Barenaked Ladies on USB
Posted in Geek / Music by CujoNovember 22nd, 2005 - 8:22 PM
Well it what seems to be a nifty little move, if not just for some press coverage for their latest release, the Barenaked Ladies are releasing an assortment of goodies on a USB Flash drive.
The release is titled “Barenaked on a Stick” and comes packed with 29 songs including last years “Barenaked for the Holidays”, some live tracks, band concert banter, photos, videos and a kitchen sink.
This bad boy costs about $30 US but considering iTunes is .99/download that’s the money for the thing right there. Plus you’re getting a 128 MB reusable Flash drive which usually retails for about $10 US or so.
I think this is definitely a neat little idea and something to think about for unique distribution for artists etc.
EDIT: Something I forgot to add, the songs will be in MP3 format and probably compressed a bit so I’m not sure how good the “quality” would be but for casual listening I’m sure it’s fine. For other sorts of listening through your 37 speaker system you may want real CDs. But I’m sure everyone knew that.
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November 23rd, 2005 at 10:21 am
What ever happened to good old fashion music albums.
November 23rd, 2005 at 12:32 pm
That’s like asking “What ever happened to Beta Max?”
They sucked, and were surpassed by superior technology! Huzzah progress!
November 23rd, 2005 at 3:15 pm
Yes but an album offeres many things that music on a MP3 format do not.
Take a record cover for example, the covers were used by bands to display art and photography and to provide a deeper insight into their music and the message they want to deliver ( Pink Floyd Cover albums are a perfect example) With MP3 players music lovers are’nt exposed to the artists and the band as they are with record or C.D covers.
Just to note a record on a needle provides a cleaner sound than any digitized music.
November 23rd, 2005 at 4:58 pm
I remember the day I sold my Beta… Should I feel guilty about taking money for it? I do now…now that I think of it.
November 23rd, 2005 at 5:50 pm
Well, I wont argue that records do hold a certain mystique that for me (since i wasnt around for it) hints at what it felt like to be around when music as we know it was young, I disagree that with the new medium for music “music lovers aren’t exposed to the artists and the band as they are with record or C.D covers.” As we can see in Curt’s post, with the BNL release you can get pictures, video, and commentary from the artists. It is also a very simple thing to release a digital “sleeve insert” with all the niceness of a CD or record release. And while I fully understand that the quality of the music may not be at the level of CD or vinyl, it is, as Curt put it, more than sufficient for the casual listener, or a listener for whom the band is not on their A-list. and it certainly is more portable.
One final comment about artist exposure as well. I recently bought the new Death Cab for Cutie album via iTunes (which is great for those of us stranded 235 KM from a music store). I got - along with all the tracks from the CD release - a video montage of random band footage to the music of several of the tracks, overlaid with commentary from each band member about why they feel they are successful as a band, and what making music means to them.
This horrible, vanilla, bastardized digital release also came with a cool cover song of “Start Again” by Teenage Fanclub that wasnt on the CD.
Whew, what a novel! Viva la tech!
November 23rd, 2005 at 11:52 pm
Holy Comments Batman!
There’s been a lot said and most covered by Gabe etc from what I was going to say. But Darcy, I do think that there’s still a place for CDs/Vinyl etc. This is a one off thing, a specialty type item. I’m sure it’s not really targetted at the audience who purchases the CDs for the fact of the cover art and everything else you get but for those fans that do download and throw all the songs on their iPod or whatever other fancy MP3 player they have. You’re also getting some other little features as well which could be interesting. It’s like a bootleg recording sort of but actually released by them in a different format. Sort of like when people used to go to concerts “back in the day” and tape them on handheld cassettes then sell the bootlegged copies. It wasn’t the greatest format/sound but people scooped them up as it was a cheap method of hearing their favourite artists’ live performances etc.
November 24th, 2005 at 12:47 pm
Just call me a purist
November 25th, 2005 at 1:00 am
I think geekdom will award a certain amount of street-cred to BNL’s for being early adopters. innovation goes a long way.
November 25th, 2005 at 2:05 pm
After many years of patient waiting and expectancy, I have yet to find out where these so called naked women are, and am waiting for the government to come out and arrest these 5 men who use false advertising to get met o buy there stuff……I fully expect at some point to see some actual bare naked ladies when it is so advertised.
Might just be a Dutch thing though…..
Damn Dutch
November 26th, 2005 at 8:43 pm
It does lose someof the “magic” of holding a CD insert in your hands and flipping through liner notes, photography and artwork. Yes, you can put these things onto the flash drive for people to look at, but it’s not the same. There is something much more captivating and personal about the physical item (this is also why I secretely prefer print design to web design).
On the other hand, you get a cool and extremely handy geek-gadget (the re-usable flash drive) and convenience, and it’s neat that the band is doing something innovative. From a practical standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. Well, Ok, not really, but sort of.
There’s give and take. Both have their distinct advantages and drawbacks.
December 1st, 2005 at 8:29 pm
[...] Oh yes, and to give credit where credit is due, the catalyst to this post was an article (and discussion) I read on “Better than Crabs” a little more than a week ago regarding the release of the new Barenaked Ladies album on a USB drive (neat, eh?). Then when I found the old pic of Bryan, it all just fell together. Sort of. [link] [...]