Russian rock in the Android Market
Sometimes in the Market you can meet quite unexpected things, for example, the single of a Russian rock band. And, although the appearance of such applications as a whole is a good sign, the implementation about which this topic is very far from ideal.
Let us consider in detail this miracle of software engineering (the single “ Optimist ” of the “Bi-2” group) and think about whether we are ready to buy music distributed in a similar way.
The first thing that catches the eye before installation is the presence of two versions of the application in the Market. Normal and HD version. Being a tablet user, I decided to try the HD version. The result surprised me a little. On the face, either broken resources or problems when working with video memory, which I saw on old Chinese tablets, but not on Tegra 2.
I downloaded the regular version, then we will talk about it. By default, my system applies the "Stretch to full screen" policy to a small screen application, which disfigures some applications. That is exactly what happened this time. But some progress is felt, all the resources were loaded, although they turned out to be poorly arranged.
')
I translate into the “Zoom to full screen” mode, finally I get about what the authors wanted, although the picture is a bit muddy because of the upscale. As you can see, the application has 3 sections - “music”, “we” and “video”.
I go to the "music" section, I launch the track, the music starts playing. I like music, I want to enjoy it, while continuing to work with my modern multitasking operating system. I turn to the browser and the music stops. The application does not allow listening to music in the background.
In addition to the standard "forward", "play / pause", "back", next to the rotating plate there are 2 more buttons - "text of the song" and "comments". Both open crooked cut text. Moreover, the comments are the same for all the songs and represent an interview with some unknown Masha.
The “we” section contains a brief biography of musicians, unfortunately cropped as crookedly, as well as comments with lyrics. Like on the screen with music, there is also a link to the musicians' website and to the Russian killer of MySpace iPhones - portalplaneta.ru. A button with comments returns us to the screen with music, showing all the same interview.
The “video” section is four links to YouTube, everything is simple.
The absence of an embedded video in the application is quite logical, because the application already weighs as much as 25MB, in which they pushed 8 tracks and a cute interface. For comparison, the HD version weighs 20MB ... 5 megabytes less than normal. Something here is not clean.
With the help of Android Task Manager perform the backup of the application on the SD-card. We look at the contents of the apk-package as a simple zip-archive, which it actually is.
The first thing we look for is MP3, it turns out the music takes about 15MB in the regular version and 10MB in the HD version. And in the HD version, the bitrate is 32, and in the normal one - 48. Both are very far from normal quality, fortunately, in my tablet there are quite bad speakers and this is not very noticeable.
There is a logical question, and what takes another 10Mb? We go into the assets folder and we are perplexed.
It turned out that, along with the B-2 single, I also downloaded a whole bunch of fonts and sprites, which would be enough for a couple of small RPGs. Some of the sprites contain copyright (Ari Feldman 1996, Harold Lohner 2004). What is really quite unexpected is the piece of cocos2d for iPhone source in one of the directories of the Android package.
Another serious flaw discovered at the opening is that all the text in the application is also packed in pictures. An interview, for example, is a two png-file weighing 700kb.
The application does not contain any license files that shed light on music rights. LICENCES, AUTHORS and README.0.82 are completely taken from the cocos2d project, there is no mention of the developer and the rock group.
The text of LICENET begins with words about the possibility of distribution and modification, so that the text of the license is preserved. However, the last paragraph reads:
Simply put, the author’s opinion on the issue of copyright does not play any role and is simply given.
In a separate section "Credits", accessible from the section "we", you can see the captions with the following text, which features recording studios and information on all the songs.
What is the general legal status of application files that are downloaded for free, complete with similar text?
If the group records the album and distributes it for free, then it plans to get something in return. The application and its description are teeming with links to portalplaneta.ru . On this site, the user, in addition to being able to download 3 singles of the Bi-2 mp3 group for free without registering at maximum speed, is given another opportunity, namely, to buy a new album, and not just as a CD, but with the opportunity to listen to it partially before release, get an invitation to a gig, and generally pay the musicians almost directly, bypassing retail networks.
Popular Russian musicians are experimenting with forms of content distribution and ways to make a profit. Consequently, it is not only consumers who realize that the classical music market is becoming more and more unviable. The result is bold moves in the form of a free single in the Market and offers to become a shareholder of the future new album by registering on the social network.
The application was published on June 10th and was last updated on July 12th. The regular version was downloaded 100-500 times, the HD version 10-50 times, there are no comments in the Market at all.
Perhaps in the future artists will be more responsible for creating applications. In the meantime, it remains only to sit and lament why there is no Russian rock in Guitar Hero.
market.android.com/details?id=com.hippoapp.bitwo&feature=search_result - bitrate version 48
market.android.com/details?id=com.hippoapp.bitwohd&feature=search_result - bitrate version 32
portalplaneta.ru/b2band/optimist - there is a completely official free loseless-version and a version with a bitrate of 320, moreover complete with a similar application on flash, from which the interface is drawn
Let us consider in detail this miracle of software engineering (the single “ Optimist ” of the “Bi-2” group) and think about whether we are ready to buy music distributed in a similar way.
First problems
The first thing that catches the eye before installation is the presence of two versions of the application in the Market. Normal and HD version. Being a tablet user, I decided to try the HD version. The result surprised me a little. On the face, either broken resources or problems when working with video memory, which I saw on old Chinese tablets, but not on Tegra 2.
I downloaded the regular version, then we will talk about it. By default, my system applies the "Stretch to full screen" policy to a small screen application, which disfigures some applications. That is exactly what happened this time. But some progress is felt, all the resources were loaded, although they turned out to be poorly arranged.
')
I translate into the “Zoom to full screen” mode, finally I get about what the authors wanted, although the picture is a bit muddy because of the upscale. As you can see, the application has 3 sections - “music”, “we” and “video”.
Application interface
I go to the "music" section, I launch the track, the music starts playing. I like music, I want to enjoy it, while continuing to work with my modern multitasking operating system. I turn to the browser and the music stops. The application does not allow listening to music in the background.
In addition to the standard "forward", "play / pause", "back", next to the rotating plate there are 2 more buttons - "text of the song" and "comments". Both open crooked cut text. Moreover, the comments are the same for all the songs and represent an interview with some unknown Masha.
The “we” section contains a brief biography of musicians, unfortunately cropped as crookedly, as well as comments with lyrics. Like on the screen with music, there is also a link to the musicians' website and to the Russian killer of MySpace iPhones - portalplaneta.ru. A button with comments returns us to the screen with music, showing all the same interview.
The “video” section is four links to YouTube, everything is simple.
The absence of an embedded video in the application is quite logical, because the application already weighs as much as 25MB, in which they pushed 8 tracks and a cute interface. For comparison, the HD version weighs 20MB ... 5 megabytes less than normal. Something here is not clean.
Package Contents
With the help of Android Task Manager perform the backup of the application on the SD-card. We look at the contents of the apk-package as a simple zip-archive, which it actually is.
The first thing we look for is MP3, it turns out the music takes about 15MB in the regular version and 10MB in the HD version. And in the HD version, the bitrate is 32, and in the normal one - 48. Both are very far from normal quality, fortunately, in my tablet there are quite bad speakers and this is not very noticeable.
There is a logical question, and what takes another 10Mb? We go into the assets folder and we are perplexed.
It turned out that, along with the B-2 single, I also downloaded a whole bunch of fonts and sprites, which would be enough for a couple of small RPGs. Some of the sprites contain copyright (Ari Feldman 1996, Harold Lohner 2004). What is really quite unexpected is the piece of cocos2d for iPhone source in one of the directories of the Android package.
Another serious flaw discovered at the opening is that all the text in the application is also packed in pictures. An interview, for example, is a two png-file weighing 700kb.
Licensing issues
The application does not contain any license files that shed light on music rights. LICENCES, AUTHORS and README.0.82 are completely taken from the cocos2d project, there is no mention of the developer and the rock group.
The text of LICENET begins with words about the possibility of distribution and modification, so that the text of the license is preserved. However, the last paragraph reads:
The views and conclusions contained in the software and documentation are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing official policies, either expressed or implied, of this software.Simply put, the author’s opinion on the issue of copyright does not play any role and is simply given.
In a separate section "Credits", accessible from the section "we", you can see the captions with the following text, which features recording studios and information on all the songs.
What is the general legal status of application files that are downloaded for free, complete with similar text?
Why all this?
If the group records the album and distributes it for free, then it plans to get something in return. The application and its description are teeming with links to portalplaneta.ru . On this site, the user, in addition to being able to download 3 singles of the Bi-2 mp3 group for free without registering at maximum speed, is given another opportunity, namely, to buy a new album, and not just as a CD, but with the opportunity to listen to it partially before release, get an invitation to a gig, and generally pay the musicians almost directly, bypassing retail networks.
Popular Russian musicians are experimenting with forms of content distribution and ways to make a profit. Consequently, it is not only consumers who realize that the classical music market is becoming more and more unviable. The result is bold moves in the form of a free single in the Market and offers to become a shareholder of the future new album by registering on the social network.
Conclusion and links
The application was published on June 10th and was last updated on July 12th. The regular version was downloaded 100-500 times, the HD version 10-50 times, there are no comments in the Market at all.
Perhaps in the future artists will be more responsible for creating applications. In the meantime, it remains only to sit and lament why there is no Russian rock in Guitar Hero.
market.android.com/details?id=com.hippoapp.bitwo&feature=search_result - bitrate version 48
market.android.com/details?id=com.hippoapp.bitwohd&feature=search_result - bitrate version 32
portalplaneta.ru/b2band/optimist - there is a completely official free loseless-version and a version with a bitrate of 320, moreover complete with a similar application on flash, from which the interface is drawn
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/132307/
All Articles