iTunes to Windows

[MacRumors]

PaidContent.org posted some notes from Peter Lowe keynote speech at Jupiter Plug.In Conference. Peter Lowe is Apple's director of Marketing for Applications and Services.

Lowe reiterates that iTunes for Windows is still on track to launch by the end of the year and "certainly it is our intention to have broad music rights..."

Apple's iTunes Music Store offers relatively liberal rights as compared to other services -- including the recently launched BuyMusic.com. BuyMusic.com was unable to negotiate blanket licensing agreements for their music. Older rumors hinted that Apple may face similar challenges in launching their Windows version of the iTunes Music Store.

[Foocha]

I just hope they get it out there soon before their share price starts to slip again!

[Freg3000]

Originally posted by Macrumors
"certainly it is our intention to have broad music rights..."

I certainly hope so...Apple needs to nail this. It worries me that they are still hoping. I had wished that apple might have had most of the legal stuff worked out. Maybe not though-does anyone when Apple got everything finalized with the iTMS before going public on 4-28? was it down to the wire?

[Computer_Phreak]

yep, this is turning out to be another classic example of "lets copy apple and gain huge market share!"'

i'd like to see competition... but buymusic.com, even the commercials, are practically a direct copy of ITMS

[Java]

Originally posted by Foocha
I just hope they get it out there soon before their share price starts to slip again!

So far, it seems as if buymusic.com is hurting themselves with varying DRM and a loud-mouth CEO.

I'm sure "Napster 2.0" will come out, a few people will buy songs, and it will do well in the short run, but it will not succeed compared to iTunes Music store.

A solid product (iTMS) will stand the test of time.

I'm sure Steve will have the same fair play rights for Windows as he does for the Mac users.

[jaedreth]

Yes it was.

I would think the hold up would be the Windows version of iTunes, QuickTime 6.

Keep in mind that this isn't simply a music player. It keeps track of your computer being *authorized* to play music by your ethernet hardware address.

Everyone, before you send your machines in for repair, de-authorize your computer. If they replace the mlb, Apple can't give you that authorization back that you will lose.

This may be an issue on PCs as well, when iTMS hits Windows.

Jaedreth

[SiliconAddict]

Originally posted by Computer_Phreak
yep, this is turning out to be another classic example of "lets copy apple and gain huge market share!"'

i'd like to see competition... but buymusic.com, even the commercials, are practically a direct copy of ITMS

I thought you guys were over reacting to the ads that they were putting out but I saw my first one last night while watching the SCIFI channel (StarGate SG1 RULES!) and I was totally blown away.
The brass pair on the marketing people at that company has to be about the size of Mount Everest. I just sat there jaw hanging open quietly laughing. Blatant rip-off nothing! They practically cut and paste scenes into the commercial. (OK maybe not that far but dang!) If there was any justice in this world, and there isn’t, buymusic.com will go under in a month.

[MacFan25]

I hope that iTunes for Windows blows away all the others. At least its still on track, and is expected by year's end. Apple needs to try to get it out before Microsoft comes out with something.

[3xtrmn8r]

Bah!

I've noticed most these download services are websites seperate from the playback app. The thing I like about iTMS is that integration, which the others lack. Convenience wins here!

[jayscheuerle]

It won't come out until after the 6 month trial period for Mac users is over. When was the iTunes store introduced? June 24th or so?

That's a little late for the "let me buy you a bunch of music files for Christmas" season...

But I'm guessing that Apple has to make it through this trial period with the security measures working before their model is released to the general PC population.

- j

[PretendPCuser]

There's the distinct possibility that Apple IMS (for Mac) might be the only one to succeed long term for the reason that the fanatical following of Appleheads made it a success. I don't see Windows peeps caring whether they buy their music from BuyMusic.com (whatever it is), Napster 2, or Apple. There's no loyalty and certainly where P2P is concerned, marketshare dictates that the majority of peeps P2P'ing are Windows users. Tougher for other services to convert P2P to P4S (Pay for service) this includes Apple when it comes to PC counterparts. There are still plenty of people who will pay, so it will all come down to the service, the user-interface, available music, and marketing/advertising.

Buymusic has been out for a week or so right? Has anyone heard how they are doing? How many downloads? Do they have the cajones to tell anyone? OR are they being silent cause they "Don't want to hurt Apple's feelings?"

[Joel Belog]

Apple provides an ability to de-authorize a computer after you can no longer use it. Take a look at technote #93014: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93014.

[jayscheuerle]

There may also be the chance that these record companies agreed not to offer anyone else the rights that they've offered Apple until the Mac trial run is over. If that's the case, all of these other services will seem second rate.

[snahabed]

Am I the only one who sees the "certainly intend to have broad rights" language as foreshadowing the failure of this intention?

Clearly Apple is having difficulty obtaining the same rights on the Windows version. This quote seems to imply that they may have to make concessions, but they still want to keep the rights broader than buymusic, for example.

I think the record execs would be utter morons not to realize that the liberal DRM is what makes iTMS so popular.

[tazo]

Originally posted by Macrumors
PaidContent.org posted some notes from Peter Lowe keynote speech at Jupiter Plug.In Conference. Peter Lowe is Apple's director of Marketing for Applications and Services.

Lowe reiterates that iTunes for Windows is still on track to launch by the end of the year and "certainly it is our intention to have broad music rights..."

Apple's iTunes Music Store offers relatively liberal rights as compared to other services -- including the recently launched BuyMusic.com. BuyMusic.com was unable to negotiate blanket licensing agreements for their music. Older rumors hinted that Apple may face similar challenges in launching their Windows version of the iTunes Music Store.

I cannot wait...for a solution to downloading music on the pc side; cuz surely a site such as buymusic.com is not the solution, but the inherent problem.

[psxndc]

Head on over to MacSlash and read about an artist (one of many apparently) that never authorized BuyMusic.com to sell his works and yet they are.

BM is (hopefully) going down.

-p

[kcmac]

Does anyone know how many songs Apple now has at the Store? They post new ones every Tuesday but I haven't seen where they have listed a new total.

[jayscheuerle]

Originally posted by snahabed
Am I the only one who sees the "certainly intend to have broad rights" language as foreshadowing the failure of this intention?

Clearly Apple is having difficulty obtaining the same rights on the Windows version. This quote seems to imply that they may have to make concessions, but they still want to keep the rights broader than buymusic, for example.

I think the record execs would be utter morons not to realize that the liberal DRM is what makes iTMS so popular.

Not at all. Apple's music store is all set to have the same rights when it opens up to the Windows world. It just needs to get through the probationary period with no big mishaps. They're "intending" to have the same rights, but if the rights system becomes circumventable by then, not only will Apple not offer a music store for Windows, but their own will be shut down as well, unless they negotiate a longer probationary period while they shore things up.

If you like Apple's music store, don't be worried about other music stores, be worried about hackers. They have the power to screw it up for everybody.

- j

[iMax531]

I don't remember exactly where I saw this, I think I followed a link from macsurfer, but it ahd a quote from the CEO of Buy.com saying that first day or first week sales were "not in the millions"

iTMS has sold 6.5+ million songs so far.

here's the quote:

"Apple has sold 6.5 million songs since April; BuyMusic won't release figures, but "it's not millions," Blum says."

the link is here:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/20...buymusic_x.htm

enjoy

[bertagert]

itunes for indows will be exactly the same thing as itunes for mac. There is obviousily a very good reason why the windows version is not out and I bet it has to do with hardware intergration. Windows machines carry anyone and everyones hardware. Thats probably the problem (making it work for all users).

I doubt the hold up is over whether or not the store is make expected sales or not. The RIAA already knows that music distrobution will be done on the web. Apple has already nailed it. These other companies using Microsoft's DRM have not.

Don't worry about itunes for windows. It will come in the next few months and windows users will down load it and start buying music in a major way.

The problem I see for Apple is, being able to share your music file between a PC and a Mac. However, the folks at Apple have always made it super easy to use things in every program they create. I don't see itunes for windows as the exception. When its ready, Apple will release and windows people will rejoice.

When X-mas rolls around this year, Apple Music will have so many sales that all competition will go away except for Microsoft. Microsoft will step up to the plate and play ball by end of 2004. When that happens, we'll truly see who will win the game.

Remember, its not Apple against buymusic/napster/etc. It's Apple against MS.

[vrapan]

I read both of these quotes today but I dont remember where and they may not be very accurate:

Gates about MS music store:
"Downloading might be something your platform has to offer but it is not a money maker"

Blum about how many songs they have sold:
" We have sold well but not millions"
On top of that due to a glitch songs downloaded from BuyMusic they couldn't be played in portable players - they are fixing it but guess how dissappointed people can get over this.

So in my opinion Apple is still in not pretty big trouble as long as they create an experience as close as possible to the one on the Mac platform. I think that they can afford to wait if that is going to help them get looser DRM deal.

And I have said that in a few other posts none offers a complete solution as Apple and none has better control over both software and hardware as Apple. On Windows it loses the control over the computer but still retains control over the portable player and software.

I don't see authorising - deauthorising computers to be a problem. Think about that: They can offer a service where using .Mac to synchronise between two PCs music libraries they can make it pretty easy to deauthorise the music there.... Give people two ways to deauthorise the hard way and a .Mac way. Great promotion of a high yield service.

Or again if they have to have strict DRM stick a little banner on iTunes - " You would be able to burn your music collection as many times as you wanted if you were using a Mac".....

[arn]

Originally posted by jayscheuerle
It won't come out until after the 6 month trial period for Mac users is over. When was the iTunes store introduced? June 24th or so?
- j

There is no "6 month trial period".

Labels signed on for 1 year.

Apple's iTunes Store was introduced in April.

arn

[solvs]

I'd like to quote, from MacSlash:

I'm on there, too... (Score:3, Interesting)

by brian on Tuesday July 29, @11:56AM (#45236)
User #1499 Info | http://www.circa75.com/

Ha. After reading and replying to this article, I decided to look myself up on buymusic. Lo and behold... there I am -- a college a capella compilation I sang on shows up on the list. But unfortunately I'm not really in any position to turn around and make threats to these guys, since we never had permission from the original author to record a cover of the song in the first place... but for everyone else -- go get 'em! it's time to turn around and use some of these crappy laws against the people they were designed to protect.

As if the RIAA really cares about the artists and people who work hard to actually create this music.

BuyMusic.com, doomed to failure.

[arn]

Originally posted by solvs
I'd like to quote, from MacSlash:

Seems this quote is very interesting. don't know the legalities of it all

Wasn't the whole point of the evil Digital Millenium Copyright Act that a copyright holder simply has to write a letter to an alleged copyright infringer, and they're required to remove all materials immediately or face massive damages?

I'm assuming Jody still owns the copyright to the material, in spite of whatever distribution deal existed with Orchard. If it applies here, there are lots of form letters available online he can use as an example. Send it certified or FedEx, and see what happens.

[jaykk]

According to Macobserver , musicmatch is going to be a real competitor to iTMS. hurry up, apple.

"MusicMatch, the company that currently provides Apple with the software that allows Windows users to sync their iPods, said Monday that it plans to add a music store to its Jukebox software by the end of the year"
"We think generally people want to own music," Musicmatch senior vice president Bob Ohlweiler said Monday. "An a la carte service has a lot more to offer to the masses, and the potential for a much higher adoption rate."