Today I got giddy about technology and media. As most of you know, I’m getting my master’s in Recording Arts and as a result do a lot of thinking about the media market. I also think a lot about the market because I like movies, music, and games and am always on the lookout for cheap ways to procure quality media - which brings me to this post. This probably isn’t revolutionary and feel free to chastise me on being “behind the times”.

Redbox
Redbox is a DVD kiosk located … almost everywhere that lets you rent DVD’s for $1 a night. I first encountered this little wonder in Alabama, of all places. As usual, I looked and read the signage but reserved judgment until I had more information. A few weeks (months?) ago I found out that my good friend Stevo was an avid patron of the Redbox. He regaled me with tales of 3 rentals at a time for the low price of $3. I was impressed. What I learned online, and what Stevo failed to mention, are the two huge (in my opinion), and one less huge, features of Redbox.com: 1) you can check if your local Redbox(es) carry the movie you want in addition to exactly what they do have in stock, 2) you can pre-rent the DVD online so you don’t have to worry about someone picking it up before you get there and 3) you can return the movie at any Redbox nationwide. These three features make Redbox mighty appealing, especially because of the price. For anyone who has ever not wanted to go to the video store and check if they have the movie they want or rented something on vacation and brought the movie with you instead of returning it to the local store - you’ll get Redbox. I have yet to rent anything, seeing as I just found out these juicy facts tonight, but I will be doing so shortly. I know there are also some pretty price competitive (not to mention time/gas saving) online rental options as well. I’m curious, what do you use and why?

Amazon.com MP3 Downloads
There are a few things I have decided that I don’t like about most mp3 files recently: low bit rate, high price, and stupid DRM (Digital Rights Management). I’ll start with bit rate. The reason that mp3 files are so much smaller than wav files is that they are compressed, meaning reduced in quality. Wav files are so large because they carry a lot of information and mp3’s just use a clever algorithm to take certain information out and still make the music sound passable. The most common bit rate for an mp3 is 128 kbps - which is all of the regular song files on iTunes. Not distinguishable to the normal ear (and barely noticeable to myself) most people can’t tell the difference between a 128 kbps album and a CD but, I think, if you do you’re really cheating yourself. Also, DRM is evil. It stifles your ability to enjoy the music you’ve already paid for by limiting the number of CD’s you can burn as well as computers and mp3 players you can use with those files. There is nothing good about DRM. The same files from iTunes that are 128 kbps are also crippled with DRM. Every single one of them. Lastly, the price of most music online (*cough* iTunes) is too high. The industry is struggling to adapt to the new model of music delivery and using an extinct pricing system to prevent people from abandoning CD’s altogether. Online albums should not cost $10 - CD’s, yes, digital music, no. This brings me to my support of Amazon’s MP3 site. Amazon does not have any DRM on any of its music. None. Plus, everything is encoded at 256 kbps - double the norm for Apple. AND most of their albums are $9 as opposed to $10 … not to mention the constantly changing group of “sale” albums that feature new releases and music that you actually want for $6-8 (I’ve already bought two albums for $6). Now, in all fairness to iTunes they have started releasing “iTunes Plus” music that is also DRM free and encoded at 256 kbps. However, the pricing model is still old. It might just be one dollar but hey … it’s a dollar. The iTunes Plus catalog is also smaller than that of Amazon. There are other decent options I’ve come across as well like eMusic.com (mostly independent artists, uses a subscription model, recommended by Evan). I’m still curious, how do you get your tunes?

Hopefully, this has been at educational and will help you save some money and hassle in the future.

*UPDATE:  I have successfully rented my first (and second) Redbox DVD and I have a few extra bits of information.  The “end of the day” is actually 9pm, so if you’re only planning on only paying “one night” (i.e. $1) you need to have it back to a machine by then.  The cost is actually $1 plus tax so don’t be shocked when there are some extra pennies added to your cost.  You can also buy used DVD’s from them (not the newest releases but recent ones) for $7.