Decius wrote:
] ] Napster's back, now with more FLASH in every serving!
]
] Its hard to say how I feel about these animations. They are
] well done, sort of funny. If this was a webcomic I would be
] into it. But its not. Its a corporate logo. And the only
] reason they continue to pump its chest is because it is widely
] recognized. I have no idea what they plan to sell, exactly,
] other then that it will have little to do with free music.
] These web comics are the build up. Making you more eagerly
] anticipate their big sales pitch. There is something creepy
] about that.

i can agree with that sentiment, but i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. if they come out with a good, easy to use and fair online music service, then i'm all for it. i don't think it will be, mind you, but i'm willing to entertain the notion that it's possible.

i'd really just like for iTunes-Windows to get released and cement Apple as the standard bearer for fair online distribution of music. I expect to own a mac within the next couple of months, but it'd be nice to see apple make money from the other 95% of computer users, and give people what they want at the same time.

inignoct wrote:
] i'd really just like for iTunes-Windows to get released and
] cement Apple as the standard bearer for fair online
] distribution of music. I expect to own a mac within the next
] couple of months, but it'd be nice to see apple make money
] from the other 95% of computer users, and give people what
] they want at the same time.

99 cents is reasonable for an MP3 as long as I'm not simply buying a file. I want to buy access to that song in perpetuity, across file formats/technologies. If my hard drive crashes I ought to be able to download the stuff again.

And that will work for the music I want to have access to forever. But there are other things that I like to do with MP3s that aren't supported properly by this business model. I want to be able to go searching for music, check it out, see if I like it, before I own it for all time.

I want to be able to share my music recommendations with my friends. Have them filtered by a reputation system.

99 cents is what should happen if I decide to hold onto something forever. There needs to be other price models that take other activities into account... We're a long way for getting this right, and the music industry's strategies with this are totally annoying.

Decius wrote:
] inignoct wrote:
] ] i'd really just like for iTunes-Windows to get released and
] ] cement Apple as the standard bearer for fair online
] ] distribution of music. I expect to own a mac within the
] next
] ] couple of months, but it'd be nice to see apple make money
] ] from the other 95% of computer users, and give people what
] ] they want at the same time.
]
] 99 cents is reasonable for an MP3 as long as I'm not simply
] buying a file. I want to buy access to that song in
] perpetuity, across file formats/technologies. If my hard drive
] crashes I ought to be able to download the stuff again.
]
] And that will work for the music I want to have access to
] forever. But there are other things that I like to do with
] MP3s that aren't supported properly by this business model. I
] want to be able to go searching for music, check it out, see
] if I like it, before I own it for all time.
]
] I want to be able to share my music recommendations with my
] friends. Have them filtered by a reputation system.
]
] 99 cents is what should happen if I decide to hold onto
] something forever. There needs to be other price models that
] take other activities into account... We're a long way for
] getting this right, and the music industry's strategies with
] this are totally annoying.

i agree with a lot of what you said, though i hesitate to demand too much too soon. if supporting this intermediary step will get us to the state you describe, then i'm sure as hell gonna do that to the extent i am able.
Of course, the issue of permanent digital licences involves a good deal of infrastructure that's far from easy to create, especially without falling into the nastiest traps of DRM. Agreed, this will someday be necessary.. in the meantime, i've got DVD backups of all my music.
iTunes lets you try before you buy, from what i've heard... though it may be a clip rather than the whole song. This is ok with me... i don't usually need to listen to the whole song to decide if i like it, and 99 cents is in the range where i'll gamble on borderline songs i'm not 100% sure i like yet. even good record stores don't often let you listen to records at will before buying them. and of course, since cd's are a whole album format i'm not willing to gamble on one i'm not too sure about because it's a 16 dollar crap shoot. For a buck, for a song i've heard a clip of and thing sounds ok, what the fuck, i'll buy that.
the concept of a reputation system for propagating recomendations and such for music is a great idea, and would do more for independent music than a billion dollars of marketing ever could. it's just too hard sometimes to find out about new stuff, without it being your whole life.
To the extent that i don't want to support the RIAA, i totally agree and haven't bought a record in quite a while. Independent's are totally different and i'd be more than happy to buy from them if i could keep up with what they're putting out.