As we can't get enough of that funky stuff releasing an MP3 every week on 3121 surely is a step forward in reducing the thirst for yet another rehashed bootleg. I hope that there's a new surprise every week, not expecting electric intercourse or the next When doves cry but a good old mix of live trax, new versions etc will keep me happy. How bout you?.

i'm afraid it actually throws a bone to the bootleggers. these tracks are easily accessed in our hard drive "internet files" folder after we listen to them, so it's easy to collect them, slap 'em on a CD, make some crappy bootleg cover art and sell 'em to unsuspecting fans and those people who were too busy/too lazy to keep hold of the tracks the first time around.

of course, if he'd actually offer tracks like this for sale or as free/pay-what-you-will downloads, THEN he'd be beating the boots.

gotta say, though...the acoustic "love" track is very nice.

Anxiety said:

i think we all miss the days of paying our yearly fee and being able to download new stuff every month. Really can't understand why he doesn't do this again?. Mind even then the bootleggers still put the sold stuff on bootleg anyway!.

Anxiety said:

I agree with you on that.

I wish he would bring back the download store. If he decides to bring it back, I would love it if he would just sell mp3s. I'd be willing to pay $1.49 for a drm free file than to pay 99cents for a file I have to convert to a drm free file.

Anxiety said:

I sure wish someone generous and nice would send me an orgnote on how to get to recover these tracks from my harddrive!! Technically, it's not breaking any copyright laws as it's already on my computer and I'm simply accessing it!

Anyways....My worry w/ the "JAM OF THE WEEK" thing is that he'll have 2 prince songs for every 10 barely known artist who he's trying to promote.

Jatrig said:

I surely hope not. My excitement will then deteriorate.

You better give that dream up. The bootlegs are never going to be released. According to Alan Leeds, the tapes must be starting to fall apart by now. Prince will not put them on computer cds or transfer them to digital or anything. We may be doomed.

2freaky4church1 said:

yeah, but all the circulating "unreleased" material is being VERY well taken care of by fans, collectors and bootleggers...it wouldn't surprise me if one day, prince decided to make nice with the "purple underground" in order to get the best quality copies of his own material.

funkyhead said:

He doesn't do this because folks sued him saying they didn't get what was promised or something from the NPGMC. Then again, Prince never takes a business model and sticks to it faithfully. Nor does he really use the internet to it's fullest potential. He used to, but it's gone the way of been there done that....when NOW is really the time to embrace the technology he used to when it wasn't nearly as popular...and very frustrating to those with very slow connections.

Jatrig said:

1) you can Download software that pulls audio off of sites that stream.

2) which 10 barely known artists is he promoting? I don't even know of one.

Anxiety said:

ssshhhhh!!!!

Anxiety said:

Didn't he already ask us to snd all of our bootleggage to some address in Minnie? How'd that work out?

I think this weeks Jam O the Week, Love, is one of his best songs he's put out in the last few years. The melody is infectious and the chorus sounds sincer. The acoustic version is bare yet you can feel his emotion, I think it's the best song on 3121. As far as a message to us fan(m)s I dont't know it sounds more like to Mani 2 me. In any event we appreciate whatever he lets us listen too, keep em coming P, thanks! We should try to simply request a particular song for the Jam O the Week to let us know he's listening!

superspaceboy said:

Yep. And then some. There's new technology being developed everyday. There's still so much creative pioneering to be done. Especially now that the much larger audience has the pipe to access it.

vinaysfunk said:

I think it's about Mani (as is Fury) and the fans. But it's about Love in general.

anon said:

the stark reality is that if an artist wants to post content on the web, they need to work in a way that acknowledges the inevitability of people swiping the work for their own personal use/enjoyment. nobody's an exception, not even Prince & the New Power Litigation.

Anxiety said:

No question. Even if it's not on the web, it will find it's way there.
But why spend so much time, energy and resource trying to stop that beast. Generate monies around it. Let it help you, even.

Anxiety said:

That's funny.

DITTO: and if someone can teach me how to make youtube videos into MP3 files, my life would be golden.

Jatrig said:

anon said:

nothing is sacred on the intrawebs. i saw a site recently which was offering a bootleg version of the new radiohead album. WHY?!