Also:

http://www.purevolume.com/

http://www.audiostreet.net/

I have no details on them yet.

I checked out both of those. PureVolume's sound quality was atrocious.

Audio Street was better-sounding but the place is infested with "beatz" purveyors and the forum is a dead zone, not even the site admins responding to users.

ORIGINAL: bitflipper

Also:

http://www.purevolume.com/

http://www.audiostreet.net/

I have no details on them yet.

I checked out both of those. PureVolume's sound quality was atrocious.

Audio Street was better-sounding but the place is infested with "beatz" purveyors and the forum is a dead zone, not even the site admins responding to users.

Thanks bit, good to know!

OK, I just tried another artist and it worked.

maybe we should make our own instead.

That could compliment the "professional opinion" of them as well...

ORIGINAL: Beagle

maybe we should make our own instead.

I was thinking that too.

I'd be game to help a coalition...

Oh, and add videos to my list-- even if it's just embedding links to Youtube or even better, utilizing the API.

ORIGINAL: Beagle

it would require a lot of programming to do it right, tho.

Yup, which is why no one has got it completely right yet I'm sure.

I can do vb.net and T-sql as well as database design... not to mention graphics.

EDIT: you know what's really needed-- a collab/music management/showcase site. I haven't seen anyone put that together yet. I don't just want fans-- I want virtual band members. Heck, there should even be a musician tryout section. PDFs of lead sheets. Contests. Integration with social media. Cell phone music subscriptions. oooo, I could go on and on...

Oooh! Now your talkin' bitflipper! Direct uploads! You know, I'm thinking it could really be a boost to their community - and might just expand their community as well. Think about it... The world wants fresh voices - and we have them. Could be HUGE. Beat Soundclick at their own game, and prove to the world the capabilities.... and if it's not a sales sight... no beatz sellers to contend with.

Uploads only for registered Sonar users, streaming audio to whoever wants to listen???

Speaking of which, here's an interesting conversation about online music collaboration, complete with useful links:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/07/28/new-free-riffworks-music-making-software-does-quick-songwriting-online-collaboration/#comments

ORIGINAL: julibee
Uploads only for registered Sonar users, streaming audio to whoever wants to listen???

And a strict "No Beatz" policy.

Well of course the prerequisite for direct uploading and metadata support would be true integrated MP3 encoding in SONAR.

I think CW still struggles over what to do about that. Despite its ubiquitousness, MP3 remains a proprietary standard and the Fraunhofer Society wants its payment. Those licensing fees would be passed on to us. CW's profit margin is necessarily small, as it is a very price-competitive market.

The only alternative is LAME, which is an external utility and inferior to the Fraunhofer encoder.

Creating and maintaining a file repository is not an insignificant expense. I joked about offering to buy them a disk drive, but the fact is it would take a BUNCH of drives, at least one powerful server, and a high-bandwidth network connection. It would also require a near-fulltime administrator. This would likely be outsourced to a hosting service. More costs to eat into an already-thin profit margin.

If you start getting fancy with the server-side software you'll add more development and ongoing maintenance costs. At the very least, it would be a full-time job for one or two people. If they're employees, their salaries and benefits could easily come to a quarter million dollars per year.

We're now forced into a position where the price of SONAR PE might have to increase by 10-20% to cover the costs of a service that not all SONAR users will be interested in using.

Of course, they could set the service up as a separately-priced product so that only those users that want the service would have to pay for it. Would there then be enough subscribers to cover the costs? Probably not. And Cakewalk isn't Sony (a very good thing!).

The chances of this feature ever happening are slim.

Mmmm... beetz...

it would require a lot of programming to do it right, tho.

Actually, no. Most of that stuff is *already* available in some form or another (check places like hotscripts.com) and any semi-knowledgeable script-kiddo can make it work together, no problem.

The bandwidth demands are a far greater problem, most sites will just go on blank if you exceed the monthly quota, so you'd have to shop around for one that has bandwidth to spare, and actually lets you *use* it. Advertising a kazillion gigs a month is no guarantee, since noone ever goes there, and they know it. You'll just disappear if you try, tho.