“I have seen the future of music on the net – and it works. It’s the Apple iTunes store. Actually, anyone with a US credit card has been able to visit it for quite a while. But until last Tuesday, it was closed to those of us who only have cards with UK billing addresses,’ John Naughton reports The Observer. “Now all is changed, changed utterly (to borrow Yeats’s phrase).”
Naughton writes, “Suddenly it’s possible to get the music you want, when you want it. No longer do you have to buy albums in order to get the one or two tracks you really want. One night this week, for example, I had an overpowering urge to hear BB King and Eric Clapton sing ‘Worried Life Blues’. So I clicked on the iTunes store and bought the track for 79p. Three minutes later a crystal-clear, crisp copy was on my hard drive. In the morning it was on my iPod. And it was all legal and above board – no rights infringement, no piracy, no cheating, no prospect of being sued by some copyright thug hired by the Recording Industry Association of America. Think of it as online music done properly.”
Full article here.
Good article. He’s screwed up the changed DRM provisions but everything else seems right.
One thing, he mentions other content industries. It’s obvious movies are next. Who will get that right? I think subscription or one time rental will be the right way to go with movies. Apple could do it if it wants to.
It took 3 minutes for him to download “Worried Life Blues”?
For $hits, I bought that track, it took 30 seconds for me.
Once Apple has a version of Airport Express for Video, then they will think about trying to have a iMovie Video Store.
ITMS is SLOW SLOW SLOW in the UK and the catalougue sucks.
At least he could report straight, unlike foxnews, which showed an animation of SpaceShipOne with the rocket burning and the wings feathered.
My favourite quote from that article:
“Once, this kind of functional elegance was the sole preserve of Mac users. (Which of course only reinforced their sense of smug superiority.) But then Apple went and rewrote the iTunes program for Windows XP and cheekily made it available as a free download for the huddled masses of Microserfs”
Apple will never catch on in for movies. Not in production, not in retail. The “real IT world” already understands this.
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its these kinds of articles that Apple needs and deserves. The other day I read a review of the iPod in “Money” magazine and was disgusted by the fact that most magazines are desperately looking to make the iPod look bad. It must be some kind of weird jealousy mixed with hatred for anything other than Microsoft that makes these magazines try hard as they might to discredit the best in the MP3 player business.
It’s gratifying to know how much interest the “real IT world” has in a mac-only website! Good job, Sputnik, in keeping abreast of Macs and the superior OS X technology! We all know you’re secretly a Mac-addict at heart.
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Good news for the Canadian users who keep yelling for iTMS Canada. National Post has the following article. It seems we’ll have it soon.
Canada, iTunes’ next online target
‘On Steve Jobs’ radar now,’ says EMI’s CEO
…
David Munns, EMI Music vice-chairman and North American chief executive, told the Financial Post he expects Apple will launch a Canadian version of iTunes, the most successful legal digital music service to date, in the near future.
“I saw Steve Jobs [last week] and he is acutely aware the Canadian consumer is knocking on his door,” Mr. Munns says. “I’d say it is very much on his radar now.”
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I’m sorry folks (again) as I have my head up my ass and I’m addicted to Oxycontin…you shouldn’t take anything I say seriously because I’m a PC troll who has NO LIFE and spends all my time here, jealous of Mac owners.
I wish my mommy would by me a Mac, but her job as a prostitute is not paying as well since her infected leg was removed.
I do quite fine, mind you. Ever since the leg incident, it’s all about quantity over quality. Sputnik won’t get a Mac until he earns it. Plenty of men have come over to my place seeing him in appreciation. Until he starts putting out for cash, no Mac for him.
You are right ofcourse… But… http://download-internet.b0x.com/