sextonseven said:

And because it is so much better, you can easily download any song from NPGMC with it...

Sorry, but as I had to use a Mac at work some time due to a boss who is a Mac addict, I have a strange relationship with these, ahem, machines.

Btw, the feeling to go to a record store, get the latest Prince album and drive home only wanting to give it a spin is great and not comparable with any modern download/amazon order imo. Call me old fashioned, but that's the way it is.

EmancipationLover said:

That's why NPGMC is so backwards.

I use a G5 iMac and I can play the music club stuff ok. I downloaded media player for mac and they work ok.

amf666 said:

When I win the lottery, I'll trade my G4 for a G5. It should be any day now...

sextonseven said:

Hang on for a couple of months and you should be able to get em at bargain basement prices when the new chips come along!

EmancipationLover said:

RIGHT ON!!!!!

luv4all7 said:

I don't think he makes it hard, but he does make it extremely inconvenient. I'm not a club joiner, and I'm on dialup too, so much of Prince's new millenium output has been pretty much lost to me.

Prince lost a HUGE chunk of fans with this internet bullshit. I have two friends that WERE Prince fans, but they don't do the computer thing at all, so they've let him go. At least I still keep up on Prince current events. If it wasn't for me, they wouldn't know anything going on with him. But, I draw the line at joining clubs and downloading albums.

My credo is and will remain, if he releases it to a music store, I WILL buy it. Anything other than that, I just miss out on it. I bought SST and BNO only because it was for a good cause.

TheBigBang said:

GOTCHA.....Theres Prince stuff out there I never even heard of, cuz really, what are ya supposed to do, sit around all day, and hunt around the net for it? Or like you said.....join a club? YEAH.....OKAY!

luv4all7 said:

You don't have to hunt around for it. It's at www.npgmusicclub.com. And you don't have to be a member to download the music.

Most of Prince's music is available on CD - The Rainbow Children was, NEWS was, Musicology was, and I'm sure Prince's next album proper will be too.

The remaining exclusive music on the club site would probably sell really poorly if released to stores on CD - especially without a promotional exercise like the Musicology tour to promote it. Prince struggled to sell big numbers even when he was more popular than it is now - it's simply not cost effective for him to put out every little thing on CD just to satisfy the odd fan who isn't hooked up to the modern cyberspace age. Prince's output would slow up even more if everything HAD to be on CD. He may alienate the odd fan, but he saves that much money he can afford to lose a few. Prince is still a business, not a charity.

metalorange said:

Yeah, I guess. I tend to forget, that Prince isn't exactly USHER (thank God) these days. I have a hard time thinking of him as a business.....though You are right.....

metalorange said:

But how much money does he save by not selling CDs exclusively through NPGMC as opposed to just downloads? I don't care that the music isn't in stores. I just want a silver pressed disc. Like the NPGMC only 'Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic'.

sextonseven said:

I thought about that. To get a CD pressed at a plant, they probably have a minimum run of a vast amount - this costs money. Then there is the design and production of the packaging - more money. Then there has to be a team in place processing the orders and mailing out the CDS - yet more money.

As opposed to one person popping up a download on the website, and the ordering mechanism is pretty much automatic. No waste, no boxes of unsold CDs, no hassle from people complaining their order never arrived...

Of course, often Prince does things that make no business sense, vanity projects and the like, that cost more money than they make back, so you never know. But perhaps Rave In2 proved a financial flop and that's what's put him off it since. There again, they do sell items in the retail store, so they do have a mechanism in place to handle CD pressings.

I think it's more a case of Prince liking to oversee every single decision, and he likes to put out a project and move on without all the hassles of artwork and stuff.

Gee, Is it really that bad? I have no problem going to a store (online or retail) and not finding Prince music.

luv4all7 said:

kisscamille said:

I know lots of people that can't afford a computer, or can't afford broadband.
Is it fair to that set of fans to make certain songs only available through download?


I have all that, but I still don't buy downloads. Call me old-fashioned, but the experience of getting new music just seems so much more real when I've got a CD to hold in my hot little hands.


holy crap, i can't spell today
[Edited 9/20/05 15:46pm]

metalorange said:

Not jsut recnet stuff though. There's a fair chunk of material from the 90's I'd love to own, but can't find anywhere because they were internet/fan club only.

metalorange said:

And there you have it. It's a business; fuck the music. How come true independent artists, without the resume or stature of Prince, can release their music on CD? Could it be that Prince only wants to make MILLIONS? Golly, I remember the days where Prince wanted to give his music away for free.

Why would Prince name his tour One Nite Alone, and then make the album exclusive to his club members? You're telling me that he couldn't have released that album during all the buzz he was receiving for that tour and not have made a decent amount of money?

TheBigBang said:

Because when it comes down to it, I think Lil Man cares more about the money nowadays.

C'mon people has this conversation really boiled down to "Prince is greedy because of the internet,"???

Wake up! Online music (and everything else) is the future.

You cannot fault Prince or any other artist for using that to their advantage. As someone said before, all of Prince's proper releases are available in the stores worldwide. If you are looking for "hard to find" or fabclub only tracks then, yes, you have to go the extra mile to get them. That's the privilege of having a computer with a fast connection. So either do it, or don't-but don't blame Prince for what you don't have. He makes the rare stuff available for those who want to pay a little extra for it---we call that capitalism.
[Edited 9/20/05 20:52pm]

skywalker said:

And I'm saying he's short-changing the people that may not own computers, for whatever reason. Yeah, I know, everyone should have one. But, some people really would rather pay a light bill and, I dunno, eat maybe. But, they'll save a few bucks or fifteen to buy a CD every now and then. Or some people just don't care for them. I know a few of these types.

And I do blame Prince for this. Yes, he can make a few things available via his website, but FULL ALBUMS?! I think that's giving a big FUCK YOU to a lot of devoted fans who may not have the means to get the music the way Prince wants us to.

I'm wide awake and if downloading full albums off the net is the future, then I'd rather not be involved.

I totally agree. I would much rather walk into a record store and buy a CD that you just pop in the CD player and push "Play".

First of all, computers are too damn expensive and they are constantly getting viruses. It's all about money these days. The only reason I have a computer is because my uncle's job upgraded their computers and gave him their old computer. He, in turn, gave that computer to my mother and she gave me her old computer. If it weren't for that situation, I wouldn't even have a computer because I cannot afford one.

Secondly, my computer does not have a CD burner. I bought a CD burner for my stereo and burned many a CD before I wore it out. All of a sudden, it just stopped recording. It will play but it will no longer record. That's OK though, I got my money's worth out of it. The reason I bought a CD burner for the stereo instead of the computer, is so I could record my vinyl records and tapes to CDs. I have no use for a CD burner for the computer because I don't like new music and that's the majority of what's available for downloading and burning.

Thirdly, I would like a CD burner for the computer for downloading and burning megamixes, ulimixes, and hot tracks remixes of old songs that are not for sale in stores. Other than that, I have no use for a CD burner for the computer. A computer CD burner is much less expensive than a stereo component CD burner but there is too much hassle involved. It's not just a matter of plugging it up and going like a stereo component CD burner. You have to download that shit into the computer or whatever else you have to do. Then, the damn thing may not work because of some hidden setting in the computer that might need to be adjusted which you know nothing about or how to get to it. Another thing, I had Kazaa once and the damn thing slowed my whole computer down and it took hours to download just one song....that is, if you were lucky enough to finish the download without the other person getting tired and clicking the download off.

If all that isn't enough, then there is spam and spyware that make the computer go slow and sometimes not work at all. About once a month, I have to run my recovery disc and restore my computer to it's original state to get rid of all the damn spyware and spam. As I said before, it's all about money these days and these damn companies don't give a damn about ruining your computer to get their damn ads into it. After I run the recovery disc, then I have to re-download my internet disc into the computer and go through that long process. If I bought a CD burner for the computer, I would have to go through that long process of re-downloading and doing whatever it takes to place it back into the computer each time I run the recovery disc to get rid of spam.

Don't tell me "welcome to the 21st century". Dammitt, when the 21st century gets rid of its flaws, then I will be glad to enter it. Other than that, give me the days of walking into the record store and buying music without all the waiting, bullshit, and hassle.

Well this has turned into an interesting debate.

I have to agree that internet only tracks do play to a computer-savvy/credit-card owning elitish minority.

However, if it wasn't for the internet, albums like The Chocolate Invasion, Slaughterhous, C-NOTE and Xpectation would probably have never been released at all - they'd just have stayed in Prince's vaults like so much of his experimental stuff and abandoned album projects. So in that case, the non-computer people wouldn't have got their hands on this stuff anyway! So really, they're not missing out.

I suppose at least this way, bootleggers still have a job to do - they can download the stuff and put it on CD for hardcore non-internet fans.

metalorange said:

This is what I've always thought about the NPGMC, and it's why I haven't joined.

Listen to what he says during Anna Stesia on One Nite Alone Live to get an idea of the elitist attitude he has towards non-members.

TheBigBang said:

Well you could argue that about any fan club. Any fan club you would expect to get extra benefits, otherwise why join? And there's nothing wrong in then encouraging people to join the said fan club to make it more of a success.

I guess there's 2 ways to do the music business these days - either you do all the work and mail out to each and every fan worldwide or be part of a global distribution network to record shops everywhere - or you take the simple option and let the fans do the work and come to a convenient single location. That's what the NPGMC is - a logical and mostly efficient business solution that may not serve everyone but enough people to make it a profitable and useful tool.
[Edited 9/21/05 5:54am]

"Yeah, I know, everyone should have one. But, some people really would rather pay a light bill and, I dunno, eat maybe."

If this is the case, then buying Prince music should also be at the bottom of your list of priorities.

what vainandy said...

skywalker said:

oh just stop it..cant you just show empathy with a person's situation instead of knocking em down?

vainandy---


"Don't tell me "welcome to the 21st century". Dammitt, when the 21st century gets rid of its flaws, then I will be glad to enter it. Other than that, give me the days of walking into the record store and buying music without all the waiting, bullshit, and hassle."

Okay Grandpa---you sound like an old man who can't stop his VCR from blinking "12:00".

Do you honestly think that if the majority of people had as much trouble with online music as you do that it'd be so massively popular/successful? Of course not.

Believe it or not there are people who on a day to day basis have minimum major problems with their computers and none of the stresses that you have with it. To them, online music is as easy as going to the bathroom.You just got to buy the right programs, or find someone who can really help you out with your computer problems and make it convenient for yourself also. If you don't wanna do that-why bitch about it. If need to pay the bills instead, then music/computer funtime is the least of your worries anyway.

The bottom line is this---people have issues with technology and working their computer. It is NOT Prince's obligation to cater to everyone. As was said before, the majority of his proper releases are available in any record store in the world. If you wanna give a little extra money and time you get the extra perks (songs, etc.). If you don't, then don't.

sosgemini said:

I am not knocking anyone. All I am saying is this--- If you are having trouble paying the electric bill, or affording food, should you really be bitching about buying Prince music online? We all love us some Prince, but if it comes between having Prince's online exclusives and feeding the kids--it's a no brainer right? Feed the kids and the bills and then move on to finding Prince's rare tracks.

By the way, if you are a member of prince.org I am sure your are smooth enough to find a friend to hook you up with CD's.
[Edited 9/21/05 6:30am]

skywalker said:

Granted, buying a computer and paying for an internet connection is an expensive process solely to get Prince's online music.

But assuming you have all that set up already for whatever reason, the cost of online music is not much different to the cost you would pay for a CD (in most cases actually cheaper though of course you don't get the artwork). If you haven't got any money, either option is unavailable to you not just the online stuff.