orchestra21

LA TImes Go Mobile quotes BACH Technology Chief Executive Stefan Kohlmeyer explaining the company’s MusicDNA project:

What we are bringing back to the end user is the entire emotional experience of music… We think it got lost in the transition to the digital era. We think a beautiful piece of audio has been reduced to a number code. We want to enrich it again.

And how? Replacing the easy-to-share mp3 file format with a more proprietary one that can contain lyrics, images and even updatable news. The goal – whose transparency I find disturbing – is to curb piracy .

So do bells and whistles like this ‘enrich’ music? I think we need more people in the music business encouraging the creation of music that enriches listening. I’m afraid that MusicDNA’s approach encourages the opposite.