Disney's new CD format

Disney has announced a new compact disc standard entitled CDVU+ (pronounced "CD view plus"). What this new format gives you is exclusive content beyond the tracks themselves and packaged right onto the CD. Engadget ran an article yesterday (http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/19/disney-reinvents-enhanced-cds-with-cdvu/) berating Disney for the new format. Their critique revolves around the fact that so called "enhanced CD's" have been around for years and have gone absolutely nowhere (which is true by the way). I echo their skepticism and add to it that I am shocked that Disney thinks this is going to work! Isn't Steve Jobs on their board?

Why release all this content and this new standard for a dying format? CD sales are down almost 20% in the first half of this year alone.

The format Disney chose may be wrong but the content is pretty compelling. Here's a list of some of the things Disney's first CDVU+ artist, "Jonas Brothers" (up and coming punk band) are putting on the disc:

• Song lyrics, 10 video segments, behind the scenes footage
• Video guitar instruction lesson to learn to play the band's songs
• 75 photos of the band
• Customizable autographed poster creator so fans can create their own custom poster

That's just a few of the really interesting things on the list. That kind of content is really compelling. What if, instead of putting that content into an offline and stagnant physical format, Disney instead linked that content directly into the listener's regular music experience? If it was integrated directly into the player (either iPod or PC media player) and automatically updated, I think that's the secret sauce that's needed to make a digital track valuable enough to purchase. We are working on a web-based format that plugs directly into iTunes to bring all this kind of content and more directly to the listener via their music player. Our first version is available for free at: http://www.soundcrank.com/. CD's are dead on arrival. Time to switch to a new format. Come check out soundcrank and see what we have to offer.