Apple Finally Signs Universal Music, iCloud Streaming Available

[Žalgiris]

The good news is most people don't really care about your music collection. When you're dead and gone most of it will just be one more thing the people in charge of your estate will have to get rid of. Or the person(s) bequeathed will have to find room for in their home. At least the digital items can be easily deleted.

Who in his/her right mind throughs away a fine vinyl collection?

 

[optophobia]

Amazon, Google, Best Buy, WalMart, Microsoft... it was nice knowin' ya.

......... prime example of a fanboy

 

[newagemac]

When will the sound quality on tracks from iTunes be improved? 128 to 160? That's all I care about

It's been at 256 AAC for quite some time.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

I'd rather spend $1.30 on a song that dies with me than $15 on a song that I can give to my kids.

Ok, I get less when I buy digital...but I'm spending way, way less too.

That's you.

Not me.

And good artists make albums worth listening to. Buying one song is not the same as buying an album.

Look at the total purchase amount after 10 years and see how you feel about not being able to give it away to family. Even if you spent only $100 over a period of time, you should still be able to give that purchased music away.

 

[emvath]

Lol, i just looked. 2 out of my 13,838 songs were purchased from iTunes. I can't wait to access those two from the cloud!

 

[OzyOly]

Lol, i just looked. 2 out of my 13,838 songs were purchased from iTunes. I can't wait to access those two from the cloud!

But they will sound better from the cloud and you can slightly tilt your iphone in someone's direction to show off the iCloud logo while in starbucks. I can't wait to do this either.

 

[Small White Car]

Look at the total purchase amount after 10 years and see how you feel about not being able to give it away to family. Even if you spent only $100 over a period of time, you should still be able to give that purchased music away.

My mom has a ton of vinyl she can't give to me.

I mean, she can, but what am I gonna do with it?

In other words, what makes our generation ANY different from the last one? I can't get my mom's music and I can't give my music to my kids.

You're acting like this is some new evil plot. It's the same thing all over again.

 

[m3coolpix]

So if you have a large music and movie collection on vinyl/silicon, you can leave that to someone in your will. But what about digital purchases? If I collect thousands of dollars of media over my lifetime, can I leave it to someone in my will? Will amazon switch my kindle content to another's account as my will states? Will Apple move my itunes music to another person's account for me?

Will the cost of a lawyer to get them to do this be greater than the purchase price of the media?

And what about gifting things while your alive? If I buy a CD I can give it away. Can I decide I don't want that album anymore and send it as a gift to someone and lose access to it myself?

I have a lot of reservations about digital purchases. I've started to embrace it a little for Kindle content but I hope I don't regret it. I purchase some music digitally when it is one song. But if I like the new music and decide to get the album I go after the physical purchase still.

You sound like my Dad ....BUT.....that's OK.....cause I finally turned into my Dad a little over 8.5 years ago when my first kid was born. Amazing how that happens!

Now....I'm wondering how this offering is going to compete with MOG and Slacker's premium options.... I'm loving it right now with MOG (about to ditch Slacker).

I get Almost any CD I want downloaded to my iP4 into the MOG app at CD quality (or streamed on my MACs via Safari which then get streamed to my home system) for $10/month.....and I doubt I'll be buying anytime soon from iTunes or Amazon or any physical CDs.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

Who in his/her right mind throughs away a fine vinyl collection?

I know right?

The more I think about it the more vinyl sounds like a good investment. I've been purchasing a few albums a year but I may buy more.

With less being sold, the future collector items will be even more rare.

I've noticed in my local record store that the amount of vinyl is increasing. When you think of it, vinyl is the logical alternative for local stores to offer. It is larger than a CD so as an art form it is nicer. And it is not digital. A CD is just a digital purchase in another form. And no matter how rare they become, I don't see CD's ever having the collector's value that vinyl does.

One album I bought recently was well thought out. It came with a miniature sleeve inside that contained the CD version. So you got two for one.

Anyway there is always a chance that physical media you purchase now might have increased value several decades form now. There is zero chance of downloaded media having any value.

 

[interestedabit]

I know right?

You know, right? What is that supposed to mean? Makes no sense at all.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

My mom has a ton of vinyl she can't give to me.

I mean, she can, but what am I gonna do with it?

In other words, what makes our generation ANY different from the last one? I can't get my mom's music and I can't give my music to my kids.

You're acting like this is some new evil plot. It's the same thing all over again.

No it is not an evil plot I'm describing. It is just something to think about.

And I do not understand this business about "not getting" the previous generation's music. I know people my own age like that. It makes no sense. The artists you listen to did not spring up in a vacuum. They had influences.

Rejecting music because there is some fictitious expiration date is ridiculous. I have music from current day to back in the 1920's. Today I might listen to a brand new album and tomorrow Glenn Miller fits my mood.

You know, right? What is that supposed to mean? Makes no sense at all.

I know right?

 

[Piggie]

My mom has a ton of vinyl she can't give to me.

I mean, she can, but what am I gonna do with it?

In other words, what makes our generation ANY different from the last one? I can't get my mom's music and I can't give my music to my kids.

You're acting like this is some new evil plot. It's the same thing all over again.

What are you going to do with it?
Well, you could buy a turntable and enjoy the music your mum gave to you.
If you wished you could also digitise the music so you can enjoy the albums on a mp3 music player.
You have many options, one you have the originals (the vinyl records themselves)

Why can't you give YOUR music to your kids?
The mp3 files are not DRM locked to your computer are they?

It's a sad day when older generations can not pass on things they enjoyed to their children.

 

[Small White Car]

And I do not understand this business about "not getting" the previous generation's music. I know people my own age like that. It makes no sense. The artists you listen to did not spring up in a vacuum. They had influences.

"Not getting" means "What am I going to do with a record?"

I own many of the songs my mom owns. I enjoy them! I did it by buying either CDs or digital copies of those same songs.

So I had to re-buy the music my mom owned. My kids will have to re-buy what I owned. I don't see the difference.

 

[Small White Car]

If you wished you could also digitise the music so you can enjoy the albums on a mp3 music player.
You have many options, one you have the originals (the vinyl records themselves)

I could spend the time to get an inferior copy, or I could just re-buy it. I opted to spend the money.

Why can't you give YOUR music to your kids?
The mp3 files are not DRM locked to your computer are they?

Sure. I plan to. I'm responding to ten-oak-druid who is convinced that won't work. You'll have to ask him why he thinks that.

I DO PLAN to give my music to my kids. I'm responding to tell him that even if that doens't work then we'll just be right back where we started. (But to be clear, I think it will work. I'm basically arguing about something that I don't even think will be a problem.)

 

[ten-oak-druid]

"Not getting" means "What am I going to do with a record?"

I own many of the songs my mom owns. I enjoy them! I did it by buying either CDs or digital copies of those same songs.

So I had to re-buy the music my mom owned. My kids will have to re-buy what I owned. I don't see the difference.

I thought you meant you didn't want to listen to it.

But don't shrug off wasting money. It might not always be so easy to come by. Perhaps you will wish you could give you kids the digital copies you purchased someday. Especially if the times are hard and you invested thousands.

At least with a CD they can import what they want.

Anyway its not worth arguing about. It is a choice. For me digitally downloaded music is going to be a very small part of my music library.

 

[Small White Car]

Perhaps you will wish you could give you kids the digital copies you purchased someday.

As I said to the other guy, I fully plan on doing that. So I'm still not clear what's supposed to happen to it all between now and then.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

I could spend the time to get an inferior copy, or I could just re-buy it. I opted to spend the money.



Sure. I plan to. I'm responding to ten-oak-druid who is convinced that won't work. You'll have to ask him why he thinks that.

I DO PLAN to give my music to my kids. I'm responding to tell him that even if that doens't work then we'll just be right back where we started. (But to be clear, I think it will work. I'm basically arguing about something that I don't even think will be a problem.)

Ah - good point. It has been so long since I purchased the music through itunes that I tend to forget the DRM is not there. I guess the argument I am making is more to do with the movies and books than the music. These still have the protection.

So I guess you can leave the itunes (or other) purchased music to others. They should be able to take it without the account information.

For me, I'm using a kindle and have been purchasing some books. My favorite authors I buy hard cover but for some light reading I'm going digital. But this has been on my mind. I'm debating how much of the digital books I should purchase for this very reason. Hopefully this gets worked out eventually.

As I said to the other guy, I fully plan on doing that. So I'm still not clear what's supposed to happen to it all between now and then.

My bad. I was still thinking of the days of DRM.

You sound like my Dad ....BUT.....that's OK.....cause I finally turned into my Dad a little over 8.5 years ago when my first kid was born. Amazing how that happens!

LOL

 

[Žalgiris]

I know right?

The more I think about it the more vinyl sounds like a good investment. I've been purchasing a few albums a year but I may buy more.

With less being sold, the future collector items will be even more rare.

I've noticed in my local record store that the amount of vinyl is increasing. When you think of it, vinyl is the logical alternative for local stores to offer. It is larger than a CD so as an art form it is nicer. And it is not digital. A CD is just a digital purchase in another form. And no matter how rare they become, I don't see CD's ever having the collector's value that vinyl does.

One album I bought recently was well thought out. It came with a miniature sleeve inside that contained the CD version. So you got two for one.

Anyway there is always a chance that physical media you purchase now might have increased value several decades form now. There is zero chance of downloaded media having any value.

Agreed on all points. I bought recently Blue October Approaching Normal Limited Edition vinyl. No digital thing can beat that.

 

[rogo]

This "service" is absolutely positively DOA.

First of all, nearly no one has a huge portion of their music bought from iTunes.

Second of all, even people in the category that do already can largely carry said music with them on whatever device they have.

This is about as uninteresting as it gets.

Dear Apple, buy Rhapsody and Pandora. Integrate them and make them better. You will sell more subscriptions in three months than the industry has sold in 10 years. You will make the music industry and yourselves lots of money.

This "service" is going to make Ping seem like a gigantic success.

 

[Small White Car]

Ah - good point. It has been so long since I purchased the music through itunes that I tend to forget the DRM is not there.

Ok, this makes everything make much more sense.

I'm with ya'.

Yeah, I won't buy e-books and whenever I buy a movie on iTunes I basically think of it as an expensive rental. So I don't do that much either.

 

[malnar]

This is looking more and more like one of the ancient, now-famous threads from when the iPod launched and everyone ranted about how it was a pointless product, it's been done before and better/cheaper/etc. Can't wait to look back in 5 years and see how ridiculous all this looks. This is the future, grumps.

 

[Žalgiris]

This "service" is absolutely positively DOA.

First of all, nearly no one has a huge portion of their music bought from iTunes.

Second of all, even people in the category that do already can largely carry said music with them on whatever device they have.

This is about as uninteresting as it gets.

Dear Apple, buy Rhapsody and Pandora. Integrate them and make them better. You will sell more subscriptions in three months than the industry has sold in 10 years. You will make the music industry and yourselves lots of money.

This "service" is going to make Ping seem like a gigantic success.

I'm adding this as iCal reminder just in case. Who knows maybe i will have a laugh or two.

 

[Tones2]

This is looking more and more like one of the ancient, now-famous threads from when the iPod launched and everyone ranted about how it was a pointless product, it's been done before and better/cheaper/etc. Can't wait to look back in 5 years and see how ridiculous all this looks. This is the future, grumps.

This is totally NOT the future. Cheaper storage is the future. This is a temporary stopgap measure until current storage technology (i.e. NAND Flash) can again produce much higher capacity in a single chip at a much lower cost. There is no substitute for local storage - it just needs to get cheaper at larger capacities. Why would anyone want to pay for increased data AND this service only to get poorer quality streams over inconsistent coverage when you can just have it on your device, metadata and all.

Tony

 

[juicedropsdeuce]

I find it so quaint that people still buy music from iTunes.

 

[juicedropsdeuce]

Lol, i just looked. 2 out of my 13,838 songs were purchased from iTunes. I can't wait to access those two from the cloud!

Good thing most people don't buy from iTunes. The crappy cell service in the US wouldn't be able to handle anything more than this microscopic fraction of music that people own.