Is not what it appears.
1. It's a walled garden. Only what is authorized can be traded. All those live tracks, alternative takes, they don't appear, only label-authorized stuff does.
2. The files are copy-protected WMAs.
I don't get this. The labels are so unhappy with Apple, so pissed off at what a great job the company has done to bring the music industry into the 21st century that they want to align themselves with MICROSOFT? The most benevolent company in America, an adjudged monopolist, that makes foolproof software that everybody can depend on? Like all those companies that ground to a halt as a result of that worm last week, like DAIMLER/CHRYSLER?
Who is the real friend of the music business? THE CUSTOMER! Why the fuck can't the labels give the CUSTOMER what he wants.
But, as John Belushi would put it, NO! They're so paranoid they've got to lock up the product in such a way that's it's just about USELESS to EVERYBODY!
Think about this. You lay your money down for a subscription to this ISP, and you can't use the files you acquire, the songs you pay for, on your iPod. That would be like finding out the gas at the independent station won't run in your Mercedes-Benz. WHAT THE FUCK?? I bought the best car out there, paid a premium for quality, and this piss-ant company can't even make compatible FUEL??
The labels believe Apple is successful because of a monopoly.
But this is untrue. Apple is successful because they made a phenomenal product that they KEEP IMPROVING!
The iPod blows all competitive products out of the water. Transferring music to it is so easy a grandparent, a COMPUTER NOVICE , can do it. Shouldn't the company be COMPLIMENTED FOR THIS?
No, the labels want to fuck with the company.
This is a company that added podcast compatibility, at no cost to ANYBODY OTHER THAN ITSELF!
It's not illegal to add podcast ability to jukebox software. Real could do it, Napster could do it, Yahoo could do it, MICROSOFT could do it, but since there's no obvious money in it, they don't.
So, Apple's the bully here?
As for the iTunes Music Store. Can't the labels get it around their pea-sized brains that it's a sideshow, about as important as summer stock is to Broadway? File-trading is where it's at, not the iTMS. P2P dwarfs sales at the iTunes Music Store. And, in response to this, labels want to fuck with Apple, change the simplicity of the store by charging MORE (and less!) I don't give a fuck. Let them do it. Then it will show how irrelevant the iTMS is. Then the sales there will dissipate and be replaced by...nothing.
As for interoperability, if only the fucks at the labels agreed to sell the files the way they're traded P2P, WITHOUT COPY PROTECTION! Then this so-called problem would evaporate, OVERNIGHT!
It's so funny that the record companies fear a future that already exists. It's like buggy manufacturers plotting how to stop the explosion of the car market in 1920. Huh? GET WITH THE PROGRAM!
What, they're worried that the people who PAY to subscribe to this U.K. ISP are going to give the tracks to somebody else??? ALL THOSE TRACKS AND MORE ARE ALREADY FREELY-AVAILABLE TO ANYBODY WHO WANTS THEM!
The concept is good. Authorizing file-trading. Allowing people to take as much as they want for one monthly price and dividing up the pool of money based on what is traded. But the implementation cripples the potential advancement.
Charge a fee at EVERY ISP. Bless file-trading. ENCOURAGE file-trading. THEN, everybody will acquire music, everybody will become a fan, and business will blow up. Across the board. Labels will make more and musicians will make more and everybody will want to SEE these artists so live business will increase dramatically too.
What have we seen with technology in the last ten years? The key is to hit the financial sweet spot. The price at which EVERYBODY can partake. We've seen it with computers, DVDs and cell phones. They're ubiquitous. Oh, music itself is ubiquitous, but very little of it is owned by the public, they think it's too expensive. Lower the price of acquisition and they won't. MAKE IT EASY for them to get music, right on their computers in their homes rather than having to drive to a retail establishment. And, don't sell them LESS than what they expect. Don't sell them a crippled file in a format they don't want for an exorbitant price.
Subscribe to Feed
