Apple is saying there will be a VERY big iTunes announcement tomorrow. My best guess is they will announce a subscription service. This would allow you to pay a fee (monthly) to have access to a huge catalog of music. So, what do people think? Would you do this?
It will depend on how cost effective it is.
It'd be very cool if they did such a thing at a reasonable price. Not sure I'd spring for it at this point but it's the right move.
I'm guessing if you have an iPhone, this basically would give access to a LOT of music on the go. That's very compelling. My car allows a direct connection to iPhones, iPods, etc. So, if I had this service I'd have almost unlimited music while I drive. You know who should be real worried - Sirius/XM radio.
I missed the story they had on CNBC this morning as I was on the phone. It sounds interesting, although I am not a huge consumer of music. I agree, Rico, the satellite radio biz has sucha limited catalogue vs. an iTunes. Jamie has Sirius in her car because she loves Howard Stern and I will listen to thei '80's station on the weekends and they play the same songs all the time.
The only limited factor for me and mobile streaming is my data plan. I have a 500 meg monthly limit. It's just fine for any uses but I can't really do a ton of 3G streaming (in the car and such) or I'll blow my limit.
Joe - is that 500 meg. data plan limit the highest you can get in Canada? Is there an unlimited plan? And if there is, does it cost a lot more??
P.S. 500 meg. is nothing. That's like 5 podcast downloads!
500 meg is the minimum on iPhone plans. You can get up to 6 gigs, no unlimited plans (though you guys are starting to lose those too). Generally I sync podcasts through iTunes (via docking the phone).
Honestly the most data I've used in a month at this point is about 300 megs. email, browsing and some light audio streaming doesn't use as much data as yo think. A friend of mine on the 6 gig plan ended up jailbreaking his phone so he could do more data intensive tasks. He rarely cracked a gig of use.
Yup, 500Mb here too so pretty useless to me unless I use ge office WiFi network to while away musical hours.
I'm not a great music listener anyway (Podcasts anyone?) but not having it all sitting on the phone could be attractive. Not sure I'd bite though.
You could put yourself into the poorhouse with all these monthly subscription services these days. Cable TV, Netflix, Xbox Live, Gamefly, Cell Phones, Internet, now iTunes?!?! AAAHHHH!! It all adds up to hundreds of dollars a month and you wind up owning nothing, zip, zilch, nada. It's all a scam, to bankrupt us poor fools of our hard earned cash, and I hereby announce I am forgoing it all, moving off the grid. Going back to the old days of five TV channels, land line telephones, and the internet was some kind of crazy new hairstyle.
I guess it depends on how you look at it. I pay 8 bucks a month for netflix. If I went to blockbuster and rented, that'd be about 2 movies. If I went to the "record" store and bought a CD, that's 20 dollars. If I'm big into music and I buy 3-5 albums a month, well that adds up. It really depends on your use patterns.
Yeah, of course you're right, maybe I'll hold off on going off the grid untill I hit 1000 posts here. ;)
LOL! I'm kind of with you Joby. But I try to look at the "bang for the buck" in things. Netflix = great deal and bang for the buck. I'd love more TV to move to this model. I love music and listen to it all day long in the lab and driving. I have a pretty good collections of CD's and digital, but I'd be tempted by a subscription deal at the right price. I haven't signed up for satellite radio on the new car yet after the 3 months free. Although they sent me a half off letter the other day which works out to about $6.00 a month. Good deal if you drive a lot - like me these days. We'll see what iTunes offers.
Yeah see I pay for an audible.com gold account (1 credit/month). I am all about audio books lately. My system is podcasts when I'm at work/running and audio books when I'm in the car. If I run out of podcasts I switch to music at work.
I have real trouble with audiobooks while I'm driving or doing other things. I can't focus on them and loose track of what is happening. I need to read the old fashioned way. Podcasts are easier for some reason. It's kind of weird. I think it has to do with how I first got used to them. When I first listened to a lot of podcasts it was in the car, so I got used to that. Reading, I need me some printed words - or at least maybe on a Kindle or other eBook device. ;)
That's why I can't do audiobooks when I'm working, but I first got into audiobooks on long road trips between Montreal and Toronto (5 hour drive). I guess you're right!
Quote from: Jobydrone4of20 on November 15, 2010, 11:19:16 AM
You could put yourself into the poorhouse with all these monthly subscription services these days. Cable TV, Netflix, Xbox Live, Gamefly, Cell Phones, Internet, now iTunes?!?! AAAHHHH!! It all adds up to hundreds of dollars a month and you wind up owning nothing, zip, zilch, nada. It's all a scam, to bankrupt us poor fools of our hard earned cash, and I hereby announce I am forgoing it all, moving off the grid. Going back to the old days of five TV channels, land line telephones, and the internet was some kind of crazy new hairstyle.
LOL Yeah! I was thinking about getting gamefly or the Zune pass, but I'll wait until my Audible subscription ends.
I tend to use iTunes for Podcasts and Audiobooks - so I will not use this feature. I buy one or two songs here and there, but nothing that would warrant a subscription. I would for audiobooks though..
I will not be doing this. They just don't have all the music I listen to.
WSJ just said the announcement is The Beatles are coming to iTunes finally.
Quote from: Bryancd on November 15, 2010, 02:52:54 PM
WSJ just said the announcement is The Beatles are coming to iTunes finally.
That's it?!? They have been talking this up like it's a day you'll never forget. I do like the Beatles, but frankly they are WAY late to the party on this if that's the big thing for tomorrow.
Quote from: Bryancd on November 15, 2010, 02:52:54 PM
WSJ just said the announcement is The Beatles are coming to iTunes finally.
I can't buy that. That is way too much fuss over a single artist. No, apple wouldn't give some great teaser over something that isn't theirs. If that is truly it...then wow. Fail.
King
Well, to be fair, the Internet has been hyping this, the company simply put put areas release. It is a big deal, they have been going back and forth for years and no one has the Beatles catalogue in a digital format until this, so I'm not sure what party they are late to. :confused
When you guys were speculating earlier I had no idea where any of that was coming from to be honest.
Quote from: Bryancd on November 15, 2010, 03:44:55 PM
Well, to be fair, the Internet has been hyping this, the company simply put put areas release. It is a big deal, they have been going back and forth for years and no one has the Beatles catalogue in a digital format until this, so I'm not sure what party they are late to. :confused
When you guys were speculating earlier I had no idea where any of that was coming from to be honest.
Exactly. I am not sure what they are late to? This is a very big thing for digital media.
Why?
Sorry, but The Beatles is not that big of deal to me so why all the fuss over them? They were a great band at the time but we give them a lot of treatment here lately.
Yeah, I probably should be running at this point away from the rabid beatles fans coming at me with pitchforks and swords....
King
i can't buy that. That is way too much fuss over a single artist. No, apple wouldn't give some great teaser over something that isn't theirs. If that is truly it...then wow. Fail.
King
[/quote]
You are too young to understand. :)
Quote from: Bryancd on November 15, 2010, 03:54:35 PM
i can't buy that. That is way too much fuss over a single artist. No, apple wouldn't give some great teaser over something that isn't theirs. If that is truly it...then wow. Fail.
King
You are too young to understand. :)
[/quote]
Apparently, either that or I'm too meh/jaded @ music artists these days. They simply don't elicit that much response out of me, not the point of fanboiness that I have with Apple.
Yup. I just admitted that.
King
Between 1.1 and 1.2 billion sales of records. Every year they cross generations of listners and still top record sales...
Quote from: Blackride on November 15, 2010, 03:57:25 PM
Between 1.1 and 1.2 billion sales of records. Every year they cross generations of listners and still top record sales...
Good grief...still, I go back to what I said earlier, if this really is a big teaser for a digital version of the Beatles, I still don't see what the fuss is all about. We have many artists constantly joining iTunes and Amazon in the Digital era and w/e else so this just makes me wonder why.
Does tomorrow happen to be special to the Beatles in anyway?
King
You all made the fuss, not Apple!!
Quote from: Bryancd on November 15, 2010, 04:07:19 PM
You all made the fuss, not Apple!!
hahaha ok, ok I get it, but my question still stands ;) Does tomorrow happen to be special to the Beatles in anyway?
King
Quote from: Blackride on November 15, 2010, 03:57:25 PM
Between 1.1 and 1.2 billion sales of records. Every year they cross generations of listners and still top record sales...
I really don't see them picking up new listeners and a LOT of those sales are to the same people that want the latest collection. Or they wanted to move up from 8 track to cassette to CD. Then from the mono recordings to the stereo remastered to the latest remastered. I can see them selling that many, but they did it over 4 different audio formats and 40 years. when that get's boiled down, it's not that many a year and their popularity peaked decades ago.
As for the only digital media .. I have them on rock band and that's pretty digital.
This is more a prestige thing for Apple as a revenue stream
Quote from: Bryancd on November 15, 2010, 04:17:48 PM
This is more a prestige thing for Apple as a revenue stream
For the record I like Beatles over Elvis except when it comes to the modern remixed Elvis stuff ... I love it.
As for the hype King ... I can sum it up to this ... Last year the beatles dropped a collectors edition that was remastered. In 5 days it sold 2.25 million copies in 14 remastered CDs.
Now .... Let me see if the math works. If they sell just as many cds at .99 a song with 14 disks and let's say 12 songs per disc. If they do the same numbers, and let's sale Apple gets 50% .. they would make about 2 billion in 5 days each. All net profit with no packaging or shipping overhead.
I'm pretty sure that it's more than 12 songs per disc and I'm pretty sure that this will cause a little tick in the stock price if they can generate even half the 5 day sales numbers for the collection.
Yikes. That's a pretty nice profit margin.
King
I never said it had NO revenue benefit, but in the scope of iTunes earnings, it's not a huge number. The stock will have a positive response as much from that as the fact that another digital source doesn't get them. :)
That's a good analysis, Chris.
Yeah, except most Beatles fans have that CD set or other CD's already. As for younger folks that don't have any of that, my boys don't seem too interested in the Beatles.
Quote from: Rico on November 15, 2010, 04:40:31 PM
Yeah, except most Beatles fans have that CD set or other CD's already. As for younger folks that don't have any of that, my boys don't seem too interested in the Beatles.
They will want it digital as well.
Quote from: Bryancd on November 15, 2010, 04:43:27 PM
Quote from: Rico on November 15, 2010, 04:40:31 PM
Yeah, except most Beatles fans have that CD set or other CD's already. As for younger folks that don't have any of that, my boys don't seem too interested in the Beatles.
They will want it digital as well.
Uh, slide CD into computer CD/DVD drive. Import into iTunes. Really, not too hard. ;)
No I know, but still, the demographic that buys Beatles music is older and $ and they will gladly pay for a digital copy then do that.
Well, I don't know about that King. That comes across a little arrogant.
Quote from: Bryancd on November 15, 2010, 04:56:45 PM
Well, I don't know about that King. That comes across a little arrogant.
I'll delete my reply, that's a terrible reply. In fact, just ignore that I actually said anything =\
King
Quote from: Kingisaaclinksr on November 15, 2010, 04:58:42 PM
I'll delete my reply, that's a terrible reply. In fact, just ignore that I actually said anything =\
[/quote]
You are a valuable member of this community, never feel that you can't express your opinion, regardless of what anyone else may think, we are all better for it. :)
It was still a terrible reply. I try to not be one that makes generalizations. In this case, it was a big and unfair one.
Thanks though Bryan :). I understand and you know that I don't often Delete or not speak up.
King
Wow. The Beatles. Hmm. Well, Apple finally scores Apple! I agree with many here, it's a Kudos for Apple to finally get access to the Beatles, but, really? Replace the front page of your website with teasings like "HUGE EARTH SHATTERING ANNOUNCEMENT!" Yes, I like the Beatles a lot. Did the announcement make me break down and weep because now I have the ability to pay iTunes for Beatles songs? NOPE! As Rico said, I'm pretty sure a lot of people already have the Beatles CD's (I do), and Bryan, if they want digital copies, do as I do: pop that CD into that handy dandy cup holder (for those of you still on PC's! :)) and rip it into your library!
Don't get me wrong, this was a cool announcement, but not the HUGE deal they claimed it woud be. I suggest that the PR guy at Apple be sent back to business school, get his degree in marketing and come to the realization that although HE may be a HUGE Beatles lover, access to Beatles music isn't a change-the-front-page-of-the-apple-website-deal. Just my opinion...
BTW, I was really hoping for what Rico had predicted earlier - subscription service. Now THAT would have been a change-the-front-page-of-the-apple-website-deal! :)
No I'll agree. I love the Beatles and this is great news, but it was overhyped. Apple is starting to get a bit into crying wolf territory here. We may stop caring if they make a big deal about things.
Now...if they had had an event at the moscone center and had Steve Jobs walk out and say "Well we have an announcement, but I think there's someone better to deliver the message..."
Then, Sir Paul McCartney walks out, gives the announcement and plays a show. That would have been fun.
I guess it's "just another day"
Man, talk about over-hype. Pretty soon it's going to be, "Steve Jobs just went to the movies and bought a big bucket of popcorn - stop the presses."
I say a big - MEH!
Joby...yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now I have all these damned songs to play, oh I believe, in yesterday!
Billybob...THAT would have been AWESOME! Now THAT would have been a big announcement!! :)
Quote from: Rico on November 16, 2010, 08:20:47 AM
Man, talk about over-hype. Pretty soon it's going to be, "Steve Jobs just went to the movies and bought a big bucket of popcorn - stop the presses."
I say a big - MEH!
Now wait a minute here...was there butter on that popcorn? ;)
While we are way overhyping this, take comfort in the fact that this announcement came out 24 hours ago and Apple didn't have a press conference over it, they just changed the front page of Apple.com. So its not like its the worst thing they could have done, but we aren't likely going to "remember" this day later on. Maybe in jest we will, but beyond that, this is largely unimportant to the iTunes userbase, regardless of how many albums it will sell, because all this is, is music. Nothing more.
King
I'm a huge Beatles fan, and have long ago ripped or otherwise obtained digital copies of any and all Beatles songs I might want to listen to on my portable device. I would guess that most Beatles fans have similarly long ago decided not to wait for Apple and EMI to get their stuff together. That being said, it is likely they will sell a boatload of these digital boxed sets for the exclusive video content that accompanies each album (not on sale individually of course)
Here's a recent picture of me playing "Here There and Everywhere" at my good friend Kevin's wedding:
You guys are ridiculous! This is internet hyperbole at it's finest. They qualified it as an exciting announcement, you all ran way too far down the field with that. Now, I could care less about this, but it is being covered on the news every 60min this morning, so despite what you all may think, it's receiving a lot of new coverage.
Oh I have no doubt this is great news for Apple. I guess as people into technology and with Apple being a technology company, I kind of assumed their "exciting iTunes announcement" would have to do with technology. If I recall correctly, I don't think they've ever made a big deal out of adding content to their store, no matter how impressive.
Apple is a media and consumer electronics company now as much as a traditional tech company. When iTunes was still new, they did highlight big bands when they became available. It doesn't get much bigger than The Beatles and the battle between The Beatles and Apple goes back years. There were about 3 or 4 separate occasions I can recall where there were rumors the Betales had struck a deal with Apple only to have it fall through. So again, from a media standpoint, I suppose it is big news.
Yup, I was making an assumption it would be about tech is what I was trying to say. From a content standpoint this is indeed big news and the conclusion to a long, long story.
Quote from: billybob476 on November 16, 2010, 09:22:07 AM
Yup, I was making an assumption it would be about tech is what I was trying to say. From a content standpoint this is indeed big news and the conclusion to a long, long story.
Right, which is why i was so shocked by the hyberbole yesterday and speculations. I don't think you can blame Apple for that.
Quote from: Bryancd on November 16, 2010, 08:48:41 AM
You guys are ridiculous! This is internet hyperbole at it's finest. They qualified it as an exciting announcement, you all ran way too far down the field with that. Now, I could care less about this, but it is being covered on the news every 60min this morning, so despite what you all may think, it's receiving a lot of new coverage.
Wow Bryan, relax bud. We're all just having a laugh,that's all. Sure we're "all running way to far downfield with this", but that's what we do. Of course we're going to go on about this sort of thing. Dude...chill...(in my best Sean Penn voice!) :)
Quote from: Bryancd on November 16, 2010, 09:24:23 AM
Quote from: billybob476 on November 16, 2010, 09:22:07 AM
Yup, I was making an assumption it would be about tech is what I was trying to say. From a content standpoint this is indeed big news and the conclusion to a long, long story.
Right, which is why i was so shocked by the hyberbole yesterday and speculations. I don't think you can blame Apple for that.
But why wouldn't we blame Apple for making a big deal out of adding content to their library? Yes, getting the Beatles IS big, but news worthy? Nah. I'm as big a fan of Apple products are you are Bryan, and I dare say one of the biggest Beatles fans around here as well, but honestly, announcing something like the iPhone that ACTUALLY makes and receives phone calls would have been bigger news. Or...Apple FINALLY DROPPING AT and Flippin' T would have been much bigger (and better) news.
I still like my idea of the free McCartney concert after he makes the announcement personally. That would have been newsworthy. He could have done it from the roof of Apple headquarters.
Al, you misunderstand, this is me reading your responses :roflmao with a side order of ::) and palm to face. ;D
Quote from: Bryancd on November 16, 2010, 10:21:36 AM
Al, you misunderstand, this is me reading your responses :roflmao with a side order of ::) and palm to face. ;D
When it comes to this stuff no one should be taking anyone too seriously.
Quote from: Bryancd on November 16, 2010, 10:21:36 AM
Al, you misunderstand, this is me reading your responses :roflmao with a side order of ::) and palm to face. ;D
"Palm"? I thought we were talking about Apple products? ;)
You guys are a riot xD
King
Al, I think you need to send the marketing guy at Apple an apology e-mail, the story was just on Tom Brokaw Nightly News. that's some big time marketing. ;)
Seems like a lot of Fuss over nothing in my opinion regarding the Beatles, just a bunch of dusty old songs from another era, sorry. When I was younger I used to listen to a Hardcore band called the Meatmen who had a song about the Beatles called 1 down 3 to go. Very crude song, but it sort of summed up my feelings on the Beatles. They are just not my cup of tea, but I guess good news to the people who might want their songs in the iTunes format.
Quote from: Bryancd on November 16, 2010, 04:56:38 PM
Al, I think you need to send the marketing guy at Apple an apology e-mail, the story was just on Tom Brokaw Nightly News. that's some big time marketing. ;)
Aww, crap, you're right. Ok, how's this:
"Dear Apple Marketing Guy,
My name is...well, that's unimportant. What IS important is that I owe you an apology for making fun of your decision to make a huge deal out of Apple finally getting rights to sell Beatles songs. Your announcement was in fact HUGE news, which was made obvious by the fact that Tom Brokaw covered your press release, and as EVERYONE knows, if Tom Brokaw does your story, it MUST be news! So anyway, I apologize that you made a big deal out of something most view as nothing, er, I mean, I'm sorry...Sincerely, well, that's not important"
:)
Al - love it! My kind of email! :)