A new way to shop for music

By Sophia Hernandez
PHOTO EDITOR

The 1940s brought vinyl, followed by the CD revolution in the 1980s. iPods were an instant hit in the new millennium. But what’s up with the new media cards?

Due to the increased demand for music downloads, CD chain stores such as Tower Records and Virgin Megastore have been forced to close down.

“No one wants to buy CDs anymore, and that explains why prices for them have to be raised,” an avid Virgin Megastore shopper said, who wished to remain anonymous. “And with the economy being so bad, less are buying.”

In hopes of regaining revenue, four major record labels, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, and EMI Music, have teamed up with SanDisk, a Milpitas, Calif. based corporation which designs and markets flash memory products, to release a new product called Slot Music.

Slot Music uses the same concept as a CD, but an entire album is pre-loaded onto a MicroSD card. In addition to the music, videos, album art, lyrics and other content by the featured artist can be found on the card. Each card comes with a USB cord that connects to any computer without a password or web access, allowing users to store supplementary information onto the card’s 1GB memory.

A press release in September 2008 announced major retailers, including Best Buy and Wal-Mart, will be carrying the Slot Music. The cards sell for $15, a few dollars less than the average CD.

The SD card (Secure Digital Media Card) was first introduced in 1999 by SanDisk and became popular as a form of electronic portable storage.

The company began to market the MicroSD in 2005 to accommodate rapid growth of technological advancement. At a size of 32x24x21 mm and a data transfer rate of 10 – 20 Mbps, these cards offer users a fast and convenient way to access their music.

“It’s pretty simple,” 21-year-old City College student Tim Shearer said. “All you have to do is insert the SD in your phone and you have music.”

However, some students remain skeptical over the success of this experiment.

“Kids are still downloading music. Even if they’re doing it legally, illegally; regardless, people aren’t downloading whole albums, just individual tracks,” said independent recording business executive Shaun Amon of ThizzHype SoundProof Productions.

As a matter of fact, in a survey of 10 City College students, six of them admitted to downloading their favorite songs for free.

“This is the first I’ve heard about them and no one else has brought it up, so I don’t think anyone’s going to really catch on. There’s no point if people can just hop on LimeWire and start downloading,” visual arts major Amy Sweaney said.

Can Slot Music revive the industry? For SanDisk, record labels, and musicians, only time can show the answer.

“I’m starting to work with more and more artists who are now realizing the importance of social networking in their success, especially nowadays,”  Amon said. “If these cards sell well, the [music] industry might have a shot at redemption.”