“Apple Computer is becoming the Microsoft of digital music, and that’s not a good thing for either consumers or the music industry. The powerful combination of Apple’s iTunes online store and iPod audio/video players is grabbing so much market share that competitors — until now, at least — aren’t getting a toehold. Microsoft is often criticized for creating a ‘monoculture’ with its Windows operating system. More than 90 percent of the world’s personal computers run Windows, leaving little incentive or opportunity for operating-system competition,” Mike Langberg writes for The San Jose Mercury News. “Ironically, no one knows this better than Apple, with its Macintosh computers confined to a global market share well under 5 percent. Windows users have always faced a huge barrier to exit; they’d have to buy new computers and software to say goodbye to Microsoft.”
“Apple is now creating a similar kind of tollbooth. If you buy music or video clips from iTunes, they will only work on one portable player: the iPod. Once you’ve purchased several dozen albums from iTunes, it’s not likely you’ll switch away from the iPod. If you buy an iPod, it will only play music and video purchased online from one store: iTunes. You can’t try music downloads from rival services such as those offered by America Online, Napster, Rhapsody and Yahoo. Apple’s clout was clearly displayed earlier this month when the Cupertino company arm-twisted the major record labels into continuing to sell all songs at 99 cents. The labels wanted to price hot new singles higher, and older back-catalog tracks lower. But Apple still believes in one-size-fits-all. Whether or not that’s the best deal for consumers is hard to say, because no other music service is offering an alternative.”
Full article here.
Wait a second. Didn’t Langberg open his piece by saying Appe’s iPod+iTunes is “not a good thing for either consumers or the music industry?” So what’s with the wondering, “whether or not that’s the best deal for consumers is hard to say?” Didn’t you already tell us what to think from your opening line, Mike? Then Langberg writes that “no other music service is offering an alternative,” before launching into a paean for MTV’s and Microsoft’s URGE outfit. Schizo much, Mike?
MTV’s and Microsoft’s URGE will fail to touch Apple. How can we be so confident? Oh, just a whim and about fifty previous failures of other Windows-only outfits based on cobbling together Microsoft’s also-ran online music format with third-party digital music players that nobody wants or owns.
Microsoft and MTV might succeed in wiping Napster’s and Real’s services off the map and win the race for Apple’s table scraps, but that’s about the best they can expect. As long as these services can’t work with the iPod and exclude Mac users, they have no chance against Apple who makes iPods for every budget and offers an excellent free iTunes music jukebox with the built-in iTunes Music Store for both Mac and Windows PC users. By the way, Apple’s iPod supports these formats: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, WAV, and AIFF.
As these outfits keep failing, what’s the recurring component of failure in every single case? Microsoft. Perhaps these new services ought to forgo the dead weight of Microsoft and maybe they’d have a real chance? Just a suggestion.
Yes, competition is good, but only when it’s good competition. Otherwise, it just ends up wasting time and money for consumers who make the wrong choice.
MacDailyNews/iPodDailyNews Note: Today is Memorial Day in the U.S. There will be limited posting today.
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Related articles:
MTV URGE will have hard time competing with also-rans Rhapsody, Yahoo and Napster, let alone Apple – May 21, 2006
USA Today reviews URGE music service: crashed often, not all videos played, trouble playing music – May 18, 2006
MTV, Microsoft URGE music service begins life with a severe handicap – May 17, 2006
MTV’s and Microsoft’s URGE should concern also-rans like Real, Napster and Sony – not Apple – May 15, 2006
MTV’s and Microsoft’s iPod-incompatible URGE online music outfit faces uphill battle – May 15, 2006
EMI Music Chairman: Music subscription services like Napster and Rhapsody haven’t beeen huge – January 23, 2006
Oppenheimer downgrades RealNetworks based on Microsoft’s ‘URGE’ partnership with MTV – December 15, 2005
MTV-Microsoft URGE music service not targeting iPod, iTunes users; Real CEO PlayedForSure? – December 13, 2005
MTV and Microsoft team up for new digital music service ‘URGE’ – December 13, 2005
Apple’s vs. Microsoft’s music DRM: whose solution supports more users? – August 17, 2005
Study shows Apple iTunes Music Store pay-per-download model preferred over subscription service – April 11, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: iRiver gives up on digital media player market – May 23, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Sony’s Walkman Bean is cooked – February 13, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Dell dumps ‘DJ’ hard-drive MP3 player line – February 04, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: iRiver pulling out of Europe? – February 01, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Thomson gives up on MP3 player, CE markets – December 12, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: BenQ withdraws from MP3 player markets – November 28, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Olympus halts production of portable digital music players – November 09, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Rio is dead – August 26, 2005
Apple’s iPod has blood on its Click Wheel: Virgin Electronics is dead – March 08, 2005
Me? First here! WOW
You can keep us posted only if other schizo guy says something stupid about Apple’s products
PEACE
>>If you buy an iPod, it will only play music and video purchased online from one store: iTunes.
So all those mp3s and video podcasts –none received through iTunes, by the way– really aren’t playing on my iPod?? I must be hallucinating then.
When will the misinformation stop??!
Must have white plastic music thing…ummm click wheel….earbuds comforting….music access limited – DOH!
With music players you have the choice of two proprietary monocultures: Apple’s or Microsoft’s. It doesn’t matter that Microsoft will license its proprietary format because the entire enterprise is still controlled by Microsoft and the record companies. Apple, at least, has a history of opposing the record companies; they have stuck to 99 cents because there is no doubt that it’s what customers want.
Competition in the music store business is a mirage because there is only one source for the goods. Apple is the first company in decades to have something to hold over the heads of record execs to make sure they behave. If they gave that up, things would get ugly.
Magic word “really”.
I love those authors who advocate the free market according to Lenin — share the market so everyone has an equal chance. What crap! This has nothing to do with equality and everything to do with what people will buy.
If Apple makes the best product, or markets the best, or convinces people they are the best, or finds a better price point, fine. They are not preventing other companies from having access to the market. And to extend the analysis, neither is Microsoft. M$ Winbloats may suck, but they have a right to suck if that is their business model and/or they are still able to serve their shareholders. If the market gets fed up enough, M$ will lose market share and may, someday, be forced not to suck. Unlikely, but it is the way free markets work. Apple can grab a 90% market share anytime it wanted OS X IF they can design a model that is effective enough/well funded enough and is accompanied by a product that sells enough.
If someone does something to make themselves better than Apple is at iPod/iTunes, consumers will decide that and buy Product X. (Witness cell phones and iTunes….even the power of iTunes could not save a crappy phones). So, if Apple or M$ holds 90% of their respective market, and that makes it all the harder….too bad….it’s called good business. It is not a question of whether OS X is better than Winbloats or iTunes is better than Product X….the question is whether people THINK that is the case.
It’s not like you can’t listen to Windoze Media Audio files on your iPod or iTunes because you can. For $10 you can do that with EasyWMA (I haven’t purchased it and am not going to). I found this program on VersionTracker.
So how are you ever “locked in” with iTunes?!!
Why don’t these idiots ever point out little programs like this?!
Here’s the URL:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23003
Slow News Day, and bad writing day…..seems to happen a lot nowadays….
I know it’s a holiday, but I have to say it;
RELEASE THE ZEALOTS!!!
The music companies never said that they will reduce the song prices on the old songs. It’s what we interpret.
They just mentioned that they needed variable pricing. The newer songs should be priced higher!
Hey Mr. Ferguson:
It would be nice if EasyWMA did indeed convert WMA’s purchased from the likes of Napster, Rhapsody, etc. into MP3s or AACs but I’m afraid it doesn’t. It can only convert unprotected (ripped from one’s own CDs for example) WMA files, thereby making it useless for converting online purchases to iPod playable format.
However, if one did really want to use other services or switch from the iPod (I wouldn’t quite know why….. maybe for a built-in microphone?
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Voyager –
Thanks for the input. Like I said, I haven’t purchased it or even tried it but noticed that there are programs that could conceivably allow you to convert from other formats.
There is more than one way to skin a cat with a Mac!©
Burn drm’d aac to audio CD. It’s called a backup, something everyone should do, and it’s really not that hard. It’s also a way out of itunes control. Am I the only on working today?
I doubt EasyWMA does convert protected WMA files. It is most likely a program that works just like iTunes for Windows which automagically converts unprotected WMA files to AAC. That is nice because it reduces the proliferation of WMA files which many Windows users produce and (illegally) share. However it doesnt help businesses who want to sell music protected under Microsoft’s schema. While I prefer Fairplay to Microsoft’s digital protection, I can understand why people would turn to it and it is not only because they want to compete with the Apple iTune music store. For example, libraries may want to rent audiobooks or digital books in the future. This cannot be done currently with Fairplay and it doesn’t leave many options to those who need that functionality. So, ultimately, those who need to protect their assets will have to adopt Microsoft products and this will progressively increase Microsoft’s market share. Apple will soon have to decide what their most important asset is, the iPod or an ubicuous digital protection technology. It is a tough call.
“Convert your existing music collection from unprotected WMA for syncing to iPod.”
http://www.apple.com/itunes/music/
Note: Unprotected only. The DRM’ed stuff from Napster and the other failures has to be burned to music CD and imported into iTunes.
I guess its about time for competitors to consider AAC and Quicktime to power their music store, the de facto standard has been defined.
(tongue in cheek) “Maybe Microsoft should throw in the towel and stop going their separate way, lest they are doomed as a niche player forever”.
The author is apparently misinformed about being able to play “only” items purchased from iTunes. I have purchased songs from Audio Lunchbox, & MP3Tunes.com that play perfectly on my iPod.
“Why don’t these idiots ever point out little programs like this?!”
Because then they would actually be required to do real research and write a real article. We wouldn’t want that, now would we?
Once again, journalists lowering the industry standards.
I sure can’t wait for the fun and convenience of paying more for hot new singles! It will make me feel special all over.
The author’s central point that competition is good to keep Apple innovating is fine. We all want Apple to keep improving the iPod/iTMS combo, which they have done so far in order to maintain their lead.
Of course, the author does make several of the usual errors:
– you can only buy from “one store”…we all know there are several small, niche stores that sell music without DRM
– that an iPod locks you into iPod-dom forever…that’s funny, because 10K of the 10,100 tracks on my iPod were ripped from CDs and, if I really wanted to get the garish Clix, I’m fine. Those 100 iTMS trax? I don’t know if it is a legal gray area of actually not allowed by the license agreeement, but I suspect I would not be thrown in jail for ripping those tracks to CD and reimporting without DRM. Sheer genius, I know.
– that the other services are “neutral”…by “neutral” the author means those that fall into the MS media player kingdom. There may be more choice, but it is still restricted to “PlaysForSure*”. Oh, and how many of those stores work on OSX?
– the concept that Apple’s insistence on 99 cent songs hurts subscription services. The two do not really compete. If I want a subscription service and there are all these wonderful players to use with it, how does Apple affect me at all? Because I can’t use an iPod? If part of the author’s thesis is that the other players are so great, then why is that a problem? The author would offer the “locked in” argument, but that is not very persuasive.
a. current iPod owners make up only small portion of what is projected to be the mature market – if subscription is so great, they should be capturing a high % of the the newbies
b. I would argue that anyone that has enough iTMS tracks to make switching prohibitive (even in the absence of the ability to transfer by burning) either prefers to own instread of rent or does not have sufficient spending power to affored $15 a month for a subscription. If after a 2 years of buying iTMS tracks you simply cannot afford to have nothing to show for the $100 you spent, how can you afford to be out $150 at the end of 1 year if you let your subcription end? The same folks would more than likely either bought the low end iPod offering or been gifted their expensive player, so the $ barrier is not insurmountable. Another important point here is
c. …the average time between buying new players is around 12 months now. So how is the player a barrier?
*except when it doesn’t
Langberg isn’t evil…he’s just another member of the Windows-centric community.
He mentions that MTV’s URGE service is heavily backed by Microsoft, and is the featured service on WMP 11. What he fails to mention is…WMP 11 IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR WINDOWS USERS!
And THAT is the reason Apple got into the MP3/music business:
Napster: not supported on Macintoshes
URGE: not supported on Macintoshes
Wal-Mart: not supported on Macintoshes
Yahoo! Music: not supported on Macintoshes
Need I go on?
And I’m sure all those wonderful MP3 players he touts in the article are also only compatible with Windows. (When I signed up for Comcast Internet, I got a free Creative MP3 player…but when I saw it was Windows-only, it went straight into the Goodwill donation bag.)
Sure, Apple didn’t invent the MP3 player — but when it noticed that Mac users were being left out, it came out with its own solution…which like most Apple products turned out to be the best looking and best operating. And unlike other services and products that said, “If you want our product you have to get a Windows computer”, Apple said, “Got Windows? No problem!”
The iPod and iTunes Music Store, are the ONLY PLATFORM-NEUTRAL digital music solutions out there. (At least in terms of Mac/Windows; not sure what Linux folks are using…) I can tell a friend about a cool new album I heard samples of at the iTMS, and she can go check out the same album, even if she’s on Windows. And I don’t have to worry about losing my music if I stop paying the ransom…errrr, “subscription fees”…
Maybe I’m crazy, but all l I do is strip off the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) DRM with the free JHymn and I use the iTMS-purchased songs anywhere and so can anybody else
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Makes is much easier to trade songs with friends.
http://www.hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/
“(Apple) simply created a customer experience that far exceeded the competition.”
Yes, Mr. Langberg, Apple’s iTunes and iPod domination is the outcome of the preference of millions of consumers after comparing and contrasting various services and devices. Anyone designing a better service or device should be able to compete with Apple since they both pursue the same demographic population: computer literate music enthusiasts. However, because others have attempted and failed to meaningfully challenge Apple is not because Apple has rigged the system, but because Apple’s competitors have failed to develop a product or service that matches or exceeds the desired experiences of consumers. In addition, most Apple competitors fail to include Mac users in their business plans and this obviously strengthens the Microsoft hegemony, a fact that you apparently abhor and rouses your deep feelings of the malevolence of monoculture.
Microsoft has had such a large user base that they assumed that PC users would passively accept whatever was fed them. I believe that this illustrates how little respect Microsoft has for PC users and how much complacency and overconfidence permeates Redmond. The prevailing attitude of leadership at Microsoft was and is, “We rule the world and we don’t have to justify our existence. All we have to be is good enough, not better than anyone else.” Microsoft is the dominant producer of mediocrity and uninspired products, and Apple competitors who hope to ride the tailcoats of the Microsoft-only user base share this same pathological opinion.
Any attempt to liken the success of iTunes and the iPod to the pervasiveness of Microsoft’s Windows is disingenuous at best and deceitful at worst. Unless Mr. Langberg can provide incontrovertible evidence how Microsoft has “created a customer experience that far exceeded (OS X)” his argument lacks validity. Windows current worldwide domination is more a blunder of history, the effect of commercial and fiscal inertia, and fear of switching rather than the outcome of innate engineering brilliance and natural leadership skills of Microsoft. It is easier and less expensive for individual to buy an iPod and access iTunes (with freely provided software) than it is to purchase an entirely new computer with new application software.
“Slow News Day, and bad writing day…..seems to happen a lot nowadays….”
Well it IS a holiday today in the US. Don’t like it, go gather your own news and start your own news site.
Ay caramba!:
What you said.
MDN should just slap your post at the end of each forthcoming article positing the same foolish “argument” against Apple’s iPod/iTunes dominance. I’m sure the constant flow of these articles is a long way from diminishing.
Apple Computer is becoming the Microsoft of digital music, and that’s not a good thing for either consumers or the music industry.
—
Sounds like it was written by a masochist on a Windows PC.. BRILLIANT!!
Ay caramba!: Well said! Intelligent and Articulate!
I hope you emailed that to Langberg.
I left him a voice message similar, but not nearly so well expressed, as your posting.
There is a difference between the Microsoft dominance in operating systems and the Apple dominance in music. One achieved it by using any foul and unethical method it could think of and the other by simply offering a better product.
X-Men 3 is the suck.
Contact this moron of an author at
mike@langberg.com
(The MDN folks must be in a mellow holiday mood not to have included it in their take.)
Same old story for these other online stores. Urge will not go any farther than any of the others because it limits who can access the store and uses propriatary windows media format that most people don’t like in the first place. Then they remove compatability to 80% of the market by not being iPod compatible and so it goes, another online music failure has been born.
All those other music stores offered by aol and yahoo , etc, suck anyway, because they do not make enough profits from music
Real is the biggest loser of all in this, they are trying so hard to convince people that they will become big, while they are fading away.
Bobvila.com is planning on removing Real from their web site this August, c-span will also do the same sooner or later, next thing you know Real will have no market at all. ( not many others use real besides these two web sites )
They have been braggin about “waiting for an ipod killer to jumpstar our business ” well the more you wait, the more companies like yahoo music, msn music, aol music will show up next thing you know you’ll be competing to make pennies.
I read this earlier this AM and quickly realized, even if I was a Mac/iPod hater, that it is a pretty incosistent, poorly written, biased and amateurish article. Is this what passes a news today? On the other hand it lead me to Sensa’s iDon’t sites…..God almighty…..more pathetic crap. According to them, only rebels use Sensa, not iSheep as we are called.
Whata buncha poo=poo heads!
my intellectual response after reading all this crap
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“Yet another ‘Apple iPod+iTunes limits choice, [insert name] will be strong competition’ article”
Conspiracy theory:
It’s actually just a widely distributed Word template created and mass e-mailed by the Beast of Redmond. Similar to MadLibs, blanks are left for the author to fill out in order to take credit and avoid being called a plagiarist. They have accidentally e-mailed this template to several hundred dead journalists in a formerly used mailing list mix-up.
incosistent, poorly written….DOH
Sorry
I own an iPod. My wife does, daughter and son too. What on earth would we want a different player or place to get some of our music. We’re already using the best!!
“As these outfits keep failing, what’s the recurring component of failure in every single case? Microsoft. Perhaps these new services ought to forgo the dead weight of Microsoft and maybe they’d have a real chance? Just a suggestion.
Yes, competition is good, but only when it’s good competition. Otherwise, it just ends up wasting time and money for consumers who make the wrong choice.”
Actually, Real’s service used the same format as Apple’s and tried to be compatible with the iPod via Harmony, but Apple shut that out completely. So the real problem with the other companies isn’t Microsoft. It’s Apple shutting everyone out. Even if you use the same format, you’re not going to get to run it on the iPod without either removing your own DRM (which the record companies won’t like) or adopting Apple’s FairPlay DRM, which they refuse to license. So the other companies are really just stuck.
What they need to do to actually compete, is stop creating their own service, unify their efforts under one music service (like URGE), create a common interface for all of these devices (docking port/cable adapter, etc) so that peripheral makers don’t have to pick and choose, and create a way for Mac users to use the competing service.
Incidentally, the new player from Sony supports AAC as well, but will Apple allow it to work with iTMS? Don’t count on it.
Why doesn;t anyone mention that music is not the profit driving force here for most companies, its the sale of ipods and the brand recognition that matters, if all apple had was itunes, they’d go bankrupt.
Apple’s profits dont come from music sales, it comes from ipod sales, and brand recognition which makes imacs sell. and other apple services..
I don’t have the numbers but i think 79cents on every song goes to the loyalty fees, so apple is left with 20 cents.
other companies like yahoo, they probably trying to make 5 pennies on every song.
and when more of these companies show up… you going to see 1-2 cent profits on every song. its going to become a survivor zone, not a profit generator.
So a monopoly of 95% with a 100% barrier to changing is OK (Windows),
but a monopoly(?) of 75% with a slightly inconvenient barrier to changing is bad for the consumer?
Windows “journalists” make my brain hurt!!
“Windows “journalists” make my brain hurt!!”
And yet the brain has no nerve endings. How strange! But I still know what you mean.
If only these “journalists” expended as much energy railing against Microsoft’s monopoly as they did against Apple’s. Control of the world’s computing resources is much more important than control of its music purchases.
Windows user by default, Mac user by choice.
‘If only these “journalists” expended as much energy railing against Microsoft’s monopoly as they did against Apple’s”
Easy. They are afraid. Make no mistake MS is a financial juggernaut. It’s enough to make a wannabe tech pundit pee his pants. Gates is the most frightening geek in the history of mankind backed up by gorilla power.
Small pic of Landberg for your dartboard, voodoo doll, photoshop enhancement, vanquishing ceremony, or whatever else you’re into:
Landberg_pic
He may actually deserve your pity — looks as if he may not have had a satisfactory movement in some time now.
“Microsoft is often criticized for CREATING (my emphasis) a ‘monoculture’ with its Windows operating system.”
Error No. 1: Microsoft create? Surely that’s a contradiction in terms. MS co-opts, steals, buys in and assimilates by force other peoples technologies and ideas. MS is the Borg of the computer industry. It would be more accurate to say they INFLICTED, IMPOSED, FORCED a ‘monoculture’ onto human society.
“Macintosh computers confined to a global market share well under 5 percent.”
Error No. 2: Well under 5%? What is meant by that – 4.9%, 3% – what? This ‘journo’ is repeating a myth as though it were fact and is obviously confused between the number of new computers purchased with installed base, which is actually above 12%, and both stats growing rapidly.
For Windows, the only way is down.
“Once you’ve purchased several dozen albums from iTunes, it’s not likely you’ll switch away from the iPod.”
Error No. 3: Bloody oath! Why would I want to use an inferior product after experiencing the simplicity and elegance of iPod+iTunes+iTMS?
” You can’t try music downloads from rival services such as those offered by America Online, Napster, Rhapsody and Yahoo.”
Error (by omission) No 4: Yeah, especially if you own a Mac which most of the Windows Media based services around deliberately lock you out of for no good reason. And of the ones we can use, it’s a simple matter of “burn, rip” to get that music to play on your iPod. Or visa versa to get ITMS purchases onto an also-ran player.
Let us just imagine the iPod family existed but no ITMS. Does anyone seriously think MS and hangers-on would have made their services available to Mac users? No, I’m not that delusional to believe so either.
Not that I’d want to purchase music in inferior MS format anyway.
“There is, however, a serious challenge to Apple on the immediate horizon. Two weeks ago, MTV Networks unveiled a pre-release beta version of its Urge music service.”
Error No. 5: It’s taken MS this long to release a BETA version? How many years has ITMS ecosystem been around now? And by all accounts, ‘Urge’ sucks royally. How this equates to “serious challenge” is beyond me.
“you buy an Urge subscription for unlimited listening to most Urge tracks through your computer for $9.99 a month, or for download to a portable player at $14.95 a month.”
Ooh, fabulous – I can rent music for $120USD/year! And if I don’t want to strap my computer to my back to listen to it on the go, I can pay $180USD/year for the privilege of making it portable. But I’ll never own it, never get to keep it unless I keep forking out.
If I want to try before I buy, I’ll use internet radio or FM for free, thanks very much.
“But you get more with (iriver) clix. There’s a 2.2-inch color screen, compared with a 1.5-inch color screen on the nano. The clix also has a built-in voice recorder and FM tuner, functions that require separate accessories on the iPod.”
I don’t listen to the radio much outside the home or office mostly because I want to hear music, not ads and worthless blathering. But I could see the voice recorder would be useful for all those times I’ve wanted to pop into the PM’s office to do an interview on my way home from work.
The “everything including the kitchen sink” MS mentality is what is sinking Windows and their ill-gotten empire. I guess these other players deserve the quagmire they are sinking into.
Here is an idea. How about a music subscription site that works WITH the iPod? How come they don’t do that? Hmm?
> I guess these other players deserve the quagmire they are sinking into.
Uh-huh…And could you ‘players’ squeal a little louder please as you swirl around the bowl a few times on your way to the quagmire. I’m jamming my iPod rather loudly and I’d hate to miss it, TIA.
Ok, you all done venting now?
Really folks why get all hot and bothered over this troll article?
Go out, find a bar with good people and hang out, adjust your personality, be pleasant and helpful and join society.
Coming here and venting is a sign of a serious problem.
I know, I was the worst troll MDN has ever seen.
Get help. Internet addiciton is no subsitiute for a meaninful face to face relationships.
And drop the porn and get interested in women if you want any chance of really being happy.
Time is ticking…
…oh, who can be bothered…
Actually, Real’s service used the same format as Apple’s and tried to be compatible with the iPod via Harmony, but Apple shut that out completely. So the real problem with the other companies isn’t Microsoft. It’s Apple shutting everyone out.
That’s a horrible example. First off, Harmony was a hack. Whether or not Apple intentionally “shut them out”, any upgrade of iTunes was likely to break the hack. People who complain that Apple “shut out” Harmony apparently think Apple should spend precious man-hours ensuring compatibility with someone else’s service. Secondly, after compatibility was broken, it took months for anyone to notice, so it not as if Harmony was setting the world on fire.
The problem is Microsoft, but only in the sense that reliance on Microsoft is the most common example of the competitors’ lack of initiative. Rather than attempt to create something new and exciting, they simply appropriate Microsoft’s technology to create yet another cookie-cutter music store. Harmony was another example of lack of initiative. Real could have formed a tight partnership with, say, Samsung or Creative, to create a sexy new player designed to work as seamlessly with Real’s software as the iPod does with iTunes. Instead, their solution was to attempt to hack their way into the iPod.
Nice when someone answers thier own premise;
>Apple’s clout was clearly displayed earlier this month when the Cupertino >company arm-twisted the major record labels into continuing to sell all >songs at 99 cents.
And here is why you won’t see Apple licensing Fairplay to any other service anytime soon.
Do the progression:
Apple licenses Fairplay to Real.
Sony wants to charge $2.50 for new songs instead of .99 cents and wants to limit some new releases to buy-the-album-only at $17.00.
Apple says FU.
Real says cool.
Sony releases new songs to Real, doesn’t release them to Apple, and doesn’t renew its contract with Apple.
Other labels follow suit.
Meanwhile, online music sales plummet, and bittorrent use only inreases further.
Keeping Fairplay locked up is the only leverage Apple has to stop the labels from torpedoing online music sales.
And to each article that raises the horrible spectre of iPod incompatibility for the major labels there is a simple answer–if you don’t want to deal with Apple and you want your music on the iPod the answer is very simple–release is to emusic.
Incompatibility problem solved
Look I think iPods are far and away better than anything else out there, and I don’t think there’s any significant difference between being locked into Apple and the iPod versus being locked into Microsoft and a bunch of crappy also -rans that happen to be made by different companies.
HOWEVER the MacDailyNews take on this is dishonest and it stinks.
When Langberg wrote “whether or not that’s the best deal for consumers is hard to say?” he was referring to the 99-cents a song policy, not the Apple’s near-monopoly, so you just went ahead and trumped up that contradiction. (Can’t you people read pronouns?)
And when Langberg wrote “no other music service is offering an alternative” AGAIN he was talking about the 99-cents-a-song deal, so the fact that he goes on to talk about Urge is not a contradiction either, so you just went ahead and trumped up that contradiction too?
Langberg has an opinion that happens to be contary to mine and to this websites. But he did not make the usual mistakes of implying that iPods can’t play MP3s or suggesting that Windows players aren’t just as locked into DRM as the Apple players. He got these details right, for once.
But does he get any credit for that? No. Instead if you can’t find something real to criticise, instead because you can’t find anything else, you launch a SMEAR (“Schizo muc?”).
Tell me: when Mac ‘news’ outlets behave like this even when columnists get the details RIGHT — what’s the incentive for them to even bother?
I had a Mac SE with the signatures inside it, okay? I remember the Multifinder. I remember that the case on the Mac Classic was curved in such a way that you could stuff two floppy disks in the drive if you weren’t paying attention; that the IIci had a floating point unit and the IIsi didn’t; that a good PowerMac 7500/7600 could have lasted you a decade, with CPU upgrades; that for like a year after the first DVD-ROM drives hit the iMac SE and G4 towers there were serious audio sync issues in the DVD Player software; and I remember that older iMacs needed a firmware update before upgrading to OS X to avoid the Green Screen of Death.
In other words, I am a DIE-HARD Mac user and iPod fanatic (three generations), okay? And this DIE-HARD Mac user says, SHAME ON YOU MDN. This is yellow journalism. So what else is new? You do this all the time. But I have had it. I am sick of reading this mindless kneejerk on-the-bandwagon throw-some-more-meat-to-the-alligators pitiful excuse for a news site.
That is all.
And one more thing …
This site gives all Mac users and all Mac commentary a bad name, and proves everything the competition says about Mac fans right.
If I could push a button and make this site just disintegrate I would. There are plenty of other GREAT Mac sites that actually put an ounce of thought into reading an opinion before immediately feeding it into the meat-grinder.
Shape up, this site is an embarrassment to Mac fans everywhere.
“The labels wanted to price hot new singles higher, and older back-catalog tracks lower. But Apple still believes in one-size-fits-all. Whether or not that’s the best deal for consumers is hard to say…”
Wrong. That is very easy to say. Lower prices are better for consumers. Period. What music companies want is to hike prices, you must be blind not to see it. Apple defends consumers in this case. What a weird kind of monopoly it is when the monoplolist fights to keep prices low.
I would like to see the day when you can convert from one drm to another drm. I understand the need for a drm I just hate being locked into 1 system period. Converting to AIFF and then to MP3 destroys quality. I enjoyed the days of jhymn it allowed me the freedom I needed. Please come back Jon
Here’s the email I sent Mike:
Mike,
Thanks for the article in Mercury News “Apple’s iTunes solo act is getting competition”.
However, there are a few points that I think would have helped fill out the picture.
MTV’s Urge is not “hardware neutral” in one important regard – It is not cross-platform from the OS perspective. It does not work on the Mac OS whereas Apple’s iTunes service is cross-platform and does work on both Windows and Mac. You also neglected to mention that Apple has indeed selectively licensed one third party so far to play music from the iTunes Music Store – Motorola with a number of their phones (albeit with some annoying song number limits). You can also purchase audio books and music that are compatible with the iPod from a number of other sources such as Audible.com and Emusic.com which has a library of over a million mostly independent music tracks.
You can also of course burn as many Audio CD versions of your music as you wish, something that allows iTunes music to play on any of the millions of CD players out there – not quite as limited as you imply in your article. If you’re desperate, you can of course also import these audio CDs back into your computer to then play them on other MP3 players, though that will result in lower quality and more hassle. However, these are important options that reduce the island effect that you berate.
Personally, I do hope Apple starts more widely licensing Fairplay to other stores/MP3 manufacturers, but at the moment, while no competitor has been able to raise a candle to the iPod/iTunes juggernaut, from a commercial perspective it makes sense for them to not make hay while the sun shines.
You should also mention the absolutely enormous third party business that Apple is encouraging – the multi-billion dollar iPod add-on business. With some 2,000 third party products from docks, to covers to boom boxes to microphone attachments etc, the third party ecosystem around the iPod is far vaster than that around any of the iPod competitors. This is something the MS/Urge combo doesn’t even attempt to address. I also find it ironical that MTV doesn’t yet sell music videos(!) though that will happen down the track.
On the subject of a subscription option, Apple has never said they won’t do it, but as they say, it hasn’t proven to be popular with consumers to this point. US$180 per year to subscribe to music that will evaporate off your MP3 player when you cease your subscription or the company goes bust (quite likely in the case of many of them!) does not sound like a good deal to most people. No wonder the music industry loves the subscription model sigh (shakes head). At least when you subscribe to a magazine, you get to keep each issue.
You’re right about the iRiver Clix device giving you more – more weight and size yet less storage. It is interesting with the larger screen and longer battery life, but you neglect to mention it is over twice as thick (0.6” vs 0.25”), nearly twice as heavy (2.5oz vs. 1.5oz) and half the capacity of the iPod Nano. Not the sort of specs you want in this market segment where size and weight are so critical. Also, with only 2GB of storage and 15 frames per second the video playing capability is pretty limited compared to the 30GB and 60GB Video iPods which have larger screens, 30fps video and vastly more storage for those huge video files and yet still manage to be narrower and thinner than the Clix. Someday a decent competitor to the iPod Nano has to appear, but I don’t think this is it.
With Steve Jobs being the guy saving us from the price hikes the Music cartel have been trying to push through, and a music library now exceeding 3 million tracks (50% greater than Urge’s 2 million), 3000 music videos (0 on Urge), 30,000 podcasts (0 on Urge), 16,000 audiobooks (0 on Urge), hundreds of TV shows and other videos (0 on Urge), there aren’t too many reasons for people to dally with yet another music store other than iTunes.
It will be interesting to see what impact Urge may have on Apple, but I think the picture isn’t perhaps as black and white as you paint it.
ciao
-Mart
————————————–
Martin Hill
homepages: http://mart.ozmac.com
Die-Hard and Disgusted: Langberg’s article was shallow, dismissive and factually in error. MDN may have missed a pronoun, but overall their take was right on. The fact that he perhaps got less wrong than some previous writers doesn’t make him right.
Langberg was writing a negative piece and he deserved to get slammed, because he was fundamentally off-base!
Just because you remember the multifinder, etc., etc., doesn’t mean you’re NOT an idiot!
I personally love the fact that MDN takes a hard line with these bozo writers. Maybe you need to troll somewhere else!
wonderboy: Thanks for the link! I’ve got some ideas!
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Martin Hill: Well crafted (and factual) response! (Die-Hard take note!)
Die-Hard and Disgusted: On rethinking what you actually had to say (so very little to actually say, that is), and the tone in which you said it, and the unwarranted attack on MDN, I’ve come to the conclusion that-
YOU’RE A SELF-RIGHTEOUS PR*CK!
my top 3 music download stores….eMUSIC, eMUSIC, eMUSIC
90 songs for 20 bucks.
no drm.
lots of interesting labels.
higher bit rates than itunes.
smaller selection but still very good.
can download songs over again if you loose them (unlimited times).
can preview tracks like itunes.
why would anyone buy from itunes if the music is available on eMUSIC.
itunes,
my major complaint is the ridiculously low bit rate.
later
g
Keep burying your heads in the sand while you all create a series of web pages and comments sections that are the best weapons you could give the PC idiots to point to as an example of people who are drinking the Kool-Aid.
You may think I’m an idiot or a pr*ck, but the fact is I am Mac all the way my friend, and even I can see that the criticisms of this guy’s article mounted by MDN are trumped up and dishonest. And if you aren’t ashamed of that, then that speaks very poorly for your character, in addition to the character of the person who wrote the ‘MDN take’.