APPLE's ITMS is a Hipocracy

[jiggie2g]

Well people today being tuesday i looked at the ITMS to see what was new and to my surprise i am starting to see a huge increase in Album Prices. Look at the new N.E.R.D. and Janet Albums $16.99 are u Freakin' Kidding me. Those are Sam Goody rip-off prices. Does Apple not understand this is why people started bootlegging and illegally downloading music in the 1st place , because prices were getting rediculious. Worst off all we are talking a bout a Freakin' download not the actual CD for $16.99. While I understand that record labels have the saying as far as prices go, shouldn't Apple tell them no, you can't charge that much for a download.

$9.99 was the sweet spot and now it had just gotten sour, i can hardly find anything good for under $12.99 these days on the ITMS. has anyone else noticed this disturbing trend. I really wanted to buy all my music from the ITMS. Sh*t like this is the reason Apple will not meet their goal of 100 million songs in a year, and why i will be paying the my local Bootleg CD man a visit very soon.

 

[rainman::|:|]

i agree. i know it's not Apple's fault, it's the fault of the artists and labels, but it's really got to end. If they let some people do it, they have to let everyone, and then you have a record store without the album art. if i were going to pay that much for a CD, i'd rather get a physical object with no DRM.

paul

 

[RBMaraman]

It's not Apple's fault, and Apple never said that EVERY album would be $9.99. They said MOST would be $9.99. Ultimately, pricing is decided by the record labels of the artist.

Personally, I think these high prices are an attempt by the industry to spark an increase in CD sales. Why buy it online when you can buy it on a CD cheaper? Hopefully, one day we will see all albums sold for less than the current $9.99.

 

[OutThere]

It all depends on what the record companies dictate, because when they license the music to Apple for $15, Apple isn't going to sell the music for $10! Looking on the iTunes music store right now I'm finding that most of the CDs are selling for $10, but there are some for more. It really is the music industry's problem, because as long as they dictate the high prices for the music on the iTMS, the prices will be high. They have yet to realise that people are not going to stop ripping off music until the prices are lower. I stopped though, but that's beside the point...

 

[Flowbee]

I agree this is a very bad trend. At least the track price is still 99 cents.

 

[rainman::|:|]

It all depends on what the record companies dictate, because when they license the music to Apple for $15, Apple isn't going to sell the music for $10!

But Apple could easily tell them NO, until they come around. If the labels are stupid enough to be stubborn, they deserve whatever piracy comes their way. Apple must be trusted by it's users, and they're not going to trust it if they go in hearing "$10 albums!" and only some of them are.

I just don't know what the record labels want. They work very hard to sabbotage online music sales. And then complain about the alternative.

paul

 

[ExoticFish]

i agree that those prices are absolutely insane, that new Janet Jackson CD is on sale at Best Buy for $9.99!!! what on earth are they thinking indeed.

 

[wordmunger]

It's pretty ridiculous for the "album price" on ITMS to be more than what I pay for the physical CD at Amazon. Someone in the pricing department (either at the record label or ITMS) doesn't have their thinking cap on.

Interesting that Janet and N.E.R.D. use two different ways to get to the ridiculous album price. Janet's CD has 20 "tracks," but five of them are ~1 minute filler pieces, so you could actually get all the songs for $14.85--still overpriced, but a little cheaper than the ITMS "album" price.

N.E.R.D. has only 12 tracks, but 2 of them are "album only," so effectively you pay $7.09 for those two songs.

I seem to recall that Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" originally had a similar pricing scheme, but now it's just $8.91 for the album. So maybe Janet and N.E.R.D. will get their acts together sometime down the road.

 

[vwcruisn]

It's pretty ridiculous for the "album price" on ITMS to be more than what I pay for the physical CD at Amazon. Someone in the pricing department (either at the record label or ITMS) doesn't have their thinking cap on.

Interesting that Janet and N.E.R.D. use two different ways to get to the ridiculous album price. Janet's CD has 20 "tracks," but five of them are ~1 minute filler pieces, so you could actually get all the songs for $14.85--still overpriced, but a little cheaper than the ITMS "album" price.

N.E.R.D. has only 12 tracks, but 2 of them are "album only," so effectively you pay $7.09 for those two songs.

I seem to recall that Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" originally had a similar pricing scheme, but now it's just $8.91 for the album. So maybe Janet and N.E.R.D. will get their acts together sometime down the road.

i agree i just ordered a bunch of music from amazon a couple days ago. its due here tomorrow. i would have bought them from ITMS but i got a MUCH better deal from amazon. Come on apple... for $9.99 i would have made my purchase from you.

 

[solvs]

i agree i just ordered a bunch of music from amazon a couple days ago. its due here tomorrow. i would have bought them from ITMS but i got a MUCH better deal from amazon. Come on apple... for $9.99 i would have made my purchase from you.

Um... it's not Apple. Blame the record industry. Or Micosoft. Yeah, that it. It's all their fault.

 

[slowtreme]

then you have a record store without the album art.

Seriously what's up with the album art, most have it, some have these tiny postage stamps that dont even fit the iTunes window, and some don't have any. If there is a picture when I buy it, why isn't it in the file when I D/L

And when I rip a CD (that's even for sale on the iTMS), how come I don't get album art. Since I rip and store on a windows filer box, I can't use any of the nifty iTunes scripts that only work on Mac iTunes to get the covers.

 

[JamesDPS]

Um... it's not Apple. Blame the record industry. Or Micosoft. Yeah, that it. It's all their fault.

What are you talking about? It's OBVIOUSLY Bush's fault

 

[jxyama]

But Apple could easily tell them NO, until they come around. If the labels are stupid enough to be stubborn, they deserve whatever piracy comes their way. Apple must be trusted by it's users, and they're not going to trust it if they go in hearing "$10 albums!" and only some of them are.

I just don't know what the record labels want. They work very hard to sabbotage online music sales. And then complain about the alternative.

paul

i agree 100%. with iPod/iTMS popularity being where it is, i'd thought apple would be in a position to tell the labels to take it or leave it at $9.99 an album, unless the album is a double/triple CD set or something...

 

[bennetsaysargh]

Um... it's not Apple. Blame the record industry. Or Micosoft. Yeah, that it. It's all their fault.

What are you talking about? It's OBVIOUSLY Bush's fault

of course! microsoft and bush!

im also starting to get annoyed at purchase by song only. it's really annoying. like the new aerosmith cd, it's by song only. there are now many more examples, including quite a few other aerosmith albums. ugh. at least 99 cents a song hasn't changed.

 

[TyWahn]

WAH!! WAH!! WAH!!!

I have never seen such a big bunch of bi+ches as in these forums ... I mean come on .. Show me where Apple ever said every album $9.99 ..oh wait you can't, because they NEVER did. If you want the whole albumn go to WalMart or BestBuy. The ITMS is for convinience .. buy a track or two.
9 out of 10 times the whole album isn't worth it anyway. A couple good songs .. and the rest is crap. I am sure you same people who are bitchin' would be bitchin' even louder if the ITMS didn't offer the album at all. Anyway, Janet sucks. her creativity was spent LONG ago.

 

[jxyama]

I have never seen such a big bunch of bi+ches as in these forums ... I mean come on .. Show me where Apple ever said every album $9.99 ..oh wait you can't, because they NEVER did. If you want the whole albumn go to WalMart or BestBuy. The ITMS is for convinience .. buy a track or two.
9 out of 10 times the whole album isn't worth it anyway. A couple good songs .. and the rest is crap. I am sure you same people who are bitchin' would be bitchin' even louder if the ITMS didn't offer the album at all. Anyway, Janet sucks. her creativity was spent LONG ago.

if you want to get your point across, don't be nasty about it. it's not necessary.

 

[Dippo]

I have never seen such a big bunch of <exp> as in these forums ...

You are welcome to leave if don't like the people in these forums.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Umm the solution is really easy. If you don't like the price then buy the tracks you only like. If its a bundle deal then don't buy it and "aquire" using other "means".

I still have 5,000 pirated tracks. It use to be around 6,000. Since iTunes came out I've done my best to start legitly replacing these tracks but I can't keep count the number of tracks that doesn't exist on iTMS. If the music industry is going to continue to be ***es I don't know why I should even try and make things right.

So to the RIAA and the greedy artists of the world you can kiss my *** and

 

[Opteron]

Who really cares,
Walk down to your local CD shop and BUY a "CD" The quality is better and you get an actual CD, I an case

 

[Savage Henry]

The way of the worls and possibly the sign of things to come. Eliminate the competitors and then you can charge whatever you like.

Whether it's Apple or the labels, it does sound like you guys in the US have got a bum deal. Good news though is that when iTMS Europe opens, we too can share in your misery of overpriced downloads.

 

[Opteron]

And I thought Aussies were slack.
We'll at least we don't pay for downloads.

 

[billyboy]

Do you want to pay $3 or $4 for the pick of the best few songs from an album, or pay $8, $10 or whatever dollars for the whole lot, half of which you dont want?

It seems strange though to rip into Apple. They have done wonders to open the eyes of the blind record companies, and their work to re-educate them is obviously still far from done. Right now they seem to be balancing a difficult situation whereby they are probably knowingly posting albums half full of crap in order to keep the dumb ass record companies sweet. Hopefully the full album sales figures will speak for themselves, and if $14 whole albums arent selling, it is up to the music companies to get their act together and get better at compiling albums that people want to buy.

The record companies really are a pathetic bunch though, because they are obviously not doing all they could to get over the licensing problems for a worldwide iTMS tthat could kick start global online sales on a massive scale, yet they are bitching at dropping CD sales and blaming everyone in the world except themselves.

 

[1macker1]

Geez, at 16.99 i better get that nipple picture from the superbowl stunt.
If you dont like don't buy it. But i see the reason why some people are saying. 20 songs on the cd, and if you purchase 9 songs, well you could have went to best buy and got it for less. Ahhh the trickey mathmatics.

I use iTunes for convenience, not album prices.

 

[OutThere]

But Apple could easily tell them NO, until they come around....

The record labels have been stubborn since people started pirating music with the original napster. Since they refuse to find a way to provide music for a reasonable price, and choose instead to whine that people are stealing their products, they lose in the long run. The record industry has made no advances in trying to get people to stop pirating music and start buying, except for using scare tactics. The RIAA tried and is trying to scare listeners into buying their overpriced CDs, instead of working to promote stores like the iTMS, where people can still download music, and do it much more cheaply than for CDs. Until the RIAA realises that they need to make changes to their system to get people to stop, there will still be piracy. Wake up you old farts at the RIAA and realise that this is a new situation that you've never faced before, and you won't overcome the problem by scaring the world into submission.

 

[jxyama]

The record labels have been stubborn since people started pirating music with the original napster. Since they refuse to find a way to provide music for a reasonable price, and choose instead to whine that people are stealing their products, they lose in the long run. The record industry has made no advances in trying to get people to stop pirating music and start buying, except for using scare tactics. The RIAA tried and is trying to scare listeners into buying their overpriced CDs, instead of working to promote stores like the iTMS, where people can still download music, and do it much more cheaply than for CDs. Until the RIAA realises that they need to make changes to their system to get people to stop, there will still be piracy. Wake up you old farts at the RIAA and realise that this is a new situation that you've never faced before, and you won't overcome the problem by scaring the world into submission.

yeah, they are getting quite annoying. they basically want to go back to the way things used to be - bloated CD prices and no piracy. dunno what it will take for them to realize that it just won't happen. for quite some time, people had no choice and had put up with them. once there was a choice, albeit illegal, people realized how ridiculous things were. now, RIAA just don't want to do anything about it except cry that it's illegal.

sad...