DDA music format combines the physical and digital

By Ella Morton on 02 December 2008

The DDA website

One of the big complaints about the digital music revolution is the loss of tactile experiences like thumbing through a CD booklet and spinning a disc. A new mode of music delivery, known as DDA, plans to bring back the physical format with a digital twist — albums are sold on a USB stick containing MP3s plus bonus artist-related content.

Australian company D:Net Media launched the format on December 1 with a focus on the extra content found on each DDA stick. Such features include promotional videos, song remixes, interviews, press releases, biographies, photos and lyrics. There are also online features such as artist forums, live news updates and a Facebook application. New artist content is automatically downloaded each time the USB stick is plugged in.

Five DDAs are now available in stores: Sneaky Sound System's 2; Grafton Primary's EON; Sift The Noise by Skipping Girl Vinegar; the ARIA award-winning Gurrumul from Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, and an Australian compilation called Home Grown Roots Volume 3. All cost about the same price as their CD equivalents and are available at Leading Edge, HMV, Virgin and Sanity outlets.

The initial release is regarded as a test marketing period, with more DDA titles becoming available in the next few months.

As for whether we're in for another format war, the DDA4me website is bold: "we see the DDA as being a huge part of the next phase of music evolution," says the FAQ.

Does DDA sound good to you, or would you prefer plain digital downloads? Let us know in the comments below.

Topics: dda, mp3, music, usb, artist, usb stick, format, content, digital, physical

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Comments (15)

  • zonaryatom commented on 10/03/2009 14:35 Report abuse

    Hi, just following up what the above poster said. I also purchased one after emailing the company to find out the deal. The tracks are DRM-free and you can now also d/l WAV's - completely lossless and sound fine burnt to CD. Since having mine, it's been populated with video and photo content. My only niggle is that it would be good to the WAV's already on the USB to save downloading but I'm sure that could change in future. All in all, I'm very happy with it and would definitely consider buying more in preference to CD and downloads in future.

  • Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater commented on 31/12/2008 18:43 Report abuse

    Jeez, you people should read before you make dumbass comments. I bought one of these (yes, it was hard to find) of Gurrumul and it gave me the option to download the full wav versions, which I did, and then burnt it to a proper cd-r for the car. No DRM, nothing loseless. Sure it's a bit of a novelty but at least someone is trying to bridge the gap.

  • affro commented on 18/12/2008 12:38 Report abuse

    I personally enjoy the physical media. I am still confused as to how the music is played from the DDA. I have heard that the music is not stored on the DDA, but streamed from the net. The idea is extremely flawed, each time I want to listen to an album, I have to change the USB..Crap!

  • DTS-HDMA fan commented on 18/12/2008 00:03 Report abuse

    Flash memory drive technology already has a larger capacity than Blu-ray (64 GB according to wikipedia). But that's assuming there's a need selling a hard-copy. It's an interesting idea to have a way to automatically source extraneous material (b-sides, remixes, pictures, videos, etc.). USB may be superseded by something like displayport. I am excited about the DTS-HDMA audio format - I just hope it takes off - whether we download it or buy it on disc, flash (like DDA) or HDD...

  • hxc|grunger commented on 17/12/2008 22:35 Report abuse

    WTF?? It's a physical item so why make it half and half? its complete bs. Why not stick with the good old audio CD's with the extended content for extra?

  • Rob commented on 12/12/2008 11:25 Report abuse

    Has anyone tried to buy one of these?
    I've been in all the shops that are supposed to sell them and the sales people haven't even heard of them!

  • Steve commented on 09/12/2008 14:43 Report abuse

    hmm, personally don't like the idea of this. DRM or not I would not purchase the product. Being on a tight internet plan I don't want my monthly downloads to be consumed by acquiring .wav files when I could simply buy the CD and rip it myself. This product has too many flaws and doesn't consider all aspects of the the target market.
    Besides that, Im not sure it will win over the music pirates out there. If they can get the music for free why would they want to go out of their way to buy a copy.

  • Ashley Bird commented on 04/12/2008 02:10 Report abuse

    we have been doing this in the Uk for the past 12 months and already seen a number of the major lables try different things with artist such as Keane, Ultra Volta and even Ringo Starr brought out a USB album called Liverpool eight

  • Mr Neal Anderthal commented on 03/12/2008 16:35 Report abuse

    Bring back the eight-track and lp i say

  • sammygee commented on 03/12/2008 13:50 Report abuse

    You haters should really do a bit of research first... as the last comment says there is no DRM and no restrictions on file formats. They even give you the WAVs!

    Check out the You Tube vid on DDA here: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=IvPT9atdHRw

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