[Qiranworms]

Ok. Just wondering what you all think. Personally, I like the sound of iTunes Music store the best (and no, I'm not saying this just because I'm an Apple fan...). It just has the one flaw of not natively supported other MP3 players. Oh yeah...and it's not available in Canada yet (though rumour websites say they are just trying to obtain the licensing and will be available here soon). Rhapsody seems very nice with a large collection of music...with the huge flaw of using RealOne (can't stand it)...and less flexable licensing. Napster also doesn't seem to have quite as flexable licensing and it has been rumoured to have mislabeled songs, and performance issues.

Ok. I've had my say. You may now vote and rant please.

[RyanOldw83]

I'm a bit turned off by online music stores. A buck a song doesnt seem like a good deal to me at all, maybe when there a quarter a song...NAH!

[tylertherobot]

A buck a song isn't bad, considering you usually pay like..20.00 for a 10 song CD, but since they're lowering the prices of CDs to 12.99, it'll be about the same value if you buy the songs online you want or not.

The good thing about purchasing songs is you can purchase only the songs you want itunes is lookin' pretty good to me, I used emusic awhile ago but....I think it folded..didn't it?

[mac_mogul]

I like the iTunes store (because I am an Apple fan, but also because everything works great. You get free 30 sec previews, unlimited downloading, and you have more options for buying than any other place. It's more of a store than an archive. You can go in, choose what you want, buy it, and then... if your neice is having a birthday next week, you can buy her an online gift certificate, or... if you want to keep your son's spending in control, you can enable an allowance account for him. It's the best place to get music if you ask me. Their library is always growing and they have some of the music that you can't get anywhere else.

And 99 cents per song is great, and since most albums on iTunes are only $10.00, it's a good deal.

[spfd]

i think free is the best possible deal and ill think ill stick with that one.

[mac_mogul]

Originally posted by spfd
i think free is the best possible deal and ill think ill stick with that one.

Free is a good deal, but no matter how you say it, it's still illegal

[Qiranworms]

Originally posted by MicroBell



This sounds like a typical "MicroSoft Like Ploy" like XP's activation...to control the consumers ability to use a product once he/she paid for. As for those that think $1 is a great price to pay for a song...consider this. (Assuming an Album isn't discounted) If you like whole album..say 15 songs...and you pay $15 dollars for all the songs...how does that differ from paying $15-$20 for a regular CD?.

Part of the reason I see iTunes as the best one, is because they don't attempt to control their customer's use of the product. You can burn the content as much as you want and even use it on multiple computers.

Second thing, it does differ from paying 15-20 for a regular CD mainly because you are paying that 15-20 for each and every song you want, not an album of some songs you want and some you do not. While this is not helpful if you want each individual song on the whole album, it is very much so if you want two or three songs from an album but not the rest. And besides, it retains the convenience of not having to leave the house to a music store (not that I personally mind going, but I often don't have the time.)

And there is no question that P2P is always going to be here. I just wonder how underground it will get before the attempts at getting rid of it will evaporate...we'll just have to see, I guess.