So I bought my very first song from iTunes yesterday and I had a pleasant experience. The song I wanted downloaded in literally less than 3 seconds. Then I found this other song I wanted but iTunes didn't have the download for the individual song! I had to buy the album. Why is this...?! I thought iTune's purpose was to give consumers the freedom of choice.
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A little disgruntled 'bout iTunes
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The iTunes Music Store is first and foremost a Business.
I'm not entirely sure as to the exact reasons some songs are "album only" but there are two distinct possibilities (and possibly a combination of the two)
1) Contractual obligation means that in order to sell some songs sep. the "big hit" songs on a particular album are "album only" - this makes sense as most people don't buy an album for ALL the ongs, rather two or three big hits that were. The record companies don't want to make $.99 when they can make like $10.00.
2) Apple wants you to download the whole album for the above reasons. Remember that while they do want to offer the user choice, they're not in it for love; they love those green bills as much as everybody else.
I'm not entirely sure as to the exact reasons some songs are "album only" but there are two distinct possibilities (and possibly a combination of the two)
1) Contractual obligation means that in order to sell some songs sep. the "big hit" songs on a particular album are "album only" - this makes sense as most people don't buy an album for ALL the ongs, rather two or three big hits that were. The record companies don't want to make $.99 when they can make like $10.00.
2) Apple wants you to download the whole album for the above reasons. Remember that while they do want to offer the user choice, they're not in it for love; they love those green bills as much as everybody else.
If the artist and/or label deems the album an "album only" sale, then there's nothing Apple/iTMS can do.
Also, If a song is greater than 5 minutes in length, they can make you buy the whole album, because 99¢ is not a 'fair price' for those songs. Other songs are requested to be album only by the artist, some believe that some of their songs loose context without the rest of the album.
TEG
TEG
TEG said:
right. but not all songs over 5 minutes are sold album only. you can get songs that are over 5 minutes for just 99¢.
i think it has more to do with the record label saying "if people want to buy this song, they're going to have to pony up for the rest of the album." it's a way to make more money.
if you bought the first song and now you want another song from the same album but the second song is "album only" then you are out of luck. it's happened to me before - i've bought individual songs and then realized i wanted the entire album. sometimes you have to bite the bullet on these things. iTMS usually has the best prices for entire albums anyway (many are just $9.99 where retailers charge $12-$20). now you know for next time.
pianoman said:
Well if thats the case, that really pisses me off then. The record companies will never learn not to be so greedy. I haven't paid for music for over 10 years and now that Apple has really done a great job with iTMS, they (The record company) has to put this kind of restriction, "If you want this song, you have to buy the album". They have done nothing but leave a bad taste in my mouth for years and now that ANOTHER company has made it more appealing to purchasing music again, they leave a worst taste in my mouth now.
I will think twice about buying music now, but I really love what Apple has done with iTMS. From setting up an account to purchase music and downloading the song was absolutely fantastic experience.
I've had many experiences like that, you normally find songs over 5-8 minutes long are album only and also some songs that are really good, on an album with rubbish or no so popular songs i.e. soundtrack with famous songs and background songs. You may be able to find those songs for sale on another album though.
But i think its down to the record company, they would rather make 100 x £7.99 rather than 1000 x 79p. if someone likes the song that much chances are they may buy the album.
But i think its down to the record company, they would rather make 100 x £7.99 rather than 1000 x 79p. if someone likes the song that much chances are they may buy the album.
scan said:
That would set me off, big time.
Does it tell you which songs are album-only before any songs are purchased? If that's the case, I could see that being a user error.
If not, I would be pretty upset, and I think iTunes should be aware if you own one song from the album, and deduct that from the price of the album to avoid this.
Josh said:
It does say beside the song "Buy" or "Album". But in my situation I was just looking for 1 song. I found it and clicked on "Buy". Then I was browsing the album and previewing the songs and I noticed this other song that I liked so I wanted to buy that too. Then I noticed it said "Album". I was confused at first but then I found out I have to buy the album to get this song. Thats what upset me because all this time I was under the impression that iTunes gave you the freedom to pick what song you want.