Music Industry Fears Apple and is also Subject to iTunes Popularity Rankings

[DaKyng]

The music industry and the movie industry are both scared of Apple. Now that Apple got what they wanted from the music industry, they need to start negotiating with the movie industry to get more. Why the heck is Hulu allowed to show free ad-supported shows and movies and Apple isn't? Think about how huge iTunes would be if you could get movies/tv free with Ads. Consumers would then have the ultimate choice in a medium that they already are used to. It's retarded that NBC posts full versions of their shows on their site for free but charges for them to be on iTunes. Consumers shouldn't have to go to a million sites to watch the shows they want...they should be able to go to iTunes and get everything they want...the way they want it. If they want to "own" the show/movie...fine then buy it. If they want to rent it..fine do that too. If you want to have a free ad-supported show put on your iPhone/iPod they should be able to do that also. Apple is so close...they need to do some more hard negotiating and make this idea happen. If Hulu can do it...so can Apple...except better.

The problem with allowing ad-supported downloads through iTunes is you couldn't update the ads. The adds on Hulu can be easily interchanged. It's also much easier to record ratings. Even if a person watches an episode twice on Hulu, they still have sit through the ads. How would you measure multiple views on a downloaded version? On top of that, Hulu is owned by NBC Universal and News Corp., so they receive a large portion of their ad profit. Allowing the downloads on iTunes would only make their cut smaller, as Apple would probably want a cut (which they'd deserve). The final major problem for Apple is that Hulu could very well prove to be a success, giving the companies less incentive to use iTunes.

When it comes to purchasing movies and tv shows through iTunes, I think apple should look into getting the special features offered on DVD/BD's. This is a major reason why I don't like buying my Movies and Shows through iTunes. I prefer the extra content, even though a DVD/BD is more. I never buy movies through iTunes and only buy shows when I have no intent of purchasing the complete season.

 

[DiamondMac]

Awww, poor record companies afraid of Apple. LOL!

They get what they deserve because record companies have been dragging their knuckles on digital music for years. Instead of spending all that money on suing college students, they should have been investing in new digital distribution technology and planning for the future.

Talk about an EPIC FAIL from the record companies.

Not only are they failing but they seem to be failing in everything they try to do these days

Whether it is trying to sue young kids, grandmothers, dead people, etc....or trying to battle Apple....it just seems that they screw up every chance they can get

 

[NicP]

Creative doesn't currently support OS X.
Rio players do, but they are ridiculously outdated assuming you can find one and they still tout "Plays for Sure".

I have a Creative Zen that I got for free and it works under OSX with iTunes. I don't think it supports AAC though.

 

[citi]

Keep touting this list of ancient mp3 players that works with iTunes people, but it does not have any merit with me. Find a current device that works.

And you all keep saying that you know it is the device manufacturer's problem their new devices don't work with iTunes. How do you know that? Do you work for Creative? Did they put out a press release saying they are dropping iTunes support?

And since when is syncing using iTunes the "standard"? It is certainly the most popular, but it most certainly is proprietary.

Here is all I know:

No current devices work with iTunes except iPods
Apple is in the business of selling iPods
Since iPods are the most popular music player, most people use iTunes
Creative (and others) are also in the business of selling music players
Most music on iTunes is now DRM free

Now it doesn't take a Harvard Business Degree to see that if I want to sell a non-iPod music player to someone with an iPod, making it work with iTunes would be a brilliant move. You would not have to change anything except the device you plug in, especially now that the songs are DRM free. You could even advertise it like that, or advertise a credit of some sort to get people to upgrade their music to iTunes plus so it all is playable on the device.

But apparently every other music player manufacturer in the world would rather spend their time and development resources on their own syncing software, even though Apple has done them this huge favor of writing this standard and open platform for everyone to use! Man, what a bunch of idiots!

Or perhaps the main reason iTunes exists is to sell iPods?

actually roxio has software that allows itunes syncing with any device that supports roxio. I use it for my Blackberry Storm