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Apple demonstrates the future of Music distribution
- Thread starter guestgulkan
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CajunCenturion
Programmer
It certainly sounds good on the surface, but a couple of observations and questions.
At 99 cents per track, the cost is roughly the same as a CD is today. The real positive of this approach is that you don't have to pay for the tracks that you don't care for.
But some of questions that I have yet to see the answers for, and are quite related to many of the issues that we've already discussed, if you download a song a second time, do you have to pay for it again? Will you be able for free, to download a song that you've already purchased on a CD, or will you be able to download at no charge some music that you intend to buy as soon as the CD becomes available?
But I do agree guestgulkan - this is a positive direction towards music distribution.
<just kidding>
I'm quite confident that xutopia is really looking forward to this "Microsoft has indicated that it too wants to launch an online music service for its users."
Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
At 99 cents per track, the cost is roughly the same as a CD is today. The real positive of this approach is that you don't have to pay for the tracks that you don't care for.
But some of questions that I have yet to see the answers for, and are quite related to many of the issues that we've already discussed, if you download a song a second time, do you have to pay for it again? Will you be able for free, to download a song that you've already purchased on a CD, or will you be able to download at no charge some music that you intend to buy as soon as the CD becomes available?
But I do agree guestgulkan - this is a positive direction towards music distribution.
<just kidding>
I'm quite confident that xutopia is really looking forward to this "Microsoft has indicated that it too wants to launch an online music service for its users."
Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
It isn't the end of music piracy but might get some casual pirates to think again (I'm talking about the people who pirate one or two tracks to find out if they like a particular artist before going out and buying a CD).
Sadly most pirates are different, they wouldn't buy a CD unless it costs them less than the cost of pirating it (and even then some of them would not buy it "out of principle"
.
Sadly most pirates are different, they wouldn't buy a CD unless it costs them less than the cost of pirating it (and even then some of them would not buy it "out of principle"
.As for general distribution, leaving the piracy issue aside, the downloads are still compressed MP3 style files. Comparable to the uncompressed version from a CD, for listening on good equipment, the system just can't compare with the good 'ol hardcopy CD.
That said, if you're looking for portable music and not concerned about the highest quality, its probably not a bad method to get individual tracks.
That said, if you're looking for portable music and not concerned about the highest quality, its probably not a bad method to get individual tracks.
<<the downloads are still compressed MP3 style files>>
Correct me here, but I had heard that the downloads were in a proprietary format that could only play on Apple's players (maybe with an embedded key that would only allow them to play on the very machine on which they were downloaded). I know the user's would more commonly be putting them on ipods or some other portable playerc--not the mac from which they downloaded it, but the gist I got was that Apple made the format playable on only their hardware, either macs or portable players. Is this true, and would that be easy to hack, or even worth the hack at .99 per song?
--jsteph
Correct me here, but I had heard that the downloads were in a proprietary format that could only play on Apple's players (maybe with an embedded key that would only allow them to play on the very machine on which they were downloaded). I know the user's would more commonly be putting them on ipods or some other portable playerc--not the mac from which they downloaded it, but the gist I got was that Apple made the format playable on only their hardware, either macs or portable players. Is this true, and would that be easy to hack, or even worth the hack at .99 per song?
--jsteph
I was recalling a review so I probably mis-remmeber the MP3 part, but the comparison definately noted that they were a compressed format, as distortion became audible on better equipment.
I guess the point of the article was that as a general distribution format, unless the media companies stop selling CD's - which they won't - the downloadable services will exist merely as more of a side show and not the main event.
I guess the point of the article was that as a general distribution format, unless the media companies stop selling CD's - which they won't - the downloadable services will exist merely as more of a side show and not the main event.
Well for the common user, especially me, this is great! I hate buying whole cds for one song. I also have a portable mp3 player and love it!! Some of my songs are from cds and some from downloads off the internet, either way they sound good to me.
I don't care if I have to pay 99 cents a song, as long as I'm not bound by a contract and I have a wide selection of songs to choose from.
Hurry up Microsoft!
(As far as redownloading, #1 backup, #2 would a music store allow you to pick up a cd for free because you purchased it before but mistakenly broke it just recently?)
I don't care if I have to pay 99 cents a song, as long as I'm not bound by a contract and I have a wide selection of songs to choose from.
Hurry up Microsoft!
(As far as redownloading, #1 backup, #2 would a music store allow you to pick up a cd for free because you purchased it before but mistakenly broke it just recently?)
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