When Sony BMG and Universal put their heads together - you’re never sure what to expect. A new, decisive decision to stamp out music piracy once and for all? (Again?) Maybe even an out of order goat decapitation. Whatever the case, you can be sure something’s going down, and it aint’ gonna be pretty. I didn’t wanna be the one to break the news, but it seems the idea of stuffing bonus content onto a CD is apparently ‘new news’ to the marketing folks at Sony. Whilst iTunes continues to eat away at music (and now ringtone) market share, the record labels are running around frantically, trying to come up with new ways to revive their beloved CD.

Take CDVU, Disney’s feeble attempt to ‘reinvent’ the CD. Much similar to the Ringle idea being put forward by BMG and Universal, CDVU attempted to entice users into buying CDs over digital versions of the songs, by offering ‘exclusive content’. Band photos, interviews and lyrics - all stuff that we know can’t be got on the Internet for free, naturally. Not to mention the music…

Either a crude spin, off the CD ’single’ or a bad attempt at mimicing the pringle franchise (see picture), the Ringle seems doomed to fail from day one, only being formed as a last resort, due to a failing iTunes/Universal relationship. Get this, though. The Ringle is 3 songs, with a wallpaper and a ringtone. The catch? It’s $6. Whilst not much, when I can go to iTunes and buy three songs for $0.99 each - then freely make them into ringtones using the bits of my choice (not the stinky bits chosen by some music editor), without having to cart my butt off to the retail park and then pay twice as much again - Why should I? When you consider that wallpapers are the king of all freebies, too, it seems like little consolation.

If you can’t beat them, join ‘em. Or not, as seems to be the case… “We’ll see you at the funeral, boys.” via EnGadget & BGR