Ringle to the rescue [The Age]:
A ringle, packaged like a regular CD single, is expected to come with three songs - the hit, a remix and possibly an older track from the same artist - and a mobile phone ringtone.[...]
"It's not overly difficult technology so you just include an application on the disc that allows you to send the ringtone to the mobile phone," said Parry.
The article doesn't say but others I've read have said the "ringles" will cost around $7-8. These days a CD single in Australia is lucky to cost more than $4. But the range in the single section these days is massively reduced from ten years ago. Probably due to lack of sales.
I love that second paragraph quoted above. As I said in my previous post, the reason people are stupid enough to spend so much on a mobile ringtone is because it's insanely easy. SMS a code, get the ringtone. So easy you do it impulsively, possibly accidentally. Much much easier than even iTunes. You don't even have to move.
Software on music CDs does not work. CD singles have been riddled with it for years and everyone hates it. Why put a video on it when you can go to YouTube and watch it now? Why put some crappy game or extra info on it when you can go to the official website and play/read it there?
I suppose they could encode each CD with a special one off number. Then have some kind of official RIAA ring tone downloading software that sees the CD inserted into the computer and uses the code to approve the download. Then the already dead-from-boredom child can somehow copy that ringtone from the PC to their mobile phone... [insert sound of breaking glass]
Further, they say the single will have a "remix" and an old album track. The death of the b-side?
There are two reasons I still occasionally buy singles:
If I'm spending $4 on option one, I pretty much have to have option 2 as well, otherwise these days I'd just go to iTunes. Or just bite the bullet and buy the album in the reject bin for $10.
These "ringles" will not have those b-sides I crave.
Sorry guys, this is the lamest thing you've ever done.
In the six months to June 2007, the overall volume of the recorded music market increased by 11 per cent to 36.6 million sales. But price cuts resulted in the wholesale value of the market falling by 13 per cent compared with the same period last year, to just under $186 million.
Sales of physical CDs has fallen 17 percent on last year, but digital singles are up 63 percent and full-track downloads to mobile phones are up 8.8 percent.
I'm still buying heaps of CDs. But I come straight home and rip them to my MP3 player.
Ages ago it occurred to me that music enabled mobiles are the perfect medium for digital music sales. People (idiots) are already used to spending money on crappy 30 second 80's keyboard versions of songs, surely the next extension is to sell the whole song to them now that phones are capable of playing actual music files instead of MIDI. Even better, mobiles encourage the "throw away" and "purchase many times" mentality the music industry wishes we all had.
It's just started to happen, but they're still called "ringtones" and not only do they cost a fortune but they're almost always coupled with a semi-hidden subscription service. Pure evil.
If anything I'm noticing only a lack of diversity in the "popular music" section of my music store, and a habit of stores to only stock the latest CD and the cheap CD of a band. The days of finding all CDs of a semi obscure band at your local CD store are long long gone.
Hooray for eBay.
In the Chunky version the smell of strawberry is strong when you open the package, the taste is mostly chocolate with strong hints of strawberry, and the aftertaste is Strawberry Quik.
In the regular sized KitKat "finger" version the taste of strawberry is stronger throughout but otherwise identical.
Highly recommended.