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iTunes Music Store vs the Rest

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Apr 12, 2001
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Various analysts are weighing in on the growing competition amongst online download music stores.

USAToday posts a comparison between the various services, including Napster 2.0, MusicMatch, Rhapsody, BuyMusic and iTunes Music Store. Meanwhile, a Reuters article quotes analysts who feel that Apple may be a little late to market with its iTunes Music Store for Windows.

MusicMatch presently provides the most similar service to Apple's iTunes -- with integrated jukebox software, and similar licensing terms ($.99/song, unlimited CD burns) -- and is available today. Ironically, MusicMatch software is presently provided with Apple's PC iPod offerings. MusicMatch claims that they will continue to support the iPod but "it's up to Apple to decide if they'll ship iPod with MusicMatch jukebox."

Apple's iTunes Music Store for Windows is widely expected to be released this Thursday (October 16th).
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2003/10/13/itunes-music-store-vs-the-rest/
Apple will still do it the best, and hopefully thus lure Windows users to iTunes and the iTMS...
 
poll results

there was a poll on the usatoday article that asked what service you would be using, i believe the options were napster, music match, buy music, raphsody, iTMS, no service, and p2p clients kazaa groakster etc... anyways iTMS was at the top with about half the votes. Last time i checked though they took the poll off.
 
I would imagine that they'd stop bundling MusicMatch Jukebox with the windows iPods when WiTunes is released, since they'd be competing products with competing music stores attached to them. Why give your competition a leg up? Now, if jukebox offered optional connectivity to the iTMS, then maybe they'd keep it bundled. But I doubt that.
 
Napster is not due until later.

I think it's a bit unfair to compare an announced "500,000" to a presently available 200,000+. But regardless. We'll worry about Napster when it gets here.

MusicMatch is of some concern... especially since it has the PC side of the iPod market... but I hopefully, Apple will be able to market their way up.

I'm not sure -- can Apple easily provide updates to the PC iPod population? I'd guess not at present.

arn
 
How much of a factor this will be, I'm not sure, but don't forget that the iPod's popularity, even among PC people, works both ways.

True, they've been plugging Musicmatch, but on the other hand, given the choice, wouldn't you rather buy your songs in a format that's compatible with your $300 portable music player?

That assumes that Apple doesn't upgrade the iPod to handle WMA DRM (which I don't think they will), but it really could make a big difference.
 
Re: iTunes Music Store vs the Rest

Originally posted by Macrumors
analysts who feel that Apple may be a little late to market with its iTunes Music Store for Windows.
Click to expand...
It is absolutely ridiculous to say that! There is no service that has had even a fraction of the press that apple has had in relation to the ITMS. I would argue, in fact, that this chaotic spattering of no-name companies coming out with online music stores has only served to bolster the attention and anticipation of Windows ITMS. There is no name out there that has a reputation like Apple's in terms of consumer confidence. Consumer confidence that their purchased music will be at least as dynamic as CD music is the biggest boundary that has prevented any of the music services, pre the initial release of ITMS and post release. It seems to me that the ITMS has become the standard by which all other music stores are measured - the media has embraced it as the ideal that all these followers are trying to capture. This reputation, along with the advertising blitz that I am confident apple will follow the ITMS Windows release with, I believe, will put ITMS on a completely different plane from these other services. Have confidence - Apple knows what it is doing and is releasing ITMS Windows at a most opportune time.
max
 
Originally posted by arn
Napster is not due until later.

I think it's a bit unfair to compare an announced "500,000" to a presently available 200,000+. But regardless. We'll worry about Napster when it gets here.
Click to expand...

I agree, arn. We'll have to wait and see what happens this Thursday.

And, is it just me or does USA Today seem a bit biased toward subscription services? The highest rated service on their list (3.5 stars) is Rhapsody, where they say "For the user who doesn't put a premium on portability and is happy to listen near the computer" as the pro and "Not being able to download songs to the hard drive or MP3 player" as the negative, this seems to be a pretty big negative and a relatively poor positive to me... yet somehow this one comes out on top!

I guess I'm biased against subscription services, because I feel like we get more and more of these as time goes on... It's a corporate "strategy" because you get people paying a monthly rate, regardless of what they do. I'm sick of paying monthly bills, and I don't want to add another one...

But at any rate, perhaps USA Today should have waited until after Thursday (which they clearly *know* is coming) to publish this article.

EDIT: Anyone else notice how one of the "great oldies" that are found only on Rhapsody, can be found on iTMS? Hearts and Bones. And, call me a Paul Simon nerd, but the author of the article didn't even get the name of the song right. It's not "Heart and Bones" it's "Hearts and Bones". :D
 
It seems they have accidentally left out a lot of features the iTMS has!

Album art. We've got it!
Radio stations. Tons!
The best interface! No doubts!
AAC quality!
No subscription!

What is this garbage?

Edit: Oh ya! And with "the best service" they pay 10$ a month plus 80¢ each time they burn a song to a cd!! What's up with that!

Biased article!
 
I think it's funny how all these "analysts" can't tell the difference between their a$$ and a hot rock.

The iTMS is without a doubt the most successful PAID music source currently available. We can debate number of users and number of available songs...but iTMS wins on making a profit for Apple.

There has not been one review yet that has claimed that any of the other music services for PC users are as well designed and as easy to use as the iTMS. They are simply second-rate imitations, but the analysts hang on to the fact that they work with PC machines, while iTMS does not.

What do I expect to see from the iTMS for Windows:

1 - iTunes 5.0 will be identical in the PC/Mac versions. And it will be free to download and use, just like on the Mac. Apple will make money in song sales, not the Windows software itself.

2 - iTunes 5.0 will be optimized for use with the iPod, causing Apple to sell even more of them. iTMS downloads for PC will most likely be AAC format because it's superior to MP3 and WMA, regardless of the "analysts" being misinformed.

3 - Machine/Player/Burning rights will be identical for PC users as they are for Mac users. There is no reason, unless the record companies insisted, to differentiate between PC vs. Mac users in pricing/rights.

Essentially, there will not need to be any special "magic" for iTMS for Windows to succeed. It will be the mirror image of iTMS for Mac. Same great software, same iPod integration, same audio format, same media rights, same fair pricing. If the "analysts" think all of that is going to be ignored by PC users because Apple is arriving "late", they need a new career.

-- Ensoniq
 
Originally posted by totally_fly
Oh ya! And with "the best service" they pay 10$ a month plus 80¢ each time they burn a song to a cd!! What's up with that!
Click to expand...

Yes! People (read: analysts and journalists) keep implying that somehow that $0.79 is a better deal than iTMS' $0.99/song. But, in order to be cheaper, you'd have to get 50 tracks or more/month, on a REGULAR BASIS. (there's the inherent flaw with subscription services) Because, for example, even if you only buy 49 tracks/month, you'd get:

iTMS: 49 * $0.99 = $48.51
Rhapsody: $9.99 + (49 * $0.79) = $48.70

And that doesn't even include how Albums on iTMS can give you more tracks for the price of 10, so that figure could be even more in favor of iTMS.

Plus, with Rhapsody, you don't get files you can put on your iPod, etc. The *only* advantage Rhapsody has is that it provides unlimited streaming from your computer, which, for a "niche" population, could end up being a good deal.

It's like we're comparing cable to Amazon's DVD sales and giving Amazon 3 stars because they don't let you watch TV.
 
Re: iTunes Music Store vs the Rest

Originally posted by Macrumors
Meanwhile, a Reuters article quotes analysts who feel that Apple may be a little late to market with its iTunes Music Store for Windows.
Click to expand...

Before people start bagging on the articles too much, the only analyst quoted(*) is Rob Enderle of "GigaGroup" or "Enderle Group" or (whatever banner he and his Newsfactor buddies have been spewing under)--lately, it seems that someone with a vested interest in anti-Apple and anti-Linux commentary seems to be footing the bill. I recommend any journalist or any user do a search for him on the Internet to prove to themselves what sort of "analyst" he is before being duped again. I'm tired of them letting him scum mvp dollars from his overlords. It's about time they make him do actual analysis.

Yes, I know about John Dvorak. But Dvorak claims to be a columnist, not an analyst. Big difference.

Please, Arn don't bother to link any article that quotes Enderle and his market research firm of one! Any journalist who quotes him is obviously too lazy to do some real legwork and the article is probably a fluff piece.

(*) Well actually there was another analyst from Lehman brothers whose quote is quite bullish on the iPod. It's obvious that the "analysts" mentioned in the article must be all (one) employees of the Enderle Group!

Take care,
 
If Apple keeps the same prices/conditions for PC users, iTMS will be able to compete with any other paid music download service out there. Now the question is how aggressively will Apple advertise the release of iTMS. If Apple has bad marketing like they usually do, knowledge of iTMS for PC would spread mostly through word of mouth, so I'm assuming that first week sales won't be as good as the next couple of weeks.

Even if it is limited to XP/2000, there hopefully will be many users since it does offer a competitive price with good quality.
 
What I meant to say above was that iTMS would be able to compete with the others, just that it may take a bit of time after the initial release.
 
Once all has been said,

I think the fact that iTMS set sales records for online music sales that *flattened* the competition in its first week despite being available on just the Mac is all the evidence we need as to which service is best.
 
Apple's big secret weapon is the iPod. Apple can really go to town in integrating the iPod with iTunes and iTMS.

Apple should bundle music with the iPod, e.g. 100 'loaner' songs with each iPod purchase. Or 20 free iTMS downloads with each iPod purchase. This will make the iPod a more attractive purchase AND get people into the habit of using the iTMS to buy music. Once you start, you can't stop.
 
The free songs idea would be nice, but I 100 would definitely be too much. It should be some number that lets users get a taste of what iTMS is like but not so much that they would be getting so much songs that they save a whole 20% or something of their iPod purchase.
 
Yeah, this analyist is full of crap. Hopefully Apple will do some good marketing. iTMS is the best option and the mac community can support it by itself. Windows people will come as they hear about how much better it is.


Also, if iTunes 5 is kick-ass that will have a huge leg-up for us. Get the uber-geeks using it and the rest will follow ;)
 
D-Day is 2 days away. . .

This Thursday is when iTunes spreads onto Windows computers faster than the SoBig.virus did.

iPod is Apple's first harware accessory that has full functionality with Windows systems. Now comes Apple's flair for hardware/software integration into the equation with the announcement of iTunes for Windows. Soon, the mp3-user PC market will taste the sweetness of Apple, and M$ is leaves a sour aftertaste. iTunes isn't enough of a bite, Apple could introduce the rest of the iLife suite onto Windows to eat up the Photo and Video niches. Who said an Apple camera was impossible? And iPhoto for Windows, why not?

PC users will ask; "So, if iPod and my iTFW (iTunes For Windows) work so well together, why shouldn't my whole computer work this well?"

Oh, it can, and it does. It's called Apple.

I'm buying my stock tomorrow.
 
I'm surprised the reporter would actually try to make a call on whether Apple was late. It's way too early for that. We have had a bunch of announcements lately. I don't think any early results can be used to gauge long-term success. I think it will take several months to see who is capturing long-term share versus who tapped into some initial pent-up demand or launch excitement.

My guess is that if the PC version is like the Mac version, Apple will do just fine. Only time will tell though.
 
Re: D-Day is 2 days away. . .

Originally posted by rikers_mailbox
This Thursday is when iTunes spreads onto Windows computers faster than the SoBig.virus did.

I'm buying my stock tomorrow.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Got my stock today. Glad I'm not the only one seeing this as a potential benefit to Apple's stock prices. Of course, I wish I bought it back in April or so when it was at $12.
 
Re: D-Day is 2 days away. . .

Originally posted by rikers_mailbox
Who said an Apple camera was impossible? And iPhoto for Windows, why not?
Click to expand...

Apple made one of the first digital cameras back in 1992 :p
 
How can Apple be late to the game they started... It has been well known that Apple would release this for Windows before the end of the year, it's coming just a bit early. Now, I feel assuming all the digital rights are the same, Apple will out sell every other service (Windows only) with in a short period. This will also create another craze of Mac users buying music too because of the coverage and that it will be the "cool thing"...

This is an exciting time to be a Mac user and Apple is changing the face of computing all over again.
 
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