Simplifying a burning CD issue
By Patrick Kampert
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 21, 2004
A CD-burning system called Mix and Burn is being tested in some Best Buy stores in the Chicago area. If you don't own a computer that burns CDs, don't have the time or interest to go the iPod/MP3 route--or are simply clueless but curious about the process--this might be for you.
The Q section's CD Patrol visited the Best Buy in Bloomingdale and put the Mix and Burn system to the test. Here are some observations:
The good
It's easy. If you're not techno-savvy (more like "heck-no-savvy") on CD-burning at home, the touch-screen system makes it easy to release your inner deejay.
You can make a mix that no radio station would touch. What station would pair the Ramones with something from "The Sound of Music"? Music lovers can choose from 170,000 tracks.
Compilations are still cool. Years after K-Tel and Ronco made mixes guilty pleasures, "Now 17," the latest edition of "Now That's What I Call Music," debuted two weeks ago at No. 1 on the Billboard charts (400,000 copies).
A mix tape made at home wears out quicker than a CD. Plus, you don't have to write down all the song titles yourself with Mix and Burn.
You can name your own disc too. Like: "Proof I'm (Not) a Music Expert" or "Music Too Good for MTV."
The not-so-good
As Tom Petty sang, "The waiting is the hardest part." You'll have to be patient for a month or two until the company finalizes licensing from Sony (Dylan, Springsteen, et al.) and EMI (Beatles, Beach Boys, etc.).
Mix and Burn is still working the kinks out (but, yes, they do have Kinks songs). On my first visit, the ma-chine crashed and couldn't burn my CD. I came back the next day and the disc was waiting for me. But on a subsequent visit, the disc was burned in five minutes.
"Browse Genres" is a fun search feature, but it has its flaws. In the Genre mode, groups like The Chief-tains or The Eagles pop up under "T" instead of "C" and "E." Mix and Burn says it's working on it.
Advice
Come with a plan. Meaning, a sheet of notebook paper with your song choices. A plan will save you a lot of time, and many people I saw were indeed prepared. I came with a vague notion about "Fun '60s Songs." Once at the store, this morphed into " '60s One-Hit Wonders" and then to a mish-mash called "Experiments in Sound." (Because of the Sony and EMI thing.)
The forecast
Mix and Burn's pilot program has it ahead of the competition, but other companies, including Starbucks, are hot on its heels in bringing CD-burning to Chicago.
Expect CD-burning systems to pop up next summer at every chain store and every record shop you can think of. For a rundown of cost and what's here and what's coming, see (below).
Burn, baby, burn
Custom CDs for non-Pod people
The CD isn't dead yet.
Despite dire predictions that down-loading spells doom for the medium, it hasn't happened. Now, a number of companies are betting that people will want the thousands of choices that an iPod or MP3 player gives them without having to be computer-literate (or wait and wait for a download). That's why a slew of CD-burning devices is on the way to stores near you.
"It all happens much more quickly than at iTunes, and much more intuitively because it's a touch screen," said Phil Leigh, senior analyst for Inside Digital Media in Tampa, Fla. "And all the CD burning is done there on the premises."
It's not the first time that letting customers make their own compilations--a modern version of the old mix tape--has been attempted. Blockbuster Video tried it in the early '90s, and so did Target a few years later. But the technology has improved and, more important, the record companies are cooperating this time. (They were skittish about piracy before.)
First out of the gate is Starbucks with its Hear Music media bar.
"Starbucks gets a huge rush of customers in the morning, but they've got to leave the store open all day," Leigh said. "So what can they do to bring in customers and make them linger?"
But don't be surprised if the machines also start showing up at places such as Circuit City, Barnes and Noble and record stores.
The innovators haven't settled pricing. But one of them, Mix and Burn, is testing machines at Best Buy stores in Bloomingdale and Orland Park, and price there is $6.99 for five tracks; 99 cents for each additional song. A CD holds 80 minutes of music, so you'll pay about $20 per disc if you use all the space.
Multitasking for music, movies and games
What: TouchStand machines
Where: Indie music stores and airports
When: First quarter of 2005
The low-down: Besides allowing consumers to burn CDs, TouchStand's machine will let them buy music, movies and games. The firm has a kiosk in the Dr. Wax record store at 5225 S. Harper Ave. in Hyde Park, but it's not fully operational yet--Dr. Wax uses it as a listening center for customers. TouchStand CEO Michael Fitts expects to add CD burning and digital downloading to its machines early next year. Its AltiTunes' connection will allow busy travelers to burn CDs or buy MP3s at airports as well. (Fitts says a Chicago shop is on the way.)
A chain-store purchase, a custom experience
What: Mix and Burn kiosks
Where: Chain stores across the U.S.
When: Testing in some stores now, including Best Buy in Bloomingdale and Orland Park.
The low-down: In addition to a pilot program with Best Buy, the Minneapolis-based Mix and Burn has tests going at Newbury Comics, F.Y.E./Coconuts record stores and other chains. Mix and Burn chief operating officer Bob French says the company consulted with several major retailers before it even wrote its programming code. With plans to set up at other record and book stores, Mix and Burn looks poised to be No. 2 to Starbucks.
Mix a CD while they mix your grande latte
What: Hear Music media bar
Where: Starbucks stores
When: Mid-2005
The low-down: Starbucks savored its success selling CDs from Hear Music, its combination coffee shop/record store in Santa Monica,Calif. So, with partner Hewlett-Packard, it created the Hear Music media bar: CD-burning stations that are being added inside a number of Starbucks sites in Seattle and Austin, Texas. Music has been a part of Starbucks almost since the beginning. The recent platinum success of Ray Charles' final album, a collabo-ration between the coffee giant and the Concord jazz label, shows it knows its audience very well--260,000 copies were sold at Starbucks.
More titles in less space
What: Virtual Music computers
Where: Record stores
When: First quarter of 2005
The low-down: London-based Virtual Music will let you make your own CD compilation, but that's not its primary focus. Its mission is to let music stores operate without a lot of physical space. Want a CD of your favorite band that the store doesn't carry or is out of stock on? Virtual Music will burn you the whole CD--and print the CD cover too, says Virtual Music exec Ross O'Brien. If the music industry is interested, that could even extend to out-of-print albums, he said.
