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New iPods, New Apple Music Service

Re: ISOLATIONISM!

Originally posted by skunk
Since half Apple's sales are outside the US, why the hell can't we use iTunes or iPhoto ordering outside the US?
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It's like buying a car and the salesman ringing you up saying 'Sorry but didn't I tell you can't use the fourth cylinder?'
 
Re: ISOLATIONISM!

Originally posted by skunk
Since half Apple's sales are outside the US, why the hell can't we use iTunes or iPhoto ordering outside the US?
Click to expand...

iTunes: My basic understanding? Because the holders of music rights differ between countries (even on the basic level of Sony Japan/Sony USA/Sony UK/Sony Canada), for the very simple reason that each country's branch tends to have to deal with the local rules on copyright, contracts, local content quantity, etc and because of this tends to maintain it's own artist lists based on how well they think they're going to play in that market. Therefore, you don't necessarilly get access to all of the regions by signing any single one and tend to have to negotiate your way through each one at a time.

In the end, provided this works out, it wouldn't surprise me if there will likely be local stores for each Country based on billing location and some form of "importing" worked out for artists not carried by the labels in the country you're in.

Someone more informed will likely be along to clarify the fine print of the above.

Of course, at the same time limiting it to the US initially allows the music companies to assess the potential damage amongst a limited group and walk away if things don't work in their favour as well...

iPhoto: I'd lean towards inability to find local distribution hubs to publish. Although, you'd think it would be available in Japan if that was the only issue...
 
Originally posted by Shadowfax
is there a way for me to convert my library to AAC without losing all the count and rating info and what not?
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You wouldn't want to convert existing MP3s to AAC format, if that's what you mean. Your MP3s have already lost quality when they were encoded in MP3 format, and converting to another format won't restore that lost information. In fact, I think you'd lose more. It's like resampling a low-resolution image at a higher resolution. The data changes but you can't get more information out of it, so it doesn't get any better.

Of course, Apple would be happy to sell you AACs of all the music you bought previously!
 
I may be wrong here, but I don't even see the need for a hack in order to work around any import/export restrictions.

Unless Apple's DRM technology is far more advanced than any extant system out there, it appears to me that it would be relatively simple to get around any restrictions. What is to prevent one from burning the library to standard redbook CD, then reimporting the burned selctions back to the HD - thus eliminating any and all tagged restrictions? (Then again, perhaps itunes 4 applies this restriction on ALL files imported into the playlist, whether it is a purchased song or the recording you yourself made of your grandmother singing. We will find out soon enough!)

Redbook CD specs contain no provision for DRM tags, and I'd be really surprised if Apple's DRM technology would be able to magically alter the nature of the redbook standard.
 
Great service...

For those naysayers...I think you're in left field...

1) Lack of selection:
7 of my top 10 artists are indie's that can't be found on this service. But, the beauty of this service is that I don't have to pay a subscription fee to belong, so selection is no big deal. If they have the song I want, great! If they don't then I'm no worse off then if I didn't have access to this service. I have trouble finding my favorite artists in many record stores as well...but, this doesn't reflect terribly upon Apple. This service is a great start for day one. I am confident they'll continue to add artists and smaller labels.

2) Price:
$.99 is a great price. If there is an artist whose album I'd like in entirety, I'll surely buy it in the traditional manner. Again, since this service costs me nothing to browse, what am I out if they don't have it? I'll use this service extensively to flesh out my collection with songs whose entire album I probably wouldn't want. So, $.99 for the one song I want, or $17 for the entire album in hard copy? I'll take the former, thanks.

3) Other countries.
This is day ONE. Give Apple a break. The licensing agreements, I'm confident, are complex. They'll roll out the other countries in due time. I understand the dissapointment, but keep it in perspective.

One suggestion: it would be great if I could buy the physical product as well if I wanted. For example, add $5 and we'll ship the physical CD to you. They could partner with another music store to provide this service if they don't want to handle physical product. But, as long as they have the store, they should maximize it. I'm sure they'll add features as it develops.
 
Bought song, but can't download it

So I bought a song from Apple, and it was 3/4 of the way downloading, this was after an hour of those 504, and 405 errors, I just love errors that are descriptive so you know what they are warning you about.

Any way, the song was 3/4 done, when it stopped and couldn't complete. No worries, I just went back to the Purchased Music playlist, but it wasn't their, so I tried to download it again with the Advanced/Check for purchased Music option, I get an error that says, I have already download all of my purchased Music.

K, that's no good, if I can only download it once. I don't like that, but even if that is the policy,they better make sure that it was downloaded before they cut me off.

Hopefully just a simple bug they'll fix, I don't want to end up paying $5 bucks just to get this one song, as I don't want to pay for each download attempt.
 
Do anyone know how the DRM works?

I understand that iTunes will only register your purchased playlist on three computers. Does that mean that the song is encoded to work on only those three computers. It is my understanding that when you buy a new computer that you deauthorize the old one and activate the new one.

The reason that I am asking is I can't figure out why a playlist can only be burned 10 times unless that is the only copyright protection on music you burn onto CD.

If anyone has yet tried to rip iTunes Music Store music onto a CD and then take it to another non-registered computer, please let me know how this worked.
 
Brilliant, Simply Brilliant!

I went to the Pasadena Apple Store today and watched the last half-hour of SJ's presentation and I was VERY impressed. The idea of AAC as the new compression standard makes a heck of a lot of sense.

Why not 128 bit? Heck! We're going in that direction anyway! :D

What I noticed is that when SJ said that they would be expanding the services to Windows by the end of year, the crowd got a little quiet. :D

However, I think if Apple has a eight to nine month head-start over windows they're doing something right: turning the tables on the M$ world who has plagued us with later release dates than the PC world. Generate the ENVY factor.

Now all we need is that 970... hehehe! :D
 
Multiple songs into an album purchase?

Two Points:

Point 1:

Hypothetical situation:

Let's say I go to the iTunes store and buy three songs from Beck's new album "Sea Change."

I pay $2.97 for all three. Now what happens if I like those three songs and decide to purchase the whole album? Do I get to download the remainder of the album and pay the difference ($7.02), or do I have to download the entire album (including the three songs I already purchased) for $9.99?

Point 2:

I just downloaded the new firmware (1.3) for my iPod and the new features aren't included. I can deal without the games/alarm(although it would be handy)/customizable menus/notes features...but the least they could do is include the playlist on the go feature for old iPod users, or at least some of the new firmware features.
 
new ipod features

how come i can't get solitaire or the alarm clock or notes on my old ipod? i was under the impression this was part of the 1.3. i guess it's only on the new ipods....this doesn't make sense.
 
Great deal

A CD-quality track for $0.99 that you can use on 3 computers, any iPod, and burn to CD for the car pretty much takes care of 99.9% of the legal uses for copying music that I can think of, at a pretty good price! And if you want 4 songs from an album, you're talking less than half the cost of buying the CD from the store. And you can preview and buy from home.

I'm sure the servers are overloaded right now, but of course that's going to get better as every single customer in the country isn't using it simultaneously. It's no huge surprise that Apple wants to roll out in stages, either, as frustrating as that can be for foreign or Windows users.

The bottom line is that this makes it easy to be legal. People will probably find ways of cheating the system, but now it will be simpler to stay legal than to cheat.

All in all, I think Apple really nailed this one.
 
Originally posted by Doctor Q
You wouldn't want to convert existing MP3s to AAC format, if that's what you mean. Your MP3s have already lost quality when they were encoded in MP3 format, and converting to another format won't restore that lost information. In fact, I think you'd lose more. It's like resampling a low-resolution image at a higher resolution. The data changes but you can't get more information out of it, so it doesn't get any better.
Click to expand...

I think what he's asking is: Is there a way to remove the MP3 compressed tracks from your library and re-rip them into AAC format but still maintain the iPod track info (rating, play count, etc).

At least that's what I asking. I'm afraid I already know the answer...
 
bandwidth problemos a good sign...

I've always been impressed with Apple download speeds, but I too am having problems accessing the information on the new service. This means that everyone, and I mean everyone, is so excited to try this that today it's an overload. Don't worry, Apple will fix this issue. And as for getting more labels on there, that will happen too. And as far as getting this available internationally, yep, that'll happen too. And I think it'll be available for PCs too, eventually. Think of it this way - the labels and Apple are really implementing a new system for buying music. I iamgine the Labels were more than happy that this would only affect the 3% or whatever of marketshare. They can test it out, see how well it works, and make it the amazing service that we all know it will be, and then open the doors to the wide audience.

Again, what we see are people that thought Apple would have everything amazingly perect right out the door. These people need to get real, and realize just how amazing this service is right now, and how much better it will be in 6 months to a year. IMHO.
 
That rendezvous sharing thing on itunes works great over airport with my iBook and my iMac! I'm having problems with the music store but I finally got it registered. Chose the option to add to shopping cart, everything works fine, just lots of server errors for now...what do you expect for first day!
Anyway I'm happy with the selection for now, there is no membership fee so if its not there what do you lose? And they have feedback, I'm sure if they get a million requests for a song they would be happy to make that million dollars by putting it online...


Anyway the only cd's I buy are classical music and show tunes, otherwise the radio works. Now if I like a "popular" song enough I'll download it for $.99. I've maybe bought 3 rock/pop cd's ever for just a few songs. I'm not sure how AAC will be for classical music but most mp3's were quite bad.
 
Originally posted by gandalf55
seems like u can only buy one at a time... would be nice to queue these up and have it rip through em.
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you can can't you?
In the itunes prefs, it lets you decide whether you want one-click or a cart. I'd assume if you did cart you could load it up and whoosh!:D
 
Re: Do anyone know how the DRM works?

Originally posted by greenstork
I can't figure out why a playlist can only be burned 10 times unless that is the only copyright protection on music you burn onto CD.
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I imagine that the intent is to allow you to make your own CDs for personal use, while preventing you from going into the music publishing business and stamping out many copies. That, in turn, implies that the implementation makes all those CDs usable anywhere, i.e., they are limiting iTunes' ability to burn the CDs because the CDs aren't themselves protected. If you really want 11 CDs for personal use, you can always vary the playlist. As you say, we need somebody to report on how it really works.
 
New download

Just downloaded a song off the new music service. Not bad!!!! Still can't browse through genre/artist/album menu, but I imagine it will happen soon enough. The download was fast and the song was automatically imported into the iTunes library. Also, there is a record of the sale in my personal account profile, though I don't know how long that will be there. Oh yeah, it's $0.99 a song + $0.5 tax charge, so $1.04 total.
 
I am somewhat confused. Cant you access the online store, this itunes thingy, via the internet? how are pc users with ipods supposed to access this store? I tried it on my pc for kicks and it says, "you must have a mac..etc"

i am guessing pc users are screwed then? nice little coverup there Apple.
 
So, when you download, can you only keep it in your download tracks folder or can you eventually move it out of there and put it in your library and treat it as if you ripped it yourself.....
 
Damn, a coworker of mine is going right now to pick up a 12" Powerbook.... He is completely stoked about this service and the ability to rip to AAC.... what a punk. I am jealous of the feeling he has right now.... that excitement of showing up at the store with the intent to buy.
 
Sharing playlists

I had a heck of a time trying to get my iBook's playlists to share on my iMac. I finally realized that the built in firewall is blocking sharing. However, I'd rather not have to leave the firewall turned off. Can anyone suggest what port the iTunes sharing feature is using so that I can unblock only that one instead of turning the whole firewall off?
 
Originally posted by tazo
I am somewhat confused. Cant you access the online store, this itunes thingy, via the internet? how are pc users with ipods supposed to access this store? I tried it on my pc for kicks and it says, "you must have a mac..etc"

i am guessing pc users are screwed then? nice little coverup there Apple.
Click to expand...

I really think this is for the music holders. The Mac community represents a small portion of all computer users. This is a great way to test out the service on a small group of users. They can always shut it down later and not be worse for wear. I think that is why SJ said, there should be a PC version later this year...

I bought a song and it is pretty cool! I have no problem paying for the music I listen to, I just didn't like the old fork out $20 for a CD that had only one song I wanted, (Or $5 for a single) This is much better for me. :D
 
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