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Movies

So... with only 2,000 movies available (and not all of those avail. for rent) ... the amount of movies the ITMS has been pushing out is amazing.

Hopefully this will push them to make that 2,000 into 20,000!
 
I wonder how the number of song titles sold over itunes in 2008 compares with the number of songs sold over amazon in the same period? I say this because the 5 billlion number is over the entire life of itunes store. Where as Amazon DRM free music downloads just started recently.

Personally I browse titles at the itunes store but I only buy at amazon. The quality is much better and it is DRM free.

I haven't bought any movies because they look like crap on 50" HD TV. Even Apples HD is so compressed that it it pales in comparison to HD satellite or Blu-Ray.


Apple has sold 1bn in the last 3 and a half months so Amazon is miles behind.

And the quality on Amazon isn't "much better" than iTunes Plus, which has over 2m tracks now.
 
Apple has sold 1bn in the last 3 and a half months so Amazon is miles behind.

And the quality on Amazon isn't "much better" than iTunes Plus, which has over 2m tracks now.

I may be mistaken here but isn't iTunes plus actually of better quality than Amazon? Isn't iTunes Plus 256kbps AAC and Amazon is 256kbps MP3? AAC beats MP3 when using the same encoding rate - I'm quite certain that's been proven time and again.
 
I may be mistaken here but isn't iTunes plus actually of better quality than Amazon? Isn't iTunes Plus 256kbps AAC and Amazon is 256kbps MP3? AAC beats MP3 when using the same encoding rate - I'm quite certain that's been proven time and again.

and smaller files.

now amazon against itunes DRM tracks... different story
 
wow....now can I get them all as iTunes Plus?

I mean, its gonna cost me to update my collection, but I'll pay the price for DRM free music!
 
Wrong headline

The headline on the Yahoo story (and by extension, on MacRumors) is inaccurate. According to Apple's press release...

"...music fans have purchased and downloaded over five billion songs..."

That means not all of those 5 billion songs were sold. It sounds like they're including the free downloads as well and probably free downloads from contests and whatnot. To say "5 billion sold" in the headline is inaccurate. Apple didn't sell that many.
 
The headline on the Yahoo story (and by extension, on MacRumors) is inaccurate. According to Apple's press release...

"...music fans have purchased and downloaded over five billion songs..."

That means not all of those 5 billion songs were sold. It sounds like they're including the free downloads as well and probably free downloads from contests and whatnot. To say "5 billion sold" in the headline is inaccurate. Apple didn't sell that many.
You can't jump to that conclusion.

"Downloaded" could just as easily be there to emphasise its an online sale.

Apple wouldn't say they have sold 5bn if they hadn't actually sold 5bn.
 
You can't jump to that conclusion.

"Downloaded" could just as easily be there to emphasise its an online sale.

Apple wouldn't say they have sold 5bn if they hadn't actually sold 5bn.

They say it in the headline for the press release but then they say something different in the text itself. It seems Apple may be playing with semantics here. Why include "and downloaded" with respect to an online store? What's the point of emphasizing that for an online store that only sells downloads? That's the only way you can buy. I have downloaded free songs but they show up as a "sale" for $0. Selling a song for $0 is not really selling in the traditional sense which is why it appears Apple clarifies with the "and downloaded" bit in the first paragraph.

I would bet that a significant percentage of those "sold" songs were free downloads.
 
If average Netflix subscriber rent 3 movies a month, then Apple has achieved about 1/160 rent using 1/50 of Netflix's title collection. Within such a short time.

Yes they should be worried.
 
Funny how the RIAA haters and anti-DRM crowd can't accept the fact that nobody gives a rat's behind about their crusade. The average iTMS customer buys an iPod, buys songs from iTMS, and goes about their daily business listening to the songs they bought on their iPod. They could care less about DRM. The iPod/iTMS microcosm is elegant, easy to use, and fun and THAT's why they are the number one music retailer in the world. All the malcontents and crusaders flock to the latest iTMS killer du jour so they can "stick it to the man". Well the "man" is making money hand over fist and selling billions of songs in the process.:cool:
 
Graph?

I remember when they reach 100 million it was such a big deal! Is anyone still keeping graphs of the rate of growth? Or is the rate of growth slowing even though obviously the absolute number will always grow?

I'd be interested to see how close the predicted date to 5 billion was 3 years ago. But then I'm like that.
 
The content industry needs to quit dicking around and release ALL NEW AND CATALOG TITLES for digital rental NOW! And that means all the HD titles available as well. WTF is with this crapshoot of titles available on iTunes or Amazon/Tivo ? Why isn't every single title I can rent from blockbuster or netflix available for download? I'm so sick of the arrogance and sheer incompetence of hollywood. Why are they holding everything hostage? Is this the doing of big-box stores AKA WALMART and rental stores??
Also, I'm sure HD digital content delivery will be the norm sometime in the 22nd century when more than 5% of the population of the USA has access to fiber-to-the-home internet connections -- something which will NOT happen from market forces, and needs to be encouraged by the state with subsidies, tax incentives, etc, just as the laying of phone lines was a hundred years ago.
 
Funny how the RIAA haters and anti-DRM crowd can't accept the fact that nobody gives a rat's behind about their crusade. The average iTMS customer buys an iPod, buys songs from iTMS, and goes about their daily business listening to the songs they bought on their iPod. They could care less about DRM. The iPod/iTMS microcosm is elegant, easy to use, and fun and THAT's why they are the number one music retailer in the world. All the malcontents and crusaders flock to the latest iTMS killer du jour so they can "stick it to the man". Well the "man" is making money hand over fist and selling billions of songs in the process.:cool:

Sorry to burst your bubble but even Apple is part of the anti-DRM crowd. They want the RIAA to get off their back and stop requiring DRM. That is why itunes plus was born. Apple would like the same thing for video but unfortunately the movie studios won't budge without protection.

As for all of the people who don't care, it is most likely because they haven't run into a problem with the restrictions yet. However wait a few more years and all of those who have forgotten to deactivate their license on past defunct machines will all of of sudden be unable to play or use their music.

There is also the possibility that Apple might lose the top position in the next portable music player tech. All those with old CDs or MP3's will be able to convert to a new format or play on any new player. Where as itunes DRM'd music users will be required to repurchase their entire music catalog.

To whine against people who don't want DRM doesn't make sense as a consumer. The anti-DRM crowd is on the side of protecting the consumer against ridiculous restrictions on digital content.
 
The headline on the Yahoo story (and by extension, on MacRumors) is inaccurate. According to Apple's press release...

"...music fans have purchased and downloaded over five billion songs..."

That means not all of those 5 billion songs were sold. It sounds like they're including the free downloads as well and probably free downloads from contests and whatnot. To say "5 billion sold" in the headline is inaccurate. Apple didn't sell that many.

I disagree. I've taught high school English and college journalism and made my life with words. IMHO, if the release is accurate, and 5B were bought AND downloaded, the conjunction "and" means 5B were bought and 5B were downloaded, not that some combination of purchases and downloads add up to 5B. So: 5B bought.

This analysis assumes the press release was worded precisely and correctly.
 
/snip/
There is also the possibility that Apple might lose the top position in the next portable music player tech. All those with old CDs or MP3's will be able to convert to a new format or play on any new player. Where as itunes DRM'd music users will be required to repurchase their entire music catalog. /snip/

Not true. Look, all they have to do is take a bunch of audio (or better yet, rewriteable) CDs and burn the tracks on there and import them back into iTunes as mp3 or aac or whatever they prefer. The DRM is then gone and the user can do whatever he wants with the digital files he has created. And wipe the CDs and go again with the next batch if he used cdrw media. I make mp3s for my non-iPhone cellphones that way, and also to play them through iTunes on an old ibook in my kitchen that's maybe a little too old to trust with an iTunes authorization.

I just made a pile of mp3s and stuck them on a Juke after I read in an Apple forum how to reformat the internal drive space on those things so it acts like a Mac HFS+ USB drive you can just drag the mp3s onto. Works great! (The Juke is cute, too... it's no iphone but it gets the job done when I'm over in Verizon territory).

I have never understood the big whine about DRM in general and iTunes DRM. in particular. First of all, I'm pretty darn sure that some of the complainers just want to steal music, which in my opinion is way wrongheaded. Let them try to write 8 bars of music sometime. Round up the talent, the place to practice, the gear to get the demo done, the time to slog around and find someone wants to sell it...

Then, to the extent some in the music industry won't ditch the DRM, I say at least the iTunes version is comprehensible, the statement of rights is clear and generous, plus the burn-to-convert option is simple and foolproof if you need to have a DRM-free version for some reason. I've converted some of mine but by no means most of it. Probably around 10%. The rest I just use on my computers or on my iPods or iPhone.

And hey, you can always make up a nice playlist in two parts, for the A and B sides of a 90-minute cassette tape. Then play those lists right from your iPod into a dual-cassette boombox to create an audio tape. I make a few now and then, and stick them in the glovebox to play in my no-CD-player vehicle on those days when I forget to bring an iPod or its FM transmitter along for the adventure.

And as for people who forget their password, you can get it reset. And, you can get your authorizations reset once a year.

Anyway I say congrats to Apple and iTunes store for all those music and movie sales. I have certainly been having a lot of fun dropping my entertainment dollars without having to drive a zillion miles to do it. I love shopping at iTunes Store for music and have now rented or bought a pile of movies as well. I like renting them onto my MacBook Air... when they're gone, they're gone and my precious SSD disk space reappears. And for TV shows, now I'm watching the first season of The Wire on my iPod touch, and am happy to see that they just put up Season Two!
 
Not true. Look, all they have to do is take a bunch of audio (or better yet, rewriteable) CDs and burn the tracks on there and import them back into iTunes as mp3 or aac or whatever they prefer. The DRM is then gone and the user can do whatever he wants with the digital files he has created. And wipe the CDs and go again with the next batch if he used cdrw media. I make mp3s for my non-iPhone cellphones that way, and also to play them through iTunes on an old ibook in my kitchen that's maybe a little too old to trust with an iTunes authorization.
!

I am not saying that there aren't ways to circumvent the DRM, there are many. However you do realize that what you are doing is illegal. You are not allowed to circumvent the DRM, even for your own personal use. Plus burning to CD and then converting to MP3 degrades the quality of the audio.

You are already starting out with less than perfect 128 bit DRM'd music. Then when you burn and recompress, you are adding even more noise and compression artifacts.

Itunes plus at 256 bit lossless is much better and you can legally convert to an mp3 for other players as you are not circumventing DRM.

Really I don't understand why labels are not allowing more itunes plus titles considering that Amazon is selling DRM free 256 bit mp3s of the same titles. It makes no sense. It is ultimately better for the consumer if DRM is just abandoned as an unnecessary restriction on digital content.
 
I am not saying that there aren't ways to circumvent the DRM, there are many. However you do realize that what you are doing is illegal. You are not allowed to circumvent the DRM, even for your own personal use. Plus burning to CD and then converting to MP3 degrades the quality of the audio.

Burning to CD is permitted by the terms of service, and the capability is built into iTunes. No illegal circumvention of DRM is involved.
 
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