April 8, 2008 3:20 PM PDT

Album covers could be lost art

Cover of Jimi Hendrix Experience's Axis: Bold As Love

Before the emergence of digital music, album covers were an integral part of music buying.

As people thumbed through record racks, eye-catching album art could prove to be a deciding factor on whether people bought. The cover could convey something about the music inside or whether the act was creative or cool.

Jimi Hendrix's Axis: Bold as Love, Led Zepplin's Houses of the Holy, Peter Gabriel 3, The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed and The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band are just a few classic works.

But in the digital age, people hunt for music on computer screens, and an album cover is often reduced to a thumbnail print if it even accompanies the music at all. Wired.com has a couple of stories on how designers are trying to keep up with the changing times.

"We've been looking at a few technologies (for digital album art) and have been trying to bring these to Apple, to encourage them to bring that level of experience to the iPod," George White, Warner Music Group's senior VP of strategy and product development told Wired. "A very simple demonstration that we've done takes the Gnarls Barkley liner notes and does a fly-through (using Adobe Flash Lite). You're actually moving through the lyrics and artwork...It's really cool-looking on an iPod."

Recent posts from News Blog
Sprint HTC Touch Diamond outed early
Woman to virtual ex: 'I won't be ignored!'
Swiss secret sauce to power green choppers
iLink to deliver answers to military online communities
Vonage names new CEO
Add a Comment (Log in or register) 7 comments
Not a lost art for me
by paul.saulnier April 8, 2008 4:12 PM PDT
Now that I have an iPod touch with a large crisp screen emphasizing album art, I've made a point to ensure the majority of my music has album art. It just looks so much better than the default pictures.
Reply to this comment View reply
Sounds like ... a music video
by Rob Menke April 8, 2008 4:53 PM PDT
How does an animated cover using Flash differ from a full-fledged
music video?

Color me paranoid, but it sounds more like Adobe using Warner as
a back-door to get Flash Lite onto the iPod/iPhone.
Reply to this comment
It is a lost art
by Travis Ernst April 8, 2008 7:21 PM PDT
The albums of today no longer have the enriched detail of art
the prior jackets had. Garcia's covers were true GEM's that must
have been drawn when on a "higher plane" to say it in an
attempt to avoid the post being cut. Journey had some great
covers as well.

U2 I think was creative and did a modern version and the cover
of the CD was a mix of pictures to create a larger picture on one
of their projects.

I miss the artistic drawings from the days before. It's sort of
back to the way music has become with "cookie cutter" covers
and "cookie cutter" music. It's all starting to blend into white
noise once again. We need some fresh blood (talent) to give it a
jump start.
Reply to this comment View reply
CoverFlow
by rodaniel April 9, 2008 1:53 AM PDT
Actually, I would (and did) argue that Apple's CoverFlow UI found on the iPhone, Touch, and in the iTunes app may actually revitalize the importance of graphic design in music:

http://www.2dolphins.com/2007/10/art-that-flows.html
Reply to this comment
music industry aye?
by piranha_face April 10, 2008 3:16 PM PDT
It's led zeppElin...
Reply to this comment
Powered by Jive Software
advertisement

Latest tech news headlines

About News Blog

Recent posts on technology, trends, and more.

Add this feed to your online news reader

News Blog topics

Featured blogs

advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right
  • News - Business Tech

    Chrome's JavaScript challenge to Silverlight

    The advent of Google's Chrome browser, software pros say, should spur a big speedup for JavaScript, which would raise its standing against Microsoft's Silverlight technology.

  • Gallery

    Photos: Top 10 reviews of the week

    Here are CNET Reviews' 10 favorite items from the past week, including the TiVo HD XL, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50, and the Dish Network's newest digital TV converter box.

  • News - Apple

    Apple watchers spot 'iPod Nano' pix, iTunes hints

    The rumor mill has long been predicting a longer, leaner new version of the iPod Nano, and now it's conjuring up some pictures.

  • Outside the Lines

    EIC Squared: Chrome, iPods, and a Dell-Salesforce union

    On this week's EIC Squared podcast CNET's Dan Farber and ZDNet's Larry Dignan discuss Google's latest rocket launch--the Chrome browser--as well as Apple's iPod event next week and a Dell-Salesforce.com union.

  • Video

    Katie Couric reflects on first Webcast

    The political conventions are over and so are CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric's first series of Webcasts. CNET's Kara Tsuboi sat down with Couric on the final night of the Republican National Convention to discuss what she liked about Webcasting, some of her most memorable guests, and whether TV news will still be around by the next round of conventions.

  • News - Digital Media

    At 10 years old, whither Google?

    Daniel Sieberg of CBS News looks at how the company grew exponentially from start-up to superstar and part of our culture, but what's ahead?

  • Video

    YouTube plays party politics

    During the presidential campaigning four years ago, YouTube didn't even exist. Now it's a tool candidates must master to get their message across. CNET's Kara Tsuboi stops by the YouTube upload booths at the Democratic and Republican conventions to find out why Google's video site has such a big presence in Denver and St. Paul, Minn.

  • News - Gaming and Culture

    Are Demo and TechCrunch50 fragmenting their audiences?

    With both events scheduled to start Monday, many press, as well as venture capitalists and others are having to choose which one to attend.

  • News - Cutting Edge

    Execs predict next Google-like tech

    On eve of company's 10-year anniversary, researchers and business pundits speculate about what technologies might someday have as much impact as Google.

  • Gallery

    Images: The art of 'Spore' prototypes

    Will Wright and his Maxis team worked on dozens of prototypes to test the elements of their soon-to-be-released evolution game. Here's a sampling.

  • Webware

    At the TechCrunch50, an unfair advantage?

    Inside baseball: How Webware and other blogs can compete with TechCrunch in covering the TechCrunch50 event.

  • Green Tech

    Duke Energy to invest in mini solar power plants

    Can hundreds of rooftop solar panels collectively operate like a central power plant? Duke Energy launches $100 million distributed solar program to find out.