iPodDailyNews - Where iPod news comes first

Horrors! Lisa from Creative just said I'm "limited" to using iTMS to get more music - AND I've got an iPod - double horrors!


Yeah, right.

Magic word: "deep" as in "It's gettin' _____ in here."

There's no problem with a little choice. With the iPod (which I love, don't get me wrong), you can only really get music from iTMS (if you play by the rules). It wouldn't hurt if there were other options, i.e., if Apple licensed FairPlay. The iTMS experience is so superior, that I don't think Apple has much to worry about by licensing the tech, and they'd gain some (more) positive press. I think people around here are just a little too quick to pounce when the observation is made that iPod users really only have one on-line option (again, if they're going to play by the rules).

That said, there are a couple of on-line music stores selling non-DRM encumbered tracks, so I guess those can be considered an option, as well...

"Those with an iPod device can use only the music in the format deliverd by iTunes"

Doh! So what about MP3 files? Seems to me that the ones locked into a format (until recently) were Sony, who would only let you use ATRAC.

Surely the myriad of 3rd party onliine music stores allow you to convert your music to MP3 which can then be used on an iPod - or are they like Sony -where is the lock in with Apple exactly?

Until anybody other than Apple can offer up a music store that people will buy hundreds of millions of tracks from annually, Apple, the iTMS and the iPod will be just fine.

As of right now, the only people that can beat Apple is Apple. And the only way they can do that is to let the iPod, iTMS or iTunes stagnate. None of which has happened yet, nor do we have any reason to believe they will happen anytime in the foreseeable future given Apple's dedication to improving all of them.

If the proliferation of the Windows Media Player were the key to the whole thing, Apple would never have become the dominant player here

Those with an iPod device can use only the music in the format deliverd by iTunes,

Man, they just don't get any smarter do they?

Schick sells their razors. Gillette sells theirs. The are not interoperable. Big deal. Consumers choose.

Next...

Let these "competitors" make their services Mac-compatible. Then tell me I have a choice.

I really feel "locked in" when I can choose from over one million songs from the iTunes music store, rip my own CDs or play any mp3 or aac file. These clowns are just trying to scare the public into thinking they're being locked in when they really aren't.

The smartest thing Steve Jobs has done to date is to NOT open up the FairPlay DRM to these bozos. They simply want to leech off of the success of the iPod without having done any of the work themselves, that's all...

"Apple dominates now, but in the bigger picture it won't stay that way for long."

Mark Farish can keep wishing all he likes, but simply wishing for something won't make it so... LOL

As an aside, one of my grouses with articles like this is that they tell one side of the story.

She quotes two people who make WMA-compatible players, Creative and Samsung. She quotes a "mystery analyst." And she quotes a senior editor at CNet.

Okay. Fine. Where's the quote from Apple? Not even a "Apple did not return comments in time for press." Sounds a little one-sided to me. She quotes two iPod competitors but no quote from the maker of the iPod?

I know this sounds kind of obvious,

but why does no one mention that you don't have to have an iPod to download and use music from iTunes? I listen to my music just fine on my computer and car stereo with no iPod involved.

Creative...

Sorry Creative but I know of at least another place, and i am sure there are more places than the one I am about to mention where you can buy legal music. Such as at: Bleep.com.

Jefre

Ooops. Sorry I meant to address "Choice."

It was painful reading their whining.

There is a choice. There are plenty of choices. Go to any store and there are 100's if not thousands of players and there are 10's of music stores. People choose what they want to use

They choose Apple because.... "it just works". It solves the need.

Every major media technology ultimately standardized, whether it was by default (VHS beating out Beta) or by the corporations themselves (Sony and Philips deciding on the CD format).

This same convergence MUST happen with digital music if the sector (not just Apple) is to survive in the long run. Perhaps the market will converge on AAC/Fairplay. It's the most likely standard at this point, but I wish Apple could do something to promote that standardization.

Also, I think the quality of the downloads must go up dramatically before online music starts to seriously dominate CDs. Right now, the quality is *worse* than CDs. It's gotta get to a point where it's at least as good if not better than CDs before it becomes the dominant form.

I suspect Apple is going to hit us with a *serious* quality upgrade this year--e.g., release the music at better than CD quality--and then try to make that the de facto standard. At least, I hope they will.

Apple dominates now, but in the bigger picture it won't stay that way for long."


Yeah, that's one of those BOLD comments, that, in a hundred years, just may pan out.. so.. as a journalist who is totally clueless, s/he's happy with those odds..

talk about an inside scoop..asking the competition if Apple will keep winning.. hahahah

You know, they have been whining about this for a year now, "Consumers need choice" hoping that the consumers will take their FUD and run away from Apple's music platform. Is it working? Do consumers really seem to care? Based on the continued growth of iPod sales, it appears not. The competition would do good to leave this dead horse alone and go find another piece of FUD to saddle up.

Boy this is rich…here goes…

"said Lisa Malley, senior brand manager for portable media devices with Creative Labs,"

…corporate speak for "senior scapegoat" when it all hits the fan.

"'If the dominant platform is Windows, then Windows media will proliferate faster,' said Mark Farish,

…if??… seems iTunes has proliferated faster, therefore Macintosh must be the dominate platform!!

'The reason Macintosh failed in the PC market was because it didn't license its technologies to other manufacturers, which Microsoft did. Now iTunes is doing the same.

…failed…rising profits, rising sales, demand beyond belief vs. increase customer dissatisfaction with windows (who is basically licensing stolen technology i.e. Mac interface. Guess who's going to get stomped on if they try to copy iTunes!!)

Microsoft powers maybe 10 different music content providers and multiple portable audio providers compatible with them. Consumers need choice. Apple dominates now, but in the bigger picture it won't stay that way for long."

…ten of the smallest and least significant content providers running in the red. Only MS benefits; they don't care who the provider is or whether they are profitable or not; just whether MS is profitable. If you hold a really little picture, really, really close to your eye, it does "look" big, but how does that help?

just buy your music on cd's and you're cool. you get a better quality product, album art, and you can encode it to your heart's content.

magic word, "methods" as in, there is a method to this madness.

PC world get over it. Just because you drive a yugo that means everybody wants to drive it too.

Prediction
One field where the iPod is surreptitiously working is schools. Soon, we'll see teachers Podcasting homework and the iPod will become as indispensable as the ball point pen.

These people keep prattling on how iTunes/iPod is a bad for consumer choice. And how this domination is bound to fail.

Why are they more than happy to remind us that M$'s domination in OSes or productivity is actually necessary?

all I can say is that i'm getting an ipod shuffle and noone that can stop me

what's that crap about choice.. buy a cd, convert it to aac or mp3 and it works.
newsflash for the whiners... it _does_ support mp3
it is called mp3 player... see? m, p, three...
multi, plat, form... still following?

I buy music online for multiple sources. And all of it, except from the iTMS is DRM free. Here is a short list:
1. magnatune.com
2. livephish.com
3. livedownload.com
4. munckmusic.com
5. muletracks.com
6. livebonnaroo.com
7. disclogic.com
8. iTunes Music Store
9. BONUS: livemetallica.com (I don't buy from this one)

Admittedly, these online music stores are specialized in the music choice, but livedownloads.com has a wide variety of live and studio music from many different artists.

limited in my choices my left buttocks cheek.

MDN magic word: "wrote" as in Napster been wrote off.

Don't know where to begin, That article was SO poorly researched and written.

OK, even giving the point windows is the dominate platform, so what? The iTMS works with windows. Windows store and iPod users outnumber Mac users. iPod and iTunes is its very own platform that can be used by windows or Mac OS. Like Steve said, (paraphrasing here) MS is griping about choice because they don't like the choice the consumer is making.

About the 'huge' number of online stores that offer music, again, so what? Its the same identical music offered by iTMS. If the only value these wanna-be stores offer is a crappy hard to navigate user interface users are not going to come use the service.

My personal feeling is that the record companies could still screw any online music service out of existance. Record labels/RIAA don't like MS, cause MS wants all the control. (heaven forbid that the labels/RIAA lose any power and control) They don't like Apple cause Apple gives too much control to the consumer.

I don't know why everyone is complaining. She took the media package from the nice man from Microsoft who bought her lunch. He even underlined all the choice quotes he wanted her to use. So she used them and paid for her lunch. Give her a break. This is how all analysts get their start. Soon she will be just like the big boys, you know who they are, and get envelopes stuffed full of greenbacks along with the lunch. She is just starting out. Baby steps, baby steps .....

Apple at the moment has the upper hand, so it won't license FairPlay to other music stores or access by non-iPod devices. What MDN fails to understand is that by not licensing FairPlay, the iPod customer is limited to iTMS, the iPod, and the pricing whims of the record companies by proxy of Apple. So long as the iTMS and iPod experience is enjoyed by enough of its customers, you won't find it limiting. As long as only iPods can access iTMS, Apple will innovate only enough to make sure it maintains it current market position.

If another company manages to be successful by integrating cutting-edge features (my pet one being direct download of pictures off my digital camera), Apple will respond. Until then, your choice is limited if perhaps no limiting.

I have 2 ipods, and an ibook, have used mac for 12 years and is my computer of choice, however i do think apple needs to loosen the grip a little on drm licensing, not much just a bit.

Fundamentally consumers dont like being tied, and surely apple should be using ipod to"sell the mac platform" and not be looking to tie people in through music.

However, Stevie thinks on a different level from most of us, and looks at a bigger picture than most of us, including a great many of the journalists who bless us with their thoughts.

So there is probibly a logical reason for not doing so (drm licensing) and i will leave it in Stevie's capable hands, and worry about more important stuff like, what to die for product apple are gonna use next to have me rushing for my credit card. lol

Hugh

itunes MAKES the shuffle. i think the autofill feature is the shuffle's greatest selling point. if apple opened up fairplay, they wouldn't be able to control the software side of the experience. imagine if someone bought a shuffle and then tried to use it with some crap music manager that was "compatible" with ipods because it licensed fairplay.

it's my view that apple is keeping a tight lid not because they want to lock out the competition, but they do not want to risk users having bad experiences with crappy music manager software.

Choice: though I can't disagree that "a little choice" is good, I'm having a difficult time understanding why you repeatedly say that iPodders only "really" have one choice, then admit there are some DRM-free services that you "guess" are choices. Hey, I'm not slamming you, just trying to understand. You may be aluding to the fact that the DRM-free services are niche services, but aside from a few exclusive tracks that other "plays for sure" services may have, are there really any mainstream commercial tracks not on iTMS (actually asking)? I suspect some day, the right deal may come along for Apple to license Fairplay, but that's about 30 million iPods from now.

Aside from Bleep.com, if you are a electronic music fan, there's also Nufonix.com, both of which get props from using the high bit rate LAME standard encoding. There are several in the same genre with which I am not familiar, but they inlcude:

beatport.com
traxsource.com
dancetracks.com

I suspect that there are also store for other genres that are not necessarily mainstream. Klaatu's post suggests to me that the jam band area is well represented.

I meant to say "A high bit rate LAME encoding"...
notably, if you are a DJ that uses Traktor or the like, traxsource also sells a higher bit rate than their default for 50 cents more per track...wish iTMS did the same...ah, THAT choice.

Some consumers actually like being tied quite a bit. Just look at all the nice little BDSM toys you can buy all over the net!

Really though (but along the same point) people don't mind being tied as long as it's worth it. No one wanted to be tied to WMA because it really didn't do anything better than MP3. All of a sudden, millions don't care about being tied to .MP4's because they like the fact that they can buy music from the iTunes Music store and DARN the ties!

Al wins

cricket has the right point.
It's the entire experience that is being sold. They are not meant to be separated or cluttered with internal competition. There are plenty of alternatives available on both sides of the fence.
I have over 5000 tracks that I could put on an iPod of which only a handful where purchased through iTMS. The majority of my collection have been ripped from my CDs.
So, I don't feel 'tied' to an iPod at all (I'm one of the few who don't own one YET!). Nor am I tied to iTMS!!
What is the big problem?

Choice? People chose with their wallets. Right now there's a lot of chosing going on in favor of the iPod family and the iTMS and will likely continue. And as long as M$ doesn't dominate this particular market, Microsoft propagandists will continue to whine their vaporous lack of choice tagline.

As far as video is concerned,it is immature fruit on the tree for now. Apple has video up its sleeve with QuickTime's scaleable H.264 codec. When ISP technology becomes fast enough, when faster hard drives get big enough for practical movie downloading, and when enough people have this fast capability to reach critical mass (ever download iTunes songs on dial-up??), Apple will be in the right place at the right time to simply and elegantly deliver the goods to the public in general.

Why? DRM. Like music, movies will not be released online for saleable downloads without DRM, and so far, Apple's Fairplay is the only DRM that comes even close to playing fair for consumers and for the media moguls.

Why else? By that time, Apple will have seeded the public consciousness with it's plug-and-play-for-sure-no-matter-how-computer-illiterate-you-think-you-be ease of use, the Apple video iPod will be ripe for the picking.

The Mac mini will light the way in the meantime.

This post brought to you by the word CAN... Never say never, because Steve Jobs CAN keep saying he'll never do [fill in the blank] until he changes his mind.

Ooops.. choose, not chose... choosing, not chosing.

Interesting that the Cell microprocessor story and the related
Macsimum News link should show up on MDN whil I was writing my most post about this article. Macsimum News refers to "Apple's Next Wave of the Internet".

I rest my case.

"However, those who buy music from PC-based music stores can use more than iTunes; they can buy from a variety of different platforms and retailers supported by Windows media. For instance liquid.com, Napster, Wal-Mart, MusicMatch and so many others, many of which are selling their songs for less than 99 cents."

Sam's Best Cola at Wal-Mart costs less than Coke or Pepsi, yet they do not sell as much. Wonder Why?

"Plays for Sure"

Wah Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Just look at the site (link below), and you'll see why Apple are keeping iPod/iTMS closed to others:

"Look on the back of the device box to see what type of media will play back on the device. The checkmarks indicate if the device is capable of playing back audio and/or video that's been downloaded from an online store. Additionally some devices will be able to play back media that has been purchase through an online store that offers subscription or rentals."

http://www.playsforsure.com/WhatIsPlaysForSure.aspx

"You can match logos. When you see it on a device and on an online store you know the two work together with a no hassle. It just works!"

"WITH A NO HASSLE!" Bad grammar doesn't look good for starters! Ha Ha nice try LOSERS!

Magic Word: Against - as in Rage Against The Micro$oft Machine.

Re: Reality Check

Looks like Mark Farish's forward thinking may have been right all along. It was only a matter of time.

http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2005/01/the-ipod-end-game