Apple Aiming to End iTunes Music Downloads in Two Years [Update: Apple Says 'Not True']

Someone let off a panic bomb @ MacRumors.... so just another usual day of FUD then.
[doublepost=1463004247][/doublepost]Someone let off a panic bomb @ MacRumors.... so just another usual day of FUD then.
 
Well, it looks like the only resource left will be Amazon mp3 store. Oh, well, your loss, Apple. I don't plan on using Apple Music (I tried iTunes Match once and once was enough, believe me!). By the way, how's that Ping ,…. er, I mean, Connect Program doing?
 
Wow, Apple sure is making it easy to leave their eco system. I'm not sure what draw they'll have left in 2-3 years.
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nagromme said:
But it wouldn't kill me, since Amazon (or any) MP3s work fine with iTunes. I would, however, miss Apple's MP4 quality-vs-filesize.
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I'm happy to pay for my music, but as long as there's torrent, nobody's going to stop me from storing my music locally.
 
pacmania1982 said:
Well thats a stupid idea. I don't want to have to stream my music all the time (even if it is downloaded to my phone). I want to buy a song when and where I want. Guess I'll either go back to buying CD's or *gasp* torrenting...

Apple got the world to change their minds about paying for music and now this? Its like a complete 180.
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Just pointing out that using a torrent wouldn't be "buying a song when and where you want" especially because all of the other music buying services than can transfer the music almost anywhere including iTunes.
 
As long as streaming is cheap at something like $10 per month, there really is little reason to buy MP3 files. Even if that price doubled in the future, I still wouldn't really notice it on my credit card every month. I can't see Apple killing this before it has basically faded away anyway. And it will fade away. For the frequent music consumer, the all you can eat purchase price of a streaming service is the way to go. And the infrequent music consumer by definition isn't buying enough content to support the iTunes service. Or at least they won't be as the streaming service gets more and more compelling (assuming it stays cheap).
 
While I get the frustration about this (as I am frustrated myself), this is an understandable decision. Music is following movies and TV (Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, etc) into the on-demand business. At some point the demand for purchasing music isn't going to be large enough to justify the expense of maintaining a music store.
 
BJMRamage said:
In a corporate mindset of making money and doing so at an even rate, not a varying rate, this makes sense.
Adobe saw their sales drop as people didn't upgrade their software with each release...how to change that? make it subscription only and boom everyone continues to pay and they get a nice financial figure month-over-month.

but I am not one of those people that likes subscriptions for most things. why? because it is not in MY best interest (sure some folks out there it works to their benefit). I used to buy a lot of movies and music. but then life happened and kids, and layoffs and other stuff. and that means i spend less on those items but i prefer to buy/own (yes buying a song off iTunes isn't owning but leasing it anyway) the music i really like. no need to have a ton of crap anymore. i have no time for crap.

for me, I buy music. i used to use Apple Music for free but they stopped that and i didn't buy into AppleMusic because what i heard off the free station they have now totally SUCKS. and there is a ton of music out there that sucks. that's another reason i stopped buying as much as I did. I prefer to buy from artists I really like.

Data is expensive stateside and streaming sucks into that cap. heck streaming itunes movies does the same for home internet. and that means more money to the internet providers. *that's a whole different story to get into*

bottom line is this. a move to subscription means i buy even less from Apple. I get it, moving to subscription-only music means some will buy into it and they have an even monthly income. but i haven't paid money to Adobe since they switched to a subscription method either.
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Very good points you brought up. I would like to add that most software companies are trying to get into the subscription model. Look at the Freemium model on the games in the app store. Microsoft is trying to do the same thing. They have seen sales slide on the computer desktop arena so they want to turn the OS into a subscription base platform. On the business side they are pushing cloud. Active Directory, Exchange, you name it they want it in the cloud subscription based.

Protect your wallets. Businesses are gunning for every last penny you have.
 
For those saying there's a trend in music streaming subscriptions.. you know why that is? Do the research.. people stream because they can't carry the music with them. If a base model phone costs X amount of dollars and you can pay a monthly fee to not carry those songs and take up space on a base model.. that's why streaming is good. But like all data.. it's been manipulated to make people think something is so grand about streaming when in reality there's nothing grand about it other then a company locking you into a monthly "drug" fix. You have to keep listening to your music so you pay the fee.. ah but if you paid the one time fee to download that won't lock you in. Same with the base model device.. get a larger storage device for a one time upfront fee and now you can store more.. oh but wait.. if you are Apple they'll turn it around and stop offering the download feature for everyone and cause you to still be sucked into their monthly "drug" fix. Business side it looks like winner.. on the backend they'll hurt themselves just like all previous music streamers have.. you bite the hand that feeds you and you'll end up with nothing at all. Take a poll.. how many will leave iTunes and go to amazon or another site if Apple were to take away downloads.. probably a lot. Even if it's not more then 20% of their total customer base.... Apple still doesn't want Amazon gaining those customers. So they would rather keep downloads going.. You can play both sides all day long but in the end it's just another gross rumor to stir people up.. doing a good job for whoever put it out.. hurts Apple's rep even more these days and causes panic/confusion for the end user to make a drastic change.
 
M. Gustave said:
Queue the avalanche of macrumors geezers who don't get it.

USB ports? check
Desktop OS on every device? check
Local 100GB music library with five backups? check
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Oh, I get it, that doesn't mean that I have to *like* it.

Plus, I don't think people really think about the drawbacks. The more obscure titles that could fall out of streaming deals, for example. How are we going to listen to those in the future if everything moves to streaming?
 
netwalker said:
As if there aren't any other (legal) music download sites. I've been buying music online for almost 15 years and not once did I buy something from the iTunes store.
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Same here. Especially after having that damn U2 album pop up again every once in a while, it seems impossible to delete it for good.
 
mpainesyd said:
Now I find My Music in ios very intrusive as it seems to list all purchased songs, even if not on the iPhone. If I am connected to my home wifi it seems to download them to the iPhone - filling its memory (I turned off downloading over mobile data)

I wish I could restore and use the old Music app.

Grrr!
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Open music app on iPhone, tap albums, songs or whatever it shows centre screen, & down bottom turn on "show/only downloaded music only" i.e. not iCloud songs, u mean this?

Like iTunes on the mac, the app appears to be radically different than what was before, but really is the same, just takes a bit of getting used to with a bit more bells & whistles!:)
 
richman555 said:
Last post, as I think this is a nonsense rumors article.
So they are making massive revenue with Apple Music? I doubt that as well.
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10 million users * $10 / month * 12 months / year = $1.2 billion per year.

Or for every 8.3 million users they have, their revenue will be $1 billion per year.
(Assuming that the average price of Apple Music being $10 per user per month).
 
nagromme said:
Someday? On an infinite time scale? Anything could happen. Dubious rumor for now. Maybe even a hardball negotiating leak of some kind.

But it wouldn't kill me, since Amazon (or any) MP3s work fine with iTunes. I would, however, miss Apple's MP4 quality-vs-filesize.

I'd still use and love iTunes for managing my playlists, and I still wouldn't become a streamer :) I'll keep my library of Apple songs—which have been DRM-free for ages, and have always had music from other download sources mixed in.
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Don't forget Google PLAY which are 320KBPS mp3s - pretty decent!
 
I'm surprised that so many people are affected by this decision, I would have thought only a minority of people are still buying tracks.

Having said that, people said Apple were making a huge mistake when they removed the Blue Ray drive years ago and now look at it!
 
If true the biggest mistake Apple will make. I will never stream any music. Will buy CDs instead for the bands I love and torrent the rest.

With the latest news of the projected iPhone 6SS its time to sell my Apple shares I guess.
 
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