iTunes brought in 7.5 billion in revenue for 2012, so I would beg to differ.
Isn't that what they are already doing?I don't see why Apple can't do both (e.g. sell outright and stream for monthly fee).
The money is in the material. Not assembly. China is assembly labor. $90/mo/peasant (50+hrs/wk).
Depending on the materials you use, and believe the list is infinite, and how you engineer it (eg you can use square drivers over circles to push more volume), is what determines the price and performance.
You can get a plasma speaker and enjoy 0 Ohms. Crystal clear sound but lacks bass. But this is just an example of "materials" used and the technology that produces the sound. It's more complicated for headphones because you're moving so little air. I'm talking about bass specifically (as the OP discusses Beats). For good bass in any headphone it must be around ear. With good seal/suction. The oval shape in the Bose QC15 is very good at this. Your ears aren't circles. They are gonna fit better in ovals. This is why I think the comfort level on them is second to none. Those big circular cans/cushions, as you see in the Beats or some Sinneisers, rest against parts of your ear (not head) and that can get irritating/heated. Mind you I'm only talking about cheap headphones (under $400). If you get something like the D7000 or HiFiMan HE-6, those cans are huge and will surely fit comfortably. In some cases you can replace the cushion with cooling-gel in it. This will keep your head cool. Once again, more on materials...
You can buy a plasma speaker, custom made, for $5-10K. But I think that's enormously stupid.
Just saying...
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Against all better judgement and everything I have said before: you do have some nice cans
Still: material cost is nothing...just some plastic and metal and manufacturing headphones and tuning them acoustically is much easier then say loudspeaker. Whenever it comes to some ~phile you always get into an area off diminishing returns and people are getting ripped off. Even when you go over on head-fi you see people being very divided there. I mean cryo cables? Really?
I use cryo cables. I mean why not? If you can, why not? But yes that is complete overkill. Most people aren't ~philes.
I do gotta say the Dolby ATMOS with its 116 surround sound speakers is the best thing that ever happened to my ears outside headphones.
Why spend money in bogus things? I guess we both just have a completly different feeling what the value of hard earned money is. So I'll leave with that...
The only thing "Beats" bring to the Apple store is thieving scum who steal the **** out of them.
And incredibly bad headphones that have been marketed brilliantly.
No? No what? You don't have to agree with me but you won't get a lot of people that will disagree nor will you get a lot of people that will agree with you either. In case you already remembered to care I'm referring to those rappers you call "wannabes" and those Bose headphones you think are so far superior to the rest in the industry and that's just plain wrong.
Maybe you should learn how to listen to Rap music.
Why spend your hard earned money on a Apple computer when you can get the same at 1/3 the price? Both do the exact same thing. The experience differs.
Same applies to cables. Cryo cables look great and I would assume there is some science that explains why it was introduced to the world in the first place (over traditional copper (twines))
If it wasn't for cable innovation we wouldn't be able to discuss this thousands of miles apart.
Needless to say, spending money is a good thing. And I encourage you to spend more of it! You don't want the German economy to stagnate. By all means keep that money moving, especially into the US by buying Apple! That'll make up for that lovely S7 in my driveway...
Oh boy. I can praise the S7's beauty and the Schwaben build quality like I do headphones and everything else insanely great!
Isn't that what they are already doing?
First selling you music outright on iTunes.
And then charging you a monthly* fee to stream to you with iTunes Match?
* OK, so the fee is yearly, not monthly
And incredibly bad headphones that have been marketed brilliantly.
Sure.They're doing the same thing as Amazon's AutoRipper but not streaming where I can pay monthly or yearly and listen to anything I want, not just the music I bought.
Sure.
But why would they offer "unlimited" (more or less) streaming?
I don't think it makes sense for iTunes/Amazon from a business perspective (yet).
Purchasing songs/albums has only recently become "mainstream", even among non-technophile and/or older people. The average Joe has - only recently - moved from CD purchases to Amazon/iTunes Download purchases (if they are still paying for music rather than pirating, that is). And a lot of them are still entrenched in the idea of "owning" their music. So this mainstream crowd are the customers to whom Amazon and iTunes are catering to: by selling individual songs & albums. The matching functionality to move your existing collection over is sold as an "add-on".
I guess that makes them more money in the end than offering a subscription service. Especially when you consider that Apple is still making and selling lots of non-streaming capable hardware (iPods) which the streaming services aren't.
If you don't like Beats you're racist against African-Americans. It's that simple.