Briefly: Mac customer satisfaction, Apple-Beatles rumor

[AppleInsider]

In speculation that appears to be based on date only, The Beatles-Apple rumor has returned once again; and Apple wins yet another customer satisfaction survey, despite a slight drop in score.

Apple leads PC customer satisfaction

In a new study from The American Customer Satisfaction Index at the University of Michigan, Apple once again leads its PC counterparts in customer satisfaction. The Mac-maker had an 84 percent score this year, 12 percent ahead of its next-nearest competition, Dell.

However, Apple's score did drop 1 percent this year, while the rest of the PC industry has improved. The overall industry ranking increased 1 percent this year, to 75, following two straight years of decreases. But Apple's decrease didn't affect the Cupertino, Calif., company's stature.

"The decline has done little to hurt the large lead Apple has enjoyed for six straight years over the Windows-based manufacturers," the study states. "Apple maintains a 12 percent lead over Dell, one of the largest gaps between first and second place for any industry."

When compared with other companies in surveys, Apple consistently outperforms its competitors in customer satisfaction and service.

For the quarter, the overall ACSI index is at 76.1 on a 100-point scale, an improvement of 0.1 percent from last quarter and 1.3 percent from a year prior.

"The recession has shifted demand towards lower-priced PCs and Hewlett-Packard is taking advantage by rolling out more of its less expensive Compaq models," said Michigan Prof. Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI. “Recent sales are up and HP’s share value has more than doubled relative to market since the beginning of the year."


The Beatles on iTunes?

With this week's news of a likely Apple event on Sept. 9, speculation has grown that Apple will announce the availability of the artists' catalog for purchase on iTunes. Of course, this rumor has surfaced and resurfaced numerous times over the years.

This time, the assumptions are based on the date: 9-9-09 is when the band will re-release their entire discography, all digitally remastered. It is also the launch date of the upcoming Beatles rhythm game, Rock Band: The Beatles.

Rumors of The Beatles' songs coming to iTunes are nothing new, but it was far less likely to happen years ago, when Apple and the parent company of The Beatles, Apple Corps, were engaged in a trademark dispute. In 2007, those issues were resolved, leaving many to believe an appearance for digital downloads would soon follow, though it never did.

Whether the Sept. 9 date has to do with planning or mere coincidence remains to be seen.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[jetset]

give it to us.

give us: Beatles on iTunes, iPod touch 64GB, The Unicorn Tablet, iTunes 9 with Cocktail (nom nom) and Blu-ray all on 9/9/09. All on the same day with a live Stevenote while angels sing.

giveittomebaby (c) rick james rip.

[huntercr]

I really honestly don't understand why they've waited so long. I am a huge Beatles fan and I'm a younger demographic ( well I'm 34 , but to my point, I'm not an "original" generation Beatles fan )
Anyway... I *have* every Beatles song already... maybe a few here and there that I don't want to buy the whole album for ( I never bothered to buy Rubber Soul for instance )
But really? Will there really be a huge demand?

I guess they also want the one off buys... some kid wants "Revolution" as his ring tone or what have you. Meh.

[Panu]

The interval between the present day and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is the same as the interval between "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" and "I'm in the Mood for Love."

Releasing Beatles' music on iTunes is risky. It might sell wildly. Or they might find out that it is not 1964 any more.

[kerryb]

( I never bothered to buy Rubber Soul for instance )

Surprising, Rubber Soul is considered The Beatles one of the top three albums by many critics. The record is the bands first ventures in to mixing musical styles, "Norwegian Wood" and its use of a sitar, "I'm looking through you" has a mild latin sound", "What goes on" is the first country western Beatles song. Give it another listen.

[gmcalpin]

Originally Posted by huntercr

( I never bothered to buy Rubber Soul for instance )
But really? Will there really be a huge demand?

Whaaaat. Rubber Soul (the UK version) is one of their best albums, alongside Revolver and Let It Be.

(Obviously, I prefer the more natural-sounding Beatles, as opposed to the more heavily produced MMT/Sgt Pepper's stuff.)

Anyway, it's not about there necessarily being a huge demand; it's about having it available for teh kidz to buy a couple of tracks they heard on the radio and a fraction of those to freak out and buy everything. You don't need to sell a million albums to make a lot of money.

[mono]

Originally Posted by kerryb

( I never bothered to buy Rubber Soul for instance )

Surprising, Rubber Soul is considered The Beatles one of the top three albums by many critics. The record is the bands first ventures in to mixing musical styles, "Norwegian Wood" and its use of a sitar, "I'm looking through you" has a mild latin sound", "What goes on" is the first country western Beatles song. Give it another listen.

That was my thought too; Rubber Soul is the point in their career that their music became interesting to me.

[mpw]

If the Beatles entire catalog hits iTunes in one go, I wonder what the chart will look like?

In the UK I wouldn't be surprised to see them take the majority of the top 40, which will be pretty cool considering Radio 1's playlist is basically the top 40 on rotation; a week of the Beatles' music could be better than the current chart!

[Mazda 3s]

Nevermind

[kerryb]

Found this line from Wikipedia while reading about the double album "The Beatles".

"The mono version of The Beatles will finally be made available worldwide (including the US) on 9 September 2009, as part of the Beatles in Mono CD box set."

As anyone heard about this?

[Ireland]

This Beatles thing has become a joke. Does anyone honestly care anymore. Any Beatles fan already has their stuff in their iTunes LONG LONG LONG ago. Yet, Steve and his big ego will try to tout it as if we couldn't have lived without this. Movin' on.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by kerryb

Found this line from Wikipedia while reading about the double album "The Beatles".

"The mono version of The Beatles will finally be made available worldwide (including the US) on 9 September 2009, as part of the Beatles in Mono CD box set."

As anyone heard about this?

Kerry, would you please ad the link when you reference something.

Thank you.

[mpw]

Originally Posted by Ireland

This Beatles thing has become a joke. Does anyone honestly care anymore. Any Beatles fan already has their stuff in their iTunes LONG LONG LONG ago...

There will be an awful lot of iTunes users out there who don't own any CD/vinyl recordings, and who won't have sought out mp3s either. While many people will be aware of The Beatles, how many new 'converts' will there be on re-release and all that air-time they'll get??

[Hattig]

Originally Posted by huntercr

I really honestly don't understand why they've waited so long.

I suspect they waited until there was a digital album technology, and they will only be selling whole albums.

[Tauron]

New macbook pro: $2000
Apple cinema display: $900
iphone 3GS: $300

For everything else there is Pirate Bay.

[emulator]

Originally Posted by mpw

There will be an awful lot of iTunes users out there who don't own any CD/vinyl recordings, and who won't have sought out mp3s either. While many people will be aware of The Beatles, how many new 'converts' will there be on re-release and all that air-time they'll get??

zero. why anyone think young people today listen to the beatles? i bet, only SJ listen to them at apple. the other old hippies listen to the stones anyway.

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by huntercr

I really honestly don't understand why they've waited so long. I am a huge Beatles fan and I'm a younger demographic ( well I'm 34 , but to my point, I'm not an "original" generation Beatles fan )
Anyway... I *have* every Beatles song already... maybe a few here and there that I don't want to buy the whole album for ( I never bothered to buy Rubber Soul for instance )
But really? Will there really be a huge demand?

I guess they also want the one off buys... some kid wants "Revolution" as his ring tone or what have you. Meh.

I think your comments are pretty much on the money in all respects. It is a great shame that The Beatles (what was left of them) and their music copyright owners didn't jump on the iTunes shirt tails from the outset instead of being the largest hold out in the industry. I think the opportunity to have blockbuster sales has largely slipped them by. I could well be wrong but I suspect like Blu-Ray, they missed the magic moment to launch.

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by Ireland

This Beatles thing has become a joke. Does anyone honestly care anymore. Any Beatles fan already has their stuff in their iTunes LONG LONG LONG ago. Yet, Steve and his big ego will try to tout it as if we couldn't have lived without this. Movin' on.

While I agree and already mentioned in a previous reply, it may well be too late for a major success for any Beatles entry into iTunes (I would be happy to be proved wrong) I am just curious, why the need to insult Steve here? What ever products he launched have always been presented with enthusiasm since that was his job as Apple's pitch man, where does 'ego' come into it? I am sure if The Beatles did go on iTunes, Steve and Apple Inc. would be both proud and excited and give the event what it deserved, why wouldn't they?

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by Tauron

New macbook pro: $2000
Apple cinema display: $900
iphone 3GS: $300

For everything else there is Pirate Bay.

What a piggish thing to say.

Regardless, if you think what's on "Pirate Bay" represents all the media worth listening to or watching in the world you are sadly mistaken. I only search on Pirate Bay for things that I have already tried to buy but are no longer for sale anywhere. Some tiny fraction of those titles are available, but most are not. Pirate Bay is just the repository of everything that someone between 20 and 35 thought was cool in the last year or so.

[johnnyb0731]

Originally Posted by emulator

zero. why anyone think young people today listen to the beatles? i bet, only SJ listen to them at apple. the other old hippies listen to the stones anyway.

I disagree completely. I'm 26 and the Beatles are my favorite band. There are plenty of young people who still listen to and love this band. Having them on iTunes can only be a good thing in my honest opinion

[huntercr]

Originally Posted by mono

That was my thought too; Rubber Soul is the point in their career that their music became interesting to me.

Oh, yes, I agree. Rubber Soul is definitely the point where the Beatles themselves start to get their own soul and get thematically interesting.

I think I may have not bothered to get the album because the only songs I really am dying to hear on that, there are "good enough" versions on Anthology 2.

But also I guess since I am a 2nd generation fan ( started listening to them in earnest in 1989-90 ), it might be related to how I was exposed to the Beatles in the first place. I heard albums almost completely backwards chronologically... White Album, Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper, Revolver, Magical Mystery tour, ( Rubber soul, but never bought it ) then Anthology 1,2,3. It took awhile for me to get an appreciation for things the earlier they were produced.

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by johnnyb0731

I disagree completely. I'm 26 and the Beatles are my favorite band. There are plenty of young people who still listen to and love this band. Having them on iTunes can only be a good thing in my honest opinion

Well that is good to hear

[Ireland]

F*** this Beatles crap.

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by Ireland

F*** this Beatles crap.

Sorry I waisted time answering one of your previous posts, I thought you were a serious contributor here.

[caliminius]

Originally Posted by Tauron

For everything else there is Pirate Bay.

F*** off. I'm so sick of internet idiots flaunting their thieving ways.

[aiolos]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

I think your comments are pretty much on the money in all respects. It is a great shame that The Beatles (what was left of them) and their music copyright owners didn't jump on the iTunes shirt tails from the outset instead of being the largest hold out in the industry. I think the opportunity to have blockbuster sales has largely slipped them by. I could well be wrong but I suspect like Blu-Ray, they missed the magic moment to launch.

Agreed, the magic moment was when people first started to create their digital music collections. Right when iTunes first started surging in popularity was the moment to strike. As other posters said, most die-hard fans have long since put the Beatles in their iTunes. It's just sad that both the Beatles/Apple were too blinded by their arguments to just make an agreement and put them on iTunes so they could both have made a lot of money. Foolish companies.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

Nevermind

That's Nirvana, not Beatles.

[joelsalt]

Originally Posted by gmcalpin

Whaaaat. Rubber Soul (the UK version) is one of their best albums, alongside Revolver and Let It Be.

(Obviously, I prefer the more natural-sounding Beatles, as opposed to the more heavily produced MMT/Sgt Pepper's stuff.)

Anyway, it's not about there necessarily being a huge demand; it's about having it available for teh kidz to buy a couple of tracks they heard on the radio and a fraction of those to freak out and buy everything. You don't need to sell a million albums to make a lot of money.

I think HELP! is the first album worth owning (and every subsequent release). Rubber Soul / Revolver is great.

I'm like others: I already own 10 Beatles albums. So this is not big news to me. But the Beatles still sell extremely well AFAIK

[mpw]

Originally Posted by caliminius

F*** off. I'm so sick of internet idiots flaunting their thieving ways.

I do find it strange that somebody who is happy to steal via Pirate Bay would pay for his MBP? why not steal it too?

I guess it's the effort involved in the act of the theft not the principle. With the amount of people who share his view, I guess I should be glad they're all so lazy!

[Shaun, UK]

Surely the key issue is that they are releasing digitally remastered versions of all the songs. So if you are big fan you will be tempted to re-buy the CDs to get the better sound quality or download them instead if they are on iTunes, even if you have already ripped all your Beatles CDs into iTunes like me. I can also imagine that this release will get a lot of publicity worldwide which will inevitably lead to big sales in the first few months.

[joelsalt]

True: but weren't they "digitally remastered" when they first came out in CD?

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

Sorry I waisted time answering one of your previous posts, I thought you were a serious contributor here.

You're all too serious for my likey. This Beatles thing is gone beyond lame at this stage. It's like the build up for the second coming in digital form, only everyone has the analogue version.

[mpw]

Originally Posted by joelsalt

True: but weren't they "digitally remastered" when they first came out in CD?

Originally Posted by RollingStone.com

...A crew of engineers at London’s Abbey Road Studios have spent four years working on the remasters using new technology and vintage equipment, the press release says, in an effort to preserve “the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings” and ensure “the highest fidelity the catalog has seen since its original release.”... ...Both Apple Corps. and Paul McCartney have expressed reluctance to release the Beatles’ music digitally until all the albums had been remastered...

Does sound like this is a thourough job being done in the interest of quality, and the article also lists a bunch of interesting inclusions in the boxed sets that could tempt those 'true fans' with CD/vinyl to put hand in pocket again, albeit not for the digital downloads alone.

[randythot]

Originally Posted by Ireland

This Beatles thing has become a joke. Does anyone honestly care anymore. Any Beatles fan already has their stuff in their iTunes LONG LONG LONG ago. Yet, Steve and his big ego will try to tout it as if we couldn't have lived without this. Movin' on.

Ireland,

I work around a lot of teens, and a good few of them were actually into Beatles. I doubt they have the original vinyls. Remarketing is a great move to hit a new demographic. Not all of them steal music, too!

[mpw]

Originally Posted by Ireland

You're all too serious for my likey. This Beatles thing is gone beyond lame at this stage...

But LAME tops out at 640kps; are you saying they're going beyond this? would that be supported by iTunes? iPods? would Apple need to release new versions of iTunes and the entire iPod range?... Now that would be 'bigger than Jesus'!

[evo9]

But the game coming out 9/9/9 is actually titled The Beatles: Rock Band - the article has it backwards.

Either way, it's a great time to be a fan of the fab four.

[elroth]

The greatest thing about this is not that the Beatles are (supposedly) coming to iTunes, but that the entire catalog has finally been remastered. "The Yellow Submarine Songbook" was released with remastered songs several years ago, and if you listen to tunes on that CD (like Eleanor Rigby, etc.) and compare them to the regular CDs (Eleanor Rigby is on Revolver), it's amazing. The old ones sound like you're listening over the telephone in comparison.

There were a couple of problems with digital release of the Beatles catalog: one was apparently McCartney's divorce - the story is that they didn't want to release the remasters until that was settled.The other big problem was the dispute between EMI and the Beatles over how much in royalties the Beatles would get from online sales.

This is gonna be fun.

Somebody asked about the mono versions - in addition to the individual albums, you can buy a box set of all the stereo albums, or a box set of all the mono albums. I'm assuming the individual albums will be the original (UK) versions - the earlier ones in original mono, the rest stereo.

(Amazon has good prices on pre-ordering the CDs).

[rockit99]

I was never a huge Beatles fan, much more a Stones fan - and I was around at the time of their arrival. The trouble with the kiddy commentards here who can see no reason for interest in the Beatles back catalogue being released in a very easily accessed and downloadable format, is that they have absolutely no sense of art or history.

Where do you think Noel Gallagher got his inspiration to form Oasis from? Curt Kobain? Or any other countless number of bands for that matter. The Stones (the most high-profile of amongst others) brought the blues to the UK, which in turn influenced hundreds of other bands. This is what it's like in the creative world of music and art.

The knob jockeys here who don't understand this need to be 're-educated'. In the meantime they should STFU.

That is all.

[stompy]

Originally Posted by jetset

give it to us.

give us: Beatles on iTunes, iPod touch 64GB, The Unicorn Tablet, iTunes 9 with Cocktail (nom nom) and Blu-ray all on 9/9/09.

Don't think so. Part of the settlement between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps. was that iTunes would only transfer Beatles songs to a BeatleBox.

Watch this background video and the new ad.

[Chris_CA]

Originally Posted by jetset

give it to us.

give us: Beatles on iTunes, iPod touch 64GB, The Unicorn Tablet, iTunes 9 with Cocktail (nom nom) and Blu-ray all on 9/9/09. All on the same day with a live Stevenote while angels sing.

giveittomebaby (c) rick james rip.

Beatles Special Edition iPod touch.
Comes with camera and a template of Sgt Pepper's cover so you take a picture of someone and it is placed next to Marilyn Monroe, James Dean or Humphrey Bogart on the cover.