This is a kind of cool way to do it.
Rather than distribute via CD, DVD or download, the Barenaked Ladies are making their newest selection of songs, videos and exclusive material available on a USB flash drive.

Nettwerk Music Group is releasing "Barenaked on a Stick" beginning today, says the Hollywood Reporter. It plays on PCs, Macs and any other audio product with a USB port -- like some car stereos -- and costs $30.

This 128 reusable drive contains 29 songs, including the band's 2004 "Barenaked for the Holidays" album, in MP3 format along with live tracks, in-concert spoken quips, album art, photos, videos and more.
Link
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

I'm not surprised to see music released on USB flash drives. I actually have been expecting it for a while.

I checked the link, and it doesn't say what format the music is, .WAV, .MP3, .OGG, WMA etc.

What was a surprise is that the flash drive is reusable. I thought we would see music coming our on ROM (Read Only Memory). There are two big advantages to ROM. 1) No moving parts. 2) ROM does not risk being overwritten.
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RunnerBiker ¿
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

RB wrote:

I checked the link, and it doesn't say what format the music is, .WAV, .MP3, .OGG, WMA etc.

O wrote:

This 128 reusable drive contains 29 songs, including the band's 2004 "Barenaked for the Holidays" album, in MP3 format

I agree with the ROM advantage. No risk of losing your files. However if you wanted to transfer the files to a CD or DVD you'd have your flash drive to use for other stuff. Depends on how many flashdrives ya have, I guess.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

Eh - Thanks for reading a little louder for me "O". I guess I wasn't listening too good the first time.

I'm guessin in the near future all audio/video playback systems will use some type of flash drive for removable media to eliminate the moving parts.

Who knows what format it might take, USB, WiFi or some new invention.
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RunnerBiker ¿
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

I need a USB port in my MuVo!
Yep, you're right, RB, there will be flash playback portable systems. Plug in your flash and let 'er play.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

Nice little novelty concept, but I have to believe that they will eventually release a higer-res version of their music. Let's face it. Compressed mp3 is fine for a boom box, portable or even in most cars, but the sound quality doesn't stand up to 16bit, 44mhz CD played back through a quality sound system.

Even that isn't really enough for the discerning audiofile. Although, few of us seem to be left nowdays.
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

Gadget Wizard wrote:

I have to believe that they will eventually release a higer-res version of their music.

I would certainly hope so. Something to plug into a player set up with a good sound system. With the popularity of mp3 players the idea works for those.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

Yes, I await the day when storage capacity is such that we don't have to compress the sound, but are actually able to get greater resolution than the 16bit we have with CDs.

We need internet bandwidth in the 50-100mbps range and terrabyte flash drives.

That's not asking too much, is it?
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

Gadget Wizard wrote:

That's not asking too much, is it?

Nope and with the way things are going I wouldn't expect it to take very long.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein