This article is a complete mess. The headline says they will eliminate downloads but, then goes on to say they are "keeping their options open" - you're either pregnant or not - which is it?
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Report Insists Apple Will Eliminate iTunes Store Music Downloads in Future
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So you don't travel that much and live in an urban area? Or are you talking just about your neighborhood?
Isn't that essentially what they've already done with Apple Music? I don't think it would be that difficult someday to turn off the switch once downloads drop below a certain threshold. The future is in streaming. Now if only the movie and TV studios would understand that, instead of giving us half-baked options or limited content and virtually no live options.
Luckily for me I grew up closer to the streaming generation so I never spent very much in the iTMS. Sure, music downloads were popular in high school (as well as illegal downloads through Napster, Limewire, etc). But I couldn't afford an MP3 player back then and still had some CDs and such. Then in college I started using Pandora, then Spotify, and later Rdio, then Apple Music. Why? Because I like too many different genres of music, so buying it all outright would be way too expensive all at once. I think that's where the market is headed. People like to curate their own music and discover new stuff to listen to. People aren't shoved into a box anymore on what they like. The internet has opened up freedom of expression massively, and now we're no longer as limited. It has been incredibly transformative and allowed many smaller artists to gain more exposure.
Likewise, I see the same thing happening with streaming video on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, etc. People can put together high-quality shows with the ease of modern technology, software, and widely-available education on how to do complex things such as lighting and editing through online tutorials and videos. And they can live broadcast with the press of a button. It's incredibly empowering and it's only going to keep moving in that direction, blurring the lines between professional and amateur content to the point that we wonder if there should even be a distinction.
Apple will just delete your music from your device in case having theirs and yours together would be confusing for you.
/s.
Downloads are a dying business. The the idea of paying for specific downloaded files is completely foreign to the younger generation. For them, it's been Spotify/Pandora/Netflix/Youtube, all access or nothing. It won't happen overnight, but downloads are going to look like Blockbuster Video in 5 years.
I don't think so, as long as there is a customer base someone is going to supply the goods. Even vinyl never completely went away and that's making a bit of a comeback.
Weirdly the digital economy is eroding the concept of ownership, just not in they way we perhaps thought.
Maybe Apple is just re-thinking the name, "iTunes" since iTunes isn't just about tunes, it's tv shows, podcasts, movies as well as music. The name, iTunes is outmoded by content.
The difference is that when you cancel the service you have nothing. I don't want to pay yet another monthly fee.
iTunes purchases gave an inexpensive incentive to own music legally rather than steal it. Rather than pirate music, for a buck, you could have a legal right to only the songs you wanted.
Some people do not want subscriptions. This will drive people back to torrenting.
Some people do not want subscriptions. This will drive people back to torrenting.
You've read the article wrong. You can still download the actual file to your computer (and sync to your iPod) and listen to it without continually burning data. You can do that right now with both Apple Music and Spotify allowing 'offline' listening. Of course they wouldn't remove that ability.
They are just talking about removing paid purchases of individual songs or albums. So no more .99 songs or $14.99 albums.
Basically, going full Spotify style and just having Apple Music as the only 'paid' way to get music from Apple.
Makes a lot of sense if paid downloads were $3.9 Billion in 2012 and forecast for $600 Million in 2019.
Personally I think it sucks as artists get destroyed by streaming services and barely make a thing. It's tough enough for them now as it is. But I guess that's the way consumers are going. The sales figures don't lie.
I've never streamed a single song and I doubt I ever will.
I have been a happy user and strong proponent of Apple for over a decade, and I am not yet ready to jump ship, but over the past year I have begun to seriously analyze the alternatives. It's not for me to say whether or not Apple is headed in the "right" direction, but it seems that they may not be headed in the right direction for me. It seems pretty clear to me that the future is very cloud-centric which, it seems, is Apple's biggest weakness.
Lol typical forum responses. Y'all realize we are in the minority here right?
I'm in a business of selling products and services that have to do with connecting people's phones to their car electronics and let me tell you 9.9/10 of my customers always open up some sort of streaming services. No one buys CDs and no one is bringing up their music collection they bought on iTunes.
I personally love Apple Music. I also love buying CDs and the occasional iTunes song/Amazon song.
It's ok to do and like multiple formats..
I'm in a business of selling products and services that have to do with connecting people's phones to their car electronics and let me tell you 9.9/10 of my customers always open up some sort of streaming services. No one buys CDs and no one is bringing up their music collection they bought on iTunes.
I personally love Apple Music. I also love buying CDs and the occasional iTunes song/Amazon song.
It's ok to do and like multiple formats..
Well, that way they can justify keeping hardware storage sizes undersized and cheaper, while charging a premium for the device and service that replaces it.
Great decision made by bean counters.
Great way to lose people who desire their mobile devices to continue to function while mobile.
Great decision made by bean counters.
Great way to lose people who desire their mobile devices to continue to function while mobile.
Why cancel the service? Do you no longer want to listen to music?
Come to the dark side, do you really listen to this "collection" of yours years after buying a song/album? I find it's usually the same people who like to collect DVD's, Bluray's and then watch the movie only twice ever. Meanwhile they paid like $25-35 for the physical copy and could have rented it for way cheaper. Not actually trying to convince you, I totally understand we all have different media consumption styles. I guess my basic point is I don't understand why people collect music, I always grow out of my music. What I listened to 5-10 years ago I'm not really into now. Even stuff from 2-3 years ago I'll have played so much when it came out I'll be over it now. Basically, I'm finding so much awesome new music for so cheap on Spotify I don't have time for collections and nostalgia!
These reports of downloads going away crack me up.
Lol same here
This.
And lol nice analogy. So far out of the comments I've read yours wins best comment and the Internet
It's the only physical music medium that's GROWN in recent years.
Sure, still a tiny fraction of the market, but positive signs none the less.
In Australia they are just about to open new Vinyl presses to keep up with demand.
they'all either sell it through their own store or stream it. What else do you think they'll do?
They could be following the Netflix model. You don't own any movies on Netflix, but you can watch them as much as you want. As you know, Netflix is insanely popular.
If Apple were to do this, I would download all of my media from them and use another service/device. I'll convert the files to a different music codec if I have to.
If Apple were to do this, I would download all of my media from them and use another service/device. I'll convert the files to a different music codec if I have to.