Apple Reportedly Buying Beats Electronics For $3.2 Billion 198
An anonymous reader writes "Multiple publications report that Apple is undertaking its biggest acquisition ever, buying Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion. The deal would give Apple control over the popular 'Beats by Dre' headphones as well as a new music streaming service. Analysts suggest the headphones will open up a new series of product lines for Apple, while the streaming service will jumpstart its efforts to compete with Pandora and Spotify, as iTunes' growth slows. 'If Apple wanted to, it could certainly have built a streaming subscription service itself; the company had been floating the notion of one with label executives in recent months. But it's possible that Apple's most recent attempts to extend its music business beyond the iTunes store helped convince Cook that he was better off getting outside help.' The deal hasn't been completed yet, but a candid video of Dr. Dre was posted to Facebook in which he appeared to confirm it."
Beats sound like garbage (Score:5, Informative)
Re:3.2 B (Score:5, Informative)
Amen! I finally had a chance to listen to music using Beats. To be fair I gave it a minute or two of listening and came to the conclusion the Sennheiser headphones I bought from Best Buy were much better and 75% cheaper.
Re:Beats sound like garbage (Score:5, Informative)
Reference audio isn't for everyone, and can be a bit flat when you have a lot of background noise. I'd suggest something like £20 on a pair of nice Sennheiser PX100s. Entry level price, but pleasingly and enthusiastically overcooked sound.
Re:3.2 B (Score:2, Informative)
Just goes to show... (Score:5, Informative)
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
-H.L. Mencken (paraphrased)
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:3.2 B (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Overpriced snake oil salesmen (Score:5, Informative)
Right. I continue to be baffled by people that will buy crappy headphones with some random musicians name on them and think they'll in any way sound good.
In speakers, size matters. Yes, you can get big crappy sounding speakers. But the one thing you'll never get small good sounding speakers. Laws of physics and all. This is also why Bose sucks and have been conning guys that watch infomercials for decades.
If you want affordable, good sounding speakers, you have to build them yourself. Get one of versions of these:
https://sites.google.com/site/... [google.com]
They don't have a huge amount of bass, but I'm betting they will be the best speaker most slashdotters have ever heard. And you can put them together with wood glue, scotch tape and a soldering iron.
Re:Long way from Compton (Score:4, Informative)
He's a billionaire straight outta Compton -- or so Dr. Dre says, anyway. [cnn.com]