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

Apple iTunes Still #1, but Amazon Gaining

Wombert said:
err... AAC (not AC3!) is the official, ISO standardized successor to MP3. It's not obscure or proprietary, and delivers higher efficiency and better quality than MP3 at the same bitrates.
Click to expand...

You beat me too it - when the general public thinks of Apple, they think proprietary, incompatible, obscure ... even Apple fans think this way (some like it like that).

However, Apple is a huge champion of standardization, in everything from Safari's web technologies, to iCal, to h.264 video, to AAC audio, right down to the UNIX certification of Leopard.

Amazon went with MP3 (the older generation of technology) because it would be compatible with all the devices on the market. There is nothing stopping them from offering their own "plus" version of music in higher quality, smaller file size AAC files, which would work with iPod/Zune/PSP, and a bunch of other hardware (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding#Other_Portable_Players )

Oh, and on a technical note, most audio/video formats are proprietary (in that patents are held and exercised over them) including AAC, MP3, MPEG2, MP4, etc. That doesn't keep them from being standardized formats.
 
splashman said:
Without percentages, this top-5 list is pretty meaningless. Amazon could have stolen significant share from Apple, and we wouldn't know it. Apple's share could have increased, and Amazon's decreased, and we wouldn't know it. All this tells us for sure is something most of us already knew.
Click to expand...

As several others have already pointed out, there is no way to know whether or not Amazon is "gaining" on iTunes without seeing the raw numbers, or the percentage that each music service has gained over the reporting period. As the #1 music seller, Apple's iTunes has nowhere to go on the list but down; that doesn't mean it has stopped growing.

The title clearly implies that Amazon is growing at a faster rate than iTunes, and there's no way for us to know whether or not that's true (at least based on the information at the sourced link).

Somebody at MacRumors should change the title to something like, "Amazon Moves Up To #4, But Apple iTunes Still #1."
 
If the record labels don't offer a track on iTunes Plus I more than likely bootleg the track. Their loss, not mine or Apples.
 
I really think it's disgusting behaviour on the part of the music companies by not giving Apple the same range of DRM free tracks. The only positive is that I don't think it hurts Apple too much because the profit they make on music sales is so pitifully low anyway, and the real money comes from iPod sales, which are actually sold on Amazon anyway!

So if the music industry think they're screwing Apple into the ground with all this, they're very misguided. Apple can wait it out, and I think when they are fully DRM-free, they'll retain or regain the number one spot quite easily.

Saying all that, it can't be stressed often enough to people that it's the same music companies allowing DRM free tracks on Amazon etc that are stopping them being on iTunes. This thread proves it, with some people still seeming to think it's Apple's fault and decision.
 
MattInOz said:
It's a better supported than first thought.
Including Zune, SonyEricson's Phones, Nokia Phones.

It's the audio layer to mp4 video.
A lot of portable players and any that play video will support it, but likely say mp4 support not AAC support.

Which is why Apple uses the extension .m4a for DRM free AAC and .m4p for FairPlay DRM AAC.
Click to expand...

I'm always pleasantly surprised at how wide the support is recently, particularly phones, and even crappy little bargain basement 'mp3' players.
 
CRAZY! How is this legal?

I don't mind Amazon or any other company doing well. Good luck to them. HOWEVER, why can't apple (or any other company) sell the DRM free music as well? Is this legal for the industry to (bar) some companies while other get the benefit? They were all afraid of iTunes dominating the market. So what, Wal-mart dominated. What next? Well, I guess Amazon will dominate. Then what, they have to bar Amazon to let other companies catch up? This just doesn't add up.

I have just stopped purchasing music full stop (either cd or online) until I can have access to it in a free competitive market without restrictions like DRM.
 
Porco said:
I really think it's disgusting behaviour on the part of the music companies by not giving Apple the same range of DRM free tracks. The only positive is that I don't think it hurts Apple too much because the profit they make on music sales is so pitifully low anyway, and the real money comes from iPod sales, which are actually sold on Amazon anyway!

So if the music industry think they're screwing Apple into the ground with all this, they're very misguided. Apple can wait it out, and I think when they are fully DRM-free, they'll retain or regain the number one spot quite easily.

Saying all that, it can't be stressed often enough to people that it's the same music companies allowing DRM free tracks on Amazon etc that are stopping them being on iTunes. This thread proves it, with some people still seeming to think it's Apple's fault and decision.
Click to expand...

I agree. Let's remember that it was Jobs who initiated the DRM-Free crossover with that open letter he sent to the music industry. He said DRM-free was coming this year, and he was right, but he didn't expect the industry to screw him over.

It's only a matter of time before the other record labels give in to iTunes. Apple can use some leverage next time they are negotiating the contract. Universal is on a yearly one if I am not mistaken.

And as for the debate over Amazon, iTunes uses AAC at 256 for iTunes Plus, which is better than Amazon's 256 MP3 in terms of quality.
 
I used to pretty much always buy from iTunes if I didn't want to get the physical CD. But since Amazon introduced it's digital downloads, I always go there to check first. If they have it, I'll buy it from them. 256 kbps and DRM free all the time. And sometimes cheaper. Compared to Amazon, the iTunes+ selection is terrible. It's a no-brainer! :cool:
 
iSlicer said:
I don't mind Amazon or any other company doing well. Good luck to them. HOWEVER, why can't apple (or any other company) sell the DRM free music as well? Is this legal for the industry to (bar) some companies while other get the benefit? They were all afraid of iTunes dominating the market. So what, Wal-mart dominated. What next? Well, I guess Amazon will dominate. Then what, they have to bar Amazon to let other companies catch up? This just doesn't add up.

I have just stopped purchasing music full stop (either cd or online) until I can have access to it in a free competitive market without restrictions like DRM.
Click to expand...

This bugs the hell out of me also. It's really holding back progression. Until they begin to play fair, I have no intentions of playing fair.
 
I would like to see more drm free songs in the iTunes store, itunes plus is a good way to go, but there are not enough songs available. I'm still buying on the iTunes store, no alternative here in Austria.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5B108 Safari/525.20)

I really don't think Apple has anything to worry about here. As long as Apple continues to innovate and the iPod continues to do well, they will stay on top
And the stores below will shuffle around as they take business from each other.
 
Amazon's challenge is getting people to navigate through that piss-poor design of a store they thought up. Its terrible trying to navigate through that thing. Its the reason iTunes is so successful is bc its a beautifully designed marketplace and its easy on the eyes. As long as Amazon just looks like a junked up website, they will have a hard time bringing in new customers over iTunes.
 
gvegastiger said:
Amazon's challenge is getting people to navigate through that piss-poor design of a store they thought up. Its terrible trying to navigate through that thing. Its the reason iTunes is so successful is bc its a beautifully designed marketplace and its easy on the eyes.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree. itunes is a much better interface. That's why I surf itunes to find music I want, then go and buy it DRM free at Amazon. Best of both worlds...
 
I haven't bought from the iTunes Store in forever. We have 4 iPods and my iPhone in the house and we've switched completely to using Amazon for our music purchases. Higher quality audio, DRM free, and most of the time less expensive. My 10 year old daughter can navigate the Amazon site just fine, so cries of "piss poor" design and other "security blanket arguements" of design superiority that hard core Apple fan boys fall back to when Apple is losing ground just don't add up unless you are truly just that slow. Apple will need to make some changes soon and I suspect they will. They are simply too smart to sit around and watch this happen (or at least I would hope they are!)
 
The only reason amazon is doing well is because Amazon is the record industry's chosen cudgel to use against Apple. When the music moguls feel that they've gotten their use from Amazon, they'll tell amazon to raise prices, Amazon will probably cave, and we'll be back to where we were.

Look at it this way, people are buying more and more stuff online. Who would go to Best Buy to buy the latest garbage the music industry churned out when they can save the fuel, and just buy it on Amazon. Apple is unique on that list by being the only company to not sell physical media. The fact that they ever made it to the top is monumental, but they are a threat to the music industry's business model of, sell us a CD with two singles and 8 filler tracks that I wouldn't force convicted child molesters to listen to. Big music sees Amazon as an easier take down than Apple. Apple is a juggernaut compared to Amazon, and the music industry just wants to see them drop a rung or two.
 
Rhalliwell1 said:
They wont be going anywhere fast at the moment.
Click to expand...

According to the latest MusicWatch consumer surveys from The NPD Group, a leading market research company, the five leading music retailers in the U.S. for the first half of 2008 (January through June, based on purchases of CDs and a-la-carte digital music downloads) ranked as follows:

1. iTunes
2. Wal-Mart (Walmart, Walmart.com, Walmart Music Downloads)
3. Best Buy (Best Buy, Bestbuy.com, Best Buy Digital Music Store)
4. Amazon (Amazon.com, AmazonMP3.com)
5. Target (Target and Target.com)

The stats are only for the U.S. so it's irrelevant what countries Amazon doesn't serve. Amazon could still become #1 in the U.S. even without having a presence anywhere else on the globe.
 
Um, Amazon DO sell physical CDs...

SPUY767 said:
The only reason amazon is doing well is because Amazon is the record industry's chosen cudgel to use against Apple. When the music moguls feel that they've gotten their use from Amazon, they'll tell amazon to raise prices, Amazon will probably cave, and we'll be back to where we were.

Look at it this way, people are buying more and more stuff online. Who would go to Best Buy to buy the latest garbage the music industry churned out when they can save the fuel, and just buy it on Amazon. Amazon is unique on that list by being the only company to not sell physical media. The fact that they ever made it to the top is monumental, but they are a threat to the music industry's business model of, sell us a CD with two singles and 8 filler tracks that I wouldn't force convicted child molesters to listen to. Big music sees Amazon as an easier take down than Apple. Apple is a juggernaut compared to Amazon, and the music industry just wants to see them drop a rung or two.
Click to expand...

Never let a fact stand in the way of a good argument :)
 
SPUY767 said:
Look at it this way, people are buying more and more stuff online. Who would go to Best Buy to buy the latest garbage the music industry churned out when they can save the fuel, and just buy it on Amazon.

Amazon is unique on that list by being the only company to not sell physical media.
Click to expand...


1) I would be that guy that buys physical CDs and then converts to ALAC for home, and MP3 for the iPods. You can't do that with hardly any music d/l service I know of. I'm not paying $10 for a lossy album (though I have paid $10 before for a lousy album, but I didn't know at the time).

2) I think you meant Apple is unique to the list, not Amazon. Amazon does sell physical media, of course.
 
kugino said:
glad to see amazon moving up. their mp3 daily deals are fantastic...and non-DRM is the way to go. competition for apple and itunes is a good thing for the consumer.
Click to expand...

I like iTunes and will continue to use it, but I agree that robust competition like we are seeing right now is a great thing for the consumer.
 
iSlicer said:
HOWEVER, why can't apple (or any other company) sell the DRM free music as well? Is this legal for the industry to (bar) some companies while other get the benefit?
Click to expand...

Well if we follow the same logic from the story on Apple vs. Pystar, it's perfectly legal and okay for music companies to do just this. They own the rights to the content and they can put any restrictions on it that they want to. Does this argument sound familiar? The music industries business model is built around doing just this, so it must be allowed and protected.
 
maokh said:
While the iTunes store is a great experience, i actually cross shop (and prefer) amazon. Here's why:

1) mp3 encoded audio files are in much, much higher quality
2) sometimes a tad cheaper
3) not in some obscure ac3 format
4) (most importantly) no DRM or worrying about what is authorized for this and that
Click to expand...

Here Here! I have found myslef using Amazon so much more for the exact same reasons.
 
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