“The music download service Rhapsody has stepped up competition against Apple’s iTunes by making its catalog of five million songs available without electronic restrictions on playback or duplication,” Ben Sisario reports for The New York Times.
MacDailyNews Take: On June 19, 2008, Apple announced that music fans had purchased and downloaded over five billion songs from the iTunes Store and that iTunes is the number one music retailer in the US with the largest music catalog with over eight million songs. That’s 3 million more than Rhapsody (and about 4,999,999,999 more tracks sold, too). The competition’s really been stepped up there, Ben.
“With its announcement on Monday, Rhapsody, a joint venture by RealNetworks and MTV Networks, became the latest digital music service to do away with digital rights management, or D.R.M., which prevents users from making unauthorized copies of songs and can also determine which electronic devices can be used to listen to the songs,” Sisario reports.
“Apple has used D.R.M. since it began selling music on iTunes five years ago… but the other major download services, Amazon.com, Napster, Wal-Mart and eMusic, all sell music without restrictions,” Sisario reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple offers over 2 million DRM-free music tracks in its iTunes Store (from EMI and many independent labels). In fact, it was Apple CEO Steve Jobs who called for the end of music DRM in the first place. You’re welcome, Real. Apple would offer all tracks DRM-free if the remaining music cartels weren’t colluding against iTunes in a transparent effort to prop up Apple’s roadkill like the aforementioned Real Rhapsody. Instead of regurgitating press releases, do some research next time, Ben.
Contact: New York Times:
OK, Now people who buys music from Rhapsody will not be limited to their stupid “iPod Killers”, they are going to be able to use iPods and iPhones. Great for them!
I emailed NYT about this. I suggest everyone send an email and blast BEN SISARIO.
Funny how you guys aren’t sending emails to NYT about Stross’ horribly inaccurate article about “monolithic” Microsoft.
Also, can MDN please admit that iTunes is incredibly inferior to pretty much every other store out there because of its small number of DRM-free songs. Amazon is tops there!
@ MDN
Actually about 4,999,999,998. I was drunk and made a bad decision. I didn’t even know you could still buy MMMBop from Hanson.
The New York Times ALWAYS blows it!
It’s got to be the worst example of a news reporting service in the United States today.
“Bias” is their middle name.
“Just the facts, Mam” (no more).
The New York Slimes is a left wing rag that’s quickly sliding down the gutter. Good riddance.
@ Jordan
That’s cause we’re mac heads & wouldn’t presume to be all knowing about the Microsoft / Windows environment, like some winheads do concerning the mac environment. True most of us have come to the nirvana that is mac by way of the Windows gauntlet…, still, we’re content to let the dead bury the dead.
Peace Bro.
@Jordan
Apparently a whole lot of people don’t agree with you. With >5 billion songs sold a large number of folk must think it’s pretty good.
In this case I agree with MDN – it’s not the iTunes Store holding back on non-DRM’ed songs, it’s the labels that won’t give the store a contract that allows them to sell without DRM. I also think that it’s collusion among the labels and would likely be found to be illegal if Apple were to press the issue, especially since they are allowing others to sell without DRM.
I don’t know if I’d call iTunes incredibly inferior, Jordan. It still has a larger catalog than Amazon and considering the overwhelming majority of mp3 players sold are iPods there’s no compatability problem for most people out there. That’s why iTunes continues to dominate in spite of all this “DRM-free” hype.
You need music for your Zune however so I’m sure you prefer Amazon (since the Zune store is all but worthless). Unfortunately 9 out of 10 people don’t know what a Zune is.
“…without electronic restrictions on playback or duplication”
If he is meaning purely technical restrictions, you can right-click FairPlay songs in iTunes, choose Show in Finder and duplicate, also Apple offers to ‘Backup to disc’ under the File menu.
If he is meaning licensing restrictions, then I think he will find that the MP3 licence restricts duplication as much as the FairPlay licence. You can’t give your MP3s away or even loan them and you certainly can’t sell them!
MP3 ≠ No Restrictions
Hate to burst your bubble kid, but your buddy Paul Thurrott was also horribly inaccurate with his rebuttal to that article as well.
iTunes is not inferior to any service that has fewer products and is much harder to browse, purchase from and load to your iPod or iPhone. Besides, unlike Microsoft’s diabolical DRM, Apple’s Fairplay never gets in the way. You would know that if you had ever used it.
We all know it is The Labels fault that Apple can’t offer all DRM free music. Apple is not practicing DRM vendor lock-in.
Lets see…….variable pricing which inflates the cost of the tracks…….or a fixed, cheap price with some DRM which really doesn’t get in the way. Gee, let me think………I’ll take number 2 please.
” Jordan
Funny how you guys aren’t sending emails to NYT about Stross’ horribly inaccurate article about “monolithic” Microsoft.”
maybe we read different articles, care to point out the inaccuracies?
“ron
The New York Slimes is a left wing rag that’s quickly sliding down the gutter.”
funny, looking around the good ol usofa, it appears that it is the right wing that is hugely out of favor and in the gutter.
insert quote about fooling some of people some of the time, etc etc…..
you ron, are one of the 35 ring wing nuts left in the world. the good news is that the right wing always slowly dies off, and the general population slowly shifts left. that is the path of all of history. the left has a direction it moves in, the right has a line in the sand that they defend until death, at which point the “new” right draws a new line, a little further left…
your kind are just a speed bump in the way of progress. congrats on your position!
@Jordan
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Another MS troll. Is it me or are their comments getting weaker and more lame???
ref “Also, can MDN please admit that iTunes is incredibly inferior to pretty much every other store out there because of its small number of DRM-free songs. Amazon is tops there!”
Well, I guess after Vista, they are finding it harder to gloat with a straight face.
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Just a thought.
en
Ya know, usually I leave you right-wingers alone, but STOP getting on the NY Times’ case. Yes, they write back stories; yes, they should do better research… BUT, they actually attempt to report the news. Tell that to your Fox “News,” your crappy AM talk radio, and so on. You want to talk about bias, those would be far, far better targets….
Give it a rest, get off your La-Z-Boys, and go out and smell the global warming. The NY Times at least tries to report the news still.
That should be “bad” stories. Darn no editing features on this forum!
i would not wipe my ass with that lib democrap mouthpiece shitrag NYT.
@x
Conservative rags are just as bad for wiping yourself. The paper isn’t very absorbent and ink stains always end up on your shorts somehow.
But for God’s sake don’t use the glossy inserts!
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To John.
Hahaha. wow. haha. Don’t you have a donut run to make for some NYT lackeys-I mean writers? Think about how much pollution could be eliminated if the NYT closed shop forever!
@ Shen
I will politely disagree with your position. I am a strong Conservative, that feels it is much easier for people to be sheep and fall into whatever liberal wind may blow (just because it’s trendy), than it is to actually stick to what you believe in despite the rants of uneducated rhetoric that seeks only to destroy any opinion that may disagree.
Whatever happened to the day when people in this great country could find opposing opinions as good debate and grounds for discovering new means of improving our lifestyle.
Now you have to be Left or Right, there is no room for compromise. It’s sad.
NYT is in the journalistic gutter, at least when it comes to news and editorials. Economically its sliding into the gutter with alot of other print media.
But at least they’re a few thousand times better than Fox.
@shen, just look at readership numbers of all these left wing lib rags and you’ll notice they’re all slithering into the sewer along with the lib mainstream media, whilst Fox News continues to grow and dominate the cable networks. See a trend? While you’re at it, read about Obama’s mother and her views. She is his source of political inspiration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Dunham
Amazon is just a store, though! Where do you think most people store and manage the tracks they buy through Amazon?!
iTunes is not just a store but also an incredibly full-featured music management application.
@MacMan
Normally I don’t follow the left-right divide though I have a left-leaning tendencies. I agree with you. Trying to paint a person with the left or right color is stupid, especially if it is only because of one issue. It is the most preferable way to make arguments, though, for lazy debaters. First, take a single issue, then fix a label on the person, and then use the label to dismiss any argument coming from that person. E.g. you are pro abortion -> you are a left loony -> your arguments suck, you are pro gun -> you are a right warmonger -> your arguments suck. For bonus points, you can use the labels to create strawman arguments.
It is a very effective way to bully and shut up your opponents while making yourself feel superior. The latest “in” labels are racist and Islamophobic. Back to being a sheep in the context of news reporting, read this Weekly Standard article. It really opens your eye at what the true value of truth is in the eyes of “journalists”.
“@shen, just look at readership numbers of all these left wing lib rags and you’ll notice they’re all slithering into the sewer along with the lib mainstream media, whilst Fox News continues to grow and dominate the cable networks. See a trend?”
lets see, headlines anyone?
“Fox News viewership drops by half in 6 months …
Since the United States presidential election in November of 2004, viewership in the 25-54 age bracket of Fox News has fallen from over …
Study shows Fox News viewers misinformed about war, Iraq, WMD …
Those who primarily watch Fox News are significantly more likely to have misperceptions….
No Surprise: FOX News’ Viewership Declining….
and my fav
Daily Show viewers better informed; Fox News viewers less so”
thats right, a comedy show informs you better than fox.
yes, i see a trend, you are an ignorant ill informed cretin, and you watch fox news. it is a disturbing trend. and one that has turned a large chunk of america into the heart land of ignorance.
are you proud to be a part of that?
and thanks for the link to “Obama’s political inspiration”
“Maya Soetoro-Ng, when asked if her mother was an atheist, said, “I wouldn’t have called her an atheist. She was an agnostic. She basically gave us all the good books — the Bible, the Hindu Upanishads and the Buddhist scripture, the Tao Te Ching — and wanted us to recognise that everyone has something beautiful to contribute.”[18] “Jesus, she felt, was a wonderful example. But she felt that a lot of Christians behaved in un-Christian ways.””
so basically, she was thoughtful and intelligent, and you are a mouth breathing xtian fundie? lemme guess you are a creationist too? and this should make me want to change to your reasoning why?
you. like the majority of the right wing, are just another poorly informed putz who blusters through life on “information” that when it is actually inspected is just so much baseless tripe.
you are the political equivalent of the brainless microsoft lemmings that come here to post “90% install base! suck it MAC dorks” and the fact that you have a single fact (OS X superiority) in sea of ignorance is all that gets you to this site.
your ignorance makes the baby jeebuz cry. now go away, and take your lack of critical thinking with you.
It’s easy to forgive the NY Times. MDN blows it daily and usually more than once a day too!
Nice rant, Shen. Well done.
Well said MacMan.
The truth is that the NYT in this case did report the story accurately, but in leaving out the broader background of the record labels motives and collusion, they didn’t tell the whole truth. There is room for criticism without claiming bias. Still, I agree that NYT writers, when politics is involved, can’t seem to stop themselves from injecting bias. Case in point: after reading the MS Monolith story yesterday I linked over to a NYT book review. The book was about the Cuban Missile Crisis; and event that took place more than 45 years ago during JFK’s presidency. The reviewer skillfully laid out the premise of the book and its qualities for two pages. But that wasn’t enough. The last two paragraphs, which were totally unnecessary, went on to speculate what MIGHT have happened if George Bush had been President, and the nuclear Armageddon that would have obviously ensued because Bush is so stupid and ham handed compared to JFK. It is that sort of writing that needlessly injects anti-Republican spin into stories needlessly that has Conservatives disliking the NYT.
As for Fox— I always hear Dems/Libs/Leftists decry the right wing bias at Fox News, and then go on to cite Hannity and O’Reilly as examples. Those shows are not NEWS programs. They are opinion and commentary shows. Viewers go into those shows knowing that the commentators have a point of view and you’re going to get a load of their OPINION. The Left has Keith Olberman (sp?) on MS/NBC who raves every night. I would like someone, just one time, to give me an example of where the NEWS on Fox was reported inaccurately or slanted with anti-liberal rhetoric.
I’ve said it before, I am American first, then Conservative, and Republican last. I am proud to draw a line in the sand, Shen, when the left wants to tug us somewhere we think is a bad idea. I’d restrain a child that wants to jump into the surf, not recognizing that there is a rip-tide, even though that child screams that I’m spoiling the fun. Even if he hates me for it.
— back to your normal Mac news and opinion.
Actually, the New York Times is a warmongering rag that cleverly disguises itself as “liberal”. If I recall, it was Judith Miller who beat the war drums against Iraq, and it’s Michael Gordon repeating on Iran.
It was the New York Times and the Washington Post, another “liberal” rag who invented the phony Watergate scandal, pushed for a special prosecutor, and when the first one didn’t suit it, pushed for another one that got “results”. (see Gene Lyons, Fools for Scandal on this. Haven’t heard of it? Gee, there’s a surprise.
You guys should stop buying into the “liberal” New York Times myth. It’s a cover, and a good one.
Shen sites left wing headline drivel to make his/her moonbat case.
Air America anyone??
Ok, ok. I’ll write a real post and not a MS-fanboy post.
Here’s my general take on iTunes versus others (Amazon, for example). I’ve used iTunes, MSN Music, Urge, and now Amazon. With the MSN and Urge DRMed files, if I transfered to an new computer, I had to restore the licenses. Since I never did that with iTunes songs, I can’t comment. It could be frustrating, but no big deal.
But right now, I prefer DRM-free files, and Amazon offers those. There are no problems with transferring files, moving to MP3 player/iPod, or burning to CDs. In addition, Amazon’s prices are much cheaper in most cases ($.89 or $.99 for tracks and albums starting at $5.00). The AAC/MP3 argument is negligible because most of the world uses iPods.
So yes, on price and DRM-free, Amazon wins. Don’t give me that 5 billion nonsense; iTunes has been around for 7 years.
@ loki
I’m well aware that iTunes is also management software. But Apple doesn’t make any money when people organize their music in iTunes.
@ Jordan
the iTunes music store is 5 years old. the software is 7 years old. just to clear that up.
second of all, Amazon offers every single song in MP3 format. Apple, on the other hand, offers 2 million songs in DRM-Free 256 kbps AAC format, and the rest of the 8 million in 128 kbps AAC. There’s a BIG difference between MP3 and AAC. MP3 has only 2 channels, and AAC has 48. MP3 is a very old technology, and AAC was created based on the flaws of MP3. Plus, AAC even takes up less space.
I would like you to do a test. Find a song that is on both itunes and amazon. Listen to the itunes sample, and then listen to the amazon sample. Clearly listen and tell me which one is better.
Look up on Wikipedia to see the differences between MP3 and AAC. Loads of them.
@ anonymous
I certainly recognize the difference between MP3 and AAC and I agree there is a difference. When I rip CDs, I do it to WMA VBR at 300+ kbps (WMA has been shown by some to be inferior to MP3 and AAC, but I’m not started an argument there). So yes, I recognize and value the higher quality files.
But you also pointed out yourself: roughly 3/4 of iTunes songs are only available in 128 kbps AAC! There’s no way you can tell me that 128 kbps AAC sounds better than a 256 kbps MP3!
The problem with Walmart is that it’s service is proprietary to Windows-only even though they claim to sell MP3 formatted music!
Of course, I don’t shop at Walmart ever, so I don’t care what they do with their online music store
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