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New iPods, New Apple Music Service

more observations

I was wrong earlier. Rendezvous doesn't work for me AT ALL. Still cannot submit my credit card info through iTunes when reviewing my account. Now I'm annoyed.
 
All Right: is iTunes 4 Cocoa or not?

I cannot believe after 200 posts and looking at iTunes all day you guys and gals do not see the difference in the iTunes 4 buttons and interface. Even the small-view iTunes module sports a new look. I love the new music service: it is great, and moreover a rendesvouz network between my G4 and iBook works perfectly! Now I can share the 3000 tunes on my bedroom tower with my friends in my living room audio system... but dang it, is iTunes 4 cocoa? I was under the impression that only cocoa apps sported the recessed buttons top left and took advantafe of speech services. If I am wrong and uneducated, my apologies. If not, hey, go Apple! Only iPhoto and iMovie to go and we will be all Cocoa...
 
Originally posted by twelve
...major labels screwed themselves by inventing a product which has no scarcity (value) and never lowered prices on cds which now cost three cents so it seems like karma getting even.
Click to expand...

Let's get a few things clear about the economics. The physical CD before burning costs about 3 cents if you buy the cheapest available. Actual production of a finished CD for reasonable quality costs about 50 cents. That is only the CD production, not the packaging, shipping, etc. which adds quite a bit more. Now then add on the additional costs of anti-theft measures that must be added on the retail end (as in anti-shoplifting) and retail overhead. Don't forget the royalties that have to be paid to the artists. We are now at a few "Dollars". Then you have to factor in the "big dollar items" such as marketing, promotions, etc. Then there is the retail profit. Before the record lables even get their cut, they have to pay out several dollars per CD just to get it out there. Yes they make plenty of money, but it isn't the very excessive amounts some folks use to justify their pirating. The retail outlets typically make more per unit profit then the record companies, who make their money off of volume.

As to the Apple Music Store, I for one really like it. I always have a hard time remembering the names of songs I like, but know them when I hear part of them. By being able to listen to songs I was able to find just the ones I wanted and spent about $17 for a total of 24 selections. (one album plus several singles) A bargain for the smart shopper.
 
Re: All Right: is iTunes 4 Cocoa or not?

Originally posted by Balin64
I cannot believe after 200 posts and looking at iTunes all day you guys and gals do not see the difference in the iTunes 4 buttons and interface. Even the small-view iTunes module sports a new look.
Click to expand...

Actually this has already been commented on. I guess you didn't actually read all those 200 posts. At this point there is no conclusive answer on if it's cocoa or not.
 
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Re: Re: All Right: is iTunes 4 Cocoa or not?

Originally posted by MacBandit
Actually this has already been commented on. I guess you didn't actually read all those 200 posts. At this point there is no conclusive answer on if it's cocoa or not.
Click to expand...

I believe its still Carbon, I have Cocoa Gestures installed and every single Cocoa app, no matter when it was installed, has a menu option for Cocoa Gestures preferences, iTunes does not.
 
Hijack that s**t!

Just bought an album from the service (Prince's Under the Cherry Moon)...

Then I decided to try to get around Apple's "protected" sitch. Used "Audio Hijack Pro" ( http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro ) in the AIFF mode (highest level 16-bit)... then I brought the AIFF file and ripped it at 160 AAC. Sounds Very good. Not quite as good as the original 128-AAC from Apple, but at least I can do what I want from now on with the file.

Not a real good solution for lots and lots songs, but a nice workaround for a small amount.
 
Originally posted by Shaktai
Let's get a few things clear about the economics. The physical CD before burning costs about 3 cents if you buy the cheapest available. Actual production of a finished CD for reasonable quality costs about 50 cents. That is only the CD production, not the packaging, shipping, etc. which adds quite a bit more. Now then add on the additional costs of anti-theft measures that must be added on the retail end (as in anti-shoplifting) and retail overhead. Don't forget the royalties that have to be paid to the artists. We are now at a few "Dollars". Then you have to factor in the "big dollar items" such as marketing, promotions, etc. Then there is the retail profit. Before the record lables even get their cut, they have to pay out several dollars per CD just to get it out there. Yes they make plenty of money, but it isn't the very excessive amounts some folks use to justify their pirating. The retail outlets typically make more per unit profit then the record companies, who make their money off of volume.

As to the Apple Music Store, I for one really like it. I always have a hard time remembering the names of songs I like, but know them when I hear part of them. By being able to listen to songs I was able to find just the ones I wanted and spent about $17 for a total of 24 selections. (one album plus several singles) A bargain for the smart shopper.
Click to expand...

You forgot a pretty imporant piece of the pie. The recording study, including the rent on the room/building plus cost of all the equipment, the producer(s) and engineer(s).


Lethal
 
Re: All Right: is iTunes 4 Cocoa or not?

Originally posted by Balin64
.... is iTunes 4 cocoa? I was under the impression that only cocoa apps sported the recessed buttons top left and took advantafe of speech services. If I am wrong and uneducated, my apologies. If not, hey, go Apple! Only iPhoto and iMovie to go and we will be all Cocoa...
Click to expand...

Sorry, no idea, but if it is Cocoa that makes it much more portable. It would be nice to see Apple use Cocoa to get some apps to other platforms (Linux too). Make it easy for themselves to write once, run everywhere...
 
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iTunes 4 Cocoa?

Thanks. I was just wondering. By the way, I just bought four songs from the Apple music store. I used Toast to burn data files and audio files. They sound great, but when I inserted the audio CD back into my Mac it came up with a weird CD (nothing close to the musician's name) and title and the tracks were named wrong... strange... also: Toast recognized the new track format, but there were Quicktime file icons instead of iTunes icons. Perhaps Steve was not so honest this morning, no? Anyhowl, I got my four tracks. Interesting way the track names got changed, no? "Somebody's Watching". The songs I BOUGHT are from some obscure Mexican group I am sure few people have heard from...
 

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Okay, I admit, I haven't read all of these posts. I just don't have time. So, please forgive me if I reitterate anything that's already been said.

Well, I'm not yet sure what I think of all of this. I thought that I'd try downloading a song to see how it worked, but apparently my taste in music isn't mainstream enough. I looked up four artists that I like, and didn't find a single song by any one of them. Hmm... Well, I guess my saying that I won't use this service because of DRM is somewhat redundant, huh?

I am excited about the new iPods, though. I was thinking about getting a 10GB model, but then I started to take certain things into consideration. Namely, if you simply add the extra accessories on that the 15GB model comes with (i.e. remote, dock, belt clip, etc.), you essentially get up to the same price with 5GB less space. Suddenly the 15GB model started looking much better to me. So, now I just have to wait for my new 15GB iPod to get here! :D
 
Originally posted by LethalWolfe
You forgot a pretty imporant piece of the pie. The recording study, including the rent on the room/building plus cost of all the equipment, the producer(s) and engineer(s).

Lethal
Click to expand...

Duh! After all that and I forgot the "big" up front cost of making the recording to begin with. Thanks for the reminder. Guess I need an economics refresher too.
 
Originally posted by Snowy_River
Okay, I admit, I haven't read all of these posts. I just don't have time. So, please forgive me if I reitterate anything that's already been said.

Well, I'm not yet sure what I think of all of this. I thought that I'd try downloading a song to see how it worked, but apparently my taste in music isn't mainstream enough. I looked up four artists that I like, and didn't find a single song by any one of them. Hmm... Well, I guess my saying that I won't use this service because of DRM is somewhat redundant, huh?
Click to expand...

If you can't find the songs you want let them know. There is a suggestion link at the top left of the Music Service home page. Just click it and it gives you the option to suggest an artist/song etc.. Also be sure to do an in depth search. The problem is that if you don't search exactly or broad enough it will not find the song. For instance if the artist uses odd punctuation accent marks etc. in there name you have to include that in your search or it will not turn it up.
 
Re: Re: All Right: is iTunes 4 Cocoa or not?

Originally posted by GregAussie
Sorry, no idea, but if it is Cocoa that makes it much more portable. It would be nice to see Apple use Cocoa to get some apps to other platforms (Linux too). Make it easy for themselves to write once, run everywhere...
Click to expand...

I was sure that iTunes was going to go Cocoa as this would make it much easier to move it to Windows so as the Music Strore works theri too. But it is not. Right click on iTunes and select Show Package Contents. Navigate into contents and open the Info.plist file (probably only opens if you have the Developer Tools installed). There is a key in here called LSRequiresCarbon (actually 2 identical keys) which is set to YES. Also all the keys are either LSxxx or CFxxx whereas Cocoa apps have keys NSxxx (like NSPrincipalClass which is required for Cocoa to work).

So to sum up: ITS CARBON
 
Re: Great service...

Originally posted by Timothy
For those naysayers...I think you're in left field...

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.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but I bet you'd be pissed if SJ came out with 'we've got this cool new idea but we couldn't be bothered to sort it out for the US but it works everywhere else'. It's not just this. It's Sherlock (US-only and totally useless outside of the US. I don't even have it on my dock), iPhoto - would be great to buy one of those really nice albums. But wait there aren't any photo processing shops outside of the US are there ;) so I can't use that feature either (The Japanese tourists I see around London are obviously just pretending and can't possibly be developing their photos). I'm surprised they even let us print on A4 paper...:rolleyes:

Oh and BTW. What's the problem with people using Carbon? Cocoa's easier to start a new app in but being Carbon doesn't make anything slower or anything...probably marginally the opposite...
 
Originally posted by trose
Now I am not a picky audio guy, I barely notice the difference in bit rates and such....but listen to this song

Sonata "Moonlight" No.14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27, Mvmt. I Adagio Sostenuto

I payed and downloaded it...and it is just not good enough quality. There is a horrible hissing noise in the backround.

Someone listen and tell me if I am crazy, and if not, are all the songs of this quality?

I hope not :(

Otherwise(big otherwise), great service! I love it from what little bit I have used.
Click to expand...

I just downloaded the exact song you mention... just for kicks really, but I don't hear any of the defects you talk about...

I'm thinking you may have some odd AAC over USB issue or something. Did you install Quicktime 6.2? What kind of speakers? Which version of OS? 10.2.5? or earlier?

I'm on an OG TiG4 500 w/ iMic USB Audio unit to crappy PC speakers. Maybe with some real speakers I could hear what you're talking about?

Also when I first downloaded iTunes 4 and tried the service I couldn't get past the home page.. then I downloaded Quicktime 6.2, installed, restarted and all was well with the world.... apparently you must have 6.2 installed to have support for Protected AAC and the music store checks to see which version you have.

So if you have problems, go through the checklist.

iTunes 4

Quicktime 6.2

OS X 10.2.4 (preferred)

Then look at your audio devices...
 
Originally posted by blueBomber
it just dawned on me that the firewire port is no longer built into the ipod itself. This would be a hassle for me; if I want to take it to a friends house and transfer files to their computer, I have to take the docking station instead of just a firewire cable. This kinda stinks.
Click to expand...
Hmmm. This does mean one more thing to carry around with you.

The 10Gb iPod doesn't have the dock. I guess this means it will have the firewire connection on the iPod?
 
Re: Great service...

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.

Keep it in perspective?? Well Ill tell you my perspective. how long have we been waiting for Iphoto album and sherlock plugins in Europe?? FOREVER!! Lots of promises but nothing delivered. Sorry if this time we do not give Apple a break....
 
Hey there...guys!

OK, this is the first time I've posted since last night (before the sevice came out)

I just want to say it's cool. It's not everything I would like it to be but I can have some patience and wait for it to manifest itself the way I hope it is destined to. Manifest destiny! HA! Woo-hoo....anyway......

I'm going to count myself among the alienated amongst the music listening community. Now I actually feel excited about checking out music. This is a cool feeling, one I have not had in a long time. I seriously cannot remember the last time I spent one solitary dollar on music since Lateralus (artist not available....) came out.

After checking out the service for an hour or so I went out and bought some Jim Bean (note: used to drink Wild Turkey religiously until I found out it's been bought by the french, this is my first bottle of Jim Bean...I am a bit saddened, but oh well), signed up for 1-click, and downloaded some songs I had been wanting.

You know what I am lacking? The Little Richard song from Predator. I freakin love that song, and I have been waiting to have a copy for so long. Hopefully soon they will carry Little Richard so I can have it.

Anyway, unless someone beats me to it, I'm going to start a thread for what songs people bought on their first day on the Apple Music Store (Note: WTF!?!?!? Could we have a catchy name...PLEASE?), I think this would be interesting.

Anyway, I just want you guys to know...I LOVE YOU GUYS! :p :confused: :eek: :p :D

I am such a lightweight these days...man...my old mentor would be ashamed of me...

PEACE! :D
 
I have a 6 month old 10 GB iPod and I love it. It isn't capable of doing any less just because a new more streamlined iPod came out.

I will just have to be happy with what I've got.

But I don't feel compelled to go out and spend more big bucks just for a thinner iPod which has pathetic games I would never play, so that just leaves play lists on the fly. Yeh, so what. I mean, REALLY!

Which brings me to a point of speculation. You couldn't actually play those games very easily on the superseded iPods. So, did Apple introduce the buttons just so people could play games? :)

Yes, it would be pathetic reason, but at least it's a reason. I am yet to read any other explanations.
 
Besides not being available on the civilized side of the pond, there's no CAPTAIN BEEFHEART!!! Call this a music catalogue? Come on, Steve, get it together....
 
What's next, a streaming iPod...

Ok, wonder what is needed next? A streaming iPod. This is an iPod that allows you to connect to the iTunes 4, rendezvous enabled, streaming function. You get a streaming iPod and plug it in like a regular iPod except you tap into your Mac's playlist via AirPort Extreme or a wired connection. This is part of the digital lifestyle you'd use around the house. You'd buy several, one for each stereo in the house and merely use the stereo for output. A true remote lets you tap into your streaming iPod and control the selections via IR or, perhaps, Airport Extreme.

How long until Apple releases this, one would hope during the year of the Music and the year of the portable.
 
Re: Re: New download

Originally posted by Qball
Just curious -- I suppose you create a username and provide them with a credit card number. Is that basically the gist of it?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the gist. If you've ever used 1-click for Apple's website or Amazon, it's the same thing...HOWEVER...you can turn the 1-click option off in your iTunes preferences menu Preferences> Store, and have your shopping work a la shopping cart so you pick out songs and then when you're ready you can go to the shopping cart and delete songs that you change your mind about. So there's two shopping options.
 
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