(no subject)

[desh]

Dear Apple,

I have no problem paying for music. I really don't. Never have. I just hate DRM. Refuse to play any locked music, ever. It's not that I want to share music (though I sometimes do); I just like to be able to play things wherever I want. Plus, it's the principle of the thing. So back when JHymn worked on iTunes-purchased songs, I happily bought from you. When you blocked out JHymn, you stopped getting my money.

I still held out hope that I'd come back to you. You're the market leader, after all. For a year or more I've really had no good alternative. I may have downloaded some music through some less-than-industry-supported means, shall we say. And I never did stop buying and ripping CDs on occasion. But for the most part I just got less music. A shame, really.

But now I hear that Amazon has a new digital music store. MP3-based. No DRM (which might not even be possible to put on MP3s anyway). And it's even cheaper than you. I've tried it already, and it's quite nice.

Sorry, Apple. It's over. For good. You're off my speed dial.

Love,
Desh

Comments

[krisispm.livejournal.com]

I really couldn't care less about the iTunes music store - I buy things there from time to time, but usually just exclusive extra tracks or out of print singles.

I also don't care about the Amazon store. I am not paying seven dollars for *files* - they have no intrinsic value to me. A band can either sell me a CD or a subscription service, but I am not buying their low-sound-quality MP3s one by one like pez.

However, iTunes as an overall program remains the most killer app for OCD maintenance of a 12k+ song library, which means iPod remains the most killer tech for listening to it.

[desh]

I still get CDs for full albums. But I'm not spending $7 plus shipping for a CD when all I want is "Ain't No More Cane" by Lyle Lovett. I'll happily take a 256k MP3 (which is about what I rip my CDs to, though I use VBR) for 89 cents.

Sadly, I'm still in the music-management 1.0 world of Winamp. I love the app, but it doesn't do ratings or fancy storage or really anything neat like that. For now, I'm OK with that. But I'd definitely consider firing up iTunes again if I decide it's time to give up on Winamp and move into modern track management.

[krisispm.livejournal.com]

Even at 256 it's a scam; MP3s are lossy by definition (although, at 256 I admittedly can hardly tell the difference).

Unlike non-HD DVDs, CDs represent a reasonable average of discernable fidelity for human consumption. Sure, there's super audio and surround sound, but (whether their marketers admit it or not) they are predominantly for early-adopters and audiophiles.

DRM issues aside, a purchase of a 128 or 256 MP3 should entitle us to later claim a fuller-quality version should it ever become available.

I'm awfully militant this morning.

you're blaming the wrong people

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i'm not blaming apple; they're not a friend of DRM. i am blaming the RIAA. and frankly, any scheme that does not end up with the bulk of the $$ going to the artist leaves me less than happy. amazon isn't doing anything revolutionary there. but i didn't take to itunes at all; the dual pricing for DRM/not-DRM they started to offer didn't make me happy -- $2 is too much for a single song.

i've stayed away from everything that is DRM. which is why i am a music pirate in addition to my emusic subscription and CD and direct-from-the-band buys. i don't need itunes' management capabilities either, file folders do the job for me. ratings? i am not a critic, i don't rank my music; i am either in the mood for a song or not, and no fiddling with trying to slap a classification system (beyond reasonably fine-grained genre) in there can determine that for me. i'm no longer an audiophile, 256k/VBR is good enough for my elderly ears and the headphones through which i play it all back.

if i were still on windows, winamp 1.0 would be fine.