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New Uploading Service Saves Time and Effort

Posted on: Thursday, 29 September 2005, 09:00 CDT

By Andrew LaVallee; ANDREW LaVALLEE

The Patriot Ledger

Once the excitement of owning a iPod wears off, a harsh reality can set in: Uploading your music collection, one compact disc at a time, to a computer, then transferring it from the computer to the iPod, can be a time-consuming task.

Canton-based Tweeter Home Entertainment Group and a digital conversion service known as RipDigital aims to do the work for you.

Starting this month, customers can buy shipping containers for RipDigital at Tweeter stores. A container would be shipped to RipDigital's headquarters in New York with a customer's CDs and music player, then returned in two weeks with the music loaded onto the player.

"It's a huge lifesaver. We have a lot of people that are getting into the iPod thing who have huge CD collections," said Andrew Foster, an assistant buyer responsible for Tweeter's cable and music download services. "Then they're forced to sit in front of the computer and load disc after disc."

While most people can do the downloading with their personal computers, analyst Ted Schadler sees the time-saving option that RipDigital and Tweeter offer as a viable alternative.

"It makes all the sense in the world for somebody who's got a big music collection," said Schadler, an analyst who covers consumer devices and music for Cambridge-based Forrester Research.

"No one's going to spend $5,000 on iTunes to get CDs they already have," said Schadler, referring to the online music service. "Having a retailer like Tweeter in (this market) makes a lot of sense." The RipDigital service Tweeter offers costs $1.49 per CD. Customers can specify their preferred file format, since iPod users often opt for files in a format known as ACC while other music players use the more common MP3 format. They can also, for the same price, request that their music is converted in a "lossless" format that results in larger audio files but retains the original recording's sound quality, Foster said.

Although the record industry and large retailers were cautious in working with digital media, many are coming around because of the customer demand. "People were stealing (online) music, and for that reason, there's been a lot of trepidation," RipDigital CEO Richard Adams said.

"But the market has matured. There are legitimate download options now, and they're great," Adams said. "There is still a residual problem of getting music onto digital devices, and that's where we get into the picture."

Tweeter is offering more digital services in order to be a "whole solution to customers," Foster said. In addition to RipDigital, the retail chain plans to offer a joint service with Yahoo's online music service, he said.

Tweeter is offering the service at all 160 stores it operates nationwide. RipDigital, which launched in New York in 2002, offers its service directly through its web site. This is its first partnership with a national retailer, Adams said, although the service has been offered at some New York stores.

Andrew LaVallee may be reached at alavallee@ledger.com.

Source: Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass.

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