registration sucks
Feb 24, 2005, 01:07am EST
I was at a concert earlier tonight and heard a song that I wanted to buy and download after the show. I only wanted the single song and I know it’s not on any of their CDs since I already own them. So after a few searches, I was able to learn that the song I wanted was on a movie soundtrack.
I hopped on over to the iTunes Music Store to buy it, except they didn’t have the album. Next, I tried Napster.com, emusic.com, and walmart.com. On all three of these sites, you have to register an account before you can even see what tracks are available. What the hell? I can’t browse before deciding whether or not I want to buy? Actually, I’m not sure about walmart.com, it wouldn’t let me access the music download store with Firefox or Safari. I don’t care if registration is free or not, it’s a huge hassle either way. [1]
I ended up finding an mp3 on a blog post. I feel a little bad about obtaining an illegal copy, but I wanted immediate gratification and I only wanted a single track. I don’t understand why the online music stores are making it so hard on me.
On a side note, I would have been willing to order a CD with the song on it directly from the record label because I’ve had good experiences with them in the past (they include sampler CD, candy, stickers, and other fun things with orders), but the song was only available on a 7” and I don’t own a turntable.
[1] I have the same gripe with furl and spurl. You can’t browse bookmarks without creating an account and logging in.
stewart midwinter at Mar 23, 2005, 12:55pm EST
Good points. Your experience is at the root of what started the downloading craze. Some music companies understand your point, but certainly not all.
2nd motive for posting: to see if your blogging software has any controls to prevent comment spam. I’m using wordpress, which puts all comments into a moderation queue, but I still have to spend time approving or deleting them. I’d like to switch to a python-based blog since I work with python at work (but I don’t have time to write my own!).
thanks Stewart in Calgary