Apple Branded Music Sharing Service...CONFIRMED??

jholzner · Mar 4, 2003, 04:37 AM

Hey everyone....take a look at this article over at the macobserver.com. According to the article both the LA Times and San Jose Mercury News today publised an article abot an Apple branded music sharing service....maybe Apple is going to announce it later today!! Guess we'll find out soon enough

http://macobserver.com/article/2003/03/04.6.shtml

mac15 · Mar 4, 2003, 04:52 AM

I discussed this about 3 months ago in the apple.com disussion boards for the new itunes 4 if there was a new version coming.

I wanted a windowsmedia.com type system where people can listen to music for nothing of the net

TMA · 09:02 AM

Yowzers!
thanks for that!

Looks like maybe they've done an 'ATI' on Apple? I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for a new iTunes!

Scab Cake · Mar 4, 2003, 09:12 AM

According to the article, Apple will be using AAC for the encoding! Hooray for all you AAC kooks!

Jaykay · Mar 4, 2003, 09:20 AM

If its got a good repetoire of hard to find songs, i have no problem paying for that.

SoonToGetAMac · Mar 4, 2003, 09:31 AM

I think this may be a news conference, or mabye even an ad during prime-time TV, and that is why Apple's site is not updated

Awimoway · Mar 4, 2003, 10:11 AM

Several comments based on the article...

Sony's real sticking point is probably that it's heavily invested in Windows?

If Apple can't get Sony to sign on, will they kill the whole program? As everyone has mentioned, selection is critical to success.

The article only mentions the big five. If Apple does not seek them out, will smaller labels be able to join the program of their own initiative? Will enough of the smaller labels bother?

The article says the new program will come out in a month in an updated version of iTunes. Will this be iTunes 3.1 or the next major upgrade, v. 4, with Rendezvous?

Now that we know it probably will happen, who thinks that the program will be part of .mac?

The article is right in pointing out that Apple OSs have been largely overlooked with current pay-for-download services. This is further evidence that Apple isn't waiting around for third-parties to fill the gaps anymore.

I don't know much about the "Advanced Audio Codec" format. Will older/current iPods be able to play them?

(My apologies for cross-posting this from the older news thread on this subject, but my sense is that all of the discussion will move here now.)

drastik · Mar 4, 2003, 10:18 AM

I don't see why an older iPod would have problems with acc, its just a codec. There will need to be a software update for iPod, but that's quick and painless.

srobert · Mar 4, 2003, 10:24 AM

I just hope that there is a way to preview/sample music. Something like being able to listen the first 30 seconds, or the whole song with some sort of noise watermark. It would be a shame to download a song (and pay) and then realize it's not the version you were looking for. Samples also make it possible for you to discover new music.

blueBomber · Mar 4, 2003, 10:26 AM

this is a good step for the record companies... Hollywood already uses Apple to display all of their newest movies with quicktime, so why not use itunes to do the same with music.

I just hope Apple stays strong and doesn't resort to DRM (it's stuff like this that made me stray from the MS flock)

buseman · Mar 4, 2003, 10:33 AM

I don't think it will be a part of .mac, but rather iLife as they want it to be easy to to get into for every user.

Matthé · Mar 4, 2003, 10:35 AM

well not quite
but the ever complaining record companies can only benefit
it won't stop copying or sharing but at least there'll be an extra amount of people paying for music
$ .99 is not much
downloading a full album would still be cheaper than getting it in the store

I just hope it's not a .Mac service
I don't want .Mac

robMaurizi · Mar 4, 2003, 10:37 AM

I'd imagine that the service will be available to everyone, but perhaps the subscription price will be drastically reduced, if not free, for .mac subscribers....

I might just reinstate my .mac membership if that is the case :-)

-Rob

Moxiemike · Mar 4, 2003, 10:41 AM

Does anyone realize that this alone might be the trump card for Apple to get switchers in droves???

This is pretty revolutionary, and mainstream revoluntionary enough that the public can understand it (unlike, say, the newton or cube)

haha

"we're gonna innovate our way through the slump"

Steve-o was right on.

backspinner · Mar 4, 2003, 10:43 AM

I'm convinced it is for .mac people cheaper or something. They need an easy way for the payments and this can be accomplished by extending .mac.

nuckinfutz · 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by robMaurizi
I'd imagine that the service will be available to everyone, but perhaps the subscription price will be drastically reduced, if not free, for .mac subscribers....

I might just reinstate my .mac membership if that is the case :-)

-Rob

It wouldn't be free. It's not like .mac cost that much a month. Barely over having voicemail.

The hook might be.

"Sign up for .mac and every month get 5 free songs!!"

I know it won't be for .mac only. Apple may even roll the service out to PC users. Ubiquity is key here.

I think it's a somewhat good idea but it will matter on how "portable" the audio is.

Quote:

I'm convinced it is for .mac people cheaper or something. They need an easy way for the payments and this can be accomplished by extending .mac.

The problem with that is .mac has 20% on a platform that has 3% total penetration of the market.

Apple would need to roll this out to everyone. Not just Mac users. or .mac user. Business 101 here.

clonenode · Mar 4, 2003, 10:48 AM

We can speculate that this will be a Mac OS only service, so even the Windows iPod owners will be left out. One more reason to switch!

dongmin · Mar 4, 2003, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moxiemike
Does anyone realize that this alone might be the trump card for Apple to get switchers in droves???

This is pretty revolutionary, and mainstream revoluntionary enough that the public can understand it (unlike, say, the newton or cube)

haha

"we're gonna innovate our way through the slump"

Steve-o was right on.

well no, since non-platform-specific pay-per-song services are already starting to appear, like on AOL. I'm sure as soon as Apple has any sort of successful with this, plenty of others will follow suit.

Apple, of course, could make things super user-friendly. Like integrating song search into Sherlock. And building in some sort of streaming sampling service into Sherlock/iTunes where with one click of a button, you buy the song and it's downloaded automatically to your HD and added to your iTunes library. Could be pretty sweet. The whole DRM thing could be tricky, but $1 a song doesn't sound too bad to me.

chewbaccapits · 10:55 AM

First of all, if an already small amount of .MAC users are to only benefit from this, wouldn't it be foolish to think it would work? I'm sure the record companies are not going to go for it if it involves the, what, 300-400 thousand subscribers of .MAC (not sure of the correct amount)only and the X number of iPod owners. Remember, Apple accounts for only 3% of market share in the world. Limiting to an already SMALL, but bright, pool of computer users would be dorky...My question is would the Windows ipods be LOCKED out of using this service?

fixyourthinking · Mar 4, 2003, 10:54 AM

The adoption rate would be minimal at best if it were limited to .Mac members only. Only a small percent of Mac users use .Mac - another small percent would use this service.

I would venture to say this will debut with new iPods and TWO version of iTunes. iTunes Pro and iTunes Lite

Lite will remain free and gain rendezvous/AAC support - Pro will have those features + "napster" and "editting"/"mixing" built in with new realistic types of visuals

jethroted · Mar 4, 2003, 10:54 AM

I won't be paying for music any time soon. Sorry, but when it's available for free, how many people do they expect to pay for it? This seems like a waste of time, and apple will drop it like a sack of potatoes when hardly anyone buys music from them.

chewbaccapits · Mar 4, 2003, 10:57 AM

I don't pay for music..I get them for free...With this service, I will support APPLE's venture and start to pay for it...It can only better our little computer company.

fixyourthinking · Mar 4, 2003, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chewbaccapits

Remember, Apple accounts for only 3% of market share in the world.

No that's 3% of sales for every quarter the actual installed base is somewhere around 11%

nuckinfutz · Mar 4, 2003, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jethroted
I won't be paying for music any time soon. Sorry, but when it's available for free, how many people do they expect to pay for it? This seems like a waste of time, and apple will drop it like a sack of potatoes when hardly anyone buys music from them.

Yeah and some people though Apple was "crazy" for developing an MP3 player.

I'm still a fan of the CD myself. I'd just like to see them come down to an avg price of $7 and I'd be in Silver Platter Heaven.

fixyourthinking · Mar 4, 2003, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jethroted
I won't be paying for music any time soon. Sorry, but when it's available for free, how many people do they expect to pay for it? This seems like a waste of time, and apple will drop it like a sack of potatoes when hardly anyone buys music from them.

More than 80% of those who download music say they would pay reasonably if reliable, affordable, unrestricted, easy to use service were launched.

If the service would be gauranteed to have even HALF of what Napster was at it's peak, I would gladly pay $7.95 a month or 79 cents a song.

Mar 4, 2003, 04:37 AM	#1
jholzner macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Champaign, IL	Apple Branded Music Sharing Service...CONFIRMED?? Hey everyone....take a look at this article over at the macobserver.com. According to the article both the LA Times and San Jose Mercury News today publised an article abot an Apple branded music sharing service....maybe Apple is going to announce it later today!! Guess we'll find out soon enough http://macobserver.com/article/2003/03/04.6.shtml __________________ "Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." -Terry Pratchett. http://homepage.mac.com/jholzner

Mar 4, 2003, 04:52 AM	#2
mac15 macrumors 68040 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Sydney	I discussed this about 3 months ago in the apple.com disussion boards for the new itunes 4 if there was a new version coming. I wanted a windowsmedia.com type system where people can listen to music for nothing of the net __________________ Check out my guiKitting at the theflanneleffect

Mar 4, 2003, 08:43 AM	#3
TMA macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: England	Yowzers! thanks for that! Looks like maybe they've done an 'ATI' on Apple? I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for a new iTunes! __________________ Have you tried turning it off and on again? Last edited by TMA : Mar 4, 2003 at 09:02 AM.

Mar 4, 2003, 09:12 AM	#4
Scab Cake macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2001	AAC, too According to the article, Apple will be using AAC for the encoding! Hooray for all you AAC kooks! __________________ Ant http://www.garone.net/anthony

Mar 4, 2003, 09:20 AM	#5
Jaykay macrumors 6502a Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Ireland	..... If its got a good repetoire of hard to find songs, i have no problem paying for that. __________________ Ireland , the republic that is. 'This place would be a paradise tomorrow if every department had a supervisor with a sub-machine gun" Alabama 3 FOLD

Mar 4, 2003, 09:31 AM	#6
SoonToGetAMac macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: California	I think this may be a news conference, or mabye even an ad during prime-time TV, and that is why Apple's site is not updated

Mar 4, 2003, 10:11 AM	#7
Awimoway macrumors 65816 Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: at the edge	Several comments based on the article... Sony's real sticking point is probably that it's heavily invested in Windows? If Apple can't get Sony to sign on, will they kill the whole program? As everyone has mentioned, selection is critical to success. The article only mentions the big five. If Apple does not seek them out, will smaller labels be able to join the program of their own initiative? Will enough of the smaller labels bother? The article says the new program will come out in a month in an updated version of iTunes. Will this be iTunes 3.1 or the next major upgrade, v. 4, with Rendezvous? Now that we know it probably will happen, who thinks that the program will be part of .mac? The article is right in pointing out that Apple OSs have been largely overlooked with current pay-for-download services. This is further evidence that Apple isn't waiting around for third-parties to fill the gaps anymore. I don't know much about the "Advanced Audio Codec" format. Will older/current iPods be able to play them? (My apologies for cross-posting this from the older news thread on this subject, but my sense is that all of the discussion will move here now.)

Mar 4, 2003, 10:18 AM	#8
drastik macrumors 6502a Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Nashvegas	I don't see why an older iPod would have problems with acc, its just a codec. There will need to be a software update for iPod, but that's quick and painless. __________________ Good Touch Software - Bespoke iPhone Applications

Mar 4, 2003, 10:24 AM	#9
srobert macrumors 68020 Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Montreal, Canada	samples? I just hope that there is a way to preview/sample music. Something like being able to listen the first 30 seconds, or the whole song with some sort of noise watermark. It would be a shame to download a song (and pay) and then realize it's not the version you were looking for. Samples also make it possible for you to discover new music.

Mar 4, 2003, 10:26 AM	#10
blueBomber macrumors regular Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Minneapolis, MN	this is a good step for the record companies... Hollywood already uses Apple to display all of their newest movies with quicktime, so why not use itunes to do the same with music. I just hope Apple stays strong and doesn't resort to DRM (it's stuff like this that made me stray from the MS flock) __________________ "I am a ninja. My life is lonely and difficult." "Fry to the rain forest and save the nature!" "Yes Sir!" - a Neo Geo Classic

Mar 4, 2003, 10:33 AM	#11
buseman macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2002	I don't think it will be a part of .mac, but rather iLife as they want it to be easy to to get into for every user.

Mar 4, 2003, 10:35 AM	#12
Matthé macrumors member Join Date: Oct 2001	apple saves music industry well not quite but the ever complaining record companies can only benefit it won't stop copying or sharing but at least there'll be an extra amount of people paying for music $ .99 is not much downloading a full album would still be cheaper than getting it in the store I just hope it's not a .Mac service I don't want .Mac __________________ Matthématique

Mar 4, 2003, 10:37 AM	#13
robMaurizi macrumors newbie Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Hoboken, NJ	.mac I'd imagine that the service will be available to everyone, but perhaps the subscription price will be drastically reduced, if not free, for .mac subscribers.... I might just reinstate my .mac membership if that is the case :-) -Rob __________________ ==

Mar 4, 2003, 10:41 AM	#14
Moxiemike Banned Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pittsburgh, PA	Does anyone realize that this alone might be the trump card for Apple to get switchers in droves??? This is pretty revolutionary, and mainstream revoluntionary enough that the public can understand it (unlike, say, the newton or cube) haha "we're gonna innovate our way through the slump" Steve-o was right on.

Mar 4, 2003, 10:43 AM	#15
backspinner macrumors 6502a Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Eindhoven	I'm convinced it is for .mac people cheaper or something. They need an easy way for the payments and this can be accomplished by extending .mac.

Mar 4, 2003, 10:48 AM	#17
clonenode macrumors regular Join Date: Feb 2002	We can speculate that this will be a Mac OS only service, so even the Windows iPod owners will be left out. One more reason to switch! __________________ c l o n e n o d e o n e o f m a n y

Mar 4, 2003, 10:52 AM	#19
chewbaccapits macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Torrance, Californizzel	beneficial to only .MAC and iPod owners? First of all, if an already small amount of .MAC users are to only benefit from this, wouldn't it be foolish to think it would work? I'm sure the record companies are not going to go for it if it involves the, what, 300-400 thousand subscribers of .MAC (not sure of the correct amount)only and the X number of iPod owners. Remember, Apple accounts for only 3% of market share in the world. Limiting to an already SMALL, but bright, pool of computer users would be dorky...My question is would the Windows ipods be LOCKED out of using this service? __________________ RAHHHHHHHH Last edited by chewbaccapits : Mar 4, 2003 at 10:55 AM.

Mar 4, 2003, 10:54 AM	#20
fixyourthinking macrumors 6502a Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Greenville SC	Not for .Mac The adoption rate would be minimal at best if it were limited to .Mac members only. Only a small percent of Mac users use .Mac - another small percent would use this service. I would venture to say this will debut with new iPods and TWO version of iTunes. iTunes Pro and iTunes Lite Lite will remain free and gain rendezvous/AAC support - Pro will have those features + "napster" and "editting"/"mixing" built in with new realistic types of visuals

Mar 4, 2003, 10:54 AM	#21
jethroted macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Cyberspace	I won't be paying for music any time soon. Sorry, but when it's available for free, how many people do they expect to pay for it? This seems like a waste of time, and apple will drop it like a sack of potatoes when hardly anyone buys music from them.

Mar 4, 2003, 10:57 AM	#22
chewbaccapits macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Torrance, Californizzel	I don't pay for music..I get them for free...With this service, I will support APPLE's venture and start to pay for it...It can only better our little computer company. __________________ RAHHHHHHHH

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode