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Northeastern and Apple?

Originally posted by Doctor Q
How soon before some U.S. city decides that all of its residents would like music on demand, and buys into the same arrangement as the universities? Funding would come from city taxes. All citizens would be provided access at home or at the public library and it would become just another public utility.

If a majority in some small town favors it "for the common good", is there any reason to think this wouldn't, couldn't, or shouldn't happen?
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Because a city isn't liable for the internet traffic of it's citizens, duh.

Universities are liable, to some degree, for the traffic and use by it's student. Universities are also seeing their networks pushed to the max by rampant file sharing. Hence the universities are exploring way to turn the student to the light side of the force, so to speak.

/ek
 
Originally posted by 1macker1
How would this work, ITMS is a pay per song store, unlike napster which is subscription based.
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If I had to make a blind guess? Maybe a monthly limit of free songs that are paid by the college. Think minutes on a phone but in this case songs. So maybe 50-100 songs per person per month with (or maybe without.) rollover.
 
If a college really cared about rampant file sharing they would implement a firewall like they have here at Northwest Missouri State U. They open the internet, instant messaging, and E-mail ports, and other special ports per request. Kazaa and other file sharing programs use ports that aren't open, and so you simply cannot connect to it. The only bandwidth problems we have here are these dang viruses that slow the whole campus to 1/3rd speed and requires all the HDs (about 4000!) to be wiped clean about once every other month.
 
NU student here

I'm currently a student (soph) at Northeastern and it is odd how they plan on spending our money this time. They already cancelled the major concert in wake of the riots that resulted due to the malicious acts of only a dozen people versus the 14,000 or so that attend here. It is pretty ridiculous. http://www.pillagefest.com ... Sign the petition to help us out!! http://www.petitiononline.com/sprngfst/petition.html anyways, everyone here uses our own local Direct Connect Hub which the Resnet people don't mind at all because all the bandwidth is internal and the speeds are amazing. Usually around 1Megabyte/s steady. (The Neo-Modus OS X version of the hub is for some reason limited to around 470K/s per user, so its possible to get up to a meg, but not from a single user). Its good to see a greater presence of Apple here on campus. I applied last year for a position as the Apple campus representative but didn't make it, I will be trying out in another year when the current guy graduates. This is good to hear overall as our Infocommons (big computer lab) just set up 6 dual 1.25GHz G4s with dual 17" LCDs and tons of the latest software os x 10.3.2 etc etc, very sweet, and another like 20 or so 17" FP iMacs with Superdrives. There are also 2 XServe (G4)s in a rack underground. Hopefully this will lead to an even greater Apple presence.
 
Originally posted by Elektronkind
Because a city isn't liable for the internet traffic of it's citizens, duh.

Universities are liable, to some degree, for the traffic and use by it's student. Universities are also seeing their networks pushed to the max by rampant file sharing. Hence the universities are exploring way to turn the student to the light side of the force, so to speak.

/ek
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No need to be snotty. This is an intriguing idea. I don't think it will ever happen but its similar in scope to how the idea of internet access might be handled as a state or city provided utility. I believe, don't quote me on this, there are a few cities in CA that have already tried this. Now take it one step further with songs. Again I'm doubtful it will ever happen but it's an interesting idea.
 
Originally posted by CmdrLaForge
Instead of that they should work a little bit harder on the european version ! ! !

Why can't they release it in Europe one after another.

:(
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Do you honestly think that their decision to work on a deal like this is having any effect on the delay for the Europe service?
 
Originally posted by vpalvarez
... I don't expect Apple to give iPods away, but they will have to at least discount them for the students, because they want to take their music with them, and not just have it on the computer.
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Uh, students already get iPods at a discount...
:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by SiliconAddict
No need to be snotty. This is an intriguing idea. I don't think it will ever happen but its similar in scope to how the idea of internet access might be handled as a state or city provided utility. I believe, don't quote me on this, there are a few cities in CA that have already tried this. Now take it one step further with songs. Again I'm doubtful it will ever happen but it's an interesting idea.
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Roads are a necesity of life. Police are. Medical services are. We have government oversight of telecom, power, water, and sewage utilities. Why? Because people would have a hard time functioning if these don't exist. No roads to drive on, no phone to call the police or medical services. No sewer to carry our **** away.

The Internet, and further more, an entertainment service which runs on top of it, are not requirements for a modern society to sustain itself. Government paying for music downloads for its citizens would be like the government paying for or subsidizing the paint you use to repaint your living room.

It's a stupid idea. I can't belive that you even think it's intriguing.

/ek
 
Originally posted by Snowy_River
Uh, students already get iPods at a discount...
:rolleyes:
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I am aware of the education prices, I should have been explicit in saying a discount beyond the current edu prices. Something else that might work is a deal that lets say If you buy an iPod (at the edu price) than you get 30 dls a month for a year. As opposed to adding a fee to the tuition. Just a thought.
 
Originally posted by vpalvarez
I am aware of the education prices, I should have been explicit in saying a discount beyond the current edu prices. Something else that might work is a deal that lets say If you buy an iPod (at the edu price) than you get 30 dls a month for a year. As opposed to adding a fee to the tuition. Just a thought.
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Well, assuming that iTMS is a break-even business at $.99 per song, and it's really there to sell iPods, you're advocating giving away $356.40 when someone buys a $269 iPod? So, inorder to break even, Apple has to put in more money than they get out, gross, not net, of the iPod purchase? This makes no sense, whatsoever. Even if it were reduced to allowing the number of downloads that would only be equivalent to the profit that Apple makes on the iPod, this still makes no sense for Apple. It would be a money losing venture.

Sure, I think that Apple should cut things close to try to bolster their position, but I don't think that they should be stupid enough to take massive losses to do so...
:rolleyes:
 
Another Northeastern student chiming in...

This sounds new to me... Haven't heard anything on campus. However, our spankin' all-glass fancy new building for the College of Computer Sciences is opening this fall right across the Museum of Fine Arts, and with a greater campus presence, I wouldn't be surprised to have them be a bit more proactive in the iTMS arena as well...

Apropos: Our underground network operations center has a glass wall adjoing the interbuilding tunnels, and you can peek inside and see the racked servers... I'm happy to report that we have quite a few XServes in there running our campus network... ;)

And yes, as the other student posed above, we did just get several new dualies with dual LCDs, all updated to 10.3.2 and radiating the whole lab with a little realtiy distortion field.. ;)
 
Get a clue.

Originally posted by Elektronkind

The Internet, and further more, an entertainment service which runs on top of it, are not requirements for a modern society to sustain itself. Government paying for music downloads for its citizens would be like the government paying for or subsidizing the paint you use to repaint your living room.

It's a stupid idea. I can't belive that you even think it's intriguing.

/ek
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Say that in a few years when ALL companies realize the amount of cash they can save by moving everything onto the net. How about tax returns? Aren't they making web\electronic based returns mandatory in the next couple of years? Get use to the idea of web everywhere Elektronkind because its happening NOW.
And another thing you better get enlightened on is that the web has migrated from a means of pure entertainment to a means of doing business. Entire industries rely on the net. Hell our way of life relies on the net. You sit at your house and you don't realize how dependant on the net the services you take for granted are dependant on. Gas, phone, electricity to a certain extent all use the net for communications. We havn't gotten to the point of 100% dependency but I would guess we are at a good good solid 40%.
Look at your computer. Tell me how you would get updates for that glorified box of metal without the net? There is serious talk about the teco companies making a transition to VoIP and you can be assured at least part of that system will use the web. Get a clue my friend.
 
Hopefully this will come to my college before I leave here. Jobs, if your out there, bring it to the U of Illinois :). One more reason to go to grad school, maybe it will be here by then (j/k)
 
Re: Get a clue.

Originally posted by SiliconAddict
Look at your computer. Tell me how you would get updates for that glorified box of metal without the net? There is serious talk about the teco companies making a transition to VoIP and you can be assured at least part of that system will use the web. Get a clue my friend.
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The original source for this argument was someone posting about cities paying for citizens to have music downloads using tax payer money, a la Universities. That is what I have been focusing on in my replys. You seem to have carried the subject far out of that scope by applying the Internet as a whole to the "Government Subsidizing" subject.

There is no denying what you said that the world is indeed moving everything to Internet-based communication. When the time is right, perhaps something like the Depression-era Rual Electrification Project may be in order so citizens may continue to function in this paradigm.

But, per the original poster's postulation, there is no room for the government to subsidize or pay for music downloads for its citizens.

/ek
 
What interesting reactions to the hypothetical city-wide music service idea!

"Music service" is certainly not a necessity, but some cities do provide nonessential services to their citizens. I remember reading recently about a rich city somewhere that provides a health club and other "freebies" to all residents. A university is much like a small city. So are the Mall of America, Disneyland, and companies with large "business campuses".

So another way to put my question is

What other large groups with a high demand for music might find it reasonable to buy in "bulK", i.e., who besides universities might Apple sell this type of service to?
 
This is great news! Get's Apple back in the door with universities on another level. Leverage baby!
 
What if Apple did some sort of thing where you were issued a student ID # or it say, worked off of your uni email, where when you logged in, you would be able to get songs for say, $.75??

And maybe $9.99 albums for $7.49

Make it something that's university wise, like a student discount program.

There HAS to be a way.. and that would ensure marketplace dominance. I think that a $.25 loss on each would song would more than be made up for by the sheer volume of students who would download like crazy.
 
Re: I think it's ridiculous

Originally posted by david_r_p
for universities to have to subsidize their student's music downloading habits in any way whatsoever. I mean really, how ridiculous, especially considering that many universities are public and supported with taxpayer money. I really don't want my taxes going to some kid's Eminem collection! Will the university have to supply an iPod to all students too?!?

I guess for Apple this would be a good thing though. I wish Apple would worry more about getting universities to adopt the Mac platform and OSX rather than this year's Walkman.
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Never mind what is right or wrong in this situation or whether students should or should not download music of the internet or P2P networks. This is where Apple can directly compete with Napster and beat them for market/mind share, that is to Apples advantage.

it is also illegal to exceed the posted speed limit (all cruise control aside)
 
Originally posted by Moxiemike
What if Apple did some sort of thing where you were issued a student ID # or it say, worked off of your uni email, where when you logged in, you would be able to get songs for say, $.75??

And maybe $9.99 albums for $7.49

Make it something that's university wise, like a student discount program.

There HAS to be a way.. and that would ensure marketplace dominance. I think that a $.25 loss on each would song would more than be made up for by the sheer volume of students who would download like crazy.
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If you are neting a loss of .25 per song it does not matter HOW many songs are downloaded...it's will still be a loss...the more songs downloaded the greater the loss. It only works when they cut their PROFIT down to maybe 1 cent...and then make it up in volume.
 
Originally posted by Doctor Q
How soon before some U.S. city decides that all of its residents would like music on demand, and buys into the same arrangement as the universities? Funding would come from city taxes. All citizens would be provided access at home or at the public library and it would become just another public utility.

If a majority in some small town favors it "for the common good", is there any reason to think this wouldn't, couldn't, or shouldn't happen?
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dont forget, no matter how wierd this may sound... some people DONT listen to music. And they wouldnt want to pay taxes for something like this.
 
New math

Originally posted by Moxiemike
There HAS to be a way.. and that would ensure marketplace dominance. I think that a $.25 loss on each would song would more than be made up for by the sheer volume of students who would download like crazy.
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Heh heh heh. I think that's what our illustrious educational system calls "creative math". Gotta love it.

Remember way, way back, in 6th grade math class, those silly little rules about multiplying negative numbers?

Anyway, I was going to bring up the same issue, with a slightly different focus. Since Apple claims that they're not making any money on downloads, we can assume that any discount will result in a loss. And since Apple isn't in the habit of selling products at a loss, even for the sake of increasing market share (heck, they won't even sell their hardware at a reasonable margin for the sake of increasing market share!), I'd imagine there's more to this deal than meets the eye. For instance, perhaps the deal will include some other way for Apple to make up for the loss, such as a bulk purchase of iPods. Even with that, it's hard to imagine any kind of a discounted deal that makes money for Apple in the long run, because long after the student body is saturated with iPods, they'll still be downloading discounted tunes, every one of which will cost Apple money.
 
I think the discount would have to come from the music companies and not from Apple itself. If they are already getting a couple of cents per song, then a $0.95 per song doesn't sound appealing.

I would NOT like my university to adopt this, because let's face it: we students are poor. I, personally, would like to see tuition staying the same (going down sounds impossible) rather than going up for free downloads!! I have a huge debt already to pay for my tuition and books! And this year my university increased tuition by almost $800!! Did I mention PUBLIC university? :mad:

Music companies should allow Apple to give the songs at a discount for students. Then Apple should convince universities across the US to encourage students to get music through iTMS... Otherwise or Apple loses or we, students, lose!
 
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