Apple Music Service
Posted April 25th, 2003 @ 03:40pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Just quoting this Billboard.com article about Apple's "rumored" music service.
"Label sources tell Bulletin that the service is an a la carte download store -- not unlike that of rival Liquid Audio -- that is built into Apple's iTunes player. No subscription is required for the service, and tracks are expected to retail for an average of 99 cents. Once purchased, tracks are transferred to the consumer's iTunes music library and are automatically synched to the user's iPod portable player.
Content can also be burned to CD. Credit-card information is stored on file in the store's shopping-cart system so the consumer does not have to re-enter the information for each purchase. The offering is expected to be made available initially only to users of Apple computers.
Some people have said that a buck a track is a lot. After all, fifteen songs = $15 and that's the cost of a CD, but you don't get the actual physical media, you don't get the liner notes, you don't get the album art, etc. I'll wait to give my opinion, if I ever do, until "rumor" becomes a bit more than rumor.
Donate Life
Posted 25 Apr 2003 at 3:59pm #
True you don't get all the things other than data that you get with a CD / Minidisc / whatever, but you also don't have the 'wastage' of buying a whole album and only liking two thirds of the tracks on it. If you think of the cost of a CD being per song-you-actually-listen-to then most times it will come up at more than $1 per track.
Or I could be wrong. 🙂
Posted 25 Apr 2003 at 4:03pm #
Maybe they will also offer a discount for buying a complete album at once. I read that on one of the rumor sites. Most likely just speculation, but I think that would be fair.
Posted 25 Apr 2003 at 4:55pm #
Apple's big music announcement
If you’re an Apple fan, and you haven’t been living under a rock the past few weeks, then you know that Apple is planning a big event for Monday that will be “Music to your ears.” Most are expecting some...
Posted 25 Apr 2003 at 9:43pm #
Complete albums are *supposed* to ring in at $10.
Also the 99 cents bit is an average - perhaps for shorter tracks (like almost any punk song that is any 1:30 long) it will be less? Who knows...
Posted 26 Apr 2003 at 12:37am #
I'll pay the used store 4-9 dollars for the pre-owned copies. Then again, a big 'bah' on modern music anyway, and a pox on the record companies that still try to market absolute crap.
Posted 26 Apr 2003 at 3:38pm #
It's all about the consumers perspective for sure. But try to take the point of view of an artist: If you release an album, there is probably an agenda or a concept when you put some tracks together. Calling it a 'wastage' can't be a fair or general statement.
On the other hand, Erics argument that you miss a lot of benefits if you just download the tracks is also true. Mmmh...