Do I smell a special event on April 28th? CONFIRMED! - Page 3  

This post is about the alleged downloadable music offering.

We shouldn't forget that an online music service requires its songs to be highly compressed in order to become technically feasable (think bandwidth). In other words, we are talking MP3s or MP4s or AACs or whatever. Certainly, imho, not an exact replica from the original CD, whichever the compression method.

Some may argue that audio differences between an original CD track and a high quality compressed MP# file are negligible, yet others just see this as a convenient, portable and easy to organize audio format, albeit longing for the RealThing?.

My point is about price per track/album. Although there will always be some tradeoffs between quality and convenience, I don't think this offering should be even close in price to buying the original CD. While being able to purchase just a few songs (the ones we really like) is quite desirable, the sum of per track costs from an album should be well below the real CD price. In fact, I think this *confirmed* service will promote whole albums downloads at an even more attractive pricing over individual tracks, just so that all the musicians, producers, etc... involved with such album can get a piece of the sale.

If my logic is correct, we should expect variable pricing per track/album. Maybe tracks from $0.75 to $1.25 and whole albums from $7.00 to $12.00.

I also think that .Mac members will get additional benefits over non-members. Those who thought $100 ($50) per year was too much, will start getting their money's worth. Think no sign up fees, volume discounts, early access to new albums, etc... perhaps even a couple of really cheap (inexpensive or even free) tracks from a special selection per month, just for being a .Mac member. I see iDisk special goodies soon.

And one more thing... a revamped iPod with sleeker controls, bigger hd, higher resolution screen... ever so slowly moving towards having video capabilities in the not so distant future...

8)

Question: What's out there now? I've heard about other music services that don't work with Macs. What are their pricing schemes? What kinds of music do they offer - do they have everything or are they limited? Do they use copy protection?

Do you think that Apple will make a PC version of iTunes or will
musicmatch will be updated to take advantage of the service?

how does one copy protect an mp3?

One doesn't.. However, I think it's likely Apple will be using AAC for this download service.

some programs have Codecs that include copy-righting software and stuff.... the MP3's have to be encoded in a certain way with a certain Codec

Merf! MAC ONLY, c'mon... that would be CRAZZZZY!

so that means that they wont work with current mp3 (hardware) players?

The iPod will never *FEATURE* video. The largest form factor for pocket portables that we'll be seeing will have about a 3x5 screen. Anything bigger won't fit in one hand or in a guy's pocket. And 3x5 just won't cut it as a video monitor. Not now, and not when we're surrounded by 50 inch HDTVs. Think, for example, of how long small lcd tvs have been around. And yet they've always existed as a niche device.

The iPod is JUST the right size. And so we won't see it grow larger unless there is a bulletproof reason for it to grow. Instead, we'll see feature creep and price drops. More capacity, expanded PDA functions...eventually the iPod will be able to store and display video...but it will never be marketed or sold AS a display device.

Vivendi Universal is having an analyst meeting on April 29th 3pm Paris time...

No offense, but I think you just reversed yourself on the same post (regarding video capabilities). On your PDA functions comment, I think it is not in the iPod's future, but rather some sort of iPhone. But that's another topic.

8)

I would like to know if the new iPods had anything to do with Dell at first dumping iPods and then resigning to resell them. It must be intriguing enough for Dell to still want to deal with the vaguerities of Apple.

Although I like the idea of watching trailers and music videos on a vPod and I think that should be the way for Apple to go, I doubt it will happen this month. I wonder if the iPod could have the ability to wirelessly search an Apple website (like web-enabled cell-phones) to download mp3's or AAC's. I suppose Airport Extreme and antenna are too big to fit in the iPod, but it would be great to search for music and download on a bus or anywhere else that isn't tied to a computer. Yeah, that's too much to ask.

Okay, well maybe the new iPods will have fiber-optic backlit technology.

This was scheduled far before any of these rumors came about. I believe it is just like the analyst meeting that comes right after Apple (or any other company) announces earnings. No big deal.

as

Apple changed the contracts with Dell and the big boys (but not the smaller dealers), IIRC. They then signed the contract. But you do have a point...

low-fi

maybe it was because all the new pod's had "dell sucks" engraved on the back by default.

LOL

Reuters has also filed a report about the April 28 announcement. According to a quoted record exec, the music download service will initially only be available to Mac users.

7 days to go...

Escher

Macs will be first, but I'd suspect that the music service will eventually be available to PCs, probably by Xmas. I have read on one of the rumor sites that the new iPods will be compatible with both Macs and PCs. No more separate editions. Also, remember reports about a dual cable for both USB and Firewire? Certainly makes sense if the new iPods will be dual compatible. Looking forward to next Monday for sure.

I can't believe that an Apple music service would be Mac only. Record companies can't expect to turn the industry around by appealing to 5% of the PC market. There either has to be a Windows version of iTunes in the works or a PC counter part for the service. As far as a subscription service, it seems unnecessary. iTunes downloading should work the same way prints do in iPhoto. Put in your information once and pay for your downloads that way. I just hope that searching for music works a little faster than getting information from the Help viewer. I also can't see the reason for Apple to ship custom mix cds to consumers, the point of an online music service is to get rid of the cost of manufacturing CDs-the cost of burning CDs and printing album sleeves falls on the consumer.

ahahaha thats great


I guess maybe they see it as a testing of the waters, before going widespread, less of a risk for them.

Erhm. If we're surrounded by 50 inch HDTVs (which we are not, if we are Europeans, although video projectors are quite dandy...), why not have the iPod connect to them easily? And the small screen would of course be used in those situations where you DON'T have a big screen. Like on flights, trains, out in the green, wherever.

>I can't believe that an Apple music service would be Mac only. Record companies can't expect to turn the industry around by appealing to 5% of the PC market.

what if they are looking at the apple service as a test and a model of how its done if done right.

That's why you should have an iPod

Anyway, I think a lot of mp3 players are firmware upgradeable. What's the sense in locking an expensive piece of hardware into a digital format that may be replaced in the near future?

yea i know, that will be part of the pitch, but i have a sony clie that plays mp3s so i cant justify buying an ipod right now. But maybe after the 28 i can


So you can go buy a new one that plays the new formats I doubt companies like rio and creative would be nice and make their older players compatible. Although sony might if they are part of this whole thing. but someone can alwase write a new player for palm os

What better way of increasing market share... a feature that you have to, and would buy a Mac for...

From Mac Business Solutions. 9057-B Gaither Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877
Website:

Friday & Saturday, May 2-3: Come to MBS on Friday, May 2nd and Saturday, May 3rd from noon to 3pm for an enlightening audio event. We'll have great new (and fun!) audio hardware and software to demo. We'll have presentations on getting your favorite music into iTunes and onto your iPod, digitizing your old analog cassettes and vinyl, and even some basics on getting started in Mac OS X. Also, come see the latest announcements from Apple. C'mon in and join the audio party!

hahah, mac business solutions, hahaha, Mac BS. That's funny

Well, even if a record company can't turn the industry around with 5% of the PC market, but then again if it doesn't work you have risked only 5% of the PC market and if iTunes stays on the Mac, it won't go all Napster on them! Napster might still be in business if somehow it only worked on a Mac.


I doubt Apple would ship hardcopy of anything, but if iTunes and iPods only recognize their owners, then the industry would feel okay about letting downloads happen inexpensively. The number of folks hacking the system would be small compared to possible revenues.

It IS a big question though as to whether iTunes will go to the PC or not in this kind of scenario. As with recent video editing advances, maybe iTunes will begin to fit into the chain of creation (EMagic) and distribution the way that QuickTime does for multimedia creation (FCP) and distribution.

You do what makes the most economic sense for you. Every one is different. If it makes sense to you to buy the CD, then do so. If it makes sense to pick songs individually off of a service, then do so. Choice is good.

Can iPods currently play AAC as well as mp3's?

That's a negative

No, not yet. There's been a lot speculation that the next iPod update will include AAC capabilities and I think that speculation will turn out to be correct.

I hope so. Any new iPod over 20 gigs and I'd rather put the extra memory into "quality" over "quantity."

A pridiction for the 28th:

There will be an announcement that Half-Life 2 will be coming to the Mac.


Its probably just a coincidence that the NDA on Half-Life 2 expires on the 28th, but I'm hoping that its not. Half-Life 2's graphics look incredible and if the story is as good as the first, I'll pay any [reasonable] price for it.


EDIT: minor correction

I'd love to see HL 2 on the Mac.... but if that was all it would blow! Spymac is talking about tablets being introduced as the mysterious "communication device." - seems good to me.

I'm buying an iPod soon anyway, so it might as well be a new iPod. And how long have the 5GB iPods been unavailable on the Apple Store...?

About 3 or 4 months now. O, and I'm buying the new high end iPod, too.

I personally would love to see the following:
SHN Playback and SHN Recording (along with mp3 naturally) if they added this along with firewire recording, I would absolutely go NUTS. No one has offered anythign like this. But of course these are just my dreams. Now, I do hope they add line in recording with uncompressed AIFF, as that would be good enough for me.... Either way, as long as these new iPods have some pretty sweet stuff, count me in. I owned a 5 gig 1st gen model for about 3 months and sold it because I needed the cash, but have missed it ever since. And now that summer is coming around and I can work.....

That would be great to have SHN Playback...what is SHN Playback?

Here is your answer:

http://thetechnozone.com/audiobuyers...echReport.html

Its some kind of Lossless compression for music files.

Check it out,

Pasmac