Of course many here were going to mock this, without giving a good explanation on why it's so bad, even when those same people wanted to see Lala come back through iTunes.
I say that's a very good thing they did, and am especially happy about this on Xbox. I may give it a try and stop my Spotify account if the service is good enough (if it has enough music I like and is fast enough that's good for me).
And iTunes Match simply makes most of the other streaming services moot. Fortunately Apple realized a long time ago they should offer iTunes on the PC, since iTunes has been a much more profitable business model than making Macs, and allowed them to establish a thriving mobile market.
I think it is a mistake for Apple not to offer iTunes on Android devices. In the end, the vast majority of Android users don't care what phone they are using. And they are always going to pay as little as possible for one. But if their media catalogue is tied to iTunes then they are tied to Apple and more likely to buy an iPhone when one becomes available in their price range, as they are finally starting to offer now. Hard core Android users are not going to use iTunes in any event. For this same reason, Apple would be advised to offer iTunes on new Windows 8 mobile devices.
I don't see how you can compare iTunes Match and streaming services like Spotify.
"People want to own their music. They don't want to rent it. And they want to be able to play it whenever they want." --Steve Jobs
That was ten years ago, times change, SJ's word is not the holy word (he said it himself).
Paying 10 bucks a month for unlimited music is more interesting than paying 10 bucks for an album a month, at least that's what more and more people think.
And did you know that you can download whole gigs of music on spotify for offline listening, even for a month?
"People want to own their music. They don't want to rent it. And they want to be able to play it whenever they want." --Steve Jobs
I don't agree with that anymore. Streaming is becoming a very popular choice among consumers and Apple should play in that game. This new Xbox music service looks really nice from what I've read and it gives users a choice of the best of all worlds - a la carte, subscription, and free ad-based. what's wrong with that. Plus the fact that the music collection is just as big as iTunes.
That was ten years ago, times change, SJ's word is not the holy word (he said it himself).
Paying 10 bucks a month for unlimited music is more interesting than paying 10 bucks for an album a month, at least that's what more and more people think.
And did you know that you can download whole gigs of music on spotify for offline listening, even for a month?
I don't buy to music by the gigabyte. But I suppose if you do you, and pricing is an issue, then sure. To each his own. Like I said, Steve put a vision out there, and it has done well. The market proved the soundness of that vision. People like to pretend back in 2004 that choices in downloadable music was either iTunes or piracy, but streaming subscription services like Rhapsody existed too, and Apple had to compete with them to be successful. In fact, Rhapsody had already signed all five major record labels before iTunes even got off the ground, but people still chose to buy, not rent, songs from iTunes. Spotify is just the latest shiny new old thing, and as much as you like it and advertise it here in the forums, it doesn't prove Steve Jobs was wrong.
That's OK. There are a lot more people who agree with Steve. And they have iTunes accounts.
That's because there hasn't been any decent competitor to iTunes. When you add the fact that around this time next year, Xbox Music will be on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Android, iOS devices, will offer choices of all competing services, & it will have a music catalog just as large (if not larger) as iTunes, this new music service can give iTunes a serious run for its money in terms of taking the leadership crown. And this is just music. I wouldn't be surprised if MS is thinking of doing something similar along the lines of movies and tv shows. So we'll see. I get that, by the very nature of this and other related blogs, people here love Apple products, which is fine, cuz so do I. But that doesn't mean underestimating MS is prudent or automatically thinking that they make s**t products. Ever since the launch of Win7, they've been on quite a roll, and in a good way.
The Xbox interface is just infuriatingly bad.* I'd much rather stream Pandora/Spotify/iTunes from my iPhone to my AppleTV (or just stream from iTunes match directly to the AppleTV) than have to go through the Xbox.
* "You may already have downloaded this content. Are you sure you want to download it again?" Um, you're the g&*^*^&damned computer, why don't you tell me whether it's already on your disk? Oh, when I say OK then you'll tell me "Hey, looks like you already downloaded this!"? WTH? That's of course only if you can find the content in the first place, because often it's pretty well buried. Is this game's content under games? Under the details for this game? Why no! It's somewhere in my profile! That's fine, it only took drilling around through 20 submenus to discover that... Not sure if you have a valid internet connection? Let's go try to find the right place to check and then wait an incredibly long time for it to say "nope". Your kid can't access this function? Rather than take you to the place to change that, let me just list the name of the place you have to go and see if you can find it. Fun!
I just hate how Microsoft built that interface. Like the games, though.
I don't mind the interface really. It's not perfect but it's not bad. It's certainly more feature rich than the Apple TV but that may be part of the problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Sorry Steve, can't agree here. I'm very happy with my $10/Mo Spotify subscription.
I use to agree with Steve on this one but no longer. I've lost too many songs via iTunes. They are ones that I purchased via iTunes years ago but when they stop selling it it suddenly disappears from my library. Yes, I could go back through my time capsule and try to find it but having no idea when they removed it that is a major PITA. I'm really surprised there hasn't been a lawsuit around this yet.
Under that service you could listen to any track in full once. But if you 'matched' your iTunes library you could listen to the songs you owned that were in the library all you wanted.
And I thought that iTunes wasn't exactly a huge money maker for Apple anyway?
Not directly. It makes enough to sustain itself. But it is really just a 'loss leader' for the hardware. Same as this music tactic. Same as Amazon Prime with the Kindle
Fortunately Apple realized a long time ago they should offer iTunes on the PC, since iTunes has been a much more profitable business model than making Macs, and allowed them to establish a thriving mobile market.
Not exactly. Apple released iTunes for Windows to avoid antitrust issues. Nothing more.
I think it is a mistake for Apple not to offer iTunes on Android devices.
So you think Apple should be forced to support the competitions devices. Perhaps they should have to service them at the stores if the owners use a Mac computer, and what about the PCs owned by iPhone users, lets make them support those as well.
Music in iTunes has been drm free for years and can be loaded on anything. The video stuff and books is cause the copyright holders demand it. If they didn't Apple wouldn't bother. But it doesn't mean that Apple needs to support other hardware just because the files can be used on them. Anymore than they should support a PC cause you are hooking on iPhone to it or those Beats you broke cause you bought them at n Apple Store
And I think I'm not alone when I say that I would much rather they spend their time making iTunes, iOS 6 etc better for their paying customers than sorting out how to code an iTunes Store app for every possible variant of Android.
Not exactly. Apple released iTunes for Windows to avoid antitrust issues. Nothing more.
So you think Apple should be forced to support the competitions devices. Perhaps they should have to service them at the stores if the owners use a Mac computer, and what about the PCs owned by iPhone users, lets make them support those as well.
Music in iTunes has been drm free for years and can be loaded on anything. The video stuff and books is cause the copyright holders demand it. If they didn't Apple wouldn't bother. But it doesn't mean that Apple needs to support other hardware just because the files can be used on them. Anymore than they should support a PC cause you are hooking on iPhone to it or those Beats you broke cause you bought them at n Apple Store
And I think I'm not alone when I say that I would much rather they spend their time making iTunes, iOS 6 etc better for their paying customers than sorting out how to code an iTunes Store app for every possible variant of Android.
Nobody is forcing Apple to do anything. Obviously they can port their software to any platform they want or not. But here's the thing - come this time next year Xbox Music will be on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, iOS & Android. If MS can do it, why not Apple?
The reason why I pay £10 a month to Spotify is that I can play my music almost anywhere and on any device - Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, etc. There's apparently even a Spotify client in the works for my smart TV.
Unless Microsoft can provide me with a massively expanded library of music to choose from, I can't see any reason why I'd want to swap.
MS has a reputation for doing everything it can to seemingly undercut its competition, only to use bait and switch tactics later.
And if they don't get enough people to fall for it, they are not above simply killing a product or service, leaving many who have invested in said product/service stranded.
Xbox Music sound lame.
If it's an iHeartRadio type thing, it's OK. But nothing to write home about.
the lame thing is that they want their own Xbox 360 customers to pay for it on top of their already ludicrous Live fee - while the PC users get it free.
MS has a reputation for doing everything it can to seemingly undercut its competition, only to use bait and switch tactics later.
And if they don't get enough people to fall for it, they are not above simply killing a product or service, leaving many who have invested in said product/service stranded.
Xbox Music sound lame.
If it's an iHeartRadio type thing, it's OK. But nothing to write home about.
the lame thing is that they want their own Xbox 360 customers to pay for it on top of their already ludicrous Live fee - while the PC users get it free.
The simple facts are that nobody really needs or wants MS anymore with their subpar quality and style and business paractices.
For a PC, you can have a Mac.
Smartphone? iPhone is the best game in town.
Tablet? anything other than an iPad is a downgrade.
Games? Get the Wii U and you'll have the best out there. Plus the internet services are *gasp* free...
anyone buying into an MS ecosystem only has themselves to blame. They aren't even hiding it anymore.
Free music is great. but it's hardly the only game in town either in that regard. and as mentioned earlier, we will see how long it is free, or like Gmail, what the "free" actually costs you in terms of privacy.
So in order to compete with iTunes you have to give your services away? Or sell it at cost (Kindle Fire)?
When you're playing "follow the leader" and are running about 12 years late, such requires desperate measures.
The Kindle Fire is a wholly different marketing situation. Amazon is smartly using the Fire to move money from the owner's pockets to Amazon's pockets.
The reason why I pay £10 a month to Spotify is that I can play my music almost anywhere and on any device - Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, etc. There's apparently even a Spotify client in the works for my smart TV.
Unless Microsoft can provide me with a massively expanded library of music to choose from, I can't see any reason why I'd want to swap.
You're too smart. MS has relied on the the lower end of the bell curve for their income for a long time.
Exactly. It could be a great service, but with Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, and the other options out there that run on both my computer, TV, and iPhone, I'm not going to lock my music up on an Xbox.
Quote:
Originally Posted by odditie
I'll admit right from the start that I'm not a huge music fan and when I do listen to music I want to hear the specific songs I like...
That being said, I never have been a fan of the streaming model. That means I either have to go through and hunt down the songs I want (and it seems they never have many of the ones I want anyways) or I have to live with the songs that play based one some algorithm. Either way I come back to the same conclusion that I'd rather just have my music locally so I can play it on demand, not have to setup or pay for a service to have access to it.
Spotify has nearly everything I'm looking for - plus it automatically recognized my entire iTunes collection (over 100GB) - NTM it makes play lists and lets me see friend's playlists as I choose.
So I use iTunes almost exclusively for importing CD's and for podcasts these days.
Comments
Of course many here were going to mock this, without giving a good explanation on why it's so bad, even when those same people wanted to see Lala come back through iTunes.
I say that's a very good thing they did, and am especially happy about this on Xbox. I may give it a try and stop my Spotify account if the service is good enough (if it has enough music I like and is fast enough that's good for me).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac_128
Exactly.
And iTunes Match simply makes most of the other streaming services moot. Fortunately Apple realized a long time ago they should offer iTunes on the PC, since iTunes has been a much more profitable business model than making Macs, and allowed them to establish a thriving mobile market.
I think it is a mistake for Apple not to offer iTunes on Android devices. In the end, the vast majority of Android users don't care what phone they are using. And they are always going to pay as little as possible for one. But if their media catalogue is tied to iTunes then they are tied to Apple and more likely to buy an iPhone when one becomes available in their price range, as they are finally starting to offer now. Hard core Android users are not going to use iTunes in any event. For this same reason, Apple would be advised to offer iTunes on new Windows 8 mobile devices.
I don't see how you can compare iTunes Match and streaming services like Spotify.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
"People want to own their music. They don't want to rent it. And they want to be able to play it whenever they want." --Steve Jobs
That was ten years ago, times change, SJ's word is not the holy word (he said it himself).
Paying 10 bucks a month for unlimited music is more interesting than paying 10 bucks for an album a month, at least that's what more and more people think.
And did you know that you can download whole gigs of music on spotify for offline listening, even for a month?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Sorry Steve, can't agree here. I'm very happy with my $10/Mo Spotify subscription.
That's OK. There are a lot more people who agree with Steve. And they have iTunes accounts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
"People want to own their music. They don't want to rent it. And they want to be able to play it whenever they want." --Steve Jobs
I don't agree with that anymore. Streaming is becoming a very popular choice among consumers and Apple should play in that game. This new Xbox music service looks really nice from what I've read and it gives users a choice of the best of all worlds - a la carte, subscription, and free ad-based. what's wrong with that. Plus the fact that the music collection is just as big as iTunes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClemyNX
That was ten years ago, times change, SJ's word is not the holy word (he said it himself).
Paying 10 bucks a month for unlimited music is more interesting than paying 10 bucks for an album a month, at least that's what more and more people think.
And did you know that you can download whole gigs of music on spotify for offline listening, even for a month?
I don't buy to music by the gigabyte. But I suppose if you do you, and pricing is an issue, then sure. To each his own. Like I said, Steve put a vision out there, and it has done well. The market proved the soundness of that vision. People like to pretend back in 2004 that choices in downloadable music was either iTunes or piracy, but streaming subscription services like Rhapsody existed too, and Apple had to compete with them to be successful. In fact, Rhapsody had already signed all five major record labels before iTunes even got off the ground, but people still chose to buy, not rent, songs from iTunes. Spotify is just the latest shiny new old thing, and as much as you like it and advertise it here in the forums, it doesn't prove Steve Jobs was wrong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
That's OK. There are a lot more people who agree with Steve. And they have iTunes accounts.
That's because there hasn't been any decent competitor to iTunes. When you add the fact that around this time next year, Xbox Music will be on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Android, iOS devices, will offer choices of all competing services, & it will have a music catalog just as large (if not larger) as iTunes, this new music service can give iTunes a serious run for its money in terms of taking the leadership crown. And this is just music. I wouldn't be surprised if MS is thinking of doing something similar along the lines of movies and tv shows. So we'll see. I get that, by the very nature of this and other related blogs, people here love Apple products, which is fine, cuz so do I. But that doesn't mean underestimating MS is prudent or automatically thinking that they make s**t products. Ever since the launch of Win7, they've been on quite a roll, and in a good way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrstep
The Xbox interface is just infuriatingly bad.* I'd much rather stream Pandora/Spotify/iTunes from my iPhone to my AppleTV (or just stream from iTunes match directly to the AppleTV) than have to go through the Xbox.
* "You may already have downloaded this content. Are you sure you want to download it again?" Um, you're the g&*^*^&damned computer, why don't you tell me whether it's already on your disk? Oh, when I say OK then you'll tell me "Hey, looks like you already downloaded this!"? WTH? That's of course only if you can find the content in the first place, because often it's pretty well buried. Is this game's content under games? Under the details for this game? Why no! It's somewhere in my profile! That's fine, it only took drilling around through 20 submenus to discover that... Not sure if you have a valid internet connection? Let's go try to find the right place to check and then wait an incredibly long time for it to say "nope". Your kid can't access this function? Rather than take you to the place to change that, let me just list the name of the place you have to go and see if you can find it. Fun!
I just hate how Microsoft built that interface. Like the games, though.
I don't mind the interface really. It's not perfect but it's not bad. It's certainly more feature rich than the Apple TV but that may be part of the problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Sorry Steve, can't agree here. I'm very happy with my $10/Mo Spotify subscription.
I use to agree with Steve on this one but no longer. I've lost too many songs via iTunes. They are ones that I purchased via iTunes years ago but when they stop selling it it suddenly disappears from my library. Yes, I could go back through my time capsule and try to find it but having no idea when they removed it that is a major PITA. I'm really surprised there hasn't been a lawsuit around this yet.
Under that service you could listen to any track in full once. But if you 'matched' your iTunes library you could listen to the songs you owned that were in the library all you wanted.
Not directly. It makes enough to sustain itself. But it is really just a 'loss leader' for the hardware. Same as this music tactic. Same as Amazon Prime with the Kindle
At the time that he said it, the landscape wasn't really conducive to streaming as it is now
But the irony is that folks are still just renting the music. Read the terms of that downloaded file, so Steve wasn't really speaking truth.
Not exactly. Apple released iTunes for Windows to avoid antitrust issues. Nothing more.
So you think Apple should be forced to support the competitions devices. Perhaps they should have to service them at the stores if the owners use a Mac computer, and what about the PCs owned by iPhone users, lets make them support those as well.
Music in iTunes has been drm free for years and can be loaded on anything. The video stuff and books is cause the copyright holders demand it. If they didn't Apple wouldn't bother. But it doesn't mean that Apple needs to support other hardware just because the files can be used on them. Anymore than they should support a PC cause you are hooking on iPhone to it or those Beats you broke cause you bought them at n Apple Store
And I think I'm not alone when I say that I would much rather they spend their time making iTunes, iOS 6 etc better for their paying customers than sorting out how to code an iTunes Store app for every possible variant of Android.
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna
Not exactly. Apple released iTunes for Windows to avoid antitrust issues. Nothing more.
So you think Apple should be forced to support the competitions devices. Perhaps they should have to service them at the stores if the owners use a Mac computer, and what about the PCs owned by iPhone users, lets make them support those as well.
Music in iTunes has been drm free for years and can be loaded on anything. The video stuff and books is cause the copyright holders demand it. If they didn't Apple wouldn't bother. But it doesn't mean that Apple needs to support other hardware just because the files can be used on them. Anymore than they should support a PC cause you are hooking on iPhone to it or those Beats you broke cause you bought them at n Apple Store
And I think I'm not alone when I say that I would much rather they spend their time making iTunes, iOS 6 etc better for their paying customers than sorting out how to code an iTunes Store app for every possible variant of Android.
Nobody is forcing Apple to do anything. Obviously they can port their software to any platform they want or not. But here's the thing - come this time next year Xbox Music will be on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, iOS & Android. If MS can do it, why not Apple?
Originally Posted by Shameer Mulji
If MS can do it, why not Apple?
They already have.
The reason why I pay £10 a month to Spotify is that I can play my music almost anywhere and on any device - Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, etc. There's apparently even a Spotify client in the works for my smart TV.
Unless Microsoft can provide me with a massively expanded library of music to choose from, I can't see any reason why I'd want to swap.
You're right.
Free is better.
but what's in the license agreement?
And besides that, free for how long?
MS has a reputation for doing everything it can to seemingly undercut its competition, only to use bait and switch tactics later.
And if they don't get enough people to fall for it, they are not above simply killing a product or service, leaving many who have invested in said product/service stranded.
Xbox Music sound lame.
If it's an iHeartRadio type thing, it's OK. But nothing to write home about.
the lame thing is that they want their own Xbox 360 customers to pay for it on top of their already ludicrous Live fee - while the PC users get it free.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 9secondko
You're right.
Free is better.
but what's in the license agreement?
And besides that, free for how long?
MS has a reputation for doing everything it can to seemingly undercut its competition, only to use bait and switch tactics later.
And if they don't get enough people to fall for it, they are not above simply killing a product or service, leaving many who have invested in said product/service stranded.
Xbox Music sound lame.
If it's an iHeartRadio type thing, it's OK. But nothing to write home about.
the lame thing is that they want their own Xbox 360 customers to pay for it on top of their already ludicrous Live fee - while the PC users get it free.
The simple facts are that nobody really needs or wants MS anymore with their subpar quality and style and business paractices.
For a PC, you can have a Mac.
Smartphone? iPhone is the best game in town.
Tablet? anything other than an iPad is a downgrade.
Games? Get the Wii U and you'll have the best out there. Plus the internet services are *gasp* free...
anyone buying into an MS ecosystem only has themselves to blame. They aren't even hiding it anymore.
Free music is great. but it's hardly the only game in town either in that regard. and as mentioned earlier, we will see how long it is free, or like Gmail, what the "free" actually costs you in terms of privacy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkrupp
So in order to compete with iTunes you have to give your services away? Or sell it at cost (Kindle Fire)?
When you're playing "follow the leader" and are running about 12 years late, such requires desperate measures.
The Kindle Fire is a wholly different marketing situation. Amazon is smartly using the Fire to move money from the owner's pockets to Amazon's pockets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RichL
The reason why I pay £10 a month to Spotify is that I can play my music almost anywhere and on any device - Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, etc. There's apparently even a Spotify client in the works for my smart TV.
Unless Microsoft can provide me with a massively expanded library of music to choose from, I can't see any reason why I'd want to swap.
You're too smart. MS has relied on the the lower end of the bell curve for their income for a long time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh
Exactly. It could be a great service, but with Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, and the other options out there that run on both my computer, TV, and iPhone, I'm not going to lock my music up on an Xbox.
Quote:
Originally Posted by odditie
I'll admit right from the start that I'm not a huge music fan and when I do listen to music I want to hear the specific songs I like...
That being said, I never have been a fan of the streaming model. That means I either have to go through and hunt down the songs I want (and it seems they never have many of the ones I want anyways) or I have to live with the songs that play based one some algorithm. Either way I come back to the same conclusion that I'd rather just have my music locally so I can play it on demand, not have to setup or pay for a service to have access to it.
Spotify has nearly everything I'm looking for - plus it automatically recognized my entire iTunes collection (over 100GB) - NTM it makes play lists and lets me see friend's playlists as I choose.
So I use iTunes almost exclusively for importing CD's and for podcasts these days.