Spotify Challenges iTunes With iPod Support, Playlist Synching 95
Stoobalou writes with this excerpt from thinq.co.uk: "Spotify has made a surprise announcement, and while it's still not the long-awaited US launch, it will be making a splash over the pond: the streaming music service is morphing into an iTunes competitor. In what is a clear attempt at rattling Apple's cage, Spotify has unveiled a pair of major new features: the ability to synchronise Spotify playlists with iPods, and the option to buy MP3 files to own — both key features of the iTunes platform. Any playlist created via the Spotify player can be downloaded in a single step, making 'digital mix-tape' creation significantly simpler."
Re:Changeup (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple is not for people who want free, customized, private or self-made software, media or data.
iOS has shown the path to profit, and I fear Apple may start "securing" OS-X soon.
Re:Good (Score:4, Insightful)
Deliberate somewhat off-topic de-rail:
Not all competition is beneficial. In fact, in the general case, competition generally means that the stronger or more cunning party succeeds, not the better party. For instance: I do not want to have to compete with other people for my food.
A better phrase is probably "Coexisting Diversity = Good." Take Coke and Pepsi (or a car analogy: GM and Toyota): it is better for society to have both of these than to have just one, because people who prefer the taste of either product are satisfied. If one company "wins the competition" and puts the other out of business, then the people who preferred the "loser" suffer real loss. Also, resources spent competing are probably always better spent cooperating instead.
So for all the people wanting [platform X] to win: be careful for what you wish.
Re:Being able to purchase MP3s is nothing new (Score:3, Insightful)
Being able to buy an entire playlist, instead of one tune at a time, is though. Just to clarify.
You've been able to publish playlists on iTunes for years, and each one can be purchased in it's entirety with a single button click. In addition to people's playlists, iTunes also publishes "Celebrity Playlists" from famous people.
Re:A new lawsuit (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah they won't sue. They'll just make the next generation of devices harder to interface with. This is what they've done in the past to block 3rd-party iTunes alternatives.
Re:Changeup (Score:4, Insightful)
...even worse support for those of us who use free software.
I didn't realize iTunes wasn't free.