5. A small/nominal fee (say $9.95 - 19.95) would NOT be unreasonable at all to gain access to the coolest music service available.
This nominal fee would be easy to circumvent. Apple will get only a fraction of the potential iTunes Music Store customers. It'll get less revenue, I guarantee it. All the while the recording industry is looking for any excuse to pull the plug. I agree with hmurchinson...anyone who thinks making people pay for iTunes is a good idea is out of his mind.
Thing is, unlike other iApps, because iTunes comes with the iTunes Music Store, they can recoup the costs in tiny bits, and look like a better deal. Obviously, they run the risk of not recouping their costs and delaying their real profits (as slim as they probably are with the record companies taking most of the $$$). But I think the idea that this is supposed to be a transparent process for users, the "out of box" experience must be as smooth as possible, the entry ramp as low as possible.
iTunes for Windows has to be free a free download.
Why? Simple. QuickTime. Think of it as a modern Trojan Horse on steroids.
This is the best chance Apple has ever had to really push QT for PCs. And we all know the importance of QT in Apple's Digital Lifestyle strategy. Selling aac songs to QuickTime enabled PCs will do wonders to grow consumer acceptance and marketshare of QT multimedia platform. Hopefully this will also help reverse the current growing trend of WMA enabled devices on the market, like Alpine's line of car audio.
How will this help the Mac platform per se? Well, with the increased revenue from millions of PC users buying songs from iTMS as well as the upcoming (rumored) killer 970 hardware, prices for Mac system can only go down making it much easier for switchers and upgraders. Growing 5% in marketshare during the next 18 months is finally plausible.
I agree 100%, except I don't think it will "reverse" the trend of Windows Media-compatible car stereo equipment.
If anything, it will encourage Alpine, Kenwood or whoever to create a CD player that will play AAC along with WMA and MP3. But will this be possible with the DRM technology used in AAC? And will Apple be willing to cooperate with car stereo manufacturers to get AAC on more players, even if it means less iPods sold? Only time will tell...
And will Apple be willing to cooperate with car stereo manufacturers to get AAC on more players, even if it means less iPods sold? Only time will tell...
Apple is but a Licensee of AAC. The group that has the task of getting AAC support in devices is the MPEGLA Group. I believe Digitimes stated that by 2005-2006 MPEG4/AAC Devices will be 3+Billion a year so Apple is currently in on the ground floor. I'm assuming that Car Stereos will all under the "iPod Umbrella" meaning that they will have no problems playing .mp4p files.
I agree 100%, except I don't think it will "reverse" the trend of Windows Media-compatible car stereo equipment.
If anything, it will encourage Alpine, Kenwood or whoever to create a CD player that will play AAC along with WMA and MP3. But will this be possible with the DRM technology used in AAC? And will Apple be willing to cooperate with car stereo manufacturers to get AAC on more players, even if it means less iPods sold? Only time will tell...
I am glad you mostly agree with my take on the subject, but I think I failed to make myself clear in my earlier post. Well, let me explain what I was trying to say regarding that car audio trend. What I meant is that consumer audio manufacturers are being licensed (maybe even for free) by Microsoft to promote its multimedia (WMA) technology. That is indeed a growing trend which hurts Apple. Now that the Big 5 studios are playing nice with Quicktime's AAC/DRM, Apple is in a unique position to gain some leverage with audio manufacturers. And, If Apple were to successfully license its Quicktime technology to this market segment, as they have been doing with Digital Photography and Video Camera manufacturers for a few years, we could soon see a growing number of audio devices (home and car) compatible with iTunes data discs.
And, unlike some MS-NBC quasi-reporter's note published last week, Macs and iTunes burn Audio CDs compatible with most if not all CD players out there. No different than PCs capabilities, yet the iTunes solutions is far more elegant and easier to use (rant 'cause I got furious after reading that misguided report).
About the last part of your comment, I don't think car stereo and iPod sales overlap. They are 2 totally different markets, albeit the iPod can and works as an accessory to your car audio system, as well as in your home. The iPod is portable, you can (in most cases) take your complete audio library with you wherever you go. Fixed car and home audio equipment compatible with QT and/or AAC could not hurt iPod sales.
I'm an Australian, so I've never used iTMS, but just from reading around the web, this is how I think it goes.
Many people have downloaded iTunes4 becuase it's free and they want to see what it can do.
They click around for a while and preview some songs. "Hey, that was easy..and fast.. and good quality".
then it moves to:
"Wow, there's that album that I havn't been able to buy in stores...Mabey just one song".
Again, fast and easy.
Before they know it, they have spent $10 to $20 and are very happy with a service they were very skeptical about.
If iTMS is to succeed on Windows, I believe it will have to follow this same pattern.
Make it free, get the users hooked on the simplicity and elegance of Apple software. Leave them wondering "If Apple can make purchasing songs so easy, I wonder what else they can do...."
Comments
5. A small/nominal fee (say $9.95 - 19.95) would NOT be unreasonable at all to gain access to the coolest music service available.
This nominal fee would be easy to circumvent. Apple will get only a fraction of the potential iTunes Music Store customers. It'll get less revenue, I guarantee it. All the while the recording industry is looking for any excuse to pull the plug. I agree with hmurchinson...anyone who thinks making people pay for iTunes is a good idea is out of his mind.
i know peopel who think that WinAmp is better then iTunes because they have never used iTunes...free stuff gets around the fastest
followed by priced with cracks
then stuff that has to be paid for
Originally posted by Bill M
iTunes for Windows has to be free a free download.
Why? Simple. QuickTime. Think of it as a modern Trojan Horse on steroids.
This is the best chance Apple has ever had to really push QT for PCs. And we all know the importance of QT in Apple's Digital Lifestyle strategy. Selling aac songs to QuickTime enabled PCs will do wonders to grow consumer acceptance and marketshare of QT multimedia platform. Hopefully this will also help reverse the current growing trend of WMA enabled devices on the market, like Alpine's line of car audio.
How will this help the Mac platform per se? Well, with the increased revenue from millions of PC users buying songs from iTMS as well as the upcoming (rumored) killer 970 hardware, prices for Mac system can only go down making it much easier for switchers and upgraders. Growing 5% in marketshare during the next 18 months is finally plausible.
I agree 100%, except I don't think it will "reverse" the trend of Windows Media-compatible car stereo equipment.
If anything, it will encourage Alpine, Kenwood or whoever to create a CD player that will play AAC along with WMA and MP3. But will this be possible with the DRM technology used in AAC? And will Apple be willing to cooperate with car stereo manufacturers to get AAC on more players, even if it means less iPods sold? Only time will tell...
However, I can't imagine this version of iTunes being as feature-rich as its Mac counterprt, particularly in the realm of CD burning.
And will Apple be willing to cooperate with car stereo manufacturers to get AAC on more players, even if it means less iPods sold? Only time will tell...
Apple is but a Licensee of AAC. The group that has the task of getting AAC support in devices is the MPEGLA Group. I believe Digitimes stated that by 2005-2006 MPEG4/AAC Devices will be 3+Billion a year so Apple is currently in on the ground floor. I'm assuming that Car Stereos will all under the "iPod Umbrella" meaning that they will have no problems playing .mp4p files.
Originally posted by Gizzmonic
I agree 100%, except I don't think it will "reverse" the trend of Windows Media-compatible car stereo equipment.
If anything, it will encourage Alpine, Kenwood or whoever to create a CD player that will play AAC along with WMA and MP3. But will this be possible with the DRM technology used in AAC? And will Apple be willing to cooperate with car stereo manufacturers to get AAC on more players, even if it means less iPods sold? Only time will tell...
I am glad you mostly agree with my take on the subject, but I think I failed to make myself clear in my earlier post. Well, let me explain what I was trying to say regarding that car audio trend. What I meant is that consumer audio manufacturers are being licensed (maybe even for free) by Microsoft to promote its multimedia (WMA) technology. That is indeed a growing trend which hurts Apple. Now that the Big 5 studios are playing nice with Quicktime's AAC/DRM, Apple is in a unique position to gain some leverage with audio manufacturers. And, If Apple were to successfully license its Quicktime technology to this market segment, as they have been doing with Digital Photography and Video Camera manufacturers for a few years, we could soon see a growing number of audio devices (home and car) compatible with iTunes data discs.
And, unlike some MS-NBC quasi-reporter's note published last week, Macs and iTunes burn Audio CDs compatible with most if not all CD players out there. No different than PCs capabilities, yet the iTunes solutions is far more elegant and easier to use (rant 'cause I got furious after reading that misguided report).
About the last part of your comment, I don't think car stereo and iPod sales overlap. They are 2 totally different markets, albeit the iPod can and works as an accessory to your car audio system, as well as in your home. The iPod is portable, you can (in most cases) take your complete audio library with you wherever you go. Fixed car and home audio equipment compatible with QT and/or AAC could not hurt iPod sales.
Many people have downloaded iTunes4 becuase it's free and they want to see what it can do.
They click around for a while and preview some songs. "Hey, that was easy..and fast.. and good quality".
then it moves to:
"Wow, there's that album that I havn't been able to buy in stores...Mabey just one song".
Again, fast and easy.
Before they know it, they have spent $10 to $20 and are very happy with a service they were very skeptical about.
If iTMS is to succeed on Windows, I believe it will have to follow this same pattern.
Make it free, get the users hooked on the simplicity and elegance of Apple software. Leave them wondering "If Apple can make purchasing songs so easy, I wonder what else they can do...."
THAT should be the goal of Windows iTMS
-Dan