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Apple Aiming to End iTunes Music Downloads in Two Years [Update: Apple Says 'Not True']
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I would just like to clarify that it refers to the architects of this system. Seems that an efficient music ecosystem (as well as other cloud services) is too much to produce for Apple these days without the genius at the helm.
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I prefer owning my own music. If apple stops allowing us to download it off of iTunes, I can go other places. I'm starting to get into Media-monkey because of my android. I'll use that instead. Even if Apple stops offering the music player and, only has streams, there will be third party apps that can still store your music for a one time small fee.
I'm skeptical on the truth of this story.
I'm skeptical on the truth of this story.
It's 256kbps, which is a far cry from lossless (as is 320), let alone HQ audio. Loss of music has happened, in the iTunes store specifically - I have a handful of tracks that are no longer available from there (or any other download site).
You're unusual in having wifi everywhere. Most companies won't allow streaming audio through their network (assuming they allow BYOD devices to connect at all). Airplanes don't allow it, and outside of major cities, even the cellular networks are too slow.
But the real point is that there are two vastly different populations. Apple's trying to force-fit an online-only solution into a mixed world.
Apple allegedly has an aggressive plan to "terminate" music downloads from iTunes within two years, reports Digital Music News citing sources with "close and active business relationships" with Apple.
Apple is also rumored to be considering a three to four year timeline for the shutdown of iTunes downloads, but overall discussions with Apple executives are said to focus on "not on if, but when" the company should retire music downloads. Termination of music downloads could be staggered by country based on the popularity of streaming content in different regions.The timeline is unclear because Apple's iTunes business continues to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars each year, but it is on the decline due to the rise of streaming music services. According to music industry Mark Mulligan, iTunes music downloads will be worth $600 million in 2019, down from $3.9 billion in 2012. Mulligan believes Apple's download business could be 10 times smaller than its streaming music business by 2020.
Apple is also said to be considering ending music downloads due to the confusion it causes with Apple Music, mixing downloaded music purchases with Apple Music content.
Late last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple Music now has 13 million paying subscribers, up from 11 million users in February. Apple Music originally launched on June 30, 2015 in more than 100 countries and at its current growth rate, Apple is on track to have 15 million subscribers at its one-year anniversary.
Article Link: Apple Aiming to End iTunes Music Downloads in Two Years
Hopefully they give enough advance notice for me to grab a multiterrabyte drive. I have a lot of movies bought.
It ain't like steaming is going to handle well when I am on an airplane or in a bad wifi area or on my data plan!
I don't get the comment about storing the product. How is a stream different from a download in that regard? They still need the music on their servers.
Thats really not the reason people stream. It was forced upon and therefore it became convieant due to space limitations. Now its common practice and people forget why they pay per month.
First Adobe, now Apple? I'm not liking this trend of not being able to own things anymore, and having to rent them for the rest of your life. The day you run out of money for whatever reason, you will lose everything you had in an instant, because you were just renting it. I see a future where the day you lose your job, you also lose your phone, computer, car, and house all at once and good luck recovering from that.
So what do you plan to do if this rumor turns out to be false? Will you continue not purchasing music though iTunes?
Actually, I'd be willing to bet that the streams are sourced from the same copies (aka, blocks of data on disk) that people buy. So, I seriously doubt there's any extra overhead in the terms of disk space, and any investment in the build out of the iTunes infrastructure with respect to music purchasing has long since been made back several fold.
This is purely a more profitable way of them to do business, as it guarantees a minimum amount of monthly revenue in the terms of subscription fees vs only getting the revenue from a song one time only. If you subscribe, and you want to keep listening to your music, you have to keep giving Apple money.
From my view, the most interesting aspect of this will be to see how the Apple Marketing Machine will spin this to convince people that this will be the best thing since sliced bread.
At any rate, this is just a rumour. Nothing more than here-say at this point, so it's a little early to get out the pitchforks and torches.
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Perhaps artists will tie streaming rights to sales rights...you want to stream me, you better sell my music
If it was aggressive it would be now
Apple allegedly has an aggressive plan to "terminate" music downloads from iTunes within two years, reports Digital Music News citing sources with "close and active business relationships" with Apple.
Apple is also rumored to be considering a three to four year timeline for the shutdown of iTunes downloads, but overall discussions with Apple executives are said to focus on "not on if, but when" the company should retire music downloads. Termination of music downloads could be staggered by country based on the popularity of streaming content in different regions.The timeline is unclear because Apple's iTunes business continues to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars each year, but it is on the decline due to the rise of streaming music services. According to music industry Mark Mulligan, iTunes music downloads will be worth $600 million in 2019, down from $3.9 billion in 2012. Mulligan believes Apple's download business could be 10 times smaller than its streaming music business by 2020.
Apple is also said to be considering ending music downloads due to the confusion it causes with Apple Music, mixing downloaded music purchases with Apple Music content.
Late last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple Music now has 13 million paying subscribers, up from 11 million users in February. Apple Music originally launched on June 30, 2015 in more than 100 countries and at its current growth rate, Apple is on track to have 15 million subscribers at its one-year anniversary.
Article Link: Apple Aiming to End iTunes Music Downloads in Two Years
I hope it doesn't happen. its weird, apple music has made me buy more CD's. My main frustration with apple music is sometimes it has the artist but not the track i want.
Why is Apple doing so many things to piss off its loyal customers lately?
Since you never "own" your music when you subscribe to a streaming service, when you cancel the service.... you are left with nothing. It's music rental.
So if I want to only listen to 1 album for the year, it will cost me $120 to do so.
If music is an important part of my life (not anymore), I'll be forced to pay $120/year till I die.
Something's not right here....
So if I want to only listen to 1 album for the year, it will cost me $120 to do so.
If music is an important part of my life (not anymore), I'll be forced to pay $120/year till I die.
Something's not right here....
It's pretty black-and-white: Would you want more than 10 new songs per month? If yes, streaming is cheaper. If no, streaming is not cheaper. The only other questions are music availability and connection quality.
Some people like listening to a lot of new and popular music and don't have s*** Internet connection, so streaming is a really good deal for them. My library is as static as what I listen to, Apple Music doesn't even have a lot of it, and Berkeley for some reason has extremely unreliable Internet connection, so I don't care for streaming.
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I can't tell the difference between high-quality (320kbps) and lossless. Most people can't.
Not everyone has access to Wifi or good data packages, I guess, but that's not an issue since you can sync 10,000 songs to your phone.
http://lifehacker.com/5903625/mp3-or-lossless-see-if-you-can-hear-the-difference-with-this-test
The same way you do now with AM: by uploading any tracks that aren't matched by the iTunes catalog. Then they're available in AM.
And offline downloads for going places without cell or wifi service are currently, and will always be available in AM.
The amount of disinformation and ignorance here about how Apple Music works is staggering. Yet please continue with the righteous anger...
Streaming (if they ever get it right) should primarily be for the discovery of music you want to buy. A streaming only scheme benefits only the record labels, who would see an ongoing constant revenue source (whether you actually want to buy anything or not) instead of one time only purchases. But CDs will still be available of course, because you have to pay for all of the songs on the CD, not just the ones you really want. So it seems to be they are moving back in time and repaving the road to piracy In any event a streaming only service couldn't be a more consumer hostile situation after years of purchasing whatever you wanted at a reasonable price online. That what made the whole thing work in the first place, not cramming a streaming only service down everyone's throat