iTunes Announcement - 11/16

[Rico]

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? 

[moyer777]

It will depend on how cost effective it is.

[billybob476]

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.

[Rico]

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.

[Bryancd]

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.

[billybob476]

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.

[Rico]

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!

[billybob476]

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.

[Feathers]

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.

[Jobydrone]

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.

[billybob476]

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.

[Jobydrone]

Yeah, of course you're right, maybe I'll hold off on going off the grid untill I hit 1000 posts here. ;)

[Rico]

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.

[billybob476]

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.

[Rico]

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.  ;)