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69650

Suspended
Mar 23, 2006
3,367
1,876
England
Thing is, most people don't care.. and the current quality is good enough. A vast majority wouldn't know what lossless is in the first place and would be surprised that the current format isn't the best quality - and couldn't tell the difference between iTunes music and a CD. Remember, Apple cater towards the low end of the 'average' user... not people like you, who obviously are aware of lossless and audio quality.

I agree that many of the kids probably don't know the difference and can't tell because they listen to their music on poor quality headphones or cheap iPod speakers. But this demographic isn't buying iTunes music anymore - they're using the streaming services like Spotify or the unlimited music services included with many smartphones now.

The market for iTunes downloads in the future is people like me. People who would rather own than rent their music. People who buy a lot of CDs but would prefer the convenience of downloading if only iTunes would provide the option to buy lossless tracks.

Do you see what I'm saying? Apple is locked in a diminishing market with their current strategy of only selling compressed music. I know why they're doing it - they don't want to increase the music file sizes because that would only highlight the pitiful memory capacity of iOS devices maxed out at 64Gig.

I don't think I'm all that unique or special. I like listening to music so I invested in a decent pair of speakers and headphones. The difference is noticeable once you do that in my experience.

Don't forget that it's not just the kids who buy Apple products. Most Apple products are bought by adults with a decent income and they tend to be the ones who care about quality. Ok the iPod was originally for kids but I wonder how many are actually sold to adults now who want a simple way of storing and listening to their record collection.
 

Anuba

macrumors 68040
Feb 9, 2005
3,790
393
They've been moving too slow... Microsoft slow. Spotify is ubiquitous in Europe now, getting people to move to Apple's alternative will be about as easy as getting people off Facebook and on to Google+. In Sweden, where Spotify was founded, it's making more money for labels than any other retailer -- iTunes included. Sony Sweden says: "We already have several artists who receive 80 percent of their revenues from Spotify. An artist who draws in half a million kronor can get 200,000 to 300,000 from Spotify."
 

Akarin

macrumors 6502
Oct 16, 2011
290
17
Nyon, Switzerland
Pandora is only available in the US so yeah, let Apple kill this useless service (as far as I and the +700 millions inhabitants of my continent are concerned) and make a world wide useable service.

EDIT: and as Anuba said, Spotify is ubiquitous in Europe. Apple may be a bit late at the game but if they deeply integrate their service within iTunes and iOS (with a non negligible wow factor), they may make a few bucks.
 
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Anuba

macrumors 68040
Feb 9, 2005
3,790
393
EDIT: and as Anuba said, Spotify is ubiquitous in Europe. Apple may be a bit late at the game but if they deeply integrate their service within iTunes and iOS (with a non negligible wow factor), they may make a few bucks.
There's a catch, though... Sony BMG Music, Universal Music, Warner Music, EMI and Merlin are all shareholders in Spotify. Negotiations about a competing service might prove tough for Apple. Also, the functionality would have to offer something special. Spotify is a great app available for all popular platforms and it's got Facebook integration that works very well, you can publish playlists that your fb friends can access and you see what they're listening to right now. That aspect is no failure like Ping, people use it a lot.


If this is true, I hope Apple won't take long rolling the service out to us Irish people. We don't have Pandora, Rdio or Spotify so having a service like this that integrates well with the Mac and iOS devices would be really awesome.
Spotify was supposed to be coming to Ireland and Australia this year... it's been launched in Australia, don't know why Ireland has so many hurdles for these music streaming services.
 
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faroZ06

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2009
3,387
1
Genius knowing everything I listen to + Apple's Pandora-like service = total radio-killer service for me

iTunes.app knows what I listen to in my library, so it would know what music I would want to stream. This would work within iTunes.app presumably, and it could play music from my OWN library as well as the online streaming service if it wanted to! That sounds waaaay better than Pandora's thing where I just search a song and get stuff slightly related to it. I just hope it's free.

But it looks tough for Apple right now. I'm so glad that I sold my stock around $700. They're at $609.5 right now. :D
 

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
6,529
5,874
Without Steve Jobs grabbing the neck of the record labels I don't think there will be any significant new move in iTunes music anymore. I don't think Tim Cook cares about music as much as Steve Jobs.
 

Anuba

macrumors 68040
Feb 9, 2005
3,790
393
Without Steve Jobs grabbing the neck of the record labels I don't think there will be any significant new move in iTunes music anymore. I don't think Tim Cook cares about music as much as Steve Jobs.
Cook is apparently one tough SOB when it comes to negotiations of any kind, I'm sure he's perfect for running the business side of things... but he shouldn't be the face of Apple. I'm not feeling the whole 'crossroads of technology and liberal arts' thing in him at all. He comes across as pretty creepy, and the way he talks is just grating. What the hell is a "Retina displaaaaaeurghaeh?"
 

macs4nw

macrumors 601
“With sales of music downloads slowing, Apple and record companies are seeking new ways for customers to discover and buy digital music.” How about they start selling lossless music instead which is really what a lot of people want. If they can sell SD and HD movies and tv shows they can sell crappy compressed music AND CD quality lossless tracks. Or better still how about leapfrogging the CD and start selling HD music in glorious 24bit. Some of us have the expensive kit and speakers to notice the difference. The feeble Mastered for iTunes has been a total flop - give us the real thing instead.

Kids don't download iTunes music anymore - they just get a Spotify subscription for £5/month instead and adults like me continue to buy CDs because we prefer lossless music. Apple need to wake up and smell the coffee on this one.
Who needs another internet radio service? There are already plenty to choose from and iTunes already has radio stations.....

While I agree with a lot of what you're saying, APPLE is probably smelling a fantastic opportunity here to get into another segment of the music distribution bussiness. They'd be remiss NOT to enter this segment, considering the number of iOS devices out there. But they want to do it on THEIR terms of course.

I agree that many of the kids probably don't know the difference and can't tell because they listen to their music on poor quality headphones or cheap iPod speakers. But this demographic isn't buying iTunes music anymore - they're using the streaming services like Spotify or the unlimited music services included with many smartphones now. The market for iTunes downloads in the future is people like me. People who would rather own than rent their music. People who buy a lot of CDs but would prefer the convenience of downloading if only iTunes would provide the option to buy lossless tracks. Do you see what I'm saying? Apple is locked in a diminishing market with their current strategy of only selling compressed music. I know why they're doing it - they don't want to increase the music file sizes because that would only highlight the pitiful memory capacity of iOS devices maxed out at 64Gig. I don't think I'm all that unique or special. I like listening to music so I invested in a decent pair of speakers and headphones. The difference is noticeable once you do that in my experience.

Don't forget that it's not just the kids who buy Apple products. Most Apple products are bought by adults with a decent income and they tend to be the ones who care about quality. Ok the iPod was originally for kids but I wonder how many are actually sold to adults now who want a simple way of storing and listening to their record collection.

You've made a good case for higher quality downloads, but as you noted, it's probably those large file sizes, that have given APPLE reason for pause. I found this website for you: http://highresolutiontechnologies.com/music-streamer-ii-plus It sounds promising, and has great reviews. I'm checking into it myself as well.
 

fitshaced

macrumors 68000
Jul 2, 2011
1,741
3,632
I think it would make more sense to strike up a deal with Spotify to integrate it into IOS. One thing that bothers me about Spotify though is that it seems to be more obvious that their library is just not as big as iTunes. Sure, it's still growing but so is iTunes.

If Apple bought Spotify, combined both libraries, used a similar Spotify interface and offered the same ad free subscription option, they'd dominate that area for some time.
 

iGrip

macrumors 68000
Jul 1, 2010
1,626
0
These music company execs are crazy. Steve Jobs single-handedly saved their entire industry, If it wan't for him and iTunes, they would all be out of business now because of piracy.

Apple came along and changed the entire listening habits of a generation of kids who used to jsut steal all of their music. Now they buy all of it.

And they don't want to pay Apple a fair share? It is greed, pure and simple. Without Apple, the entire industry would be bankrupt.

They're nuts if they think they know better than Apple.
 

XboxMySocks

macrumors 68020
Oct 25, 2009
2,230
198
"anonymous record company executives are pouring water on the deal"
What the ***** does that mean? :s
 

AppleScruff1

macrumors G4
Feb 10, 2011
10,026
2,949
these music company execs are crazy. Steve jobs single-handedly saved their entire industry, if it wan't for him and itunes, they would all be out of business now because of piracy.

Apple came along and changed the entire listening habits of a generation of kids who used to jsut steal all of their music. Now they buy all of it.

And they don't want to pay apple a fair share? It is greed, pure and simple. Without apple, the entire industry would be bankrupt.

They're nuts if they think they know better than apple.

roflmao!!!
 

herr_neumann

macrumors 6502
Mar 27, 2003
327
4
Roseville, Ca
On MANY threads, the repititious question "where is iTunes 11" is repeated ad nauseam.

I appreciate that many are very interested in iTunes 11, but continually asking the question will not hasten the appearance of the software upgrade.

Folks, it will come when it comes...

Next tuesday, no?
;)
 

MacGuffin

macrumors regular
Nov 13, 2006
175
18
Advertising is said to be a central issue in the negotiations, with Apple seeing the service as a way to strengthen its iAd offerings while music labels are seeking a share of that ad revenue and the ability to insert their own advertising into listeners' streams.

Ads?

You mean that thing we used to be subjected to by businesses back in the pre-Internet dark ages?

Surely you're kidding me. I haven't seen or heard an ad but rarely in years. Occasionally the ad filter needs a tweak, y'know!

Now, ads while listening to music? What is this, 1992 or something?

In fact, I'm playing ad-free Pandora right now. If you want to sell me your rubbish, you're waaaaaaay too late, corporate dopes.
 

klrobinson999

macrumors 6502a
Dec 28, 2008
566
327
Hmmm... Will Apple release a cloud-based Apple Car Radio system? Linked to Siri and onboard Apps? I'm imagining a combo radio/GPS/vehicle communications device. Built-in by the manufacturer or available secondary, with access to your iTunes library anywhere you're traveling, plus a subscription-based radio service. There are a ton of possibilities for such a product, from iPhone docking to audio book replay to car-based Internet.

Apple's all about disruption. Time to disrupt traditional radio, Internet radio, GPS services, and more?

If they buy Sirius XM or launch their own satellite, or utilize the major systems already in use, then you know the score...
 

faroZ06

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2009
3,387
1
These music company execs are crazy. Steve Jobs single-handedly saved their entire industry, If it wan't for him and iTunes, they would all be out of business now because of piracy.

Apple came along and changed the entire listening habits of a generation of kids who used to jsut steal all of their music. Now they buy all of it.

And they don't want to pay Apple a fair share? It is greed, pure and simple. Without Apple, the entire industry would be bankrupt.

They're nuts if they think they know better than Apple.

News flash: Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple, not Steve Jobs.
 
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topmounter

macrumors 68030
Jun 18, 2009
2,600
962
FEMA Region VIII
I've never understood the appeal of Pandora, but why would Apple use Pandora as a model? It seems like they would be targeting the functionality and ease of use of Spotify and radio.
 

mankar4

macrumors 6502a
Aug 23, 2007
624
0
USA
Pandora is great. I like to keep listening to music of the same genre, but I don't know tons of artists, nor do I have the wherewithal to obtain many singles. I use free pandora all the time, and really ought to get pandora one
 

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
6,529
5,874
Cook is apparently one tough SOB when it comes to negotiations of any kind, I'm sure he's perfect for running the business side of things... but he shouldn't be the face of Apple. I'm not feeling the whole 'crossroads of technology and liberal arts' thing in him at all. He comes across as pretty creepy, and the way he talks is just grating. What the hell is a "Retina displaaaaaeurghaeh?"

Hahaha! This!

:D
 
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