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Rog210

macrumors regular
Mar 23, 2004
195
3
I guess it's asking too much to expect people to comment on what this means from an iTunes, AAPL or technology standpoint instead of an "I don't like this kind of music" rant.

Music has little to do with it. This is about marketing deals, MBAs, exclusive agreements, some weird narrative about "anti-marketing" because it's a "quiet release", commercial licensing, and all the rest of it. This is the music equivalent of The Hobbit. The question of whether it's a good album is almost irrelevant next to the need to recoup investment.
 

ck2875

macrumors 65816
Mar 25, 2009
1,029
2,923
Brighton
I think that holding back the physical release was smart since it didn't allow the album to be saturated within the pirate community before release (though I'm sure it is by now). I suspect we'll see a lot more of this digital release-window exclusivity in the future.
 

Parasprite

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2013
1,698
144
"All music on the iTunes Store comes in iTunes Plus®, Apple’s DRM-free format with high-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings."

Virtually?

No thanks. If you can't even match CD quality (44.1 16 bit PCM) then I'll keep my money.

You must be fun at parties.

...who am I kidding, I hate parties.
 

Thunderhawks

Suspended
Feb 17, 2009
4,057
2,118
Man oh man, exclusively available in a lossy format.

The so called audiophiles with this allegedly amazing hearing which requires lossless music quality or they die are a minority.

Depending on what kind of music all I hear is noise, that might as well get lost.
 

Tiger8

macrumors 68020
May 23, 2011
2,479
649
What do you expect considering there's no other way to get her music?

This is a meaningless milestone.

Come on give her some credit, it was a very bold move just dropping the album like that at mignight without a single hint. Again, I am not a fan of her, but she -or her team- did something very different, very risky, and got rewarded handsomely for it.
 

Canyonero

macrumors regular
Apr 2, 2012
119
282
What do you expect considering there's no other way to get her music?

This is a meaningless milestone.

Actually that should work against the sales as not all people want to use iTunes or are even aware that it's out (not seeing it in physical stores, other retailers etc.)

Do you know how many albums nowadays go platinum in the first week? Maybe two or three in a year. And she almost did it in three days.

This is great news for Apple.
 

ToddClemmer

macrumors newbie
Apr 13, 2013
18
0
Another reason why I want to be able to customize my itunes experience instead of being spammed every-time I open the store with music I hate thats made by "artists" who suck.
 

MrXiro

macrumors 68040
Nov 2, 2007
3,850
599
Los Angeles
"All music on the iTunes Store comes in iTunes Plus®, Apple’s DRM-free format with high-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings."

Virtually?

No thanks. If you can't even match CD quality (44.1 16 bit PCM) then I'll keep my money.

You can keep it... Apple and Beyonce don't need it... they sold enough without your contribution.

I'm not a fan of her music (so I'm not defending her or her album that I didn't buy), but to be honest I'd say about 95-99% of the people out there don't care about the specs of their mp3/aac being whatever bit as long as it doesn't sound like it's coming out of an AM radio. There are only a select niche within of niche of people who would give a damn that it's not 44.1 16bit PCM

----------

The so called audiophiles with this allegedly amazing hearing which requires lossless music quality or they die are a minority.

Depending on what kind of music all I hear is noise, that might as well get lost.

They're a minority amongst minorities even... I doubt I'll ever see an audiophile that LOVES pop music... unless of course they're in that industry already.
 

dannyyankou

macrumors G5
Mar 2, 2012
12,940
27,786
Westchester, NY
"All music on the iTunes Store comes in iTunes Plus®, Apple’s DRM-free format with high-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings."

Virtually?

No thanks. If you can't even match CD quality (44.1 16 bit PCM) then I'll keep my money.

This. I can't believe that it's 2013 and they don't sell lossless. I'd definitely pay a few bucks more.
 

globalist

macrumors 6502a
Aug 19, 2009
748
264
Music has little to do with it. This is about marketing deals, MBAs, exclusive agreements, some weird narrative about "anti-marketing" because it's a "quiet release", commercial licensing, and all the rest of it. This is the music equivalent of The Hobbit. The question of whether it's a good album is almost irrelevant next to the need to recoup investment.

LOL, preach it some more bro!
 

nazaar

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2008
577
298
I guess it's asking too much to expect people to comment on what this means from an iTunes, AAPL or technology standpoint instead of an "I don't like this kind of music" rant.


Agreed.

This was a great move for both the artist and iTunes. I like the fact that videos were released were also released and hopefully more artist do something like this.
Just wondering how she kept it under wraps.... there were no leaks.
 

bpeeps

Suspended
May 6, 2011
3,678
4,629
Just came here to post that while I don't usually listen to her music, I purchased this album on a whim and it is pretty great.
 

dec.

Suspended
Apr 15, 2012
1,349
765
Toronto
talentless hack just like lady gaga....

I don't care for her music, I never liked all that r'n'b-pop stuff, but I definitely wouldn't consider her talentless, she's doing well at what she is doing and the execution of her music is flawless (something that many bands in the stale (and by now embarrasing) "future pop" scene could use)...

Anyway, it's hard to tell if this is a one time success stunt which can be repeated by others equally successful, especially as she's a major act which has been established for years now. Reminds me of the NIN "free music" phase before Reznor went crawling back to the majors admitting that he relied on them.
 

teknikal90

macrumors 68040
Jan 28, 2008
3,343
1,892
Vancouver, BC
Man oh man, exclusively available in a lossy format.

show me a double blind test that consistently shows people can tell a difference between .WAV rip and 256kbps VBR AAC

whats with the hate? when was the last time any of you got 800,000 of anything in less than a week.

in my opinion she's pulled off one of the most incredible feats in the last 5 years of the music industry.

Possibly only beat by the Beatles going to iTunes.

You try having a name recognition like 'Beyonce' and yet still pull off a full-length album, with numerous guest acts, with a music video for EVERY song....and still have it release without any leaks or even any pre-announcement leaks. Keep in mind that prior to this fans were complaining she's not releasing a new album before her next tour - no idea.
And still sell 800k in the first week to boot.
With 1 distribution channel. No hype-marketing.

"Talent-less"??
 
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