Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Steve Jobs is "a visionary, but he's on the wrong platform."

Yeah, bring it to Europe
I have my list of 126 songs ready for that special day
And I will throw in an order for a 30g i-pod
 
Same deal.....

There is a reason why I believe that Apple might get the same deal for their Windows store ..... if anything of what I am going to say is innaccurate please correct me:

The first online musci stores had severe limitations. They didn't include hits or well known artists, you were "renting" the music rather than owning it and at the end they had severe restrictions.

BuyMusic seems to be overcoming these but they couldn't get a more forgiving restriction deal because they control nothing. All they do is make a website load a few servers with tracks and that is it. They do not control the software player or DRM - MS controls that - they do not control the hardware players and they do not control the computers. They assume that you like Windows Media Player 9 and they also assume that you kinda have to have an SDMI compliant MP3 player in order to avoid restrictions on playing the music on the go. These are pretty strong assumptions given that WMP9 is a so so software and there are many better choices in the PC world and also I can't see the average Joe going at BestBuy or CC and asking for an SDMI compliant player.......

On the other side Apple controls everything and at that it is the only company that does. It controls the software player it makes the website it controls the DRM and it controls the hardware. Porting it to Windows removes no control over the music. It will still control the DRM and the software player, still make the website and of course it makes the most popular MP3 player on the market. The restrictions are there you have to assume that iTunes will be the only player that will playback the downloaded music and I can see iPod being the only MP3 player for the AAC tracks as well. But these matter much less simply because the experience is consistent and if I say so my self positive. On the buymusic the experience is patched up by 4 different parties....

To conclude I believe that the control Apple has on the whole circle of the product (hardware, software, DRM, website) gives it a distinct edge when compared to buymusic or any one else that tries to sell music online. I know that the record industry has been closed minded but I think this is what they saw and let the DRM be loose on the iTMS, and this is why I believe they will keep more or less the same deal for windows iTMS.
 
vrapan, i feel you observations are very astute.
with apple being in control of all elements of the chain, they will run circles around any other venture which just offers the internet access to music.

in the heydays of the internet people introduced trading or selling platforms for dog food and toilet paper. the dog food producers and toilet paper companies are still there - the platforms have disappeared.

as such apple has the edge and i just hope they will wrap it up nicely for the windows market too.
 
Re: Same deal.....

Originally posted by vrapan
There is a reason why I believe that Apple might get the same deal for their Windows store ..... if anything of what I am going to say is innaccurate please correct me:

The first online musci stores had severe limitations. They didn't include hits or well known artists, you were "renting" the music rather than owning it and at the end they had severe restrictions.

BuyMusic seems to be overcoming these but they couldn't get a more forgiving restriction deal because they control nothing. All they do is make a website load a few servers with tracks and that is it. They do not control the software player or DRM - MS controls that - they do not control the hardware players and they do not control the computers. They assume that you like Windows Media Player 9 and they also assume that you kinda have to have an SDMI compliant MP3 player in order to avoid restrictions on playing the music on the go. These are pretty strong assumptions given that WMP9 is a so so software and there are many better choices in the PC world and also I can't see the average Joe going at BestBuy or CC and asking for an SDMI compliant player.......

On the other side Apple controls everything and at that it is the only company that does. It controls the software player it makes the website it controls the DRM and it controls the hardware. Porting it to Windows removes no control over the music. It will still control the DRM and the software player, still make the website and of course it makes the most popular MP3 player on the market. The restrictions are there you have to assume that iTunes will be the only player that will playback the downloaded music and I can see iPod being the only MP3 player for the AAC tracks as well. But these matter much less simply because the experience is consistent and if I say so my self positive. On the buymusic the experience is patched up by 4 different parties....

To conclude I believe that the control Apple has on the whole circle of the product (hardware, software, DRM, website) gives it a distinct edge when compared to buymusic or any one else that tries to sell music online. I know that the record industry has been closed minded but I think this is what they saw and let the DRM be loose on the iTMS, and this is why I believe they will keep more or less the same deal for windows iTMS.
Click to expand...

On the same note Mircosoft is rumored to be making a music service and they will have the same advantages as Apple except they don't have a Portable Player, but luckily it will probably be in WMA and use Windows Media Player 9. Seems like all the new music services coming out on the PC are going to be using WMP9 except for maybe MusicMatch.
 
scott blume on howard stern

that dick actualy said he's the first legal online music store. i called in and was put on hold but never got through. what a total ass. the only reason he even got on was because he was riding tommy lee's coat-tails!!
 
Re: scott blume on howard stern

Originally posted by jaison13
that dick actualy said he's the first legal online music store. i called in and was put on hold but never got through. what a total ass. the only reason he even got on was because he was riding tommy lee's coat-tails!!
Click to expand...
now are you sure it was blum and not michael dell ;)

iJon
 
record company executives

Record company executives better start wising up to the fact that if they don't go with the future and stop looking for ways to control that which they haven't been able to control since the cassette tape, a whole generation of kids will rebel. They better start unclenching!
 
Microsoft deal....

I have heard about that and this is why I dont believe that even MS can come close.

One main thing is that MS WMP9 DRM is a mess. I used it and it puts restrictions as soon as you turn it on and the restrictions are harsh. For example my brother ripped one CD of his an sent it to me to listen to it and because it had mistakenly turned on I couldn't listen to it, I couldn't copy it on my MP3 player - non sdmi one, and he couldn't even play it on his laptop. Enabling DRM and disabling it is pretty confusing for the average PC user.

On top of that the lack of a portable player is a big blow. For one thing iPod is the most popular player and it does not play WMP files. So they will have to rely on other players which may or may not enforce DRM, many PC users use other programs to play their files why would they give up their choice and at the end there is a big deal with DRM on PC. Never has gotten it right a few months ago I bought a Sony MP3 player very slick and all only to return it back because I could do nothing with my music. I had to reencode all my songs to the Atrac format, because the player wouldnt play MP3s, and you had to deal with a whole notion of export import songs from a buggy horrible software in order to be able to use it. The import export never workes correctly and I took back the player in matter of weeks.

So why would someone want a mediocre MP3 player and use so so software (WMP9), if Apple manages to provide the experience of iTMS as well as it has on Mac. I believe that Apple is in a unique position to enjoy the benefits of this market. An excellent MP3 player will encourage digital music downloading which in turn will sell more iPods. iTunes is not the most feature rich software player but it is by a large margin the slickest easiest and most intuitive out there, I have tried to burn and manage my music collection through MusicMatch, Music Player and WMP9 over and over again let me tell you it is a painfull experience. I dont think that MS can provide anything near what Apple is right now unless they create a neat Portable Player and much better WMP.
 
Oh and I forgot

Why the music labels will cut a sweet deal for MS since their DRM was recently cracked? I think MS has proved its ineffectiveness on protecting their OS from hacks I dont think that any label will give loose restrictions for a DRM technology that has proven well insecure.
 
Record Labels

Record labels are currently bleeding profusely. Every major label is basically on the table w/ no buyers. I don't feel sorry for them in any way. I was in the Music Retail business for many years; they screwed their customers (accounts), artists, and end users (customers) for years and years while they raked in the bucks. The profit margins for retailers have been cut so low over the years that retailers could not make any money selling them. The Japanese bought the marketplace in the late 80's then killed off the remaining retailers by selling to WalMart/Target loss leaders. That's why you can only find Britney Spears/NSync garbage on store shelves today. Try to find any type of deep catalog- good luck. Now they are sending out the RIAA nazis out to hunt down the Napsters of the world in an attempt to minimize their blood loss. I have no doubt they will hook up w/ MS/AOL/TimeWarner next and do their fortress building.
What needs to happen:
Some big group/artist needs to not renew their contract and become a free agent- selling to whomever they please on THEIR TERMS. They no longer need Labels to pay for their recordings. Record your album(s) and sell it to whomever (they damn well) please...
 
Windows iPod

I'm trying to remember.. but does the Windows activated iPod have AAC playback? If not, then I'm sure it will be "upgraded" with AAC once iTMS launches for Windows. Anyone given that a thought?
 
Scott Blum in action...

OK, this is pretty good...

I was listening to Howard Stern this morning, and Tommy Lee is on there. Guess who else he brought?

Scott Blum, surprise, surprise.

And you can just imagine somehow they managed to start talking about this wonderful "new" service called BuyMusic.com.

But, here's the icing on the cake. Blum refers to it as, "The world's first legal way to download music."

And, "The songs are only 79¢."

This guy makes me sick. He also pimped his new Tommy Lee ad in Times Square. It was pretty funny though, when Howard asked Lee how he was involved in this. Tommy just mentioned that they were friends and Scott had this cool new site, so he helped him out. That was it. Honestly it sounded like Tommy didn't real care or know much about it.
 
A Simple Song Counter

Here is a quick tip for Apple...put a counter on the ITMS Page that let's people know the total number of songs currently available for download...each week songs get added the counter goes up...then we'll know when we reach 300,000 songs!

Angus
 
Re: Windows iPod

Originally posted by crees!
I'm trying to remember.. but does the Windows activated iPod have AAC playback? If not, then I'm sure it will be "upgraded" with AAC once iTMS launches for Windows. Anyone given that a thought?
Click to expand...

wel, i would say it is safe to assume so because the same iPods work on Mac and Windows. it's not like if ou plug it into a PC it will say to itself that it won't play AAC files. and if that's not the case a little software update could do that.
 
Re: Re: Windows iPod

Originally posted by bennetsaysargh
wel, i would say it is safe to assume so because the same iPods work on Mac and Windows. it's not like if ou plug it into a PC it will say to itself that it won't play AAC files. and if that's not the case a little software update could do that.
Click to expand...

You are correct Bennetsaysargh. The older ipods were given AAC compatability with v1.3 of the software and all of the new ipods came with AAC support standard. We just can't use iTunes or the music store to get AAC files.

Alia
 
Misleading numbers

They are not only lying baotu prices, but what is available. If you go to each genre and list all of the songs avaible in that genre, you can get a break down of what is available. I did all of the genres and it is barely a third of what they are claiming to have:
Alternative 11565
Blues 3927
Country 10597
Jazz 22074
Metal 4835
New Age 1649
Oldies 2151
Pop/Rock 11557
R&B 15457
Rap & Hiphop 12408
Reggae 2138
Soundtracks 333
World 12794
Total 111485

This is NOT 300,000 songs!
 
Re: Misleading numbers

Originally posted by ptd
They are not only lying baotu prices, but what is available. If you go to each genre and list all of the songs avaible in that genre, you can get a break down of what is available. I did all of the genres and it is barely a third of what they are claiming to have:
Alternative 11565
Blues 3927
Country 10597
Jazz 22074
Metal 4835
New Age 1649
Oldies 2151
Pop/Rock 11557
R&B 15457
Rap & Hiphop 12408
Reggae 2138
Soundtracks 333
World 12794
Total 111485

This is NOT 300,000 songs!
Click to expand...

I wonder if this is the songs that are currently available for download, as opposed to the number of songs that are in their database... subtle difference.

(Although, presumably, all of the songs in their database will eventually be available for download...)
 
waiting for a "clean, clean service"

from the techlive article
Lee Black, a senior analyst with Jupiter Media, says, "I think it's going to take six to eight months before we really get a clean, clean service that fuses both hardware and software into portable devices for consumers the way Apple does."
Click to expand...

Six to eight months? iTMS for Windows will be there, ready to serve!
 
It all depends on teh song. SOme are ripped from teh CD. Others are taken directly from the master copy. (DAT?) In either case, it's not entirely clear who does the ripping. Obviously, if they come from the original DAT, the music companies might actually have a hand in the actual ripping.



Originally posted by MasterX (OSiX)
I assumed that the big 5 provided apple will the sources. It's possible that this doesn't mean CD, but I can't see Apple wanting to re-enter the CDDB. I assumed for this reason for most songs Apple is using the CD, most likely with some heavily automated system which randomly selects 30 seconds, compresses that, compresses the song into AAC, then adds the DRM with lord knows what sottware.

Anyone remember hearing anything more concrete?
Click to expand...
 
iTMS

Actually, Apple is provided the actual masters in most cases, as well as the cddb info. This means that from master to aac, the quality can be better than the cd in some cases.

I doubt this new buymusic.com can match the quality that Apple has with AAC. Certainly can't match the convienence.

Jaedreth
 
Re: $7.99

OH it's probably true. ABout 95% of the songs on iTMS are $0.99 per song or $9.99 per album.

However, there are a few that are cheaper or pricier, depending on the artist, album, etc. For example, a 4-Disc Elton John compilation goes for $39.96 ($9.99 x 4), and one of his albums goes for $11.99, same with Tina Turner ($14.99). I believe I saw a single going for $1.19 too. I forget who though.

THe difference between BM.com and iTMS is that iTMS's overwhelming majority of songs actually sells for the advertised price.


Originally posted by mclosers
THere is a Vivaldi(classical) cd (26 songs) on the itunes music store for $7.99

Not sure if this is new or not
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back