The Enemy of My Enemy
posted by admin at 09/22/2008 7:57 PM
New technology always drives change forward. But this technology could actually drive change backward, and that would be a good thing for us.
If you listen to a lot of the discussion surrounding awareness of the 12-volt industry, you’re bound to hear the words “sound quality” come up in numerous conversations—mostly in the context of “lack of.” Just like Apple’s efforts to stereotype PC users as overweight, behind-the-times nerds, we stereotype the iPod as the culprit for consumers' seeming indifference toward sound quality. Obviously, it’s not the fault of the iconic media player; rather, it’s the fault of the slow progression of memory size in a small format.
This was definitely a case of the cart before the horse, where the industry chose the desired form factor of a portable music player (namely, small), then crammed in only what they could get into it. Remember players with as little as 16mb internal memory, with an SD slot to bolster that huge reserve to a whopping 128mb? That meant that new technology adopters-slash-music lovers had to find creative ways to cram their music onto limited memory space, and the industry obliged with compression formats.
This is where the problem began. But not where it ended.
For the last few years we’ve struggled with the consumer’s perception that highly compressed music is good enough. But things are made worse with the perception that digital storage of music automatically means highly compressed digital storage, and this perception is one that could hinder the next stage of music distribution.
SanDisk’s slotMusic format is set to hit stores this holiday season. Several major music labels have agreed to distribute select artists and albums on microSD cards, without DRM (Digital Rights Management) restrictions. The format would be MP3, though at a higher quality playback of up to 320kbps versus the standard 128 used by iTunes and other services.
Of course, this is an attempt to regain in-store sales lost in the CD vs. download war. From the music industry’s standpoint, it’s a good move because they have control over distribution in the brick-and-mortar environment. Plus, it indicates that the industry is not sold on current efforts to deliver DRM-free music online. It’s a “best of both worlds” approach, enabling control while providing a common digital form factor ready for immediate play in any portable, home or in-car media device with an SD slot.
But how successful will the format be in its early stages in attracting consumers who associate “digital” with “download,” and subsequently “download” with standard 128kbps quality? I can almost hear pimple-faced teenagers saying, “Why should I get it from the store when I can get it online? What’s the difference?”
Looks like they’ve got a lot of marketing to do in order to convince these users that there is a value to high-quality reproduction of music.
Wait … isn’t that what we’re trying to do? Looks like we’re about to pick up a powerful ally.
If we look at the market, we’re seeing a potential (dare I use the cliché) “perfect storm” of circumstances that could get consumers moving back in the direction of valuing quality over quantity:
Memory in small devices has expanded exponentially. Though the primary marketed purpose is to make room for downloaded video, it creates space for lossless, .WAV and other close-to-original audio formats as well.
Download speeds are often 10mbps or more. Not only has cable and DSL service in homes decreased in price, but the emergence of fiber-optic services offer even faster download speeds. So if an online service offered higher quality (thus, larger) music files, download speed would be less of an issue than in years past.
There’s a big investment in downloadable music, and therefore big competition between online and in-store. iTunes, Wal-Mart, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster and many more stores offer millions of titles for download. With a heavy push by the music industry to promote in-store, digital purchases, online entities will respond. Expect to see more music in lossless or higher quality compressed formats available for download, but more importantly, expect to see the marketing regarding this change to attract a lot of attention.
In short, we could see a robust competition over music quality within the next 12-18 months. And no matter who emerges, our cause is served.
Here’s how we take advantage as an industry:
Manufacturers of head units and other devices that contain SD slots need to promote compatibility with the slotMusic standard on packaging and marketing materials, specifically noting the higher quality of audio over standard downloaded audio. Why promote it even though it's just music on an SD card? Becasue it carries a highly mraketed, technology sounding brand name that consumers will respond to.
Retailers also need to promote slotMusic compatibility, as well as claim to be experts in the technology. Set up a display labeled “Hear the Difference!” and let customers experience the fullness of high-quality digital music over standard 128k downloaded files. And once done, walk them right over to the components that will reproduce it the way it was meant to be heard.
Granted, this is not our only hurdle in bringing back the awareness of our products. We still need to accommodate the portable revolution and get ahead of the OEMs with new technology that gives us a good market head start. But it goes a long way toward making music quality matter again, and that’s where we excel.
--Solomon
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