iTunes Music Store addict
Some early thoughts on Apple's new iTunes Music Store:
It's disturbingly easy to buy stuff from the service. I totally agree with the pre-release feedback that this is the way online music sales should have worked from the start. 30 seconds gives me enough time to figure out whether I like a track well enough to buy it, and the one-click "Buy Now" button is just like crack -- especially when it comes to buying individual tracks.
This morning, for example, I've already grabbed "A Little Less Conversation" from Elvis, "Fever" by Peggy Lee, and a couple of tracks from Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas' "Great White North" comedy album. A great deal for $4, as far as I'm concerned, and it's $4 I don't have any trouble spending, compared to the $30 I'd spend for the entire collections through the iTunes Music Store or the $40 or so I'd spend at the record store. I've even made a couple of complete album purchases along the way, too -- stuff that I wouldn't have bought in record stores, like "Raising Hell" by Run DMC and "G-Stoned" by Dorfmeister & Kruder.
I'm ashamed to admit I have some experience with Limewire and other peer-to-peer services that enable you to steal music -- though I'll defend it: Almost all of what I've ganked via Limewire I've purchased later, if it's been commercially available. iTunes Music Service makes it so easy to preview and buy the stuff I want that it's not worth the trouble of trying to get it free.
The Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology seems to work fairly intuitively, as well. The first time I tried to fire up my Power Mac's shared playlist over Rendezous and accessed a file I'd downloaded via iMS, I was asked if I wanted to authorize myself to listen to the files. I was prompted for my iMS account info, entered it, and haven't had a problem since.
The only thing I'm curious about is what happens when you get rid of a computer that's been authorized and try to access your DRM-protected files from another machine, if you've already authorized the maximum allowable amount -- three Macs. Does iTunes then ask you if you want to "de-authorize" one of the machines, does it allow three simultaneous streams to an unlimited amount of computers, or what? Has anyone tried this out yet to find out how it works?
Dan Dickinson pointed out some irony to me yesterday: One of Apple's music ads -- Nic, the white guy singing "Baby Got Back" -- is singing the one track you can't download from iMS. Apparently Sir Mix-A-Lot's people haven't cleared his music yet. Go figure.
My only complaint at this point is that 200,000+ tracks are not enough. I'd like to see a lot more stuff on there, in the genre's I'm most interested in: Jazz and Electronica. I'd like to see some of what's there be available as complete albums rather than just partials (I would have bought Off the Wall by Michael Jackson if I'd been able to grab the whole thing). I'd also love to see stuff from smaller labels and independents. But it'll all come together in time, I'm sure. So far, what's there is absolutely fabulous.
Hopefully I'll be able to shake my iMS addiction long enough to save my pennies for an iPod.
Comments
Regarding the DRM deauthorization stuff, I would imagine you need to go under the Advanced menu and hit "Deauthorize Computer" before you get rid of it.
Posted by: Dan Dickinson | April 30, 2003 05:13 PM
I love this service. There are even deals to be had when there are many tracks on an album or in an anthology. My one complaint is that there are not enough songs, artists or complete albums available. I know this is only the first week, but I am very anxious to see a complete music service that has nearly every album and track that is sold commercially. It would also be great if somewhere down the line Apple added the ability for amatuer or unknown artists to post and sell their creative sounds on this service. This would be a great impetus for independant and unsigned bands to get some popularity and money. Since you all asked, a few of the songs I downloaded through iTunes 4 were Moondance, Heart of Gold, and Them Belly Full. I also got a phat double Rush CD. Oh well, a fool and his money...........
Posted by: tokey | May 1, 2003 01:53 AM
Regarding Dan's feedback, yeah, that's kinda what I figured too. But my question is: What happens if you *don't* de-authorize the computer before you get rid of it?
Posted by: Peter Cohen | May 1, 2003 08:29 AM