Sony BMG Goes Digital, Misses the Point

The company that brought you the Great Rootkit Fiasco of 2005 has finally come around and decided to not only ditch DRM entirely, but to allow you to download music from artists on the Sony BMG label in MP3 format. Sony BMG recently unveiled its new MusicPass site, which promises fans unprotected MP3 downloads playable on any device. The problem? You have to go to a brick-and-mortar store to buy a card with a code you can redeem for your digital downloads.






It would seem to be good news that Sony BMG has decided to abandon DRM in favor of unprotected MP3s. One would hope that Sony got the message that its customers were tired of being treated like criminals and decided to change its ways. Unfortunately it seems Sony didn't get the entire message, or the company's suffering from a case of selective hearing. Sure, Sony's dropped DRM, but instead of understanding that people are interested in downloading tracks individually and buying music online, it has reproduced the old model of forcing people to go to stores to buy their music.

Now, if you want digital music from your favorite Sony BMG artists, you have to go to a physical store, buy a plastic card with the code for the album you're interested in, take it home, enter the code at MusicPass, and then you get to download the song. It's like buying a CD at your local department store, just with more effort required to actually get the music and less payoff: You get a plastic card and some MP3s for all your effort. At least a CD is a physical copy with liner notes and album art, and you can rip the CD to get the digital version.

Unfortunately, the entire project is proof that Sony still doesn't get it. It's catching on slowly but surely, which is good, but it managed to get the part that says people want electronic copies of their music while missing the part that says people want it to be convenient and worth their time. Sony is willing to concede that people want control over what they do with the music when they own it, but they're determined to have complete control over how people purchase and obtain their music.

There will be 37 albums available from a handful of artists via MusicPass when the program starts. The MusicPass cards will be $12.99 (almost the cost of the artist's CD, which will likely sit on the shelf next to the MusicPass card at the store), and will be available at Best Buy, Target, and a few other stores on January 15th. Look on the bright side--at least with MusicPass, the digital downloads won't come with a rootkit.

[ via USA Today ]