Warp Records is selling MP3s of
Warp Records is selling MP3s of their catalog direct to consumers.
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Reader comments
CoryJan 14, 2004 at 1:28PM
$1.35 is pretty steep. For an 11 track album (in this case, LFO's Sheath), the total comes to $14.85. You can buy the same CD on Amazon for $14.99, but that includes insert and an actual CD. If you burn said mp3s, your cost likely goes above the retail of the retail CD.
Am I wrong in thinking that the cost of the mp3s should be less than the cost of the physical product?
Wow. Too much time today.
jkottkeJan 14, 2004 at 1:32PM
Looks like they are selling entire albums for $9.99.
KeithJan 14, 2004 at 1:46PM
I think this is a great idea. Hopefully more lables will look to get their music online like this.
Maybe we'll get to a point where we can buy directly from an artist. Now that would be great.
GregJan 14, 2004 at 1:47PM
It is becoming increasingly clear that the universe wishes for me to attain bankrupcy.
rbJan 14, 2004 at 2:55PM
the interface is soooo bad. Tiny album covers with alt tags to identify them, no cross-referencing or linking from artist to artist. Other than that, they'll get my money.
LukasJan 14, 2004 at 4:46PM
Someone needs to put together a list of "Great Warp Tracks You've Never Heard".
LukasJan 14, 2004 at 4:50PM
OK, fine, I'll start:
The Black Dog - Chesh
Gescom - Keynell
Wagon Christ - Spotlight (AFX remix)
Alex ReynoldsJan 14, 2004 at 8:43PM
Gescom's Keynell is a Skam single.
LukasJan 14, 2004 at 8:46PM
True. OK, "Great Tracks Available on the Warp mp3 site You've Probably Never Heard Unless You're a Sad Trainspotter"
JoshJan 15, 2004 at 12:16PM
Wow, I'd been a little skeptical of the 'iTunes music store interface: a great achievment" idea -- until I saw this site. I love Warp records, but jeez.
My recommendation is to get Autechre's Envane EP, which is out of print and hard to find (until now).
TannerJan 15, 2004 at 5:18PM
The best thing that could happen with the Warp/mp3 sales would be for them to convince Boards of Canada to open up their golden vaults. *sigh* If only ...
I too have issues with paying o'er $1.00 for an mp3, but if this trend helps to make out-of-print music accessible again, then it is what it is. Granted they said that about compact discs years ago, and there's still a lot left undigitized.
And maybe I'm old school, but I'll prolly forever be skeptical about mp3-only releases (talk about planned obsolescence), but that's another thread for another time.
Natural TeeJan 16, 2004 at 11:26AM
Purchased one of my favorites just to test the system. Was deeply disappointed with the sound clarity (pun intended - the bass was awful). Love Warp, but please work on the quality. I'll gladly pay a small amount more for the artifact and the ability to product my own high-quality mp3s.
samJan 16, 2004 at 11:44AM
I just bought AFX 'Hangable Auto Bulb', which came out *ages* ago on vinyl only; I heard about it when it came out but could never get it (uh, I don't do vinyl).
I think the prices are pretty good, here in the UK. Yeah, it's £1 per track (which by the way will probably be the same as the big evil DRM services when those launch, as they're $1/track and we generally get £=$ pricing), which is not an unbelievable deal, but you get a proper, decent quality mp3 for that... and bear in mind that you don't have to buy individual tracks.
Hangable Auto Bulb I presume counts as a single; it's six tracks (well, one of them is a 6 second burst of silly noise, so call it five tracks - I really doubt anyone will be paying £1 to get *that* one), and it costs £3. That's significantly under what the 12" would have cost when it came out, even ignoring the fact that it's not available at all. Similarly, full albums are £7 - here in the UK, albums in the stores typically cost £13, and you normally end up paying £10-£11 online unless you make a big effort. So it's significantly cheaper.
By the way, you pay slightly less in the US because they don't charge VAT (our prices include that at 17.5%)... however the prices probably look less good both because CDs are significantly cheaper there, and because the dollar is rather low in value.
I definitely think they have a kind of triple-punch here:
a) no DRM (for me that is a required, necessary factor)
b) out-of-print back catalogue
c) prices significantly lower than real CDs
By the way, their interface is obviously tiny and silly but it does look cool (designers' republic) - and actually the usability is better than you'd expect, considering. Ordering some tracks was pretty easy. They have put some effort into it.
(There were a couple glitches when I tried to download stuff - zip file didn't work, individual track downloads worked but didn't default to right names - which I've reported. Nothing major, basically it's all good.)
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.