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Apple Considering Dramatic Overhaul of iTunes to Address Declining Music Downloads
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IMO iTunes is a drawback, not a plus. I've considered going back to Android just to get away from iTunes.
Maybe they should start with a positive user experience and worry about expanding from there.
That only works if people are buying for iTunes. That was the case originally when the iPod was the dominate music player on the market. But iPod sales are down, phone cells are eating into the music player market.
It's like Office being used by Microsoft to get people to buy Windows for tablets. It only works if there aren't other good options. But iWork, Google Documents and others offer competing serves. Music services like Spotify, Amazon and Google Music are offering the same against iTunes.
Because as you can see in this thread, people will pay for stuff just because it's Apple. There is money to be made!
They want more downloads? lower the price to $0.50…
But then you'd need 280% higher sales to make up the $0.79 lost on each song.
I think the market for BUYING music, in general, is just declining because streaming music is becoming more popular. Just like streaming movies is starting to become popular, it will eventually hit movie sales.
The sad thing is, a lot of the people here are FOR streaming. They are FOR paying for something that they won't have later. It make society poorer. When I grew up, I started listening to music that my dad bought and listened to as a kid on vinyl. I traded music with friends. My cost was VERY low. I used the same Disney VCR tapes as a kid when I had my daughter.
But that choice won't be available someday. You'll have to pay like $50/year to stream Disney movies, and then 'lose' them once you stop paying. Yes, you'll get the latest and greatest, but your family will also be paying many times for the same content over a lifetime.
Think about it - you're not really sharing music with friends anymore? In the 80's ONE of us in a class of 30 people bought a CD/tape and then we shared it with everyone. Now EACH person has to buy a streaming subscription. It's a different world. (Yes, there are free options right now, but those will go the way of Napster soon or have a large amount of advertisements in the music)
Eventually people will lose the option to BUY movies and music, unless they pay exhorbitant costs (like when movies first came out they were $200+ each in 1980 money). You wanted a song, you had to pay $15 for a cassette tape or CD with only one good song on it, and 14 other crappy ones.
It will happen. Eventually streaming services costs will go higher, and so will costs for the physical copies. Getting us hooked on streaming is the first step in hiking the prices.
True this. I'm in my early 20s. I got an iPod back in high school and ripped all of my old CDs that I grew up listening to. I would also buy new CDs and rip those too. I would occasionally download stuff from iTunes if I got a gift card. Then I went away to college and got a debit card. Cue lots of summer job money being put into building an eclectic music and movie collection. Also homesharing with friends' iTunes accounts. I still download songs occasionally when I like them. Anymore I buy full albums from Amazon mp3 because they're cheaper than iTunes (Lady Gaga's Born This Way for $.99? I couldn't pass it up!)
But Spotify? I tried to use it when it was first on Facebook and couldn't get it to download properly. Then it became an issue of not having a big enough data plan. Plus my car from 2007 lacks things like USB and Bluetooth. I use an iTrip with my iPod Classic for roadtrips. Otherwise it's the radio. It still doesn't make sense to me how streaming is better than the one-time purchase. I can get all the music I want when I put iTunes on shuffle in whatever playlist I want. I know it's exactly the music I want and not some algorithm deciding for me. Pandora always annoyed me with the commercials and having to skip songs because of how picky I am. Someone explain how Spotify is different?
iTunes may be dying, but I hope they stick around. It might be worth going back to $.99 per song or even cheaper. For now I'm stuck in 2008.
That is the most bogus argument ever.
Apple has had lots of failures, but that couldn't possibly be if your statement was true. iTunes Ping would have been popular, right?
Apple owners TRUST Apple. It's like someone who buys a bunch of cars from various companies that all break down, then they buy a Toyota. It works like a charm. They are then happy with that purchase, so when time comes, they buy another Toyota. Apple works exactly the same, it's not rocket science.
Agree 100%. The Music app in iOS 7 is atrocious (at least on the iPad). A huge step backwards in usability from the previous version. I stopped using it altogether and went back to using iTunes on my Mac.
Maybe they need to reach out to today's artists and get them to make some better music.
Depressing, but true. The majority of the music on my phone is from the 70s-90s. Music started to go downhill from there.
Although there are some promising bands. The new Foster The People album is very good.
I would say right now it's way more cost effective to use a streaming service. How much would it cost someone to buy every song on Google Play Music? A lot more than just paying $9.99 a month and having access to all of it on demand. How much would it cost someone to make their own personal netflix collection or movies and tv shows? A lot more than just paying $7.99 a month and being able to watch all of it any time you want.
I like the idea of buying CDs, Movies, TV Shows and having a collection but the reality is with streaming services you can save a lot of money and get more.
I like the idea of buying CDs, Movies, TV Shows and having a collection but the reality is with streaming services you can save a lot of money and get more.
There's a reason I still buy or "acquire" music and movies. With music it's all digital, but at least I have unlimited access and could burn CDs if I wanted. For movies, I've been slowly buying Blu-Ray. Netflix is nice for TV since I'm almost always behind and don't want to shill out for box sets. but movies and music I want to watch or listen to often? Not ideal.
iTunes radio needs to have a 'live' component to it.
There is not reason I cannot queue up music, then talk radio, then a sports game, then back to talk radio, then back to music.
Real station creation.
There is not reason I cannot queue up music, then talk radio, then a sports game, then back to talk radio, then back to music.
Real station creation.
But it's more than $7.99 or $9.99 per month. What about data plans and broadband? Not all of us can afford to be feed to death on a monthly basis. Meanwhile I can purchase songs on iTunes whenever I have some extra money. It's usually only $3-4 at a time unless it's an album. I probably spend less than $50 a year on music. More than double that isn't worth it.
Bad choice for use as an example as Toyota are recalling 6.4 million cars for 5 different faults
1) Introduce iTunes Match Plus ($10/mo or $100/yr) - no 25000 song limit, upgrade your library to AAC 320VBR or ALAC.
2) Introduce iTunes Streaming ($5/mo or $50/yr) - stream any song on-demand from the iTunes Store library if you have iTunes Match, keep offline copies if you subscribe to Match Plus.
3) Cut standard purchases to $0.79/track - but also offer ALAC downloads for $1.49/track. Upgrade old purchases (if not an iTunes Match Plus subscriber) for $0.49/track.
For $75/yr you get iTunes Match, ad-free iTunes Radio and iTunes streaming. For $150/yr you can upgrade your library to higher quality, stream and keep whatever you want.
2) Introduce iTunes Streaming ($5/mo or $50/yr) - stream any song on-demand from the iTunes Store library if you have iTunes Match, keep offline copies if you subscribe to Match Plus.
3) Cut standard purchases to $0.79/track - but also offer ALAC downloads for $1.49/track. Upgrade old purchases (if not an iTunes Match Plus subscriber) for $0.49/track.
For $75/yr you get iTunes Match, ad-free iTunes Radio and iTunes streaming. For $150/yr you can upgrade your library to higher quality, stream and keep whatever you want.
At least modern architecture is far better than the 60s-80s utilitarian monstrosities (which were actually often considered trendy/cool/clean).
Who is Justin Beiber?
Sounds like your issue may be your taste in mainstream music.
Branch out and listen/find better music that meets your tastes. It's out there.
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Lol... just lol... I mean... really?... wow.... lol.... wait, I already said that....