“I love the iTunes Music Store. When Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the shop in the spring of 2003, I called it revolutionary, and who can argue that it’s been anything but?” Farhad Manjoo writes for Salon.
Manjoo writes, “Still, iTunes has always seemed like a stopgap measure, something to tolerate until the music industry got its act together. I think of it, now, as a place to buy music that I like, but not a place to get music I love. If you love something you want a permanent copy, and music from iTunes is fundamentally ephemeral: Nearly everything you purchase from the store will never work on any device not made by Apple.”
MacDailyNews Take: iTunes Store-purchased content work on Mac or Windows PC desktops and notebooks, can be burned onto music CDs and played on any CD player and – by ripping said CD – played on any MP3 player on Earth. It’s quite simple. Known to just about anyone who’s ever used iTunes. Yet, it’s amazing how many people get this wrong either by lazily repeating ignorance or intentionally spreading disinformation, isn’t it?
[And, as MacDailyNews reader “kenpet” notes below: You can also use iTunes to convert your non DRM music files to mp3 which is playable anywhere. Just set your iTunes Preferences: Advanced: Import Using to “MP3 Encoder” and you can then convert any track to MP3 under iTunes’ “Advanced” menu.]
Manjoo continues, “This week, Amazon launched a beta version of a music store that breaks this lock-in.”
MacDailyNews Take: You know, the “lock-in” that doesn’t exist. iPods do not require iTunes Store purchases. The iTunes Store does not require iPods. Is that simple enough for you, Farhad?
Manjoo continues, “All of Amazon’s tracks are sold as unrestricted MP3s, free of Digital Rights Management, or DRM — they will work on just about any music player in the world, including an iPod. The store marks iTunes’ first real competition. In fact, I think it kicks iTunes’ buttons.”
MacDailyNews Take: And we’re supposed to care about what you think because so far you’ve gotten extremely simple facts completely wrong? M’kay, Farhad.
Manjoo continues, “Here’s the main way Amazon runs circles around iTunes: I kid you not, shopping for digital music at Amazon simply feels better than shopping on iTunes. That’s because everything is unrestricted. You don’t have to consider where you’re going to play the songs or if you plan to keep them for the long run… Most of the tracks on iTunes, meanwhile, are gummed up by Apple’s copy-protection scheme, called FairPlay. Under these restrictions, you can put your songs on just five computers at a time; make only seven CD copies of a particular playlist; and, if you want to go mobile, the iPod and iPhone are your only option.”
MacDailyNews Take: Quick, alert the manufacturers! Mac and Windows PC notebooks are not “mobile.” Although, for some reason, we see people – on planes, for example – listening to something with white earbuds plugged into their notebooks. Must not be music. Oh, “only” seven CDs (until you change the order of a song and can burn seven more). Regardless, all you need is one CD and – Boom! – unrestricted Psychic well-being out the yin-yang.
Manjoo continues, “As wonderful as it has been to see Apple change the music business — and make no mistake, that’s what it did; Amazon’s store is only possible because Apple paved the way — nobody benefits from a digital-music monopoly.”
MacDailyNews Take: Farhad really screwed up here; he got something right.
Manjoo continues, “From now on when I look for music, I’m going to go to Amazon first. Only if I don’t find something there will I think about buying from iTunes. If you value your freedom, I recommend you do the same.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Kevin” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: You go to Amazon first if you’re interested in saving some money, not because of some ignorant dope scribbling about the value of “freedom.” People who are looking at Amazon forget that prices are not static. These could be introductory prices for all we know. If the labels are giving better pricing to Amazon, and artificially manipulating the market, then Apple – and perhaps Apple’s lawyers – are going to have something serious to say about it.
Competition is good. Don’t forget that it was Apple’s Steve Jobs who called for the end of music DRM, prompting just such competition. So, use the store that offers what you want, whether it be cross-platform support, file formats, bit-rates, selection, and/or prices. We plan to check out both Amazon and iTunes Store when buying music – because they both support Macs and iPods. We’ll probably buy from whichever store has the best price (even though we prefer AAC over the old dino MP3 format). Competition is good. Let it work its magic.
People who look at this as “Amazon takes on iTunes Store” completely miss the real story. Jobs’ call for the removal of DRM was designed to totally marginalize Microsoft, once and for all. It’s the final nail in MS’s coffin. Redmond will not control digital music formats. Apple won. Meanwhile, iPod sales continue unabated as iTunes Store does not and never did drive iPod purchases (which we know because 97% of music on the average iPod is not from the iTunes Store). And, believe it or not, despite recent hyperbole, Apple’s iTunes Store will be just fine.
Farhad, you rock. You totally schooled MDN… which seems apropos, since MDN’s comments are usually nothing more than juvenile drivel. And it would appear that it is the real Farhad. The writing style seems similar.
I do believe there is one big thing a lot of people have overlooked here. Besides the prices difference Apple does not sell MP3’s. They have from the very beginning been using the AAC codec which is .m4a. I am quite picky about my sound considering the massive system in my car. I will never run an MP3 through a 1500watt stereo system. The AAC codec does half the file size for the same quality MP3. A 128kbps is the same quality as a 256kbps MP3. And for anyone who is going to say there is no difference. Run it through a massive and clean stereo setup. The bass line on an MP# is crap and can kill your subs. The encoding on the .m4a is much better and retains the bass line from a CD, I have played both a CD and the .m4a file at competitions and no one can tell the difference. The tracks are higher quality, they might be higher priced, but you know what. When I can show off a stereo system running off of an iPod and not a CD, I will stick with higher quality, and the only true player that plays all open standards. And .m4a is a standard file that any music vendor could go with. MS should fire the person that came up with wma as I have never encountered a worse format than this, except for the atrac format, ugh Sony. If you are going to make a comparison like this make sure you get all the details right, not just face value. I have tried the Amazon browsing interface, and quite frankly it sucks something fierce, sorry.
“can be burned onto music CDs and played on any CD player and – by ripping said CD – played on any MP3 player on Earth. It’s quite simple”
But exporting already lossily compressed music then re-ripping and encoding it into a different lossy format is NOT as simple or as high quality as just getting the music in MP3 format to start with. If Microsoft proposed that many steps as you require to get music from a store and into an industry standard DRM free format you’d be whining.
“Mac and Windows PC notebooks are not “mobile.”
Sure, we see lots of people jogging with notebooks and ear-buds. I guess MDN thinks a desktop PC is a “mobile music player” if you put it on a trailer with a generator.
“People who are looking at Amazon forget that prices are not static. These could be introductory prices for all we know”
But they are what they are today. If iTunes has better prices tomorrow, then people can always choose to buy from them instead.
But for now, the ball’s in Apple’s court to provide an answer to Amazon’s move.
“It is not a rational strategy for consumers to divide their business between Amazon and Apple. “
Rational consumers will buy what they perceive to be the better product for the price, whoever that happens to be.
“As for pricing and DRM-free deal, Apple has every right to demand the same treatment from the labels.”
And the labels have every right to tell Apple where to jam their “demand”. If Steve had played a bit nicer with labels, he probably wouldn’t be in a position where they all want to see him go down.
” Windows Media looked to be the likely winner, but Apple’s quick thinking turned the day. “
Now neither win, and an open standard does instead. That’s bad for Apple who had been the most successful at establishing their closed standard with consumers. Whatever way you look at it Apple has less control over the industry, where media is used, pricing etc. today than they did before the Amazon store launched.
Amazon has set the new standard for Apple to respond to, DRM free 265kbps MP3 music for $0.89.
A 128kbps is the same quality as a 256kbps MP3. And for anyone who is going to say there is no difference. Run it through a massive and clean stereo setup”
If you were as knowledgeable or critical as you pretend to be, you’d be ripping lossless WMA or lossless AAC from CDs and telling people to ignore any lossy format.
Both lossy MP3 and lossy AAC sound noticeably worse than the non lossy formats on really good gear.
Your car setup probably is set up to generate a lot of noise with relatively low quality which would probably be why you can’t tell the difference between lossy AACs and lossless AACs.