Sunday, October 18, 2009

Still Trying to Save Physical Sales

Months ago SanDisk has come up with a new way to distribute music physically. The new format is called slotMusic. SanDisk will offer a microSD that will have preloaded music albums on them. Each card will have 1GB of space and will be able to playback music up to 320kbps quality. Also, all the music on the SDcards will be DRM-free. The price for these cards are estimated to be 15 dollars per unit, but that is not confirmed and if that’s so that can end the idea before it launches. The units will include liner notes, cover art and other special features. To make the cards accessible through some car radios and computers a USB connector/adapter will also be included. Since around 1.2 billion mobile phones are shipped globally that has SD slots do you guys think this will become a growing trend that could help the physical sales in the Music Industry. Will we start to see music being sold in cell phone stores? It’s possible that artist will soon have their own phone that comes preloaded with their music on SD slots. What do you guys think?

Trevion Martin

2 comments:

  1. I think it is an interesting idea, but it does not necessarily appeal to me. I had heard something about this a few months ago, if memory serves. The cost of manufacturing these things is probably not as cost-effective as well. Chip-based cards tend to cost more than a disc, due to additional materials and whatnot. They also tend to be more susceptible to user-inflicted damage than a disc.
    My thoughts are that it may catch on a bit, but I don't see it becoming a market-changing trend.

    - Derek Jenkins

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  2. These seem pretty cool, but I can certainly add my own music to my own SD card. I guess if people are lazy or not tech savvy this may appeal to them. I like the idea of the liner notes too, but if I'm listening to music on my phone, I don't really think its necessary. A cool idea nonetheless.

    - Val South

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