4 ms·

Just like with digitally purchased television, the price point is too high. It needs to be priced so that people don't even have to THINK about clicking the bu

Just like with digitally purchased television, the price point is too high. It needs to be priced so that people don't even have to THINK about clicking the buy button, before they do it. Especially when it comes to entire albums. The less time you give to people to think about it, by lowering the price, the more you reduce the chance of them going, "Well, this album is $10, $12, $15.. but I have to buy x, y, and z this month, I guess I'll wait for now, or download it instead" and instead, have them go, "Well, it's almost no money. click".

iamdave 18y ago
True, but it's $0.80 cheaper than the nearest alternative. At $0.10 a song, you can easily download an (or close to) an entire album for $1, and I could go for that any day of the week.
- ajkirwin 18y ago
  Yes, but then you can only listen to it on the web. Not on your iPod or if your internet goes down or.. the list goes on.
madtownhacker 18y ago
I've been using the service for some time now, and I think the price point is right in the sweet spot. 10c buys you the capability to play that song an infinite number of times in its entirety (online). Plus, just like other music stores, they give you deals on the full albums. For instance, Queens of the Stone Age: Era Vulgaris (11 songs) is 80c. And, as the article mentions, previewing songs or albums (full songs, not 30s clips) is FREE. I think I've spent about $10 total and I've got 15 albums in my "web collection". I'm at a computer pretty much all day anyway, so this is the perfect solution for me.
- ajkirwin 18y ago
  But right there, you had the catch. (online) Now, if it was 10c and I could put it on my iPod, or use winamp or something, they'd have something.
  - madtownhacker 18y ago
    Over time it will become less and less of a catch. In my opinion, music_on_the_cloud > music_on_a_disk. I assume they'll come out with a version of the player that caters to Android or iPhone (or possibly any web-enabled device with a Flash player). It's not full freedom, but it's also not even close to full price.
    - ajkirwin 18y ago
      And what if your internet goes down? What if you lose your job and can't afford your internet connection? All of a sudden you lose access to that library of music. Let alone if the service itself goes down.

iamdave 18y ago

True, but it's $0.80 cheaper than the nearest alternative. At $0.10 a song, you can easily download an (or close to) an entire album for $1, and I could go for that any day of the week.

ajkirwin 18y ago
Yes, but then you can only listen to it on the web. Not on your iPod or if your internet goes down or.. the list goes on.

madtownhacker 18y ago

I've been using the service for some time now, and I think the price point is right in the sweet spot. 10c buys you the capability to play that song an infinite number of times in its entirety (online). Plus, just like other music stores, they give you deals on the full albums. For instance, Queens of the Stone Age: Era Vulgaris (11 songs) is 80c. And, as the article mentions, previewing songs or albums (full songs, not 30s clips) is FREE. I think I've spent about $10 total and I've got 15 albums in my "web collection". I'm at a computer pretty much all day anyway, so this is the perfect solution for me.

ajkirwin 18y ago
But right there, you had the catch. (online) Now, if it was 10c and I could put it on my iPod, or use winamp or something, they'd have something.
- madtownhacker 18y ago
  Over time it will become less and less of a catch. In my opinion, music_on_the_cloud > music_on_a_disk. I assume they'll come out with a version of the player that caters to Android or iPhone (or possibly any web-enabled device with a Flash player). It's not full freedom, but it's also not even close to full price.
  - ajkirwin 18y ago
    And what if your internet goes down? What if you lose your job and can't afford your internet connection? All of a sudden you lose access to that library of music. Let alone if the service itself goes down.