4 ms·
Point taken that it's too early to lay flowers at the grave of physical music - but would you invest in a shopping mall music store? I've seen a lot of them cl
by brc 16y ago
Point taken that it's too early to lay flowers at the grave of physical music - but would you invest in a shopping mall music store? I've seen a lot of them close down.
The killer feature with downloadable music is (virtually) unlimited storage, and having your entire collection with you in one device. It won't be long before cars don't have CD players (it's 10 years since they dropped cassette players, and it was about 5 years while they had both). I would say iPod docks in cars are already ubitiquous - most car reviews in magazines will mention if there is one or not, and journalists usually moan if there isn't.
I also disagree with the thought that displaying in living rooms and swapping with friends is a feature. I put all my old CDs in a box years ago. It's only music tragics that want everyone to see their collection.
The thing is, the biggest consumers of music are young people. Try and find a 17 year old with a CD player. As this demographic moves through life, CDs will shrink into niche stores just like print films.
- Prisen 16y agoDownloadable music will also die. Spotify, or equivalent streaming services, have the clear killer feature downloadable music is missing - access to all music on any machine with an internet connection. Carrying around your data will seem antiquated really soon. Edit: For the US readers I'd like to clarify that I don't count any other existing services as equal to Spotify, but there will surely be copycats soon. It is the iphone of streaming music applications if you like analogies.
- wizard_2 16y agoI'm one of the 9 million new yorkers who take the subway to work every morning and work in midtown. If I had to rely on a net connection for music, photos, etc I would be without a great deal of the day. (During transit, at 5pm, in some office buildings.) I also don't like the idea of renting, music, property or otherwise.
- NickPollard 16y agoHow long before Subway trains start getting dedicated wi-fi?
- brc 16y agoMemory will always be cheaper than bandwidth and far more pervasive. It makes no sense to download something, then 10 minutes download it again. We already have pervasive non-downloadable streams - it's called radio. It's still popular, but has never completely displaced having your own collection. One of the killer uses of digital music is the ability to have a miles-long playlist for long road/plane trips. Downloadable streams cannot possibly service this market cheaper than a solid-state memory device. Wherever you have a market segment that needs two devices, the one that combines both always wins. So the future is an iPod that can stream if necessary - which we already have in the iPhone.