3 ms·

The galling bit will be when they do start selling in ALAC, they'll probably charge more for it - at which point I'll still refuse to pay for anything from iTun

by Zev 15y ago

The galling bit will be when they do start selling in ALAC, they'll probably charge more for it - at which point I'll still refuse to pay for anything from iTunes.. On one hand, Apple did charge 30 cents to upgrade to the higher quality AAC from the DRM'd versions. On the other, they're providing even higher quality versions of any song they can now, for free. (Not lossless, but, 256kbps AAC is far beyond the point where most people can tell the difference.)

te_chris 15y ago
Exactly, they're not lossless. I don't know if they're deliberately doing it, but they've decided that audiophiles don't matter, much as they always do (see people who used to use expresscard on MBP's, film makers etc etc), and just plain ignore people who want to purchase high-quality content. Thankfully bandcamp exists and I buy off there all the time.
- Zev 15y ago
  Do you really think that most people care about their music being lossless? Let alone know what "lossless" even means? Most people want more music on their phones and iPod's, not less. Now, and not later in the afternoon after they've downloaded something 5-10x the size for a quality difference that they cannot notice. Most people don't fit into your niche usage. Apple is doing the best they can for the majority of the people, while still making the labels happy. Yes, it sucks if you happen to be in the minority[1]. But, you can't claim Apple isn't making a good business decision. 1. I speak as an iPhone and Mac developer who is used to Apple doing the best thing for the user, and not the developer.
  - te_chris 15y ago
    I wasn't questioning apple's business decisions, I was questioning their emerging monopoly on digital content that is making the digital market even more homogenous than the physical market was. At least in the physical market anyone could open up a music store because there were independent distributors whose sole incentive was to move product, now the incentive is to extract margins on product as Apple and Amazon negotiate directly with the labels and shut out competitors from being able to properly compete because they can't get the content. Some platforms are doing ok in this (bandcamp) but most aren't as the reality of music retail is not the long tail but the centre of the bell curve. I'm also an Apple developer.

by Zev 15y ago

te_chris 15y ago

Exactly, they're not lossless. I don't know if they're deliberately doing it, but they've decided that audiophiles don't matter, much as they always do (see people who used to use expresscard on MBP's, film makers etc etc), and just plain ignore people who want to purchase high-quality content. Thankfully bandcamp exists and I buy off there all the time.

Zev 15y ago
Do you really think that most people care about their music being lossless? Let alone know what "lossless" even means? Most people want more music on their phones and iPod's, not less. Now, and not later in the afternoon after they've downloaded something 5-10x the size for a quality difference that they cannot notice. Most people don't fit into your niche usage. Apple is doing the best they can for the majority of the people, while still making the labels happy. Yes, it sucks if you happen to be in the minority[1]. But, you can't claim Apple isn't making a good business decision. 1. I speak as an iPhone and Mac developer who is used to Apple doing the best thing for the user, and not the developer.
- te_chris 15y ago
  I wasn't questioning apple's business decisions, I was questioning their emerging monopoly on digital content that is making the digital market even more homogenous than the physical market was. At least in the physical market anyone could open up a music store because there were independent distributors whose sole incentive was to move product, now the incentive is to extract margins on product as Apple and Amazon negotiate directly with the labels and shut out competitors from being able to properly compete because they can't get the content. Some platforms are doing ok in this (bandcamp) but most aren't as the reality of music retail is not the long tail but the centre of the bell curve. I'm also an Apple developer.