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Apple to Overhaul iTunes Service?

Yes and no from me..

Yes if I get to download it and keep it myself.. And then be able to maybe stream that anywhere on any computer. Maybe download it to a select few.
No it all headed to just streaming.

Spotify works great here.. when I have a connection. 70% of my time at home. At night my Internet is too slow for Spotify to buffer. I know that's my problem. But I do think we need Nationwide 'Super-fast' Broadband before we all head to Online Streaming. :)
 
When people say this is the most uncertain time ever for the music industry - they mean it.

It brings questions as to will record labels bother investing in new artists as much, when only 3 or 4 songs off an album will be bought? I can see purchased music falling out of fashion with the masses :(

It's a dire time for new bands, for sure.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
I hope when you say "continuous" you say it tongue n' cheek since there is nothing continuous about ATTs 3G service. In fact, maybe ATT should buy the "spotify" brand from Spotify. I love my iPhone but ATT's service is not ubiquitous and where it is available, not always at a decent speed. I also wonder if ATT is going to allow continuous music streaming since they have so many other iPhone roadblocks up when it comes to using data.
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Us Europeans built decent cellular networks back in 90's back when one couldn't send an SMS from a Nokia phone to a Sprint phone in the US. :p

I get 3G in the freaking subway.

flapperdink said:
agreed. also, who's to say that AT&T will actually allow Apple to do this? AT&T is already very stingy with their bandwidth.
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AT&T is so completely irrelevant in the big picture. AT&T is dependent on Apple, Apple is playing on a global scale. There will be other iPhone carriers in the US soon.
 
but surely you are missing the point?

we all want to 'own' the music, and I can't see Apple changing that, but why can't this purchase of Lala be used to implement an Apple Home Media Server?

You download it to your server-box, then stream it (with DRM as specified by the producer) to whatever device you prefer...

- this could primarily be a TV, then if you go into the garden (or even the bath) you can carry on watching on your iPod Touch or iPhone (or tablet?)

I just can't see Apple starting to sell a server-version of the mini without a decent 'hub' software system to then cope with sending any type of media via a streaming service to whatever type of device you choose to view/listen to it on.

just my thoughts

Nig.
 
r.j.s said:
Yeah, but Europe is a helluva lot smaller than the US.
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Well not exactly, especially not in population where we outnumber you guys. In my opinion you guys dropped the ball on the whole cellular thing. There should have been a cellular standard from the start instead of letting every company develop their standard. Europe was smart in adopting GSM throughout the EU, and it would have been smarter for the US to the same, especially since it looks like CDMA is heading towards irrelevance anyhow.
 
ntg said:
we all want to 'own' the music, and I can't see Apple changing that, but why can't this purchase of Lala be used to implement an Apple Home Media Server?

You download it to your server-box, then stream it (with DRM as specified by the producer) to whatever device you prefer...

- this could primarily be a TV, then if you go into the garden (or even the bath) you can carry on watching on your iPod Touch or iPhone (or tablet?)

I just can't see Apple starting to sell a server-version of the mini without a decent 'hub' software system to then cope with sending any type of media via a streaming service to whatever type of device you choose to view/listen to it on.

just my thoughts

Nig.
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the "gamechanging" iTablet hasn't even been built yet and you're already casually talking about taking it into the bath? Sacrilege!
 
I think people are worrying for nothing. The current iTunes Store works well and Apple will not do any big changes to it. What they may do is some 'Add Ons' or as we call it in the phone business 'Value Added Services' to what already exist. Not everyone uses music the same way. I'm lucky I have a lot of space to hold my music but not everyone does. I can choose to have 5Gigs on my phone or 20. I can stream my music off my computer using Simplify. I can stream my friends music. What I can't do is rent music. I'm one of the people who don't care about rental services for music but I know those who do so it wouldn't hurt for Apple to start something up.
 
r.j.s said:
Since you want to include the whole continent, I'm willing to bet there isn't 3G everywhere like the poster claimed.
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OK, now I'm confused. What were you thinking about when you said "but Europe is a helluva lot smaller than the US."? Turns out Europe is a continent and cellular reception is way better in Europe ;) it's a fact.
 
Povilas said:
OK, now I'm confused. What were you thinking about when you said "but Europe is a helluva lot smaller than the US."? Turns out Europe is a continent and cellular reception is way better in Europe ;) it's a fact.
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Most of the Europeans here refer to their little part of their country as Europe, and EVERYTHING is better than the US.

Speaking of reception ... how's the reception in the middle of nowhere Russia? It's still in Europe. ;)
 
Hogwash

That would be the stupidest move they could ever make. Let's hope any of these "analysts" are about as accurate as analysts typically are (not very).

Apple was/is right. People DO want to OWN their music, they don't want it streamed. Streaming is terrible in delivery and quality. It is inherently unreliable, and completely unusable when you're not connected (which is more often than many peeps realize).

The iTunes model is perfect the way it is. If purchasing files were to be removed, I would immediately drop iTunes and acquire music elsewhere - Amazon, buying CDs, or 'other'.

What Lala streaming is good for: Adding new services to the existing iTunes feature set:

-Broadcasting TV shows (think iTunes version of hulu).

-Adding a 'music discovery' service where you can listen to unlimited numbers of full tunes, then choose to buy the ones you like.

-Significantly improving QuickTime broadcasting.

-Make it possible for customers to stream any songs they've previously purchased to any device with a browser (in case you don't have your iPod or computer with you).

-New things we haven't imagined yet.
 
Otaviano said:
It really makes sense for them to explore this avenue. With my iPhone I'm already connected to the net all the time ... Apple streaming music into my iPhone from their servers isn't such a stupid idea. If they use their install base to gain an advantage on these up and coming services they can ensure iTunes remains a powerhouse in the coming decade.
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My concern is in your retort: you are already connected to the net all the time? Hmmm, how much bandwidth will you be using? AT&T is already complaining about Pandora and the like? No more 'unlimited internet' (5g == unlimited using AT&T's logic).

There are a lot of people that might want to pay for such a service, especially considering the popularity of services like Spotify in Europe. Just imagine certain customers paying 10 dollars a month to access iTunes entire catalog, and then purchasing songs they especially like at a dollar a piece. Apple is smart to explore this, because there are a LOT of companies looking at it.
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True. Let's get some infrastructure to back it up. I'm also more than a little concerned about how Apple's new product will be a way to slip in net preferential traffic, at least on AT&T. Seems like we're going to be paying more for less shortly.

Here's what I want: stream my music to myself. Stream my iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes libraries in addition to the content I already 'own' or 'license' to be more precise. We don't 'own' anything much anymore. How that's become acceptable is a mystery to me.
 
r.j.s said:
Most of the Europeans here refer to their little part of their country as Europe, and EVERYTHING is better than the US.

Speaking of reception ... how's the reception in the middle of nowhere Russia? It's still in Europe. ;)
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Yes, how dare they. Check the map. The middle of nowhere of Russia is surprise, surprise in ASIA. This is stupid. Do you really want to go this way?
 
Povilas said:
Check the map. The middle of nowhere of Russia is surprise, surprise in ASIA.
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I have checked a map, and there is a good chunk of Russia in Europe. BTW, I'm not in the US or Europe. My problem is with people claiming that everything is better in their part of the continent than the average of the US.
 
hermes369 said:
My concern is in your retort: you are already connected to the net all the time? Hmmm, how much bandwidth will you be using? AT&T is already complaining about Pandora and the like? No more 'unlimited internet' (5g == unlimited using AT&T's logic).
Click to expand...

I have a cellular company where unlimited means unlimited. Personally I would not use a company where unlimited doesn't mean unlimited. There are certain companies here that define unlimited as 5GB, but they won't see my business on general principle.

As for what I use, I have no clue. I assume that I use as much as your average iPhone user does. I surf, check my mail & RSS feeds, Facebook, upload to Flickr, and play games on my iPhone. I would suspect I use the same bandwidth as the average US iPhone user.

r.j.s said:
I have checked a map, and there is a good chunk of Russia in Europe. BTW, I'm not in the US or Europe. My problem is with people claiming that everything is better in their part of the continent than the average of the US.
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Then you got no argument, because I never said anything about "everything" ... I said cellular service is better in Europe and it's based on experience because I've actually lived on both continents and been a cellular subscriber in both continents.
 
lol

iphones4evry1 said:
"I have an announcement for everyone. We're going to make iTunes like Youtube. There will be no more downloading. You have to watch it on our website. You will never have your own copy."

I'm with the other 99.9% of users that prefer to OWN the music that they BUY and not just RENT music. How in the heck am I supposed to burn CDs and download songs PERMANENTLY onto my iPod if I am only allowed to stream music on my computer?
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Apple will not ditch the traditional way of storing music on your hd... the whole streaming thing will be more of an aditional feature... just like genius is an additional feature.... you don't have to use it, but you can if you want to... at least for the next years

iOrlando said:
i say thumbs down to you.

1) Burn CDs? I stopped doing that in 2004. Come on...really?
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have you ever listened to music in your car (not radio)?? Did you ever thought about the fact that not everyone uses his iPod/iPhone as a "carhifi"? ... I assume +80% of the people I know use CDs to listen to music on the road... whether it's mp3 or audio....

Come on... really? :rolleyes:

r.j.s said:
Yeah, but Europe is a helluva lot smaller than the US.
Click to expand...

O M G :confused:
 
r.j.s said:
I have checked a map, and there is a good chunk of Russia in Europe. BTW, I'm not in the US or Europe. My problem is with people claiming that everything is better in their part of the continent than the average of the US.
Click to expand...

Thank God we have a single outlet/plug standard here though...

Man I can't believe we're back on the EU vs. USA tech debate, seriously.
 
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