Angry Amazon Review of Rob Thomas’ “…something to be”
Published 21 July 2005
Hi! You've stumbled upon a blog post by a guy named Ryan. I'm not that guy anymore, but I've left his posts around because cool URIs don't change and to remind me how much I've learned and grown over time.
Ryan was a well-meaning but naïve and priviledged person. His views don't necessarily represent the views of anyone.
I love Matchbox 20. I own all of their CDs. Rob Thomas’ lyrics have, oddly enough, followed with eerie similarity the tribulations of my life. Listening to their songs is incredibly cathartic, especially when down. Any way I can support the band, I will. That being said, understand the duress I went through having to post the following review to Amazon.com, copied here verbatim:
Rob Thomas is an excellent songwriter, but his solo album demonstrates what the musicians behind Matchbox 20 add to their sound. The album is overall, decent. There is however, more problems than the music:
I own an iPod and I used to download all of my music, but have been making a push to remove all of it in favor of legitimate, purchased music.CDs do not work for me: from the office to the car to the home and while working out, the only thing I like to have with me is the size of a deck of cards.
The intelligent people at MELISMA/Atlantic seem to have decided that's not good enough. Their DualDisc works fine in my car stereo but as soon as I plop it into my PowerBook, it coughs the CD back out. It then sticks in myCD drive and will not eject without forcefully pulling it out. The DVD plays, but once again, it will not eject, sticks in the drive and had to be ejected ten times before I could grab it and pull it out; who knows what kind of damage that is doing.
This CD is going back to Borders/Amazon, and I'll take my money elsewhere. Perhaps the iTunes Music Store will want it, or perhaps I'll give up supporting the artist.
And if MELISMA/Atlantic is listening: Get a clue. Stop treating your customers like criminals. I'm not a pirate, I'm a legitimate user, and you've lost my $15. I hope you lose more, enough to change your business practices.
This is an example of why Digital Rights Management (DRM) is so terrible. It treats legitimate customers like criminals and encourages piracy. It's a shame the average customer isn't aware of this. Please comment with clues as to how that can change.