(Music) consumers' wishes are finally heard

doemel · #1 April 2nd, 2007, 08:19 AM

EMI makes the start! Looks like at least they finally decided to give the consumers what they want and not what their stock holders want. I hope this triggers the domino effect that many of us have been waiting for!

Satcomer · #2 April 2nd, 2007, 09:13 AM

That's great! However no Beatles.

doemel · #3 April 2nd, 2007, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satcomer

That's great! However no Beatles.

I bet most Beatles affecionados have their entire catalog on CD or - even better - on vinyl anyways. Would be nice though to see them finally arrive in the 21st century...

Thank The Cheese · #4 April 2nd, 2007, 10:56 AM

the beatles reference during the macworld keynote address indicates they are most certainly coming to the store soon IMO.

very good news anyway, though i'm a little disappointed the 128kbps arent also DRM free, as $1.30 US will be over $2 AU after conversion + mystery australia tax -- a bit steep. i presume this was the only way apple could sell EMI on the idea --

EMI: "we will only allow you to sell DRM free music if we can charge a premium!"

Apple: "OK, but how about we up the bitrate. at least that way the customers won't feel so cheated by it"

EMI: "eeeexcellent"

doemel · #5 April 2nd, 2007, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thank The Cheese

the beatles reference during the macworld keynote address indicates they are most certainly coming to the store soon IMO.

very good news anyway, though i'm a little disappointed the 128kbps arent also DRM free, as $1.30 US will be over $2 AU after conversion + mystery australia tax -- a bit steep. i presume this was the only way apple could sell EMI on the idea --

EMI: "we will only allow you to sell DRM free music if we can charge a premium!"

Apple: "OK, but how about we up the bitrate. at least that way the customers won't feel so cheated by it"

EMI: "eeeexcellent"

The point is, it's a huge step into the right direction. Plus, you only pay the premium if you buy single tracks. You'll be able to get the whole album DRM free at AAC 256 for the same price as the AAC 128 DRM crippled version now.

**fryke** · #6 April 2nd, 2007, 12:36 PM

About that price for premium: The start is done. Couple of years from now, when the big ones all sell 256 kbps DRM-free music, competition will set the price rather than Apple. Remember: This is not only about all those people complaining about how iTunes music only works on iPod! It's also about those other stores who - right now - are locked into Windows DRM'd stuff! Windows Vista is all (well not all, but y'know what I mean) about DRM - and suddenly Apple, along with EMI, starts to tear the wall down! I'm sure we'll soon buy .99 USD (or cheaper) MP3 or AAC files DRM free wherever. And iTunes might have to follow in order to stay competitive. It might mean searching for best price again - unless you simply choose one store because of its great catalogue and other features. But for those who really think 1.29 is too much, I'm sure there'll be alternatives abound.

mindbend · #7 April 2nd, 2007, 01:26 PM

I give Stevo credit. He really put his money where his mouth is on this one. I thought his DRM post was just a political game to make Apple look like the good guys and blame the record companies for DRM. I figured there was no realistic way Apple would truly want to give up DRM given how critical it seems to their dominance with iTunes/iPods.

I will gladly be wrong once again it seems. Apple really seems to know what they're doing these days.

Mikuro · #8 April 2nd, 2007, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fryke

competition will set the price rather than Apple.

That'd be nice, but considering how many times the labels have been caught in price fixing and other anticompetitive behavior, I won't hold my breath!

Regardless, this is good news. It took long enough, but someone in a suit finally got a clue, and it's good to see that Jobs was serious in his open letter that Apple would be happy to sell DRM-free tracks.

I can't actually FIND any of this on the store, though. Can any of you?

On a semi-related note, has Apple removed the country lockout? I did a search for Utada Hikaru (who they list among their international artists), and I got results, and I could play them. I browsed through their Japanese, French, German and "World" sections and didn't run into any problems, either. I didn't try to actually buy any, but I'm sure that in the past I couldn't even preview them. (Oh, and I'm in the U.S. if that matters.)