Comments on: Sony BMG to offer gift cards for unprotected MP3s

Those irked by the company's rootkit snafu, take note: This music is "anonymously watermarked," so it can't be used to identify users or where the music was purchased.

[john55440]

SonyBMG should sell on AmazonMP3

With other labels, you can just go to Amazon.com, and buy your choice of CDs or MP3s. No bricks-and-mortar store needed.

Sony's gift card scheme is a silly inconvenience that will most likely fail.

[tux_warrior]

No DRM? What about Root Kits?

They just said DRM free, not root kit free so it'll be up to you to figure out how to get past those.

[jelloburn]

As much fun as it is...

...to try and find fault in everything, these are just MP3s. If they
are DRM free, that means that there is nothing that must be
installed on your system (besides a media player) in order to
play the files.

Good for them for watermarking their music. I can understand
wanting to know if people are sharing your unprotected files via
peer to peer. Maybe one of these days the low-lives that are
illegally sharing files will get a clue that if they don't illegally
share music, the record companies might be a little more willing
to give up DRM.

Now the only thing that really seems stupid about all of this is
that unless the cards are significantly cheaper than CDs (=>$5),
you may as well just buy the physical CD, and rip it yourself with
a higher bitrate, and have a backup already in your possession.

[rcrusoe]

No iTunes, no sale

Based on statistics, if your songs aren't available on iTunes,
then 80+% of the online buying public isn't going to buy your
music. I've made some purchases from AmazonMP3 but it isn't
even close to iTunes for convenience.

Most legal downloaders aren't geeks and won't jump through all
these hoops. Most downloaders won't bother because they don't
pay for music.

Sony's sneakernet purchasing plan IMO, is just another in a long
line of their stupid moves.

[Renegade Knight]

iTunes Only = No sale

My first experience was iTunes. I got a bunch of free MP3's and iTunes is such a PITA (especially since I don't use an iPod) that it's just not worth it.

I actually do buy from Amazon. The best part about Amazon is that it works on iTunes, or just as important works without iTune. No muss no fuss.