Apple's "Cocktail" may spur whole album sales in iTunes

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 118
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    there was another article on CNET as well that the record companies are making their own version of this. THey first pitched this to Apple and SJ doesn't want any compatibility with outside software. so the record companies are going to have their more open version as well
  • Reply 42 of 118
    nceencee Posts: 857member
    I for one, have purchased many CD's over the years, wanting that ONE song, ONLY to find some real gem's on the CD (songs I hadn't heard, nor would likely have heard had I not purchased the whole CD.



    I'm sure Apple will still sell single songs, they will just make it interesting to consider purchasing the whole CD / album if one chooses to.



    Hell, you get to listen to all of the tracks before you buy, so why not have the option of getting it for less. I say bring it on, if we like it and it works great, if not then you can't say they didn't try.



    Skip
  • Reply 43 of 118
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    i've had an ipod since 2004 and have never bought anything from iTunes. my wife has bought maybe $30 worth. why buy from iTunes when CD rips sound better and you can keep the CD as a backup.
  • Reply 44 of 118
    There was a time when musicians wouldn't go it the studio to record an album (when 45's were king). All they would record would be the single. One hit; no fodder. I don't see why this can't be the way things work now. It seems to be the obvious way for things to move; now that the product is being consumed as a single, produce it as a single as well.
  • Reply 45 of 118
    Well I think this is a great idea. With the new pricing schedules, which basically means every song is actually $1.29, the break-even point in my brain is around three songs. If I buy three songs, its likely something else on the album I'll like, so I'll just get the album. This sort of value-add lowers that bar. Kudos.
  • Reply 46 of 118
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by al_bundy View Post


    i've had an ipod since 2004 and have never bought anything from iTunes. my wife has bought maybe $30 worth. why buy from iTunes when CD rips sound better and you can keep the CD as a backup.



    Because a CD is $17 and an iTunes album is $10? Because a CD takes up room in my house, which has none, and a download doesn't? Because buying a CD just to rip it is a waste of time, money, and carbon?



    Maury
  • Reply 47 of 118
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galley View Post


    It's easy; just don't buy any music made in the last 15 years.



    I like my Goldfrapp albums so will ignore that advice



    Scary how close you are to being right, though.



    I wonder if this device will see a return of the daily newspaper, magazines and such. Perhaps albums of music won't be the only nostalgic media formats it is aimed at resurrecting. I just don't see Apple spending 4+ years developing a device just to suit the wishes of greedy music execs. There has to be a lot more to it than that.
  • Reply 48 of 118
    imatimat Posts: 208member
    Just talks.Interesting ones,but just words.The iTablet,should it ever see the light,will need a LONG DUE international content distribution deal.Apple has had almost all of its growth outside the US and yet they still haven't implemented a tv show and movie sales and rental model in most of the countries.If they don't want to lose the train of digital content they'd better get their act tigether, in my opinion at least



    I own an AppleTv and find it a great device,but have to "find" the movies and shows on the internet..
  • Reply 49 of 118
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,616member
    I think this is a great idea.



    Currently I buy the occasional song from iTunes but I will buy CD's if I want the whole album. Apple's cocktail proposal adds some value to the album and an incentive to buy it from them rather than buying a CD.
  • Reply 50 of 118
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wil Maneker View Post


    Is anyone else beginning to feel that the mantra of "albums have 1 good song and 9 crappy songs" is getting old and tired?



    There are good albums that are released each week.





    No because it is true. Also, 1 good album and 9 crappy ones
  • Reply 51 of 118
    fjrabonfjrabon Posts: 61member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    not to be unkind but don't you think you are living in the past here? Look around you and ask yourself how many people today lounge around trying to convince themselves that what they are listening to has value?



    That last question was carefully stated because what passes for todays albums have no value.



    Again living in the past if you ask me. Sitting around listening to music with a girl friend would be considered very getto today. I just don't see people experiencing life that way anymore. The problem is society has wiser up to the music industry for one and two there are a lot better things to do with your life now.



    You pulled out some great names from the past there! However I believe the magic back then involved a lot more than album art. These artist where at the front lines of a revolution in many ways and had value in their music. Notably everyone of these groups earned their popularity with fans of many walks and ages.



    Contrast this with the pop teenie bopper culture that seems to be so much of the modern music seen. These are not mature worldly musicians with challeging thoughts at all. They are barely out of diapers and have nothing to offer in their music.



    The problem today is that there is little focus at all with respect to the adult market. It simply isn't the same industry as before. Consider who went to Woodstock, it wasn't a bunch of thirteen year olds.





    I'd go farther and say everthing is a fraud or fabrication. For the most part people can recognize value or substance In just about anything. Except for the teenie bopper market thus all the marketing effort towards that segment. To be really successful a band needs to inspire a vastly wide age bracket than two to three years.



    The bands you mentioned above offered up a lot more than bad lyrics and bad behaviour. It's been 15 to 20 years since I've been impressed with a rock or pop group that would justify more than a glance. Frankly I've stopped listening to music the way I did, there are just more satisfying ways to spend ones time. If the music industry has no desire to develop talent and quality then this little program of Apples is doomed to failure. There is just no incentive to bias time in the direction of the music industry when it has fallen in such a disgraceful manner.







    Dave





    You sound exactly like my great grandfather who refused to admit that The Beatles had any talent at all and just lamented the fall from favor of real musical genres like jazz and how there was no singer that could touch Frank Sinatra. He went on and on about how music died when it went to three chords, how rock guitar solos were like listening to masturbation, etc.



    not to flame or anything, but you've basically been saying everybody else is full of crap, so I'll tell you that I think you are completely and totally full of crap. I've bought about 40 albums over the last year or so that I think are phenomenal albums. The reason you don't like any music from the last 15 to 20 years isn't because somehow musical talent has died. Every generation since music has been sold has lamented the death of quality music. You think music is dead because your brain is, by this time, permanently wired to only like music that came out 20 years ago.



    Is there a lot of crap out there these days? Yes, there is a ton of crap out there. But, more than any other time in the history of music we have tons of choices, a lot of which are really great, regardless of what musical genres you like.



    So you don't like music anymore, that's all fine and good, but it doesn't mean that the actual quality of music has decreased. If anything, going back over my music from the 80s and late 90s, I'd say that music has, if anything, greatly improved since then. Or at the very least, its just easier to access quality music and ignore the really bad fluff. Yes, the Black Eyed Peas are bad. But I can just as easily buy the new Bill Frisell or Okkervil River album as the new Black Eyed Peas album. That wasn't really the case "back in the good old days" if you didn't like what was popular back then, you were kind of screwed, because you didn't have a TON of choice.



    I think another problem is that we tend to retrospectively ignore the crappy music from the past. We keep thinking music was better in the 60s and 70s because we only listen to the best from those days. Let me tell you, I recently bought an older guys entire vinyl collection that spanned the late 50s to early 80s and it was very comprehensive. There was a TON of just absolute crap. For every Led Zeppelin there were 5 ASIA, Emrson, lake & Palmers and The Monkees.
  • Reply 52 of 118
    Does anyone think the whole album story is more a smoke screen and appeasement to the music industry?



    That is this will be more a KIndle and Netbook device and yes an oversized iPOD....but imagine the apps that can be made for this size and config.



    How about games...with bluetooth controllers

    How about as a home appliance, ie: security and remote control

    How about phone, stays in the backpack or briefcase with bluetooth headset

    How about TV/Stereo, with bluetooth headphones

    How about presentation tool, powerpts, video, etc for sales people

    How about internet app like Salesforce.com, etc......for traveling business people

    How about mobile reservation system for tours, hotels, cruise ships, gate agents, etc.

    How about fastfood restrurant POS, work the line for orders, no standing in line.

    How about digital signage (maybe too small for this) but wireless signage access to manage crowds at events etc. or tied to a projector....



    Just a few, there will be thousands....albums yes, but seriously is that really what will drive this product.....nope
  • Reply 53 of 118
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MissionGrey View Post


    No because it is true. Also, 1 good album and 9 crappy ones



    Well there were 105,000 albums released in the US in 2008; four times as many as in 2000, so using your formulation that makes 10,500 or around 200 per week 'good' and worth buying and taking the time to listen to as 'albums'



    Here in the UK we weed out most of the crap and only release 30,000
  • Reply 54 of 118
    virgil-tb2virgil-tb2 Posts: 1,416member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Trajectory View Post


    One way to get people to buy whole albums is to stop putting out 1 hit song + 9 tracks of crap.



    Precisely.



    And just as the counter point to the inevitable hundreds of comments about "who wants to buy an album" ....



    Anyone who is really interested in music, who knows much about music, who is interested in the artists that produce it, or who is an artist themselves ... buys albums. This is not the largest group of music buyers by far, in fact it's probably a minority nowadays, but it's the core music lovers. I would also argue that this group buys a disproportionately large amount of music relative to the general population. They are the industry's "sweet spot" and are worth accommodating for that reason.



    It's the same difference between those that love the painter Van Gogh and have a bunch of expensive books of his work, and those that "really like that sunflower picture" and maybe have a poster of it over their couch. Or those that think M*A*S*H was a "really great movie" and those that have all of Robert Altman's movies on DVD from the criterion collection.
  • Reply 55 of 118
    cmf2cmf2 Posts: 1,427member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R View Post


    I just don't see how Apple's tablet is going to succeed where all other tablets have failed. Especially once we factor in Apple's pricing. An overpriced gadget with no clear niche or purpose.



    Anyone?



    An overpriced gadget with no clear niche or purpose would most definitely fail. However, if Apple comes out with a tablet, it will have a clear niche and purpose. Some may consider it overpriced, but then again there will be nothing on the market to compare it to.



    Tablets in the past were not designed from the ground up around touch. An Apple tablet will be. Apple will do what it does so well. Take a market and redefine what it should be. If they can't do that, there will be no Apple tablet.
  • Reply 56 of 118
    cmf2cmf2 Posts: 1,427member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maury Markowitz View Post


    Because a CD is $17 and an iTunes album is $10? Because a CD takes up room in my house, which has none, and a download doesn't? Because buying a CD just to rip it is a waste of time, money, and carbon?



    Maury



    You left out the fact that itunes allows for spontaneous purchases. If you decide you want a song/album at 3am, you can get it. Travelling to stores within business hours is a pain if all you want is a CD.
  • Reply 57 of 118
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RadicalxEdward View Post


    i still don't get why the heck lyrics are a big deal. THEY'RE FUCKING WORDS!!!! why the hell doesn't every iTunes download already include the damn lyrics.



    I don't know why iTunes doesn't have a 'Get Lyrics' feature in the same way as 'Get Album Artwork'.



    My iMac has been using iTunesLyricsLocator to add the lyrics to my entire iTunes library for the last hour, so I'm still waiting to find out how comprehensive and accurate it has been.
  • Reply 58 of 118
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maury Markowitz View Post


    Because a CD is $17 and an iTunes album is $10? Because a CD takes up room in my house, which has none, and a download doesn't? Because buying a CD just to rip it is a waste of time, money, and carbon?



    Maury



    who sells the average CD for $17? only special editions and double CD sets go for that much.



    with itunes i have to make sure to back everything up or beg support to download everything again. and I can rip CD's with Apple Lossless format, mp3's sound like crap
  • Reply 59 of 118
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cmf2 View Post


    You left out the fact that itunes allows for spontaneous purchases. If you decide you want a song/album at 3am, you can get it. Travelling to stores within business hours is a pain if all you want is a CD.





    that's why there is Amazon
  • Reply 60 of 118
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Porchland View Post


    The tablets failed because they (1) were overpriced, (2) ran on a computer OS that did not translate well to a tablet, (3) did not have good touch functionality, (4) did not work well without a keyboard, and (5) we weren't ready for them yet.



    Apple's tablet will not be an attempt to improve on previous tablets; it will be the new iPod touch.



    I don't see it as being "overpriced", for one, it's a lame word to use, and another, sometimes technology costs money.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RadicalxEdward View Post


    i still don't get why the heck lyrics are a big deal. THEY'RE FUCKING WORDS!!!! why the hell doesn't every iTunes download already include the damn lyrics.



    It's a copyright issue now, because song writers have a different copyright cartel from the music distribution cartel. Even if the band is the one that wrote the songs, it seems they're stuck in the same quagmire as those that buy the rights to perform songs.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maury Markowitz View Post


    Because a CD is $17 and an iTunes album is $10? Because a CD takes up room in my house, which has none, and a download doesn't? Because buying a CD just to rip it is a waste of time, money, and carbon?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by al_bundy View Post


    who sells the average CD for $17? only special editions and double CD sets go for that much.



    People that are dumb enough to pay list price back when Sam Goody was around and then complain about it. If you're going to buy at a shopping mall, you're going to pay mall prices.



    Quote:

    with itunes i have to make sure to back everything up or beg support to download everything again. and I can rip CD's with Apple Lossless format, mp3's sound like crap



    Sorry, bad argument. You should be doing backups whether you're doing CD rips or downloads. Unless you want to re-rip everything if your hard drive dies. Besides, iTunes sells higher bit rate AAC.
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