Yesterday Amazon.com introduced the concept of a ‘Music Locker’. As a longtime advocate of Amazon I have been following the development of this release and was excited about its practical nature and customer-centric approach. Amazon is trying (unlike its rivals) to offer cloud access to music independent of the device being used. The music industry is not happy about this at all and is already jumping up and down screaming foul.
From an article in Tuesday’s New York Times – http://nyti.ms/f2lEbJ …The dream of these companies (like Amazon, Google, and Apple), along with many start-ups, is for people to be able to listen to their music from any computer or phone. But they have all run into the same problem: music labels and publishers would prefer that listeners buy a new copy of a song everywhere they want to listen to it.”
I don’t know about you but the idea that I should have to pay for a new copy of the song on any device that I own does not work for me – or anyone else I suspect. Are they serious? Yes there are problems with the technology’s inability to recognize whether or not a song has been purchased ‘legally’ or not. But the solution is not to throw the burden back on the purchaser to then buy it individually for whatever device on which he or she wants to listen.
One of my early careers was a musician – composer/artist. I did not have the discipline to slog day-to-day through the difficult music business. However I do recognize the effort and artistry that goes into creating music (and art or prose of any kind for that matter). Yet having people pay for individual device access to a song (or article) does not serve the artist or author – it serves the label or publisher.
There has to be a better way. I don’t believe it is incumbent upon me to come up with that better way but I will give it some thought. In the meantime I am very interested in what you think. Could you see yourself paying for individual access to music on your IPod or MP3 player, I-pad or tablet, computer, or in your automobile? Or would it just aggravate you as much as it does me?
The Way I See It - Mark Kolier 
Mark, I’m a big fan of Amazon too but would not purchase this service. The devices I use, a computer, an iPod and an iPad, all have ample room to hold my entire music collection so it’s unnecessary. Also, the fact that the service requires an internet connection makes it impractical for mobile use.
I agree that cloud based computing is an important technology – our entire back office is located offsite – but Amazon’s new service just doesn’t seem to be a killer app.
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Good comment – but it might bring people into the fold who are not as techologically savvy as yourself Jim. I don’t know that they have an idea of who the real audience would actually be. Sort of just throw it up there and see what happens.
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