Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iTunes Digital Music Sales Fall 13 Percent as Apple Prepares Beats Music Refresh
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
There's one problem and that is Spotify. This is what hurts iTunes, not Beats Music. Apple purchased the wrong music streaming service.
If for 5$ a month I get unlimited skips in iTunes radio and can play any song in the iTunes library at will I would happily become a subscriber.
If Apple can successfully negotiate a $5 / month subscription fee for its ENTIRE iTunes library, and have it available worldwide, not just the US, then I'm in. Spotify recently became available in Canada but I'm waiting to see what Apple / Beats offers before I make a decision.
----------
Spotify knows they have a good thing and no way will sell to Apple.
----------
Spotify knows they have a good thing and no way will sell to Apple.
They need to offer on-demand listening from the entire iTunes library on OS X & iOS via the iCloud account for $9/month. Their iOS app further needs offline playlist support as well as "intelligent" radio stations which can be created by either genres, artists, or a search term. Finally, the app should form its own social network for music and playlist sharing. THIS is where the competition is today, close to e.g. Spotify's feature set but also others. I don't get why they moved to that iTunes Radio stuff when these services were already upon them. For a company who pioneered the digital music industry, their current level is an utter embarrassment.
Nothing comes close to Google Music All Access. Especially since the recent integration of Songza built into it. By far the best streaming music app I've ever used.
Maybe because people want high-quality music, not outdated AAC 256 kb/s crap
Which people? Most people don't know or care that there are other options (myself included). 256kbps is perfectly fine with me.
Maybe because people want high-quality music, not outdated AAC 256 kb/s crap
Yep! Every time I hear my family and friends talk about iTunes, the first thing I hear them mention is that the music just isn't high-quality enough.
Oh, wait. That never happens.
I actually buy most of my music through Amazon.com now because it is 1) usually a $1 cheaper per album and 2) Not hampered by DRM. Point 2 is imporant because I might have to leave Apple somdeday (due to some financial catastrophe on my end) and don't want half of my music library to be unplayable on another device.
Maybe because people want high-quality music, not outdated AAC 256 kb/s crap
Is there a difference between what I download and what I can rip from a CD?
EDIT: In case you are assuming I am mocking you, I am not. This is a legitimate question.
Personally, I'm too darn old even at 38 to tell the difference anymore between 128KB and a lossless play. I do know that this is a sticking point for some folks though and if the super-high-quality is that important, they can still buy most albums in CD format.
Streaming is where it's at. Spotify has it down. The thing is, music is disposable nowadays. Instant gratification then you move on. Face it, the tweens through college kids are the bulk purchasers. You can only listen to "Call Me Maybe" so many times before you never want to hear it again. It's the old top 40 format on steroids. Play it often and repeatedly while it's fresh, very rarely revisit it.
For me this is crazy, I want to own my digital purchases. I want them to exist locally on my device.
College kids don't think this way. When I'm on campus, they are happy to pay a fee to get exactly what they want right now and play it repeatedly, then move on to the next thing. The $10 Spotify buffet is in that sweet spot. If heaven forbid, there happens to come a day when you want to hear "Fancy" just one more time, you'll queue it up on YouTube.
Music has changed from the long album format of a collection of related works, to one off singles. It's changing again to disposable pop drivel. For the price of Spotify that gives you everything, you could buy 7 or 8 iTunes tracks to keep. That you'll probably never listen to again after this month. That's not value. Pandora and iTunes Radio with limited choices and limited skips? Also a bust. Spotify is a steal.
For me this is crazy, I want to own my digital purchases. I want them to exist locally on my device.
College kids don't think this way. When I'm on campus, they are happy to pay a fee to get exactly what they want right now and play it repeatedly, then move on to the next thing. The $10 Spotify buffet is in that sweet spot. If heaven forbid, there happens to come a day when you want to hear "Fancy" just one more time, you'll queue it up on YouTube.
Music has changed from the long album format of a collection of related works, to one off singles. It's changing again to disposable pop drivel. For the price of Spotify that gives you everything, you could buy 7 or 8 iTunes tracks to keep. That you'll probably never listen to again after this month. That's not value. Pandora and iTunes Radio with limited choices and limited skips? Also a bust. Spotify is a steal.
Really sucks to be an artist these days. Seems like every industry's wages are going into the toilet.
----------
Spotify is 4.99 for college students.
----------
Spotify is 4.99 for college students.
Maybe because people want high-quality music, not outdated AAC 256 kb/s crap
If that were true, Neil Young's Pono music service would be selling much better than it does....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pono_(digital_music_service)
----------
Even better! I spend 4 days a week on a private college campus working on my grad degree. It's night and day from when I went the first time.
There usually is a difference in choice of quality. CDs are (supposed to be) perfect digital recordings of the original music and run around 700 to 1,000 Kbps. Most downloaded music is compressed so there is some sound quality missing. The average listener would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a compressed and lossless track in a public listening setting using Apple earbuds, but perhaps they would notice in a quiet room. You can rip losslessly from a CD if you want or into any number of bit rates. The most common ones are 128 kbps and 256 kbps.