Invention of the YEAR according to Time Mag.

[galactica]

http://www.time.com/time/2003/inventions/invmusic.html

[tgpo]

That goes to show that happens when you get off your butt and do something other than scream "It's stealing" as loud as you can and sue as many of the people who are paying your paycheck as you can.

[mats.hogberg]

Well, in the media business, I agree. Feels good to see someone do something instead of just whining about piracy, decreasing profits etc. A little odd hat the move came from a computer manufacturer, and not from the media business itself, but no matter, it sure ought to give them something to think about.

/Mats

[j1d10t]

Yeah, but you also have to shell out $ for an iPod - the songs you "buy" can't be played on any CD/MP3/DVD player. A step in the right direction, but still just another pay music service...

[jaxxboss]

the songs you "buy" can't be played on any CD/MP3/DVD player.

Not yet, but.......

[tgpo]

Yeah, but you also have to shell out $ for an iPod - the songs you "buy" can't be played on any CD/MP3/DVD player.

Huh??

You can listen to it on your PC, and burn them off to CDs.

[j1d10t]

Yeah, but you also have to shell out $ for an iPod - the songs you "buy" can't be played on any CD/MP3/DVD player.

Huh??

You can listen to it on your PC, and burn them off to CDs.

"It's a disarmingly simple concept: sell songs in digital format for less than a buck and let buyers play them whenever and wherever they like—as long as it's on an Apple iPod."

To me, that statement says you can't play them on a CD player, or your PC, only an iPod... Am I mistaken? Did I misinterpret the meaning of "as long as it's on an Apple iPod."?

[tgpo]

the program iTunes, the program you purchase the music by, will also play them from your computer. It also allows you to burn CDs containing your bought music. You can burn it as many times as you want, but you can only burn a specific playlist 10 times, if you change the playlist you can burn another ten copies.

[j1d10t]

the program iTunes, the program you purchase the music by, will also play them from your computer. It also allows you to burn CDs containing your bought music. You can burn it as many times as you want, but you can only burn a specific playlist 10 times, if you change the playlist you can burn another ten copies.

Ah. So that is a misleading statement, then. Going by that statement I thought they would only play on an iPod. So it's better than I first thought, and beter than that statement leads you believe...

[Styro]

Yeah, but you also have to shell out $ for an iPod - the songs you "buy" can't be played on any CD/MP3/DVD player.

Huh??
You can listen to it on your PC, and burn them off to CDs.

...then you can rip them off the CD and convert to MP3. Sure, its a long way to get legal MP3s, but it is one solution.

-- Styro

[Faustus]

I can attest quite well to the ability to burn them to CDs, my entire CD collection is ripped into iTunes and this point, and my car is littered with quick one off CDs that I made just for that day currently. And yes some of them were purchased from the Music store.

[galactica]

you have to understand that most of the world is out to get apple co. in one way or another. that quote is simply misleading - probably because the person who wrote the article is a non mac user but is being told to write the article by a higher authority so he/she slipped that in there.


ipods are great! everyone should have one in my opinion. but in all reality you can put that purchaed digital song on any media that you are capable of putting it on.

[jaxxboss]

Yup, it's already here. no ipod needed.
http://mytunes.linu.cx/

[Gazorgan]

Does it matter that Imusic doesn't make money? I'm curious. Given what the RIAA demands, and the 99 cent sale price, it's a wash. This isn't a business model that invites competition, especially after the dot.com bust.

I'm also greatly dissapointed in the music selection. For the over 30 crowd it's about worthless. I guess that tells you the target audience (18-25).

I think Ipods are great (but badly overpriced). Now if they were in 320x240 color......... Talk about a killer machine, with embedded MPEG4 support....

[andydd]

I recently read in a (UK) newspaper a poll of invention of the decade (or something), Internet ?, Mp3s ?, nope..it was a widget (a lil gas filled thing) that goes into beer cans to give it a frothy head. !. We got our priorities right !

[tlegion]

As far as using other devices, if you use memory cards or if your device looks like a drive, iTunes works just fine.

[j1d10t]

that quote is simply misleading - probably because the person who wrote the article is a non mac user but is being told to write the article by a higher authority so he/she slipped that in there.

Yeah, I figured (going by that statement) that you could only download the songs to the iPod, and not transfer them (granted I haven't really looked at the iPods because I'm not interested in owning something associated with Macintosh - only a joke ).

But they should really correct that, because it is misleading, untrue, and could turn away potential customers.

[jaxxboss]

As far as the target audience, well I agree. I wanted to get my 14 year old an mp3 palyer after she busted her first one ($100.) But I'll be danged if Im gonna pay that much money. AND MY GOD, look at how much you can store on that puppy! By the time you get around to listening to all the songs they will probably not be popular any longer. Heck, 30-50 songs is sufficient. Then you can always delete some and add some more if you have a flash or mmc or whatever card in addition the the onboard memmory. It is just too much and too expensive right now.

[Faustus]

Does it matter that Imusic doesn't make money? I'm curious. Given what the RIAA demands, and the 99 cent sale price, it's a wash. This isn't a business model that invites competition, especially after the dot.com bust.

I'm also greatly dissapointed in the music selection. For the over 30 crowd it's about worthless. I guess that tells you the target audience (18-25).

I think Ipods are great (but badly overpriced). Now if they were in 320x240 color......... Talk about a killer machine, with embedded MPEG4 support....

Apple admits that it isn't a great profit ever in store for them if any. And says the entire reason for the music store and PCs getting iTUnes is just to help promote the sale of iPods. The questions then becomes, so how do the OTHER services plan to make money then?

As far as music for over 30 crowd, you've honestly look around? There is music for everyone on there.

[Styro]

I read somewhere (probably Slashdot.org) that the RIAA gets around $.60 of each $.99 sale, with the rest supposedly split between Apple and the artist. In another article it was revealed that Apple is making nothing from the iTune store and the sale of iPods is all that keeps the site going.

I hope Apple can keep iTunes going if the above figures are correct. Except for some software incompatibility issues (usually involving ad blocking software) the application and service present themselves as a nice bright and polished store. As mentioned before, the selection for boomers could be better, but this has to be expected (and besides this is sill a young ramp-up production).

I wouldn't buy an iPod until the price drops to $100 - $150 range, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. What I would be interested in would be an iPod device for my car. An iPod you could carry in to transfer the music and then plug into the dash docking station. That would be worth the price they are looking for now. But as is - too much money.

-- Styro

[jaxxboss]

I'm not sure, but I thought I read something about being able to plug in your ipod while in the car.

[Styro]

I'm not sure, but I thought I read something about being able to plug in your ipod while in the car.

Well, I imagine you could get one of those soundfeeder type device that retransmit to your cars FM receiver. Some higher-end car stereos also have various inputs, also. I've also heard of car stereos with harddrives you can remove, fill with MP3s, and replace. I'm thinking of a modified iPod that could dock and digitally play through a customized car stereo.

Something like that would be worth the +$300 Apple is asking for an iPod.


-- Styro
ps - oh, yeah, last I heard was that nearly all states had laws against listening to portable sound devices while driving. Strangely no state has laws against +1500 watt speaker systems.

[tgpo]

You can use a car kit or an FM transmitter with your iPod.

[kirpen]

Many car steros come with minijacks that let you hook up another device. Of course many also play mp3 and wma right out of the box. I dont like online music stores because they all have their Deals which keeps any one site from getting most of the music.

[jaxxboss]

I still thinks its crazy. Cmon, 10, 20, 30 gigs of mp3 songs? Thats just stupid. The whole idea of the mp3 player is to be able to add and remove songs at will. If that is the case then why bother paying that much. 30 gigs.. Jesus, you will never listen to all those songs, then think about having to go thru to find the songs you want to delete to add more, then there is always the issue of dropping it or banging it or whatever. How about you are in the mood for that ONE particular song, now u have to go thru what 400-500 songs + - . It is just too much money and too much storage. I think 256 is enough and if u have a removable card then u can always swap em out and go from rock to rap genre(if you have a split personality). Of course thats my opin and we all know opinions are like buttholes..everyone has one and they stink.

[energy80s]

A mate of mine bought an I-Pod recently, but I thought it had an 80 gig hard drive in it. He keeps most of his music in raw .wav files on it. Mind you it cost over £400 quid (and that was tax free at an airport).

[the future]

I still thinks its crazy. Cmon, 10, 20, 30 gigs of mp3 songs? Thats just stupid. The whole idea of the mp3 player is to be able to add and remove songs at will. If that is the case then why bother paying that much. 30 gigs.. Jesus, you will never listen to all those songs, then think about having to go thru to find the songs you want to delete to add more, then there is always the issue of dropping it or banging it or whatever. How about you are in the mood for that ONE particular song, now u have to go thru what 400-500 songs + - . It is just too much money and too much storage. I think 256 is enough and if u have a removable card then u can always swap em out and go from rock to rap genre(if you have a split personality). Of course thats my opin and we all know opinions are like buttholes..everyone has one and they stink.

You obviously do not get it, pal. The whole idea - and magic - of the iPod is that you have *all* your music with you, all the time. And you should check one out in a store - you'd be amazed how easy and intuitive the iPod works. You'll find that one particular song you're looking for within *seconds*, even if your iPod is loaded with 10.000 songs.

[jaxxboss]

I still thinks its crazy. Cmon, 10, 20, 30 gigs of mp3 songs? Thats just stupid. The whole idea of the mp3 player is to be able to add and remove songs at will. If that is the case then why bother paying that much. 30 gigs.. Jesus, you will never listen to all those songs, then think about having to go thru to find the songs you want to delete to add more, then there is always the issue of dropping it or banging it or whatever. How about you are in the mood for that ONE particular song, now u have to go thru what 400-500 songs + - . It is just too much money and too much storage. I think 256 is enough and if u have a removable card then u can always swap em out and go from rock to rap genre(if you have a split personality). Of course thats my opin and we all know opinions are like buttholes..everyone has one and they stink.

You obviously do not get it, pal. The whole idea - and magic - of the iPod is that you have *all* your music with you, all the time. And you should check one out in a store - you'd be amazed how easy and intuitive the iPod works. You'll find that one particular song you're looking for within *seconds*, even if your iPod is loaded with 10.000 songs.

First of all, I do get it. I get that it cost way too much. I get that you can carry around a 500 songs, most of which you will not listen to. I get that it will not take mere seconds to find the song you want. I get that it will take longer than normal to delete particular songs as you have to look at all the files, yes you may know the song by name, but cmon, most people will wanna just look over what they have and then decide which ones to get rid off...major pain if you have that many files on there. I get that you like this player and dont mind paying that much for it and that's fine with me, to each their own. $300.00 dollars for a portable hard drive that you cant do anything else except listen to music and store data, when all you need to do is spend an extra 150 and u have a desktop pc. You just dont get it PAL

[the future]

First of all, I do get it. I get that it cost way too much. I get that you can carry around a 500 songs, most of which you will not listen to. I get that it will not take mere seconds to find the song you want. I get that it will take longer than normal to delete particular songs as you have to look at all the files, yes you may know the song by name, but cmon, most people will wanna just look over what they have and then decide which ones to get rid off...major pain if you have that many files on there. I get that you like this player and dont mind paying that much for it and that's fine with me, to each their own. $300.00 dollars for a portable hard drive that you cant do anything else except listen to music and store data, when all you need to do is spend an extra 150 and u have a desktop pc. You just dont get it PAL

You show very clearly that you don't get it. Again. Have a nice day.

[Faustus]

jaxxboss Try iTunes, if your ID tags are correct it takes about the same ammount of time to find songs in it as it does in your ipod. AKA seconds. An iPod is not for everyone, I think even apple realizes this. Personally in something like an MP3 player (I owned an origianl Rio) I demand the best, so the iPod is for me.