It's not really free content like a podcast or free app. It has a cost but every iTunes account was gifted the songs from this album. So that might explain why it looks different to you. My question is how the hell do I just download the songs? I follow the simple instructions on the iTunes page and nothing is as it is described.
iTunes -> purchased -> not on this device-> various
They should have spent the money on their live streaming. Oh god, what clusterf*ck that was.but hey the Japanese dub was better than nothing.
Seriously! #1 tech company in the world and you can't figure out live steaming? I would however love to know how many people watched? I'm thinking thye could do this during prime time and beat everything except perhaps the Super Bowl.
All of their other events have worked flawlessly. Not sure what the hell happened this time, but they need to learn from it and I am sure they will. Stayed home to watch it on my Apple TV and was switching between that and my laptop on VPN to SJ when I could get a stream for any amount of time. Was sitting there watching some of Apple's live blog they had below the video. That was pretty nice. How they had the video as their homepage was awesome too. So they did a lot right, but the double music at the start had me very worried. It went downhill from there. Good thing was worst part was iPhone introduction which there was also the most leaks. Watched the replay last night to see what I missed.
I'm also an Apple stockholder, and feeling the money might have been spent more wisely.
One of the conditions for getting the free album was signing up to iTunes before October 13th. They already have 500m users but say they sign up 50m more users and monetize them by $1 each, that could cover what they paid to U2. As people said, even their best album sales are no more than 25m copies and they won't need to cover anywhere near that. Most likely the sum wasn't above $100m. Like Tim said, he's a good negotiator. He's not good at improvised stage shows though - the part where him and Bono touched fingers on stage to represent making the album available was lame as well as the awkward, strained conversation. The rest of the band members just looked embarrassed to be there.
I thought they had 800 million+ accounts, most with credit cards. Have they lost 300 million customers this year?
"Yep, every single iTunes user (500 million customers total!) is getting the new U2 album absolutely free."
That would be a loss of 300 million in about 5 months. There has to be a miscommunication somewhere - maybe the album isn't available to every country, maybe the 800 million includes Apple Store buyers that aren't using iTunes but still count as iTunes accounts.
Of all Bono's terrible line flubbing, the part where he rambled on about not doing music for free came across to me as sounding the worst. It made U2, well Bono in particular, sound like some greedy person taking advantage of Apple's generosity which is not what I am sure the script writer intended. I suspect Bono was ad-libbing when he forgot his lines and got it very wrong.
IMHO It should have been The Red Album and U2 should have given all (well most) the money to their charity. That way both Apple and U2 would have looked good, as it is I was left with a bad taste in my mouth where Bono was concerned and wondering if this was a good use of Apple's money (albeit they can afford it).
Of all Bono's terrible line flubbing, the part where he rambled on about not doing music for free came across to me as sounding the worst. It made U2, well Bono in particular, sound like some greedy person taking advantage of Apple's generosity which is not what I am sure the script writer intended. I suspect Bono was ad-libbing when he forgot his lines and got it very wrong.
IMHO It should have been The Red Album and U2 should have given all (well most) the money to their charity. That way both Apple and U2 would have looked good, as it is I was left with a bad taste in my mouth where Bono was concerned and wondering if this was a good use of Apple's money (albeit they can afford it).
The dialogue and banter should've been better written, but I was not bothered. I also have no problems with people making money, so...
The dialogue and banter should've been better written, but I was not bothered. I also have no problems with people making money, so...
I am sure it was better written, Bono just screwed up IMHO. Nor do I mind people making money but the history and context here was U2 / Apple / RED and all of a sudden this is Apple giving to U2 ... WTF? It just came out all wrong and as I say I am sure it wasn't supposed to come off that way. There just didn't seem to be a rational explanation why this was being done ... the reason, I feel, should have been, at least in part, a charity.
I probably wouldn't mind at all really if Bono wasn't such a self opinionated loud mouth. Look at his comments about Steve's reticence, if not refusal, to help charities openly recently (even though Steve did in secret of course). This all reminds me of Bob Geldof who discovered backing charities, actually, creating a charity in his case, and shouting a lot was a great PR exercise for a one hit wonder whose career was in the tank ... I always hoped Bono wasn't cut from that cloth. Just call me cynical
Comments
iTunes -> purchased -> not on this device-> various
Not, uh… not really.
iTunes -> purchased -> not on this device-> various
Nope. it's not there. How do I get it through iTunes on my Mac?
Nope. it's not there. How do I get it through iTunes on my Mac?
Nevermind. I found it in recent purchases after jumping through 20 hoops. Bad Apple.
Preferences/Store/Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases
They should have spent the money on their live streaming. Oh god, what clusterf*ck that was.but hey the Japanese dub was better than nothing.
Seriously! #1 tech company in the world and you can't figure out live steaming? I would however love to know how many people watched? I'm thinking thye could do this during prime time and beat everything except perhaps the Super Bowl.
All of their other events have worked flawlessly. Not sure what the hell happened this time, but they need to learn from it and I am sure they will. Stayed home to watch it on my Apple TV and was switching between that and my laptop on VPN to SJ when I could get a stream for any amount of time. Was sitting there watching some of Apple's live blog they had below the video. That was pretty nice. How they had the video as their homepage was awesome too. So they did a lot right, but the double music at the start had me very worried. It went downhill from there. Good thing was worst part was iPhone introduction which there was also the most leaks. Watched the replay last night to see what I missed.
I got the booklet. I'm still running iTunes 10 (on one of my two Minis) and I'm wondering if that made the whole process much easier for me.
Suffice it to say we’re probably talking 7 or 8 figures.
Yep. $0.9900001.
I'm also an Apple stockholder, and feeling the money might have been spent more wisely.
One of the conditions for getting the free album was signing up to iTunes before October 13th. They already have 500m users but say they sign up 50m more users and monetize them by $1 each, that could cover what they paid to U2. As people said, even their best album sales are no more than 25m copies and they won't need to cover anywhere near that. Most likely the sum wasn't above $100m. Like Tim said, he's a good negotiator. He's not good at improvised stage shows though - the part where him and Bono touched fingers on stage to represent making the album available was lame as well as the awkward, strained conversation. The rest of the band members just looked embarrassed to be there.
I thought they had 800 million+ accounts, most with credit cards. Have they lost 300 million customers this year?
I thought they had 800 million+ accounts, most with credit cards. Have they lost 300 million customers this year?
hmmm…800m is the number all over the internet…can't necessarily expect Bono to know.
maybe it was 500m when their previous album came out?
btw - it's a whole album, so I think you meant $09.990001…?
I thought they had 800 million+ accounts, most with credit cards. Have they lost 300 million customers this year?
hmmm…800m is the number all over the internet…can't necessarily expect Bono to know.
maybe it was 500m when their previous album came out?
btw - it's a whole album, so I think you meant $09.990001…?
Sorry, yes, I was a decimal place out.
Ah, it all makes sense now.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/oct/26/u2-bono-disappointed-album-sales
Ah, it all makes sense now.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/oct/26/u2-bono-disappointed-album-sales
Indeed. They needed a fillip.
They did say 800 million before:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/23/itunes-now-has-nearly-800-million-accounts-most-with-credit-cards-attached/
but then they said 500 million during the presentation:
http://gizmodo.com/itunes-comes-with-free-bono-1632405004
"Yep, every single iTunes user (500 million customers total!) is getting the new U2 album absolutely free."
That would be a loss of 300 million in about 5 months. There has to be a miscommunication somewhere - maybe the album isn't available to every country, maybe the 800 million includes Apple Store buyers that aren't using iTunes but still count as iTunes accounts.
IMHO It should have been The Red Album and U2 should have given all (well most) the money to their charity. That way both Apple and U2 would have looked good, as it is I was left with a bad taste in my mouth where Bono was concerned and wondering if this was a good use of Apple's money (albeit they can afford it).
The dialogue and banter should've been better written, but I was not bothered. I also have no problems with people making money, so...
I am sure it was better written, Bono just screwed up IMHO. Nor do I mind people making money but the history and context here was U2 / Apple / RED and all of a sudden this is Apple giving to U2 ... WTF? It just came out all wrong and as I say I am sure it wasn't supposed to come off that way. There just didn't seem to be a rational explanation why this was being done ... the reason, I feel, should have been, at least in part, a charity.
I probably wouldn't mind at all really if Bono wasn't such a self opinionated loud mouth. Look at his comments about Steve's reticence, if not refusal, to help charities openly recently (even though Steve did in secret of course). This all reminds me of Bob Geldof who discovered backing charities, actually, creating a charity in his case, and shouting a lot was a great PR exercise for a one hit wonder whose career was in the tank ... I always hoped Bono wasn't cut from that cloth. Just call me cynical