Apple released their new iTunes and although I’m sure all the mac fans think it’s the greatest thing ever I can’t actually see why I would like it more than Listen.com.
The assumption seems to be that I would rather buy a few songs at 99 cents each rather than actually be able to listen to 200,000+ songs. While I agree that the ability to put the songs on my iPod is a huge plus the question is where am I most of the time when I’m listening to music. Me, I’m at home, at work or in the car. The only time I use portable music is when I’m on public transportation and although in Japan that’s everyday it’s still only 1 to 2 hours a day. I’m at home 8 to 16 hours a day or at the office 8 to 12 hours a day. In both these cases I’m in front of a computer or near one so if I have to pick between purchasable music (apple) and streamable music (listen.com) then streamable wins. Instant access to 200,000 songs vs access to the 10s of tracks I bought. I don’t have to go *preview* them then purchase I can just click a button and listen to the entire CD instantly. I can que up 10 CDs I’ve never listened to and have 10 hours of new music and it doesn’t cost me more.
Obviously I’d like both. Listen.com already has downloadable music at 99 cents. Currently it’s straight to CD only but I suspect they will add the ability to put them locally or in your iPod asap so it seems to me of the two for most people, listen.com would be the better and more used deal.
The only thing is, marketing helps and I think Apple with all it’s fanatical fans will help Apple tremedously push the inferior service.
or you decide to stop paying the monthly fee?
My understanding is that the music your got from them goes bye-bye.
Itunes store is closer to the CD music business model, in that respect.
-D
ps: I’m not a fanatical Apple fan, BTW…
)
Yes, I thought that losing access to the music would bug me but averaging out my CD spending I’ve spent far more than $10 a month on CDs for the last 14 years. I can’t afford to buy 20,000 CDs or even all the CD I just have an interest in so $10 a month to listen to all those CDs doesn’t seem like a bad trade off with new ones added daily etc and I figure if I eventually cancel the service (or if it dies) at least I’ll know exactly which CDs I want to buy. Which ones have most songs I like instead of just one or two songs etc.
Obviously the combination of the 2 systems would be best. Both unlimited streaming of all the music for a small fee and the ability to buy any song. Listen.com does allow you to buy songs although not yet directly put them in your iPod / Computer. I’m sure they are trying to fix that and maybe Apple’s new format will be how they go about it. In the meantime though, picking between the two less then perfect services, Listen.com gives me a lot more music.
Of course one thing that makes it hard to compare is the Apple service is currently Mac only and Listen.com is currently PC only. That means people that have a Mac will think the Apple service is great and Listen.com people will think that service is great and neither will have any real clue about the other service
by the way, I just checked my playlist in Listen.com, it’s at 1038 tracks. That would have been $1027.62 if I was on iMusic. Currently I’ve spent $50. If I looked up all the music I know I could easily get it to 3000 or 4000 tracks. That’s not including all the music I don’t know that I keep discovering and adding to my lists. The lists are online too, the other day I was at a friend’s house, I logged into Listen.com and up came all my music to listen at a party at his place.
I understand that different people have different needs. Still I find it funny that many people would rather listen to the same 100 or 200 songs over and over and over.
Tonight I listened to whole CDs of “The Creatures”, “Dead Can Dance”, “Royksopp”, “Massive Attack”, “Lamb”, “808 State” and “Hooverphonic” (3 CDs). Yesterday I listened to some oldies, “Eric Clapton”, “Miles Davis” (2 CDs), “Quincy Jones” (4 CDs) It cost me nothing (nothing in the sense that when I watch TLC on cable I don’t consider the cost). If I was using iTMS it would have cost me $192 (assuming 12 songs per CD)
Some people seem almost violently against the subscription music serivces because you don’t own the music.
Here’s some other analogies that might help someone at least see it in a better light.
1) Cable TV. Many people pay $20 to $80 a month for Cable TV. They don’t own the programs AND they are not on demand. Playing $10 a month for ondemand access to 200,000+ songs is not a bad deal comparatively. Would you pay $20 a month for movies on demand instead of HBO but you still didn’t get to “own the movies”? That’s better than you get from HBO now.
2) Libraries / Bookstores. I can go to my Library or better, my local Barnes & Noble have sit around and read 40,000 books but I don’t have the money to own them all. I’d be happy if Barnes & Noble turned into a libraries letting me borrow books for 2 weeks at a time for $10 a month. I wouldn’t need to own the books for that deal the seem good to me.
3) Records Stores, what if records stores started renting music? Would you pay them $10 a month to be able to borrow their CDs? That’s almost what a subscription music service is.
In the bookstore model, the likelyhood that someone would copy a book is almost zero since copying a book is expensive.
In the record store model as compared to listen.com, why is it people can’t except that they can’t copy the music when they can except that they can’t copy the book? Is it only because it’s so easy?
Plus, although Listen.com is a subscription service, you can buy 80% of the songs for $.99 each, same as iTMS. The difference is you can actually listen to the whole song as many times as you like before you buy it (decide you are not going to get sick of it first). The other difference at the moment is they get burnt straight to CD, you don’t get a file (unless you then rip your CD
).
I think that will change either with Listen.com adopting Apple’s DRM or Microsoft’s. At that point it will be a clear winner over iTMS.
As for EMUSIC. I signed up for that once, the problem I had with it is it’s not well organized so finding music and downloading it is a pain in the ass.
On listen.com I can have 5 or 6 CDs qued up in seconds. I can also listen to virutal radio stations and when a song is playing I like I can click on “more info” and instantly be listen to more of the current band’s music. Whole CDs of it. on iTMS, I’d be stuck with only the music I purchased. On EMUSIC if I don’t know who to look for I’m S.O.L.
One top of that listen.com’s radio is better than internet streaming radio. First there are a ton of stations. Second, they are not streaming, they are playlist based. The advantage is if I don’t like the current track I can just click “next” and the next track starts playing. Much better than real radio or streaming net radio
By the way, as for Quality I’m sure it’s all subjective but I’ve been happier with Listen.com’s quality than any MP3 I’ve compressed myself at any rate. Of course maybe I just suck at compressing.
As I mentioned I do have the option to buy these songs. But, in terms of finding music it can’t be beat. I que up some CDs and listen while I browse the net, edit photos, program, make dinner, read, whatever. You can’t do that on EMUSIC (you have to manually download each CD before you can play them and then play them in some different software) You can’t do that on iTMS as their browsable music is only samples.
I may sound like an evangelist (like mac people
) But, if you are near your computer most of the time like I’m sure many tech people are, then I suggest you give it a try. The first week is free. No, they don’t have everything (no service does) but even if they don’t have a specific song they have so much I can always find something I both like and I haven’t heard yet.
That is the Question….. Purchase. There are a million free songs on the internet. I think that owning your music lets you take it anywhere. This is the portable music genre more then ever. I don’t care if I have 1 billion songs to access at home….can I take them on vacation or on the bus….NO. This ones easy purchase, share with with friends.
Following your logic I guess you’d like it better if TV and Cable you only got 30 second previews of the various shows and you had to purchase each and every episode.
It’s not an either OR thing. You can have both.
I don’t mind paying for subscription music any more than I mind paying for subscription cable TV. If I want a song everywhere I’ll purchase it just like a purchase a DVD of a movie to TV show and I do purchase them. Otherwise, when I want to browse music I’ll use my subscription music service just like I use my subscription cable TV to browse and watch TV shows and movies. For example, I listened to The Best of Sarah Vaughan, Julie London, Nancy Wilson. I also listend to several of the artists from Rock Band. I really apprciated that I didn’t have to buy 60-100 songs just to listen to them all. At the same time I also purchased 2 CDs and 4 mp3s of various songs I knew I wanted to listen to more often.