Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Considering Dramatic Overhaul of iTunes to Address Declining Music Downloads

Why won't Apple offer CD quality or better music on iTunes?

So I am not the only one who wants CD quality or better in an lossless file format, either ALAC or FLAC, but why won't Apple offer it?

A couple of years ago I thought they would when I heard about iTunes Mastered. Are the record labels not letting them offer CD quality or HD music?
 
KUguardgrl13 said:
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.
Click to expand...


Data plans and broadband? Google All Access, Spotify, and Rdio allow you to download songs, albums, playlists locally on your phone so you're not streaming when not on wifi. It doesn't use any data. By the time you've bought a couple albums you've already spent more than a month subscription and the albums might not even be good. Meanwhile on a streaming service in a month you could've listened to an infinite amount of music.
 
Mastered for iTunes was a good first step. Now make them lossless. I'd upgrade my entire library.
 
bbeagle said:
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.
Click to expand...

Not sure if you've heard but Toyota has had significant issues and recalls over the last 5 years. Probably not the best comparison to make with Apple unless they to are headed in to the same path.
 
Doubtful

I doubt this is 'eye opening' for Apple.

Since Spotify I don't think there was ever a doubt that people prefer to pay a monthly fee for unlimited on demand music playing as well as radio service compared to paying per song. There is no incentive to buy music from iTunes. People may say that you own the music, but as long as Spotify is around you will own it in a sense and if Spotify were gone people would simply go back to ripping music. People use spotify instead of stealing because free with ads or 4.99 or 9.99 is well worth it compared to the effort involved in stealing music.

If Apple could have built a Spotify they would have. Of course they have the technical skills to, the problem is the record labels. If Apple wanted to do a Spotify clone the labels would charge a fortune and it wouldn't make economic sense for Apple. Even if Apple bought Spotify they would have to negotiate all the contracts and be in the same boat.

I don't think Spotify will be financially stable enough for the long run and Apple isn't going to get into a business it can't make money on.

That being said, I know most all of us would much rather use an Apple Spotify or an Apple Netflix service since it would integrate with everything better and be prettier but I wouldn't count on it unless there is a big change with the industry.
 
I was never a huge purchaser of music tracks on iTunes but when I got a Spotify subscription I don't think I felt much need to ever buy any more. I mostly listen to music on my laptop or in the car - with spottily I can take 1000 songs a month 'offline'. Owning the mp3s doesn't seem to offer very much extra.

For the music I really love I'll buy vinyl or CD.
 
Macist said:
For the music I really love I'll buy vinyl or CD.
Click to expand...

Would you buy on iTunes if the music files were CD quality or better? Or are you saying you like the music quality of CD or vinyl PLUS you like having the physical disc for backup, for art work, or for whatever reason?
 
iTunes had a lot to do with the decline in CD sales as did other digital download services, but iTunes was at the top of the heap. We gave up high quality recordings for "good enough" mp3's in much poorer quality. And much of today's listeners could care less about good quality music. Many performers churn out garbage music that is mastered poorly because it is only going to be listened to in a lower quality format.

I hope that Pono is able to sustain itself. There are still some of us left that like to hear our music in as good quality as possible. Today it seems to be quantity over quality.
 
TechRemarker said:
I doubt this is 'eye opening' for Apple.



Since Spotify I don't think there was ever a doubt that people prefer to pay a monthly fee for unlimited on demand music playing as well as radio service compared to paying per song. There is no incentive to buy music from iTunes. People may say that you own the music, but as long as Spotify is around you will own it in a sense and if Spotify were gone people would simply go back to ripping music. People use spotify instead of stealing because free with ads or 4.99 or 9.99 is well worth it compared to the effort involved in stealing music.



If Apple could have built a Spotify they would have. Of course they have the technical skills to, the problem is the record labels. If Apple wanted to do a Spotify clone the labels would charge a fortune and it wouldn't make economic sense for Apple. Even if Apple bought Spotify they would have to negotiate all the contracts and be in the same boat.



I don't think Spotify will be financially stable enough for the long run and Apple isn't going to get into a business it can't make money on.



That being said, I know most all of us would much rather use an Apple Spotify or an Apple Netflix service since it would integrate with everything better and be prettier but I wouldn't count on it unless there is a big change with the industry.
Click to expand...


Are we sure it's the record labels? Or just that Apple doesn't want to lose all their money they're currently making off iTunes? Google didn't have any problem launching a Spotify competitor, and that was almost a year ago.
 
ok so I bought albums on

VINYL
8-Track
reel to reel
Cassette
CD
Mini-Disk
SA-CD
HDDVD
BlueRay
mp3
m4a
aiff
wav
ringtone
ogg
flac
and now purchasing remasters on Vinyl again

gimme a break! I don't even care anymore,
it's still the same tired 60 year old Beatles song!!

for all the John Lennon did
He did not listen to 60 year old music !!!!
when he was playing Skiffle with The Quarryman
 
Luba said:
Would you buy on iTunes if the music files were CD quality or better? Or are you saying you like the music quality of CD or vinyl PLUS you like having the physical disc for backup, for art work, or for whatever reason?
Click to expand...

For vinyl I just like the way it sounds - I don't have an audiophile set up, just a Technics 1210 DJ type deck through a low end but good hifi amp and speakers.

With CDs it's usually a souvenir or memento type thing of my absolute favourite artists.
 
milo said:
I don't know why they'd expect streaming to drive sales. The main appeal of streaming is that people can hear the music without having to buy it, why pay when you can get it somewhere (and now somewhere legal) for free?
Click to expand...

They probably are thinking more in terms of driving revenue from music. Obviously a streaming service isn't going to drive sales of individual songs in the iTunes store.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
iTunes had a lot to do with the decline in CD sales as did other digital download services, but iTunes was at the top of the heap. We gave up high quality recordings for "good enough" mp3's in much poorer quality. And much of today's listeners could care less about good quality music. Many performers churn out garbage music that is mastered poorly because it is only going to be listened to in a lower quality format.

I hope that Pono is able to sustain itself. There are still some of us left that like to hear our music in as good quality as possible. Today it seems to be quantity over quality.
Click to expand...

As one who has invested obscene amounts of money (the kind that would make the "Mac Pro is too expensive" whiners **** themselves twice) into home audio and video entertainment systems, I would love for more options for HD music to exist. But Pono is a joke.
 
You people use the Internet, on which can be found literally hundreds of thousands of artists at a click or search term on hundreds of services, and your argument is "make better music" right in the face of the WORST business to be in (music, and I would know)? You don't know a tenth of what's out there and your comment is "make better music"?

Really?

I have a suggestion for you.


LISTEN TO MORE MUSIC.
 
bawbac said:
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.
Click to expand...

Oh you're mistaken. I don't listen to him at all - in fact, I avoid the radio like the plague.

Simply he is, despite our reservations, extremely popular today. That's what I was bemoaning.
 
AgentElliot007 said:
As one who has invested obscene amounts of money (the kind that would make the "Mac Pro is too expensive" whiners **** themselves twice) into home audio and video entertainment systems, I would love for more options for HD music to exist. But Pono is a joke.
Click to expand...

Why is it a joke? I'll wait until I hear it first.
 
DShap5 said:
Oh yeah! This is great! Let's make an Android version, a Windows Phone version, and a zune version of iTunes so that nobody even has any reason to get an iPhone anymore!

Gotta love Apple marketing!
Click to expand...

The point is people aren't using iTunes anymore, so even if people did buy iPhones just for iTunes, now there's Spotify or Amazon music.
 
There are a few reasons for declining sales:

1. iTunes pricing has stayed high while competitors, especially streaming services , combined with mobile broadband, seem more appealing nowadays, especially to those used to Apple-style in-app-purchase or subscription. Subscription failed before, but with most smartphone able to do it, it is definitely winning.

2. People still love to own music. But, people used to have 16GB to 160GB iPod. Now, most people have 16GB iPhone or even 8GB iPod touch, and over half of that is filled with apps and personal data and photos. What's left is not enough for buying more apps or music. If you don't have space on your phone, how can you buy? People spend more time on their mobile devices now, but they don't have enough space on there to store music. If Apple wants to reverse this, maybe start by 32GB minimum on the iPhone, and maybe just $50 to increase to 64GB, and another $100 to $128GB. I can't believe no one has pointed this out.

3. The iTunes and iTunes store has stayed the same essentially for years. Nothing major has happened or no innovation about it. It is indeed less exciting. And I do still use eMusic to buy music, ,which is about half price of what iTunes offers.

4. iTunes match will still legitimize some illegal downloads. Those who most likely to buy music are also those who likely to pirate music. Now they can just pay iTunes Match to legitimize their library, once, or every couple of years.
 
Problems to fix.

You guys are saying that if Apple provides loseless quality tracks sales will skyrocket, that is simply not the case, as much as I love loseless music, the people who have the equipment, the knowledge, or simply can hear the difference is less than 2% of the people who buy on iTunes.

The only way for apple to stop the decline is:

1.- Major overhaul of iTunes, make it usable, stable, nice looking.
2.- The majority (not everyone), but the majority of people think the following: "Hey, instead of buying 9 or 10 songs for 10 bucks, why don't I pay 10 bucks to stream 20 million songs?", or even for free, since many people do not care for 160, 192 kbps quality songs, they just do not care because they do not hear any difference.
3.- if Apple wants to win customers over, they need to be cross platform, like Spotify, Rdio, etc., this is a MOST.

I WILL ditch Spotify in a heartbeat when Apple announces their streaming service, but if they do it in 3-5 years, they will fail, period, the service needs to be here by q1 2015 tops.
 
phytonix said:
There are a few reasons for declining sales:

1. iTunes pricing has stayed high while competitors, especially streaming services , combined with mobile broadband, seem more appealing nowadays, especially to those used to Apple-style in-app-purchase or subscription. Subscription failed before, but with most smartphone able to do it, it is definitely winning.

2. People still love to own music. But, people used to have 16GB to 160GB iPod. Now, most people have 16GB iPhone or even 8GB iPod touch, and over half of that is filled with apps and personal data and photos. What's left is not enough for buying more apps or music. If you don't have space on your phone, how can you buy? People spend more time on their mobile devices now, but they don't have enough space on there to store music. If Apple wants to reverse this, maybe start by 32GB minimum on the iPhone, and maybe just $50 to increase to 64GB, and another $100 to $128GB. I can't believe no one has pointed this out.

3. The iTunes and iTunes store has stayed the same essentially for years. Nothing major has happened or no innovation about it. It is indeed less exciting. And I do still use eMusic to buy music, ,which is about half price of what iTunes offers.

4. iTunes match will still legitimize some illegal downloads. Those who most likely to buy music are also those who likely to pirate music. Now they can just pay iTunes Match to legitimize their library, once, or every couple of years.
Click to expand...

You forgot to mention how other phone makers dominate the market. A market in which iTunes is completely useless... cough Android cough.

Other than that pretty spot on. When 8-16GB is still the standard for phone sizes then streaming is that much more appealing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back