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beatles on usb stick (interesting marketing idea) - Page 2

post #16 of 23
3/12/10 at 2:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by linuxworks View Post
are they, in fact, write-locked? I don't know. most flash drives are read-write; that's why I asked.
USB drives can be made read only. Sure, you could probably use a program to remove the write lock and then delete the music, but that would be like scratching your CDs on purpose.
Quote:
even if its write-locked, it could still get corrupted. have a 5v power supply glitch and the memory stick is toast.
lots of things can happen to it. my question is: can you just get your music back again if your media (stick, in this case) fails?
for $200+ dollars, I would want something hard and fast and in writing. or better
Well, lots of things could also happen to your CDs or any other medium you have music on. Of course it could happen, but I don't really think USB drive somehow becoming broken or corrupted is any more of a risk than your CD getting broken.
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post #17 of 23
3/13/10 at 6:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by linuxworks View Post
well, again, cd redbook has NO (zero, zilch, nada, nyet) checksums and so you can never know if you got a corrupted bit or not.

cd-data uses a filesystem and filesystems MUST be reliable; so those are. dvd never had a 'streaming' format on disc and was always a filesystem, so that's ok, too.

I've read that the dvd format is more robust than cd (more built in redundancy at the phys layer). so while I've seen dvd's be harder to read, the science does say that dvd is the better format for reading back your data, 'later on' and still getting it right.

if you need to use cd for archiving, at least create a zip or something that is a container format and then write THAT to the media.
You are correct. I should have said that pressed optical media overall will (in my opinion) prove to be a more durable medium than flash memory. Totally agree with you about checksums: data formats will always be more reliable than streaming audio formats (redbook) as long as they continue to have the differences you describe above.


Quote:
Originally Posted by tuoppi View Post
Well, lots of things could also happen to your CDs or any other medium you have music on. Of course it could happen, but I don't really think USB drive somehow becoming broken or corrupted is any more of a risk than your CD getting broken.
I don't know about that. CD rot is an extreme rarity when you consider how many have been pressed over the years. Basically, CDs become unreadable when the user: A) abuses them or B) puts them into a slot loading drive.. in which case it might as well be reason A.

On the other hand, USB drives have a current running through very dense and complex chips. The USB drive also relies on the integrity of the solder job of the USB plug. I have seen many more instances of people complaining about data corruption and solder jobs breaking (just from the plugging and unplugging) than I have seen damage done to CDs from careful owners.

There are countless perfectly working CDs from 1982-83. I'd like to see how many perfectly working 27-28 year old USB drives there will be.
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post #18 of 23
3/13/10 at 7:00pm
Thread Starter 
back in the 80's, I used cd's in the car a lot. front slot, changers, whatever. and yes, I got holes in my cd's to the point where you could see daylight thru them in spots. horrible ;(

I continue to hate the opto disc formats for this very reason.
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post #19 of 23
3/13/10 at 10:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by linuxworks View Post
back in the 80's, I used cd's in the car a lot. front slot, changers, whatever. and yes, I got holes in my cd's to the point where you could see daylight thru them in spots. horrible ;(

I continue to hate the opto disc formats for this very reason.
A very small percentage of CDs had CD rot in the 80's. You might have been unlucky in that regard, but most of the ones from the 80's and almost all since have been very durable. Yes, they are not perfect (stuck with redbook standard), but they are much better than USB drives. Even the best SLC chips have a maximum rated data retention of about 30 years. We are coming up on that now with the first CDs and there are countless ones that are as good now as when they were first pressed. That is my point.

I consider pressed optical media to be the longest lasting consumer storage medium we have so far... as long as one takes care of it.
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post #20 of 23
3/13/10 at 11:46pm
I have yet to accidently put a cd through the washing machine

What I don't get with the Beatles usb is why Apple made it in flac when their own media player doesn't support the format. Seems like they effectively left out their own biggest market share.
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post #21 of 23
3/14/10 at 12:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jazznap View Post
I have yet to accidently put a cd through the washing machine

What I don't get with the Beatles usb is why Apple made it in flac when their own media player doesn't support the format. Seems like they effectively left out their own biggest market share.
Different Apple companies.
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post #22 of 23
3/14/10 at 12:22am
Not that I've consistently done it, but for me the best approach has been to immediately make a CD-R copy of every CD purchased. Then put the CD back in its case, and play the CD-R. If (when) the CD-R gets messed up, simply take the original CD out of its case and burn another copy. In other words, play the backup, not the original.

As for memory-stick distribution, I'm not sure. Seems like a gimmick to me; something for fanatical fans to add to their collection. I can't see it becoming a mainstream technology for music distribution. I agree with other posters on this thread who see a download-dominated future. I don't like that, for a number of significant reasons, but it certainly looks like the wave of the future, if not the present.

That said, the kiosk model certainly bodes well for future sales of USB sticks. If you go to the mall and you want to download from the kiosk, you will need something pocketable to receive your purchase, won't you? So maybe USB sticks could end up as the new blank CD.
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post #23 of 23
3/14/10 at 8:38pm
For years, I have loved the idea of flash memory cards as a format. I imagined overbuilt, pricey audiophile players with a tiny card slot. The card itself would be standardized with a little picture of the album, and one could keep their entire music collection in their briefcase. "But now you can just put your whole collection on a DAP," the kiddies would say. I say screw that. There nothing as romantic as separate read only media, kind of like little minature 8-tracks. Audiophiles would argue whether black cards sounded better. Mo-Fi would sell a line of gold cards.

Yep, that would rock.
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