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If you're handy with a Dremmel and duct tape, I could probably get you kitted out with an 8-track.

I can be if you're serious. When I was in my early 20s, I was driving a 1972 Buick Limited with an 8-track, a cassette adapter plugged into the 8-track and a CD adapter plugged into the cassette adapter playing through the system. It sounded very not good.
 
If you think double digit declines in sales for four straight years isn't rapid, then, in radio terms, we're not on the same wavelength.

I think you misunderstand the meaning of rapid. If CDs went redundant within a year, I'd say that was rapid. It's been over a decade and CDs are still used by them who want/need them. Record labels still manufacture albums on CDs. Software vendors still release their products on CDs.

10 is a double digit. If CD sales declined by 10 per year, to me, that is not rapid at all.
 

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rescue - but long term - it pretty much put them under Apple's thumb. Which is why the TV industry isn't so quick to make the same deal.

Rescue is right. Better to be under Apple's legal thumb than that of a world of complete piracy ruled by the likes of players like kazaa and napster.

One brings in money. The other does not.
 
Anecdotally it seems that people whose tastes run more mainstream are having much better results with iRadio, whereas those who're into stuff that might be considered a little more left-field, iRadio is more hit and miss.

Eitherway, it's a non-issue. I want to hear songs that I like, or I'll probably like. Given a decent number of seed albums, iRadio has consistently picked songs that I really don't care for. That makes it useless for its intended purpose for me.

Fair enough, what you're saying makes sense. I've personally found some gems that I would have never found on my own. James Blake was the vibe because I was looking for more, left field Portishead like music but from a few likes and dislikes, all in about a 30 minute drive, it has morphed into something spectacular. On occasion it would attempt to test me with some bull and I would say yes or no. I do like how the like and dislike are more responsive to change. It seemed that with Pandora you had to dislike mulitple songs in a row for it to realize, "OH YOU DON'T WANT THIS?"
 
Remarkably every single day while walking the dog or riding my bike in Central Park I see horses and buggies. Conversely, although I see my CD collection sitting on the shelf (long since imported into iTunes as Apple Lossless), weeks if not months go by without actually witnessing someone play a CD. So yeah, in my experience the CD is deader than the horse and buggy.

Ok - I think we both know that the horse and buggies you see are novelty and not modes of actual transportation throughout the city. They are for tourists or those about to propose ;)

Funny that you maintain that VDs are "dead" yet you still hold onto yours. Why is that? You've already imported them. I just find that interesting. Especially since you can scan in the artwork too :)
 
I find iTunes Radio far, far inferior to pandora. Far more songs that are nowhere close to what I want, and it continues to play songs that I've said "don't play again."

It's never done that for me, but it's played songs from the same artist.
 
Agreed! I have made several purchases using iTunes Radio as it is super convenient and I don't have to put forth any effort like I do with Amazon MP3 store. Who has time to download to the computer, rip to iTunes, THEN synch their iDevice to save a few pennies (sometimes songs through iTunes are $1.29 versus $0.99 via Amazon)? To me, the convenience alone is worth it.
Same here. Glad to see I am not the only one who thinks the algorithm iTunes uses kicks ass.
 
Yet iTunes is one of the greatest inventions for the consumer.

The music industry, (like many/all industries) is incredibly corrupt, and it is impossible to please everyone.
 
I concur with everyone who has stated that they have had a better experience with iTunes Radio than Pandora and/or Spotify. So much so, in fact, that this is actually compelling me to purchase iTunes Match, just so that I can go commercial free. My wife found an iTunes featured station yesterday that was pretty awesome. We listened to it for like 4 hours last night. Can't say that I've ever listened to Pandora longer than 20 minutes.
 
iTunes Radio needs a lot of work before I will quit Pandora. I did an experiment where I created the same station on each, seeding each with the same 9 artists from 3 genres, and listed to each for a week.

I noticed I got a lot more variety from Pandora. It mixed up genres and artists pretty well, although it would frequently get on a run of 4-5 songs from one genre. During my time listening to Pandora, I heard repeated songs infrequently and was exposed to over 20 new artists. My seed artist did seem to get preference, but they didn't dominate airplay.

iTunes seemed to play primarily only from one genre, and was very repetitive. I heard "Crash into Me" by Dave Matthews Band at least 10 times and I didn't have DMB as a seed artist. The second and fourth songs played were both "Copperhead Road" by Steve Earle (also not a seed artist). This happened several times with other songs where on a song was repeated with just a few songs played between. Probably 10-15% of the total songs I heard were from just one band I did use as a seed artist (The Goo Goo Dolls), but I didn't even hear about of my seed artists at all. There were a lot of songs and artists I already knew played, very little new; I counted only 4 artists I had never heard of before.

I think iTunes Radio is good. Their pre-programmed stations seem to work quite well, and as an iTunes Match subscriber, I love not having commercials. Being able to easily buy/wishlist a song is also a big plus. But the biggest advantage Pandora has in it's favor is it's customized station algorithm. Until Apple can improve theirs to be on par with Pandora, I will be relying heavily on Pandora.
 
Detrimental to his business model

Advantageous to me - helps me discover new music and buy straight from within the app - or add to wish list

So for me useful :)

I agree 100%. With iTunes his business model would not even exist.
 
There's a difference.

CDs are still "in play" - how many horse and buggies do you see typically?

Your post reads like a quote from an Apple keynote. In fact I am sure I've heard it exactly like that...

How are CDs still really in play? The same way blockbuster is in play?

Where's Sam Goody, Tower Records, Coconuts, etc.?
 
On the notion that iTunes "disintermediated the entire CD business" . . .

First, I had to go look up "disintermediate" (which seemed like a perfectly cromulent word).

So, from what I can tell, disintermediate means cutting out the middlemen.

So this CEO is basically saying that iTunes was a negative thing because it cut out guys who stamp CDs and guys who drive the trucks to deliver the CDs to the stores and the employees that work at those stores.

Okay... I get what he's saying. But how is Pandora's model any different??? All those digital services "disintermediated" the traditional music distribution system, so why does Apple give the pitchfork and horns while Pandora get the cute halo?

Add "disintermediate" to my list of cue words for listen for and subsequently tune out of someone's argument (along with gems like "synergistic," "paradigm-changing," etc.)
 
...Calls iTunes 'Detrimental' to Music Industry

Macromors bot has a reading comprehension issue.
He actually said iTunes was detrimental to Pandora's ability to make deals with record companies. He implies that since it distrupted the music business so much, the record companies are leary of making future deals where they might again lose power.

(Of course, there's no hope for the record companies. It was the internet that
"disintermediated" the music business, not iTunes. iTunes has actually given them a life-line where they can remain relevant enough to at least stay in business. That's their real problem: they don't understand what has been happening--well, it's mostly already happened--so they don't know how to make any significant deals.)
 
CD sales are forever declining. itunes created a better market for music sales.

Again - that doesn't mean CDs are currently dead. They are in a decline. And have been. That doesn't mean they are dead. No matter how you want to phrase it. I never argued that iTunes was better or worse for the market either.
 
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