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Why iTunes?

M

macDonalds

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 8, 2007
448
0
Hey all, I've been out of the music downloading craze for quite some time. Getting back into it now, I'm starting to weigh my options. The iTunes store is an obvious choice, however with the DRM restrictions (and admittedly I don't understand 100% of it), why would someone choose IT over another service like say Amazon which is DRM free?

Let me answer my own question by saying that the integration into iTunes is nice. Also, having an iPhone would allow me to easily purchase over wifi. I just don't know if that simplicity can overpower the fact of the computer restrictions.

Thanks.
 
Apple like everyone else is getting away from DRM, so a lot of what you find on iTunes is DRM free these days.

Yes another option is the Amazon music store. They are DRM free and they have a nifty little application that downloads to the Mac making it even easier to download purchased music.

iTunes and Amazon are what I use (more the former than the latter). Personally I never found the Apple DRM to be all that restricting but any DRM is stupid I agree, it only stops the good guys.
 
it's not either/or. use whatever service(s) work(s) for you. i use both Amazon and iTunes.
 
Well music videos, movies, games(not anymore for me, but for some), audiobooks...plus it already in my media player, simple. Huge for some people(personally I just like it)

Also the iPhone/AppleTV stores use iTunes, while Amazon can't be used on those devices.

Also iTunes has more songs(I believe this is still true) and personally I like the interface more.

And when lots of people started this, Amazon wasn't around. The fairly new in the US, and very new in other parts of the world. iTunes has been around a bit longer
 
The main answer is simplicity. I had a Creative Nomad mp3 player many years ago (it had a whopping 128MB capacity). I played mp3s on my computer using either WinAMP or Musicmatch Jukebox and then had other software to sync to the Nomad. It was a really annoying process.

I started using iTunes when Pepsi did the free song giveaways. I had been looking for better music-managing software, and it was FREE. The iTunes Music Store was way easier to use than anything I had tried online, so I kept with it. I started out with an iPod Shuffle and then went to the 5G iPod later that year.

I could really give a rat's patoot about the DRM on the songs. I don't see myself going away from iPod, and if I did, I can just burn these songs to CDs and then rip them back. But I have no reason to go away from iPods because they're BY FAR the best portable media players on the market. Just like PC vs. Mac, you get what you pay for. People get suckered in on that low price on other devices. An HP laptop taught me my lesson on that many moons ago.
 
The Pepsi giveaway! That was the campaign that really got me going with iTunes as well. Before that I was mainly ripping my CD collection.
 
Hehe, the Pepsi giveaway is what started me on Apple products in general. First it was iTunes, then an iPod mini, shuffle, 5G iPod, AirPort Express, MacBook, Leopard, and (in June) an iPhone.

Thanks, Pepsi. :D
 
For me, it's simply the integration and (whaddya know) ease of use. On vista, trying to burn a c.d. with Windows Media is torturous sometimes, and I can only recall iTunes messing up one c.d. I've burned with it.

And besides those reasons, I use an iPod, so...
 
Nermal said:
For me, it's because iTunes is the only Mac-compatible service available in my country.
Click to expand...

+1.

But even if Amazon went international tomorrow, I'm not sure I'd change my buying habits. I like iTunes, I like the iTunes Store, and I want it to continue. I want there to be enough interest that eventually the New Zealand iTunes Store gets movies and TV shows. I can't see myself switching from iPods--even if they stopped making iPods I like, it's not like there aren't scores of them available in usable condition second-hand. Basically, in order to get me to move from what works for me, the alternative (and there aren't any here yet) would have to be significantly and consistently cheaper and at least as simple as the iTunes way.
 
Why?

Because like others say, it's just so darned easy to use.

I buy music and videos with just one click, it downloads, I connect my iPhone/iPod and it syncs and is all transfered in just seconds.

I don't care if it's DRM or not, I just want my music the easiest way without having to waste time going across town to the CD store that has what I want.

Not only that, I can download music right on my iPhone. It doesn't get any more easier than that.
 
From what I remember from way back when the iTunes store first opened the DRM works Thusly.

you can listen to a purchased song on
[1] upto 5 authorised computers,
[2] unlimited no of iPods (cos you can only sync to one computer at a time and there for cant (easily i.e. most people cant) move songs from an iPod to a non synced computer)
[3] burn the song in a playlist to a CD 10 times.

now what this means is that husband, wife, and 3 kids can all have their own mac/PC with iTunes on and listen to a purchased song, if they all had an iPod classic (to hold all their music) an iPhone and a shuffle or nano (for the gym) all could sync their iPods and hear the purchased song. If little suzie made up a mix CD containing a DRM song for her friends she could only burn 10 coppies of that exact playlist to CD, if she then changed the order she could burn it another 10 times, the same goes for adding/subtracting or changing even one track on that playlist. it dose NOT mean she can only burn that one song only 10 times.

That clear things up for ya?
 
thegilly said:
+1.

But even if Amazon went international tomorrow, I'm not sure I'd change my buying habits.
Click to expand...

I certainly would. Amazon has no DRM, so that's where I'd buy from. Even now I'm buying CDs instead of albums from iTunes just because I've been stung with DRM in the past.

If the album is available from iTunes DRM-free then that is of course where I buy it from, but otherwise I get it on CD.
 
I never thought we'd stop buying CDs, but now, years later, I can't tell you the last time we bought a physical-media CD for music. I've only ever browsed Amazon if I can't find what I'm looking for in the iTunes store.

Ultimately, I have never found the DRM to be a big issue. For a while, a long time ago, it annoyed me that I couldn't (easily) make MP3 CDs out of purchased music, but now that we're a multiple iPod, HiFi, AppleTV family it's not an issue. We don't even have a traditional "stereo" anymore.
 
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