But how will they prevent people from pirating it!  





 

Bah, I'll pass...  If it's only shipping on a 128MB device, then the audio on there is NOT CD quality, and must be some compressed audio format.  Given the push for DRM by the major music labels, the data will probably also not be in a format I desire.  (192kbps VBR MP3, LAME encoder thankyouverymuch).

I wonder if they'll disclose on the exterior of the product what format it is...  I will give them a thumbs-up for not unjustly setting the pricepoint, as most 128MB USB flash drives go for $15-20 and CDs for $9-15, so $30 sounds reasonable to me.  (Nevermind the whole "CDs are priced too high already" argument.. That's for another thread ;-) )

The only trouble I see is how easily formatable those drives are.

You cant write protect USB drives to my knowledge.

Store bought CD's can't be erased or over written.

I wonder if they will allow the tunes to be downloaded for those that delete songs by mistake.

This is also of concern to me.  I've gotten to the point where I'll only rip .wav files if possible, since I cannot stand "wobbling" cymbals.  This limits my collection possibilities, but that is fine.

This is apparently mp3, too, and not a non-lossy format like I hoped.  An album of around twelve tracks averages 500 MB in size when encoded at 1411 kbps, and this is 29 songs.

You buy it, save it in your computer and then you can use the device for whatever you want. You are paying a fair price for your music and the jumpdrive, so it must be seen as a bundle pack and not as only one item. We don't have space for more trash here, so recycling is a must.

It also must be safer than downloding from the internet. I'm not saying that it is going to be virus-proof, but is is certainly easier to scan before saving on your machine. And if it is bugged then return it... and don't forget to tell everybody about it: news, forums, papers, everybody