Appeals court holds that promo CDs can be resold

crappy laptops do not explain grammar errors. or do they. my mouse cursor keeps jumping around though

though i do agree that computer-breaking add-on software, or ... some dork saying "you're now listening to the new album by so-and-so" every 60 seconds are mindbogglingly silly tactics.
i remember having a Pharcyde cassette promo that had a sung "yo ho ho ho a pirate's life for me!" overdubbed every 60 seconds...

My favorite promo ever is Madvillainy, where a Speak-and-Spell-like voice interrupted every song to say "Madvillain, retarded hardcopy"--it actually worked for the music.

Yeah, the El-P Fantastic Damage promo had a robo-voice that I actually missed when I bought the IRL album.

every so often I've considered doing an MP3 blog containing only uploads of promo CDs w/ voiceovers, just to see what happened

But those email promo downloads -- or streams, whatever -- are just a hassle and a half. I don't want to fill up space on my laptop with them, I'm paranoid about what add-ons they have attached, and half the time, they don't work anyway, or take forever to download. Or they make my computer run slower, so it's impossible to get work done. So they're not worth the trouble, unless I'm being paid for it. Then again, in the late '80s I resisted CD promos too, up until I had no choice.)

how are streams a hassle? listening to something on soundcloud or whatever wouldn't cause any of these issues.

"they make my computer run slower" seems pretty legit, also I don't think that many quote-unquote professional labels use Soundcloud anyway

xp Yeah, that sentence was a little convoluted. Obviously streams wouldn't fill up space on my laptop, either. But the record companies do frequently require reviewers to fill in passwords, log onto a site where the stream can be found, etc., and it doesn't always work the way it's supposed to. So I wouldn't say they're a pain the way downloads are, but I still don't like them much. Also, the sound quality pretty much stinks, though (like Scott said) that may partly be a fault of my laptop not being connected to a stereo. Or maybe I'm just an old grump.

i've come to way prefer digital promos - taking up room on my HD (which i can delete if nec) beats CDs taking up physical room in my living space. my laptop's connected to a stereo so the quality's not an issue.

streams, less so - i like to have at least one listen through headphones walking around, so i need to be able to put it on my ipod.

obv i understand why a label would put lower-quality music on promos, or that stupid voiceover, or just limit it to streams, but in return i hope they understand that those mean that i'll probably never bother to listen to their music, regardless of what it is.

Oh yeah, another thing about promo streams is that they frequently "expire" after just a few listens -- or rather, after a few times opening the file. So if you don't listen to the entire album all in one sitting, you sort of miss a turn. And if you're inclined to listen to an album a few times before you write about, you're often shit out of luck.

And another big advantage of promo CDs is that I can play them in my car (where music I write about is often meant to be played), or in other places where my computer isn't. (Of course, I suppose I could theoretically burn a CD-R, and work from there -- though actually, the promo downloads may well be safe-guarded against that -- but damned if I'm going to spend my time doing that.)

haha that's exactly the same reason i LIKE digital promos, so i can put them on my ipod and play them where my computer isn't

how are streams a hassle?

Is that a serious question? Hmm, how can being forced to listen to music on your computer while inevitably doing other stuff on there like, say, pissing about on ILX instead of concentrating on the music in an environment conducive to concentration possibly be a hassle for a critic? And, like xhukk, says there are issues with expiry.

Download links can be good but the most popular format, PlayMPE, is bullshit which tends to spit songs out erratically and in the wrong order.

oh my god play mpe i can't even

how is it possible for any one thing to suck so much?

Every time I use it I have to doublecheck that all the songs have downloaded, make sure the track titles and artist credits are correct and then create a playlist so that I can put them in the right order. If I was a musician I'd be screaming at my label about the way my music was delivered to reviewers.

I complained about PlayMPE only today

it sucks logs

i'm not sure i've ever actually managed to download anything off it. and yeah everything's as badly tagged as the most amateur rap mixtape.

also, those digital promo services where you have to leave feedback to unlock the download need to go away too. i usually just put something really inane like "it's nice!"

i still can't believe the entire promo i was sent for the kanye album was a yousendit link for a bunch of - mistagged! - 192kbps mp3s. like, WORSE quality than what had leaked the previous leak.

Y'all know it's simple to capture a stream and save it as an MP3, right?

or record it onto minidisc...