Microsoft's Take on iTunes for Windows 588
Skruffy writes "The Register has an amusing article about Microsoft's reaction to the launch of Apple's iTunes software on Windows. It seems that Microsoft is very keen to warn its users of the dangers of using a service that would restrict them from accessing music from other sources... Oh the irony."
"Limited Selection" (Score:5, Funny)
Um... (Score:3, Insightful)
What more is there to say? Should everyone just repost their comments from yesterday? Or was this just another Microsoft-flamebait-for-page-hits article?
Re:Um... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not just ridiculous, outright false.
If iTunes only works with music from the tTMS, whatever have those Mac people been doing with the program for the last 4(?) years? And I guess those people walking around with iPods have just been listening to static.
Is There an Easy Way to Window Shop at I-Tunes? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Is There an Easy Way to Window Shop at I-Tunes? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is There an Easy Way to Window Shop at I-Tunes? (Score:5, Informative)
Haha, not quite. The iTunes music store is actually just regular web pages. If you use a tool like netstat (or better yet, TCPView from www.sysinternals.com) you can watch iTunes make a bunch of HTTP requests to Apple's servers when you browse each page in the store. If you use something like Process Explorer (this is turning into a Sysinternals commercial!) you can see that iTunes references the standard Internet Explorer HTML rendering engine to render the pages.
Apple presumably has something in place on the pages to ensure that only iTunes can access them. iTunes probably just sends some encrypted header doo-dad along with the normal HTTP request headers so that their webservers know that it's iTunes who's requesting the pages and not another web browser. If I wasn't lazy I'd fire up Etherreal and see exactly what's going on.
I'm sure with a little effort and header spoofing you could fairly easily access those pages with the web browser of your choice, although I can't think of any possible benefit to doing so.
Re:Is There an Easy Way to Window Shop at I-Tunes? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Is There an Easy Way to Window Shop at I-Tunes? (Score:5, Insightful)
This bit of demogoguery is over the top. To say that a company who goes to the trouble to create the first practical, usable on-line music store for digital content, and does so completely in the context of the current laws and business climate we find ourselves stuck with, is "in league with RIAA" is like saying devlopers of WINE are in league with Microsoft or developers of a x86 Linux kernel are in league with Intel. Apple took all the tools they had to work with and made a solution that seems to work for all parties involved. Unless you can propose a more appropriate, successful, and LEGAL alternative, you should go peddle your conspiracies and new world orders elsewhere.
can only legally purchase music from... (Score:3)
Just an idea (Score:5, Funny)
we the geeks are in full support of Microsoft's demand to open up media players for all competitors and hope you will give in.
A possible loss of revenue could be compensated by a new program with the tentative title "Apple Office for Windows" and we're all looking forward to Microsoft's complaint that office suites should be open and support all competing document formats.
etc...
What I'm afraid of ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What I'm afraid of ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What I'm afraid of ... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What I'm afraid of ... (Score:3, Funny)
my girlfriend is probably buying music right now
You read
Re:What I'm afraid of ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I know I have. I've been spending the past few days sorting and cataloguing my music. Normally I didn't give a shit about ID3 tags but iTunes has changed all of that.
Its just so insanely powerful and simple. I think most of the Apple bitchers at the moment are having trouble switching from a "Now Playing" style playlist to the library style of iTunes. It eventually grew on me and now I can't live without my Library and my Browse button.
Re:What I'm afraid of ... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What I'm afraid of ... (Score:3, Insightful)
I won't argue with you on the very little screen space. Minimode takes up more space than WA's windowshade mode but at 1280x1024 it doesn't really bother me that much.
Winamp 3 was a good rough and ready solution
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What I'm afraid of ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
One way of making their software better (Score:3, Funny)
Re:One way of making their software better (Score:5, Funny)
Re:One way of making their software better (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What I'm afraid of ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yep competition is a good thing. The problem is that when you have a company that is a monopoly in a market and it uses that monopoly position to create a barrier to entry into that market then any other company will find it too difficult to enter into competition.
Take cars for example. Suppose Ford has a super engine that runs only on fuel made by Ford. Now Fords sell like crazy and take over the market. Years down the road the gas stations only sell Ford fuel because there are so many Ford cars. What are the chances of a new car being made that runs on Ford fuel? None, because Ford engines are the only ones that can. What are the chances that new cars come out that don't run on Ford fuel? None, because there are hardly any service stations that sell non-Ford fuel. The net result? Only Ford cars and Ford fuel are produced.
Yes, this is a simplistic example and might not be 100% real-world but it does highlight the basics behind monopolies. Right now Microsoft has a monopoly because it is the predominant operating system. If it uses that monopoly to drive out competitors in related markets, say web browsers, then it is abusing its monopolistic position.
The same thing goes if Microsoft decided to release a security update that breaks Apple's iTunes without telling anyone. Boom, iTunes starts working crappy and people blame Apple when the fault is all Microsoft. Don't think this can't happen, it has happened before with Quicktime. It was shown in internal memos that Quicktime was broken on Windows for a while because Microsoft deliberately changed a few libraries without warning.
As long as there is fair and open competition the consumer, and the companies, will benefit. If any company is allowed to squash its competition entirely then the consumer will suffer.
OR (Score:3, Funny)
or
"from the I'm-taking-my-toys-and-going-home dept."
What a bunch of babies.
OK... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:OK... (Score:2)
Heck, even the 28k stations are horrible compared to what I listen to through Media Player 9.
iTunes restricts what you can do with what you buy. You have fewer rights with iTunes than with buying CDs, although the cost is roughly the same. It will only take you a few minutes of education to burst your bubble.
Re:OK... (Score:2)
In other words, having iTunes does not in any way "limit" his ability to use other means of obtaining music. It merely provides the convenience of obtaining music in a user-friendly environment for use on a limited set of devices.
Re:OK... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not of you burn them onto a CD and rip them again. And that is the major difference between Apple and Microsoft: Apple provides a legal way to "circumvent" DRM when the user is willing to spend some time to burn a CD and rip it again. That is real fair use, IMHO.
Re:OK... (Score:2)
Anyway, isn't that just security through obscurity? Aren't we slashdotters trained to spite such means? Where is your outrage and disgust at AAPL for using such measures?
I call "double standard" on you!
Re:OK... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:OK... (Score:2)
Oh yea you wanted a link.. ok.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/
"the iTunes Music Store lets you quickly find, purchase and download the music you want for just 99 per song. You can burn songs onto an unlimited number of C
Re:OK... (Score:3, Insightful)
> to "Manage" anything.
Well, they got licences to distribute the music on iTMS, and its been argued that without some form of DRM this would never have happened.
Its not useful as a form of protection, its useful as a means to an end.
Re:OK... (Score:5, Insightful)
The iTMS restrictions are a) no more than 10 burns of a playlist containing an iTMS track (fine, make a different playlist), b) sharing iTMS tracks with no more than 3 (or is it 5) other computers on your local network, c) no sharing over external networks, d) no direct conversion to another format (gotta burn to disc, then re-rip in another format). What about that is so awful? No, it doesn't allow for wholesale piracy, I mean sharing. Yes, the tracks are in protected AAC/MPEG4 format. How is this better/worse from protected WMA format? Have you looked at the restrictions on tracks from buymusic.com? Many (most? all?) of the other sites restrict your use of the purchased tracks to the machine to which you originally downloaded the tracks. That's it...
Checking a select few sites:
napster.com (pressplay.com is a redirect here) requires Windows, requires IE5+, requires WMP7+.
buymusic.com requires IE5+ and Windows (not using IE, I don't get any further than that requirement page... I'm sure WMP is required).
iTMS requires iTunes. Now, there is no restriction to Mac only, and an external browser is not needed at all. This seems less restrictive than other sites (fine, bitch all you want about no linux/*BSD/etc. support).
I do wish the quality was a bit higher, since the price of an full iTMS album is relatively similar to the price of a CD, but it's a trade off. You get (almost) what you want, when you want it, and you have more control over iTMS tracks than any legally downloadable music.
Re:OK... (Score:2)
iTunes restricts what you can do with what you buy. You ha
Re:OK... (Score:5, Informative)
Can we please get our terminology straight so people like me at least have a chance of understanding the arguments?
iTunes is a program used for listening to and organizing music on a computer.
The iTunes Music Store or iTMS is a service which sells music in an standards compliant format (AAC) wrapped up with a proprietary (FairPlay) DRM scheme.
Thus iTunes does not restrict anything and can be used with several different audio formats and transcode between many of them. The iTMS sells music with some restrictions that are easily worked-around.
Re:OK... (Score:2)
Re:OK... (Score:5, Informative)
The logical fallacy is that iTunes can of course play AAC [negating the concern about playing the files on your computer], and that iTunes is actually a sales-device for the iPod which of course can play AAC.
What's more ironic, and is being stated by several people already, is that all of Microsoft's efforts at distributing music [i.e. as partners with music distributing sites] involve the use of WMA format and DRM. Those files, of course, are no more useable than AAC, not to mention the particular point that WMA is not compatible with the iPod.
What it comes down to is this: there is a true dividing line between the Apple music scene [i.e. AAC/iPod/iTunes] and the Microsoft music scene [i.e. WMA/Napster 2.0/Media Player], and Microsoft isn't happy that the Apple side is beating them.
That said, I'm still using windows...just also using iTunes with my iPod, and purchasing AAC music.
Re:OK... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:OK... (Score:5, Insightful)
Incidentally, as to circumventing the AAC DRM: if you burn to a CD [which you can do unlimited times with AAC files] you can then re-rip it to either DRM -free AAC files or MP3 or whatever. Obvioulsy, a loss of quality incurred whenever you recompress, but from my tests thus far [going from 128 AAC > CD > 128 AAC or 192 MP3] I've yet to notice any actual difference [although file size sometimes varies].
Re:OK... (Score:5, Informative)
It appears the only real problem with the service is that you can't buy a higher-quality song that would be better for ripping to your own lossy format (or that Apple doesn't simply supply Vorbis/MP3 in the first place). But this is a problem of quality, not DRM.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:OK... (Score:5, Insightful)
WMA question (Score:2)
But MP3 bridges the gap! (Score:2)
Admittedly, if you buy AACs from the iTMS, and want to get them onto your non-iPod device, you need to burn them to CD, and rip them back to MP3.. but it's not impossible by any means.
Re:OK... (Score:4, Interesting)
Too bad the industry doesn't get it that it is possible to sell high quality MP3's from a reliable quality source and compete with free. The bottled water industry gets it. They compete well against tap water. The music industry doesn't get it. Bottled water is drinkable out of the bottle or in your favorite glass. DRM files are not playable in my car or my portable player. Sombody please release a quality compatable & reliable pure source.
Re:OK... (Score:3, Informative)
It should also be noted that AAC is part of MPEG 4, so it could be said that AAC is ro MPEG 4 what MP3 is to MPEG 1.
Re:OK... (Score:3, Informative)
Not to beat a dead horse here, but some are bound to mis-understand this. It sounds as if you're saying "if you rip your own CDs using iTunes the resulting files are a) DRM'd and b) unplayable in anything but an iPod. That is, of course, wrong on both counts. Nothi
iTunes can't play WMA (Score:4, Interesting)
In that sense, it's iTMS vs. every other MS-sponsored service, and iPods vs. every other MS-sponsored player. However, Apple hasn't closed the format. It's just as possible for other download services and MP3 player manufacturers to support AAC just like iTMS and the iPod do. They simply don't at this time.
This from the restriction overlords themselves... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, right. If Microsoft understood open formats, they would have launched their own music download service months ago.
Now I remember why my cluebat has a permanant imprint of Mr. Gates' forehead on one side.
Re:This from the restriction overlords themselves. (Score:2)
Re:This from the restriction overlords themselves. (Score:4, Insightful)
If companies could be forced compete on the merits of their products alone (instead of trying to trap customers and lock them in), this world would be taking a step in the right direction.
Re:This from the restriction overlords themselves. (Score:2)
Imagine how much more successful Microsoft would be if they were able to work efficiently with other companies and software developers. Unlike our good friend Mr. Stallman, I feel that proprietary software has its place in the world. Nonetheless, I don't think that vendors of proprietary software need to act like spoiled brats and refuse to get a
2 MS Bashing Stories in a Row! (Score:2)
OK. I'm just sort of kidding. But really. This ramped up bashing does not look good when MS does a big release like they are today. It looks like sour grapes. Which, of course, it is...
Why not get more positive on what you believe in, rather than bash?
And just look at the story just before the consecutive MS bashing stories... It's about linux zealots gone wild. Hmmmm.
Best use of Ironic tag... (Score:2, Funny)
Oh wait...wrong site.
which means they see it as a threat? (Score:5, Interesting)
If Apple hits the 10 million mark by Christmas I will be impressed, MS will be scared, and the RIAA might start to be quiet.. maybe.
Re:which means they see it as a threat? (Score:5, Informative)
I think I heard that Unca Steve and company have stated that their goal is 100 million songs sold by the end of this year. Considering that they sold 13 million to approximately 5% of the market (Apple users), and have since sold 1 million in the first 3.5 days of iTMS for Windows and Mac, that's pretty impressive. I don't know if 100 million is gonna happen, but hey, everybody needs to aspire to something.
Re:which means they see it as a threat? (Score:4, Informative)
Actually it's by the end of the first year of iTMS's existence, so by late April of next year. I suspect that Pepsi promotion is going to help pad Apple's numbers if it looks like they're going to be a little short. ;)
-sam
Re:which means they see it as a threat? (Score:4, Insightful)
If my math's correct, that averages to a smidge greater than three purchases per second for the entire 366 day period.
The biggest problem Apple has at the moment is still one of a limited audience. They have yet to open the iTMS to an international audience. Canadians, especially, are really feeling as if they're left out in the cold, and may go to other services (if they haven't already).
Re:which means they see it as a threat? (Score:5, Interesting)
Two things. First, you're completely right. Anytime Microsoft or any Microsoft employee talks about "choice" with a straight face then there is definitely something going on.
Second, they should be worried. I downloaded iTunes when it was released and immediately started using it as my main media player / jukebox. After buying some tracks from the iTMS I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new 40 GB iPod from the Apple store. Granted I had wanted to buy some kind of MP3 player for a while but I was heavily leaning toward one of the 128 or 256 MB flash players. I had absolutely no intention of buying a hard drive based MP3 player and definitely nothing as expensive as even the 10 GB iPod. After using iTunes and the iTMS and reading about how great people thought the iPod was I decided to go with the iPod. I had it shipped overnight and spent the entire weekend ripping my CD collection to MP3 in iTunes and playing around with the iPod. After a few days I can say that I am thoroughly impressed with both products and my satisfaction with them will result in having to take a serious look at a Mac the next time I buy a computer.
The iPod, while expensive, is such a great product. I can take my whole music collection with me where everywhere I go. The batter lasts 7 - 8 hours, it can be charged to 80% capacity in an hour (it takes about 4 for 100%) and it's small enough to fit comfortably in my pocket. The user interface makes it easy to interact with. It comes with a dock that has a line out jack so I can hook it into my stereo or take it with me to a friends and hook it into their equipment. With the car adaptor kit I can use it in my car.
The iPod also acts as a portable hard drive and a mini PDA. Setting the it up as a portable hard drive takes one click in iTunes. I had to buy the USB adaptor and a cable but now I can use the iPod to transfer files between my PC at work and my computer at home. You can also export your contact and appointment information from Outlook and store it in the iPod. It's even easier if you have a Mac as iSync can automatically sync your contact and calendar information for you.
I'm thrilled to death with the iTunes / iPod combo and I don't recall ever feeling this way about anything Microsoft has produced. So, to summarize, I think Microsoft is scared and they very well should be. I'm a happy Apple customer who will consider buying other Apple products in the future. Before iTunes and the iPod I wouldn't have even considered buying a Mac, or anything else produced by Apple.
Microsoft won't be able to one up Apple anytime soon by bundeling their Music Store / Jukebox with the next version of Windows because Longhorn is still such a long way off. That means that Microsoft is going to actually have to compete with Apple on the merits of it's own software and DRM format. That's going to be increadibly hard to do.
MS has always cared about the freedom to choose (Score:5, Funny)
Re:MS has always cared about the freedom to choose (Score:2)
Re:MS has always cared about the freedom to choose (Score:3, Funny)
And don't forget the premier gaming platform... (Score:4, Insightful)
Round 2! (Score:3, Insightful)
It *is* extremely hypocritical, but also typical, of Microsoft to make thiese kinds of statements. They're really upset that
Irony (Score:2, Informative)
Oh the irony.
Irony:
1. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
2. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
Dishonest, but not ironic.
FYI (Score:2)
incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play
Feds, states question XP's music link (Score:5, Interesting)
Federal and state regulators have voiced concern that a feature in Windows XP that involves online music purchasing may violate terms of Microsoft's antitrust settlement.
The issue surfaced in a court-mandated briefing filed jointly by Microsoft and federal and state regulators. The compliance update says there are ongoing discussions over the "Shop for Music Online" feature in the operating system.
"Plaintiffs are concerned that the feature invokes Microsoft's Internet Explorer, rather than the user's chosen default browser, in a manner that may be inconsistent" with the settlement, according to the filing.
Perfect irony (Score:2)
Mr.Gates, the people have spoken, with 1 million songs downloaded from iTMS in 3.5 days, and they don't want your crap for "standards".
The pot and the kettle are both black. (Score:5, Informative)
Huh? iTunes is not limited to Apple Music downloads, it also plays mp3s, audio CDs, and pretty much anything other un-DRMed audio you have. The iPod has always played mp3s. What's Apple supposed to do, preemptively invent DRM solutions that profit other companies and put those into iTunes? And iTunes does allow you to burn to an audio CD. MS WMP would do no different than Apple here.
Granted, Apple Music downloads are useless to anyone without iTunes (on Windows or Mac) or an iPod. Until I can play them in linux, they're useless to me. And don't tell me to burn everything to a CD and then rip it. Apple Music is also useless if you want to listen on a non-apple portable. Once again, Apple has chosen to support "everyone" by offering a choice of proprietary systems, rather than a single open system. "Windows or Mac" is just as bad as "Mac only" or "Windows only".
Re:The pot and the kettle are both black. (Score:5, Insightful)
Blockquoth the poster:
Burn everything to a CD and then rip it.
Seriously, it's time to reconsider your expectations. It's an online music store -- the RIAA would not allow it to exist without some form of DRM. So be thankful for the loophole.
Music choices (Score:2)
You have a good point..
link to the referenced article (Score:5, Informative)
Re:link to the referenced article (Score:2)
Now how did they get in bed...
BuyTunes (Score:5, Interesting)
Thank you for visiting BuyMusic.com.
In order to take full advantage of BuyMusic.com's offerings you must be on a Windows Operating System using Internet Explorer version 5.0 or higher.
All for using Firebird. News flash: Microsoft browser monopoly too restrictive. Asses.
Slashdot is a single source (Score:5, Funny)
Analysts noted that Slashdot, despite obtaining over 1 million page views in its first week, will have a hard time with the Windows market. "We believe that an open system like Microsoft's is the way to go," claimed the Garter Belt Group.
More interesting (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2003/10/20/microso
Microsoft's idea of "choice" is a button on the side that reads "Buy Music Online". Even if you tell the system "I prefer another browser to yours", or "I prefer another media player to yours", you get sent to the "Microsoft Music Store".
No way to override that unless you manually start up a separate program to begin with. Looks like you can't just delete that little button from the OS.
Imagine the phone call when some irate customer calls Apple and says "I clicked this Buy Music Button on my computer and I can't play it with this iTunes thing! What kind of scam are you pulling!"
Ah, yes - Microsoft, that bastion of choice and freedom! (Well, as long as you choose a Microsoft solution, of course.)
Laugh all you want... (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple needs to fight this with some powerful prime-time adverisements. (Like they did for the "Switch" campaign, except without the annoying chick). They need to remind users that iTunes can play any MP3s (and WAV files), and their iPods can be used to take their entire CD collection on the road with them - not just purchased music from the iTunes Music store. (Heck, that was one of the major reasons why I bought one - you can easily press "Next track" on the iPod while driving, but it's hard to change CDs, and CD changers are expensive and only hold 6-10 CDs).
Apple also needs to do more plugging on the fact that users can burn any number of plain vanilla audio CDs containing their purchased tracks. (You can only burn the same _playlist_ 10 times if it contains purchased tracks, but you can burn the tracks themselves any number of times. The playlist restriction is to prevent you from downloading an album, making a playlist of that album, and burning 50 copies and selling/giving them to your friends. And really, that's not unreasonable - would you do that with CDs you purchased?)
IBM warned about being "locked in to open systems" (Score:2)
The best endorsement for iTunes yet. (Score:2, Insightful)
Just FUD (Score:2)
Sure you hav
And in the bright dazzling future... (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, lez see, I'd bet Microsoft will use their OS monopoly to get a monopoly on selling music online...then I can also see since media formats have always been proprietary cept' for ogg of course, I can see the windows DRM being used with media player to restirct which formats windows can utilize. So in the distant future, we'll see that microsoft's WMA format becoming the de-facto standard amongst windows users. Stupid people will have to buy their media and probably can't rip their CD's, while smart people will use something else like linux or mac.
Combine microsoft deciding they don't like competition from p2p apps or other formats with their autoupdating patch system and you've got them eliminating windows machines from the p2p scene altogether. Heck, they might even be brazen enough to do something like brilliant did awhile ago and use users machines as nodes in the network so they don't have to pay for bandwidth to host their website, patches, or anything else for that matter. Mmmm..viral microsoft patches....
I don't trust apple either, they've done their share of stupid monopolistic stuff too, so it'll be interesting to see MS and apple fight.
What's the Difference? (Score:2, Interesting)
-mojo
that's a first (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that's the first time I've seen a monopoly with something relatively insignificant like 10% of their given market. Didn't I recently read that even linux has a higher market share than Apple?
The fact that apple has good products, and has a very exclusive set of products that interact with each other well, has nothing to do with being a monopoly, directly.
Future AAC support on portable players (Score:2)
These writers are confused... (Score:3, Insightful)
"Why is it that you and just about every "rumor" site insists on confusing iTunes for Windows and the iTunes Music Service? Everyone claims that by installing "iTunes," you are effectively supporting an "Apple monopoly," simply because the DRM-enabled files purchased from the iTunes Music Store can only be played on iPods (or other copies of iTunes). This completely ignores the fact that iTunes is a "plain 'ol MP3 player" (and a rather nice one, at that). The ONLY time DRM comes into play is when you purchase DRM-enabled AAC files from the iTunes Music Service. That makes sense, given how music publishers are paranoid about "rights-free" music downloads. Installing iTunes for Windows (as I have done on my Dell laptop at work, and a Compaq Evo tablet) in no way locks one into Apple's DRM-enabled AAC "world." I can still encode CDs as MP3s, burn these tracks to CDs (although this Evo is so slow, that would be rather painful!), and transfer them to a cheesy MP3 flash player (so far, I've avoided them as mostly useless- I'm waiting to buy an iPod, once the new baby's expenses are met).
So, please get it right. iTunes for Windowsb is benign. Buying tracks on iTunes Music Service may "lock you in," but what's the alternative? Choice? What choice? Buy DRM-enabled tracks from WMA-supporting sites? No thanks. Can't even play them on one of those junky WMA-enabled flash players. Talk about no choice. Apple negotiated good DRM policy on my behalf, and that's why I've spent good money on a few dozen tracks already. Getting to play them on the best "digital jukebox" out there is just a plus..."
Microsoft's Right! (Score:5, Insightful)
BUT
WMA support is IRRELEVANT if the Digital Restrictions Management that infests Microsoft products doesn't allow me to play it anywhere else anyway. I once had a free offer to download WMA files from some music service and found that once the files were copied to any other computer, they were useless anyway. Copying to a player which did play WMAs was fruitless as well.
So the DRM (remember it's Digital RESTRICTIONS Management) is the overriding limiting factor, and not whether WMA is supported or not.
All the other online music services are music RENTAL right? If so, I won't participate regardless of the format.
Microsoft's argument is irrelevant until the WMA-supporting music services offer more lenient restrictions. I don't want my music to stop after I stop paying $19/month, I don't wanna have to worry if I bought the correct license to burn to CD for every single track I buy!
Orlowski thinks Apple is a monopoly (Score:5, Insightful)
It's as stupid as calling BMW a monopoly because only BMW makes BMWs.
Or perhaps Orlowski is thinking that Apple is in a monopoly position as regards the suppliers of software. Actually, because their market share is small, the opposite is the case. They have to provide reasons for suppliers to support them. The fact that some applications may be subsumed by Apple is a fact of life: every manufacturer has to make make or buy decisions all the time. Currently conventional wisdom is that everything is better subcontracted out, but eventually if you go far enough the subcontractors own you.
Personally, I suspect that the ITMS may be too small to survive: if revenue is around $30 million and none of that is profit, there is no real budget to promote it. But at least it's a try, and Apple should be given full credit for trying.
Re:Orlowski thinks Apple is a monopoly (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple has a few billion in the bank, so there's your promotion budget.
Also, no matter how well the iTMS does, Apple still only makes a pittance from it, thanks to the record labels and their huge cut. The whole service is basically a loss leader designed to sell iPods (which are quite profitable), and ideally even induce some people to switch to the Mac. The iTMS is the razor, and iPods are the blades.
~Philly
Add your band to the iTunes Music Store (Score:5, Informative)
he may have a point (bear with me) (Score:3, Interesting)
I think Fester has a point.
Using Windows Media Player, I can play DRM tunes from BuyMusic.com, Napster, and other stores which use WMA DRM (of which he purported there are several others). I can send those same DRM tunes to various supporting hardware.
Using iTunes, I can play DRM tunes from
All that said
I have a
Re:dupe (Score:2)
The smell of desperation is embarassing. How pathetic.
"MS released a new version of Office! Oh no!! Prepare to bash at full speed!"
The non-booting issue only effects people with... (Score:2, Informative)
that have directcd installed
as far as I can tell.
All you have to do as far as I can
tell is uninstall directcd before installing
itunes which most people dont use anyway
Subscribe? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Subscribe? (Score:2)
You know, what I am bitching about in my parent post?
Re:Stupid Itunes questions (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Stupid Itunes questions (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Stupid Itunes questions (Score:5, Informative)
Microsoft is disconcerted because Apple is not using WMA.
Re:irony no. (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference is that you don't have to use AAC if you don't plan on buying from the iTMS.
You can use iTunes with mp3/aiff/wav with no problems and it works with just about any portable music player out there. My friend uses his Rio with iTunes on the Mac for example.
If you want to buy music from the store then you're limited to iTunes (or Quicktime) and the iPod but how is this different from buying DRM-ed music in WMA format? You're limited to Windows Media Player and a portable machine that supports it (ok, so there are more of those available).
I couldn't play WMA music with DRM on my Mac becase I don't have a version of Windows Media Player that supports it (Microsoft delightfully decided not to update the Mac version of WMP so we can't play any videos or music encoded in version 9 format - how's that for choice?!).
Any competing service is going to contian some limitations as to what you can and can't use and can and can't do. It's the nature of things. Remember, both Apple and Microsoft are out to make money. The iTunes Music Store and iTunes exists primarily to sell iPods - Apple are a hardware company first and foremost.
You only use Apple software if you want to use their hardware, that's the way it's always been. iTunes for Windows is there as a resource for owners of iPods who use Windows and not Mac OS. If you don't have an iPod you have three choices:
1. Use iTunes but don't buy any music from the iTMS, ensure you rip in mp3 format and use any portable player on the market.
2. Use iTunes with an iPod - buy music from the iTMS and rip in either mp3 or AAC format.
3. Don't use iTunes. No one is forcing you, and it's not the law to do so (although the way things are going it might soon be illegal to use anything but WMP... just kidding)
The difference (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft makes up their own "standards", and the market uses them because Microsoft has a monopoly. When they do release specs, the specs are wrong (ask the Samba team). When they do implement real standards, they change them in incompatible ways and make life hard for those who need interoperability with pretty much every other system.
You might argue that Apple only does this because they have to, having such a small market share. That may be true, but we don't have access to an alternate reality to find out, so we have to look at the current real-life situation.
Additionally, the Apple integration of hardware and software is the reason their computers work so well. You don't have to like it, but it seems to be catching on. And Microsoft does sell keyboards, mice, and Xboxes.
FWIW, I run Linux and can't use iTMS, but that is OK. Most CDs I buy are for $5-$10 at a show immediatly after seeing the band play for the first time (and the shows often cost less than $10 too). None of the bands I see would be arrogant enough to cripple their CDs, because they actually want people to hear their music. And if my friend, who uses iTMS, wants to put some songs from it on a CD for me, he can hand me a standard CD with no problems.