This won’t be the permanent tone of this blog; however, I feel that I need to vent a little about online music services.  I used to be a member of Rhapsody music service.  The only reason for this was that there was a discount for Comcast customers.  I was able to get to music for online listening rather easily.  I didn’t need to purchase anything, I was just mainly listening online at work and at home.

This worked well for a while until work changed was was allowed.  We were no longer able to access services like Rhapsody that required a client.  No biggie, I just downgraded to the free account so I could use it as a radio if I liked.  The one problem that I experienced was over the 3 or so years that I was using the service in this fashion, I did purchase some music from their service – so that I could make CDs.  It was easier than going to a store.

Fast forward 3 years and the CD-Rs that I burned the music to are either nowhere to be found or they are a little worn from use.  No problem, I think.  I can just go on the service and retrieve the tracks that I previously purchased.  They still have record of my purchases, I can go back in time through my order history and see the purchases.  One small catch… even though they used to allow 3 downloads total; they have changed their service and now only allow a single download – once and done.  You are “encouraged” to burn your tracks to CD or back them up in other ways.  One problem with this recommendation… their old files are DRM-locked files and couldn’t be backed up any other way (legally).  So you have your one-time burn, no files laying around on the computer and you can’t download again.

I feel like I’ve been robbed.  When I buy music – whether it’s a music CD or otherwise, I’m not buying the delivery mechanism per-se.  I don’t care about the shiny object that is used to deliver the music to me.  I only care about the music.  I should have full use of this, and, if I’ve downloaded the tracks, I should be able to do so as long as you can prove that I purchased the tracks.  It is absolutely no wonder that the music industry is struggling.  Should I really have to pay again for music that I downloaded and put on CD and the CD got damaged?

I have an extensive music collection (over 4000 CDs and digital albums) and it is 100% legal.  Even with this, I am assumed to be a criminal and can’t be trusted with additional copies of stuff that I own.  DRM has obviously been a complete failure.  It has frustrated and alienated those who try to be legal and I doubt that it has slowed any piracy efforts.

It’s safe to say that I will NEVER be a paying Rhapsody customer again.  I applaud the Amazons and others who are going to DRM-free downloading and purchasing.  There is still much to be done; however, since $10 for a CD-worth of music is still expensive.  Especially when you consider how much of that $10 goes to the artist.