $5 and a thank you note.
  • jonnyeh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12DerGeist: Does it run in Linux?
  • Ub3rg33k, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Um, no

    http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=spiralfrog

    The US and Canada have covered the story as well.

    Anyone look at the Board of Directors? See who's there? Jason Berman, former head of the RIAA and IFPI. This does not bode well.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Also, here's their site: http://spiralfrog.com/
    Again, shaky on the details. Nothing about quality, format or DRM...
  • DerGeist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9My God, you're right, if you spell and pronounce SpiralFrog incorrectly you get APRIL FOOLS!
  • KUKBAHLAM, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Only 15 years late.
  • Ub3rg33k, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Am I the only one that thinks it odd that this is a "music service available only to the US and Canada" and yet, of all the news sources, the submitter used the BBC?
  • vernsan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10On that site, they spelled the word address wrong.
  • josegutz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Free music downloads? I wonder...is BMG music involved in this scheme?
  • thetaco82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"I am at the point right now where i would rather download the song and just mail the artist $5 and a thank you note."

    I'm glad I'm not the only one that has thought of that.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Actually, if you look around their site they do address DRM. See the press release at: http://www.spiralfrog.com/press_release.aspx

    "Digital rights management technology is built-in to all audio and video content as part of measures the company and its partners are actively taking to address piracy. "We want to provide the best environment for everyone - our partners and the recording artists, as well as consumers," Kent said. "Piracy continues to be one of the biggest issues facing the music industry where illegal file sharing and unauthorized CD burning are the prime means of music piracy. Digital rights protection will help us combat piracy and provide peace of mind for the record labels and the artists."

    ..."Kent noted that the company's research revealed that consumers are more than willing to 'pay' for their content by watching non-intrusive, contextually-relevant, targeted advertising in an online entertainment environment where advertising is already part of the overall experience."

    I assume this means that there will be ads in the music, too, which would suck.
  • darkyoshi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Aspill foogs! I tricked you!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Also, it's August.
  • 0siris, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8this is a big step for a record company to take
  • thetaco82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Yes, brstilson, just like how Sony only makes TVs.
  • shakin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7So you're saying that I shouldn't have the right to play a legally-acquired song on, for example, my car CD player? Or maybe it will play in my car, but not at home. Is that sort of what you mean? Or perhaps every media company should ally themselves with a hardware manufacturer so if you want Sony music you have to buy a Sony player, if you want BMG music you must buy a Creative player, etc.

    When I am 60 I don't want to be telling my grandkids about the "good ol' days" when you could take your favourite album to your friend's house and enjoy it together.
  • h2d2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This would be a great service. And no they are not talking about streaming music, they specifically mention "free legal downloads". I think this would give a real challenge to the iTunes business model.

    The service will be launching in December at http://www.spiralfrog.com/
  • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6WMP DRM (meaning it's worthless to iPodders), Ad supported isn't quantified.

    Failure to launch is a go. As much as I like my music free, I hate ads more. I'd rather pay 99 cents and listen forever than listen to an ad every time any day.
  • doctorvee, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@bon3407

    There's nothing wrong with journalists at all, but you have to be wary that when they use a word like 'MP3' they might be using it as a catch-all term for all digital music files. How many times do you hear somebody saying that iTunes Music Store sells MP3s?
  • kbarrett, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Free music on the internet? That's crazy! What next? Free movies that you can download and play on your computer? Free software? Free games?

    Boy, these guys are real innovators.
  • skidmark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Once again, missing the big picture. A download site is NOT a rival to iTunes. It's not just downloading music, it's the total integration with the computer, your music and the iPod.
  • speaker219, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4http://spiralfrog.com/
    I hope there's no ads DURING the song though :(
  • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Digg is also a content-less site, for all intents and purposes. The contents of Digg are generated by other people and attached here for a discussion. In effect, Digg is a glorified forum, and in such, makes a ton of money just keeping its servers running.

    This music site offers a content-providing service. Ad supporting that will be much, much more difficult, as the content is by default more expensive, and the listeners are even more resistant to ads than your normal AdBlock-wearing web surfer.
  • ArthurSucks, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6No you can pay for early access to diggnation videos.
  • underburn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3They'd have to pay me to download anything DRM'd
  • Buelldozer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Free music?

    I'm sorry, I can't read the article right now. I have to clear this herd of flying pigs out of my office!
  • cbiz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I will use FairUse4WM and strip some music of it's DRM, that sounds like a lot more fun.
  • haggie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"ad supported" is not the same as "free".

    I would rather pay for ad free music. In addition, who would listen to ad supported music when there are options like pandora, last.fm, somafm, and so many others that have little to no advertising at all?

    This is just another example of the incredibly level of ineptitude of the music labels. It's like trying to build a modern new car using the body shape of the Edsel with the technology of the Pinto...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Someone will probably make a DRM cracker for it soon enough if FairUse4WM doesn't work on these files.
  • Slovenian6474, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This may work if they do the following: ONLY the site has ads (not in music), acceptable quality, can be put on CD for playing in the car, and works with ipod.
  • doctorvee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@iamcitizen

    I hear what you're saying. I didn't say journalists are evil, and I certainly don't think they are. That is probably how my comment came across, but that's not what I meant. Journalists will use shorthand terms because that what most of the audience will understand. That's perfectly understandable, but it can lead to confusion in matters such as this one.
  • Travelsonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"There must be something to stop people just downloading the file then firing up Audacity to remove the ad's. "

    Forget removing the ads with audacity, if the protections you ponder over are not in place, Wave_Out_Mix or Mono_Mix (depends on what you have available in Audacity) will allow you to make an ad-less AND remove any DRM they have on the file.
  • darkyoshi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@cmiller:

    411 is free (at least in Toronto) so not many people will be using the ad-supported versions you speak of...
  • cbiz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I can't wait to go to this site and listen to some advert's a bit of video before my download. My guess is, once I have the file on my pc I will have to listen to more advert's. I wish them luck - There going to need some...
  • trvr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Kent highlighted some key factors - legal digital files with no viruses or spyware in a controlled client-server architecture, quick downloading, and quality songs and music videos by great artists as among the primary benefits users will gain."

    sounds like a bad idea....specific client needed?
  • Suplyndmnd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wait, could it be? The music industry has finally bought a clue?

    "Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?"
  • cbiz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2SpamHater, Pirates drifting off into a corner to whimper about fair use?? You must have missed this story - FairUse4WM.
  • oGEEKGUYo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Call me a skeptic, but why doesnt UMG mention this on their site?

    http://new.umusic.com/news.aspx?Year=2006

    also, did anyone notice that SprilFrog is eeirly close to an anagram for AprilFools?
  • WDot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Anyone else find it funny that the legal specialist's name is "Lawler?"
  • zosobaggins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They're already doing this through EB Games in Canada, the promo's called ChooseYourSongs:

    http://www.chooseyoursongs.com/killers/index.aspx

    All the songs are from Universal, we're told.
  • gdragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2UMG will be getting a cut on the ads so there will be a LOT of them. Tons of ads and DRM that only works with the player they provide, no thanks.
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