iTunes to stop selling downloads

digitalscream

The truth is that while download revenues are dropping, they're not dropping as fast as Apple's download revenue. Basically...their download service is tied to a shocking bit of software which is probably the industry's worst in terms of functionality and reliability. The main competitors - Google Play and Amazon MP3 - don't have that problem.

I wonder if anybody at Apple might see this for what it is - the best evidence yet that people don't like the walled-garden approach so much any more, because it removes all choice.

stickyfiddle

digitalscream said:

I wonder if anybody at Apple might see this for what it is - the best evidence yet that people don't like the walled-garden approach so much any more, because it removes all choice.

I don't think most people care about the walled garden thing. I do think people care that iTunes is still a pile of shit that seems to get no better with each iteration.

digitalscream

stickyfiddle said:

digitalscream said:

I wonder if anybody at Apple might see this for what it is - the best evidence yet that people don't like the walled-garden approach so much any more, because it removes all choice.

I don't think most people care about the walled garden thing. I do think people care that iTunes is still a pile of shit that seems to get no better with each iteration.

...and, because of the walled-garden thing, they have no choice but to use it

ICBM

Drew_fx said:

We need a return to physical media, and we need it now.

It's never gone away for me. I still buy at least twenty times as many CDs as downloads (basically only download if I can't get the CD), and I don't pay for streaming.

tabbycat

support the artist by buying the physical cd, or buy the download direct from the band's site or bandcamp etc and back it up to cd, then rip it whenever and wherever you like to any of your things. you can only listen to it on any one at a time, so that kind of copying is not piracy, just making it availble to yourself (having paid the artist for the privilege to listen to it) in whatever format suits your needs.

streaming site dies, so what. you still have it.
hardrive dies, so what. you still have it.
etc.

have never owned an apple hardware anything. have never subscribed to an apple service or a streaming service ever. have always thought they were a sucky company peddling sucky gear.

the original punk thing was about cutting the corporate middle men out of the deal entirely. going from artist to fan direct without feeding the beast. that ethos was far more difficult to sustain then as distribution networks (pre rough trade and cartel) were rigged against little labels and independents and economies of scale were not available to little bands.

now neither of those are an issue so there is no excuse for 'the industry' to exist at all. except people's failure to embrace progressive alternatives.

Sporky

Y'know what'd work?

The PRS offering an aggregator service where users get access to pretty much everything via their preferred hardware and software, and the PRS pay the artists per play.

richardhomer

Will this mean hipsters will start downloading stuff now?

Sporky

They'll be too busy preening their beards with artisanal beeswax.

Octahedron

To be honest the only reason that I purchase anything on iTunes or stream it is because it's nearly impossible to find it on CD, at a reasonable price, in Australia.

Things randomly pop up here and there. I bet someone in the UK could walk down to a local independent and pick up the old Faces albums for the equivalent of a few dollars, same even in the USA but over here we've got nothing and a lot of the 60s/70s/80s and in some cases even 90s and 00s music is impossible to find on CD here for a good price.

I remember, living in the UK for a while, I could get a near-mint copy of an old Queen album for a few quid, less than even. Over here they're marked up $20...30... even more than that for a brand new/sealed copy. They'd be a fraction of that cost overseas.

There's easily a $3+ markup on hard copy vs. iTunes download here.

Maybe we'll all have to go to Google Play, 7 digital etc :P

darcym

As soon as people sort out DRM - and just give high quality format files in a format that device will play, I'll buy digital, until that day, I'll buy physical and rip/re-encode.

If I buy something, I want to listen to it on my mac, my PC, my  Linux machine, my iPhone, my car my whatever, so anything that uses dumb file formats, uses dumb apps you have to use (BBC !!!!).

A big reason that the pirate world exists is because it's actually quite hard to use the paid for purchases in the real world.

Drew_TNBD

ICBM said:

Drew_fx said:

We need a return to physical media, and we need it now.

It's never gone away for me. I still buy at least twenty times as many CDs as downloads (basically only download if I can't get the CD), and I don't pay for streaming.

Me too. But I mean more socially-wide.

Btw @Digitalscream - I'm not getting alerts when people quote me even though the notify when people mention me flag is checked in my user account. Thoughts?

Sporky

@Drew_fx

Just testing!

Drew_TNBD

Sporky said:

@Drew_fx

Just testing!

Weird!!! That one worked, however ICBM's one didn't! Because he quoted me perhaps?

Sporky

I think it's the difference between using the @ and quoting, yes.

Drew_TNBD

Well pooey.

Paul_C

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/05/16/fair-warning-itunes-music-downloads/