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I like Apple products but any time I put a pair of Beats headphones on in a store I picture Ronald McDonald, bouncing and cavorting over a large, hard landscape of irregularly shaped orange plastic objects.

I prefer Sennheiser myself.

Really.

+1

Their HD650 are the real deal and their "lifestyle" products like the Momentums are fantastic for the product category and targeted demographic. I picked up a pair when they came out for half price and they are the best headphones in the price range I paid for.
 
Music sales are declining because music is 'old word' media.
Apple needs to get on board with the modern era, IE video.
Getting killed by Amazon and Netflix.
 
Streaming deals with every major music label and a development team they could probably use. I'm guessing Apple is not satisfied with how well iTunes Radio is performing.

As I said in the other thread, licensing terms and deals with the labels rarely transfer to new owners in acquisition. They have to be re-negotiated separately by the buyer of assets.

It's not impossible that Beats managed to avoid this clause being entered into its agreements. But I'd be VERY surprised if they did. It's almost precisely this situation the labels want to avoid. A buyer with an established business coming in and acquiring a business who secured special start-up terms on more generous licensing conditions, and thus acquiring terms they could never get in their own negotiations with the labels. They also don't feel their content should add value to an acquisition if they have no stake in the business.
 
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I tried several brands and in terms of price and quality I think Sennheiser is quite balanced.
 
Apple is becoming a media company folks... Natural progression... Maybe one day down the road it will also become an ISP and take on comcast... That's how you really own the whole Eco system.

Also, the smart headphone market doesn't seem to exist yet. It's possible an iWatch could boost the headphone market given the ties to fitness/athleticism.

Maybe even a Beats music channel for the Apple TV? The brand is already there where it could happen...

Who knows.

Ps. Never owned a pair of beat headphone.
 
I tried several brands and in terms of price and quality I think Sennheiser is quite balanced.

I like Sennheiser too. I find them quite comfortable, especially the open back models, but they really aren't suited to portable use. Grado makes some great sounding cans, but I find them on the uncomfortable side. IMO, the best sounding headphones I have heard at the Apple store are the B&O H6's, but they are pricey too at $400, but they have a pretty neutral sound with a nice, natural sounding base. The B&W P7's also sound good, but I find them uncomfortable too.
 
Steve Jobs made cool. Tim Cook is trying to buy cool.

Big difference. One strategy works, the other doesn't.

As to technology, headphone technology is really the bottom of the barrel. It is not difficult to make headphones. In fact, in China you can buy counterfeit Beats headphones by the dozen. I bet in a side by side comparison, most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference in sound between them.
 
Guess I'd rather it not happen, but it won't really effect me either way. I'm an Audio-Technica fan.
 
I don't think anyone here remembers that Steve actually had some hearing loss and they made his earbuds specifically louder when they tested iPods with him.

I too prefer Sennheiser. But I studied audio engineering and have more fun doing all the EQing myself with EarPods/CanOpener which saves me money and gives me fantastic results. :D

I just see this as an American company helping another American company. Beats Music is a mess. It has all the media attention it needs, it has AT&T on board, and it has a lot of things going for it, except that the price is too high for the consumers it targets.

I think the last thing they wanted was for Google to buy them out when the HTC deal broke down. Even Google has shifted away from their affordable Nexus line and sold off Motorola again. They don't have the dedication to making a deal work for both parties, and when it just doesn't work in a few months, they'll tell them to go home with whatever remains of it.

And yes, there is a difference between paying $200 once and $9.99 a month. With all the deals on digital albums going on, I spend less per year on just buying my music than paying for these services (which in the end I just forget to use anyway).

I think the curation of iTunes Radio is just about to get much better. :)
 
Steve Jobs made cool. Tim Cook is trying to buy cool.

Big difference. One strategy works, the other doesn't.

As to technology, headphone technology is really the bottom of the barrel. It is not difficult to make headphones. In fact, in China you can buy counterfeit Beats headphones by the dozen. I bet in a side by side comparison, most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference in sound between them.

It seems more difficult to make good headphones that accurately reproduce sound and are also durable and comfortable. And I think that if people listened closely to a track they know well they could hear the differences in many headphones, they all sound slightly different.
 
Steve Jobs made cool. Tim Cook is trying to buy cool.

Big difference. One strategy works, the other doesn't.

As to technology, headphone technology is really the bottom of the barrel. It is not difficult to make headphones. In fact, in China you can buy counterfeit Beats headphones by the dozen. I bet in a side by side comparison, most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference in sound between them.

That's why this isn't about headphones. It's about bring Apple's music empire to other ecosystems (ie Android).

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i just logged on to show my disgust at this news. Please dont be true. Beats are AWFUL.

Use that money on something else.

Sorry. Every future Apple product will include a set of Beats headphones and the device will not work without them.
 
Actually, it's not. Bose recycles drivers and stuffs them into every single product. Marketing first and foremost.

Beats, marketing first and foremost.

Bose- stuffy midrange and nothing else

Beats- muddy bass and nothing else.

Look up their frequency response, harmonic distortion etc... not pretty.

You want good sound from headphones? Sennheiser, AKG, Grado...

The audiophiles are hilarious. Completely crap all over every mainstream brand that has been pleasing people for years and want you to piece together a bunch of mismatched components from companies you've never heard of. They'd prefer you to be drowning in speaker wire and instruction manuals so you can hear a small guitar chord in the background if you sit there and try really hard to hear it.
 
The audiophiles are hilarious. Completely crap all over every mainstream brand that has been pleasing people for years and want you to piece together a bunch of mismatched components from companies you've never heard of. They'd prefer you to be drowning in speaker wire and instruction manuals so you can hear a small guitar chord in the background if you sit there and try really hard to hear it.

You're an idiot lol. It's just a matter of buying good gear. It's just as easy to buy crap gear as it is to buy good gear and the use is as easy as plugging it in. The difference you won't know about since it doesn't sound like you've listened to a good pair of headphones.
 
It's a little obvious when the rush out half finished products that just happen to include the features in devices Apple is rumored to be about to release. They also schedule the release of it days before Apple is expected to do so.

It's a little obvious when they rush out half finished products that just happen to include the features in devices Apple is rumored to be about to release. They also schedule the release of it days before Apple is expected to do so.

Repeating it won't make it true.
 
When you see a pointless acquisition like this, you know it's going downhill.
 
It's about the Beats (formerly MOG, and boy did they take many steps back from that product) music service. Not the headphones.

That's only part of the story I think.

There is a strong shift happening in the headphones market. The in-ear headphones of iPhones and other devices are left in their packages and on-ear or over-ear headphones are now bought by kids and young adults.

I live close to a media college and the majority of the kids wear Beats headphones.

Apple does not produce any on-ear headphones, so part of the story might be that they feel that they need to get into that market.
 
Calm down guys, maybe Apple wants to buy them out and shut down the company so people will no longer have to suffer. :rolleyes: It's like donating to save humanity...and their ears.
 
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