Looks like a pillar of iTunes content might be on the brink of collapse -- Universal Music, the world's largest music business, has officially opted not to renew its contract with Apple for vending music on the iTunes Music Store. We don't know specifically what caused Universal to turn away -- perhaps it's the weight of the rising anti-DRM movement among consumers, or perhaps it's because of Stevie J.'s brash negotiating tactics,
continual refusal to hand over iPod cash, or oceanic persistence in keeping tracks locked in at $0.99. Whatever the reason, we can't say we're all that surprised; Universal's been a pain in Apple's ass for years now. So what's the end result? Well, Universal music will still be sold through iTunes at will, so that means consumers can keep buying tracks for the time being, but Apple runs the risk of losing Universal's content on very short notice if the companies don't make happy with one another and put pen to paper once more.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted Jul 2nd 2007 12:45AM
I think the "risk" is on Universal's part; the industry knows CD sales are down, and digital sales are up, and the iTunes Store is one of the most popular destinations for selling music digitally. At this point, Universal would be suicidal to cut off potential digital sales.
And Apple would let Universal walk before they let them charge $2 a track or whatever ridiculous thing they want.
And Universal can explain to their hot acts when contracts come up for renewal why their music isn't available for sale on one of the most popular digital music stores..... and they can also try and explain that to any hot rising new acts they try to sign.
haha you have a Zune. *point and laugh*
Well you can still download songs via iTunes Plus and put em on your Zune.
opps, wrong comment reply my bad..it was ment for the user blow this comment.
Well, you've certainly convinced me Charles!
Completely agree. An iTunes without Universal is a little shaky, Universal Music without iTunes just falls flat on its arse.
That sucks for itunes users. i just use limewire ;)
So you steal music? Bragging about being a thief is not as cool as you might think.
I'm cool wit it. maybe ill stop when drm is dropped.
iTunes Plus?
uh, Some of the music on iTunes does not have DRM...hello where have you been?
Music from coldplay, Red Jumpsuit apparatus..etc does not have DRM and they are 256kbps. All EMI music is now DRM free. Steve Jobs said he hates DRM and going to try to get more studios onboard.
I dont hve an ipod. i hve a zune- ipods r too overhyped. nothin special bout em
haha you have a Zune. *point and laugh*
Well you can still download songs via iTunes Plus and put em on your Zune.
think diffrent and think about buying a zune, my best purchase ever
@Fatima
Zunes are made of PURE WIN.
I'm sorry that you fail to see, my dad has a Zune (I just use my psp's 4gb card, I don't listen to a whole lotta music) and He has ~790mbs left and 6,500 LEGAL songs (Half CDs half from the Zune Market place) He has I think 5 full length movies on it as well, and quite a bit of cartoons/short vids etc.
IMO the difference between The Zune and iPod is: Zune has a bigger screen, has Radio (Which I would use actually, good radio stations in the Seattle Region) and iPod has... *looks at my sisters iPod* well... no real advantage when comparing the 30gb iPod video to the Zune...
@NightShade15:
Only problems with the Zune: it does half of what you expect (WiFi only so much so to the half-assed sharing), and the screen may be larger, but it's still the same resolution. Oooh, larger pixels.
... which is where all the Universal music will end up if they ditch iTunes. Serves them right.
What a waste. They've gone from a U2 special edition iPod to this. Universal, stop being greedy. You will sell through any brick and mortar shop in the world. Don't be idiots and refuse to sell through the world's most popular online shop. I know, I know, you haven't actually stopped selling on iTunes yet, but if you do, it will be a dumb move. Really, I thought the music labels had learned their lesson. Pirates, start your engines...again.
Engine started. I'd love to watch them shoot themselves in the foot. I think it'd be hilarious. But, like, people are saying, they're not that dumb.
That being said, I'd like to see the creative commons license eliminate our dependence on these people- like the gnu has basically eliminated my dependence on proprietary software. We live in a new age now, where information is not a good, but a service. All the companies who don't realize that are going to get royally screwed over the next 10 years. 'course, I think it'll be kinda funny to see that happen too... but that may just be me.
Please, my Archos 604WiFi will wipe the floor with both of them! The only thing they have over Archos is throwing money into marketing. And Archos is starting to show up in more stores and locations without all the Apple/Microsoft hype and smoke and mirrors. Touchscreen, real WiFi connectivity, DVR ability, and etc...
I am freaking glad they're doing this.
a. Poke a hole in Apples wallet.
b. Slap to Apple's face.
c. No more "go download this episode of Battlestar Galactica on itunes" bullshit
You're jealous that a company legally makes money for providing products that cater to a wide audience? That's pretty shallow thinking.
Leave him alone, he needs something to rant about after regretfully buying a Zune.
Myeh - I'll stick with my laptop and buying CDs.
Apple doesn't really make much money/profit from selling music on the iTunes Store; its not going to particularly poke a hole in the wallet of Apple. The only thing that would do that would be if people chose to give up their iPods/etc. in favor of wherever else they might buy Universal music online from (of course, if they buy Universal music CDs, they don't particularly need to give up their iPods).
Oh snap. That reminds me of a previous Engadget comment on the "iPod Amnesty Bin": "Where is the Zune Amnesty Bin? Oh, that's right, it's the store shelves."
Down with Universal! First they back HD-DVD and unnecessarily prolong the HD war. If they join BD, this silly war would be over right then and there. Then they bully blockbuster and threatened to remove their movies from the store...blockbuster said "meh"..Universal blinked and they didn't remove the movies.
And now this? WTF i bet MS is trying is paying them royalty to secure Zune exclusivity, which is BS just like MS did it to HD-DVD.
Someone should fire CEO of Universal, he is a total nut and going to drive the company into the ground.
Wait, how did MS get involved in this? Oh right, I forgot that it's popular to accuse MS of bad things based on speculation. And I meant to write M$. Where are my manners.
This just smells MS, just like they paid rockstar $50million for GTA 4 360 download content exclusivity.
I just want to point out that anyone in the HD-DVD camp is not bad. There's reasons why some people might join the HD-DVD side, and the BluRay side. Some people like the fact that HD-DVD has more interactive features and is generally cheaper. Others like that the BluRay can store up more, and 'seems' more higher quality than HD-DVD. So who's to say that BluRay should have won? It's not anyone's fault. It's just a companies opinion on which is better. Plus the fact that downloading HD content is the future, it's not that important.
I don't know about Microsoft paying Universal for exclusive ties, but I don't think they would actually go through such a dumb thing. Their Zune is still to new, and if they made a mistake and try to buddy up with Universal (the most biggest, but yet no-so-nice record company), then there's going to tons of people hating the Zune for that. So I'm thinking that they would probably back onto a more better option. Plus, Engadget reported that they might ink a deal with EMI to have DRM less content on ZuneM too.
Hey, if MS has the money, why not?
Zune market place is $15 for unlimited music. iTunes is $1 per song. iTunes deserves to go into a shithole.
You do realize that the Zune marketplace also sells songs (for the exact same price, Marketplace Points aside)? What iTunes doesn't do is music subscriptions; that is certainly something that can be debated (and there's plenty of subscription music services out there for those that prefer that).
If you choose to buy the song without a subscption then yes, the charge is $1. But i've already downloaded nearly 50 full CDs and all i had to pay was $15 where in iTunes i would have spent well over hundreds of dollars.
I prefer the purchase based model.
Example, I don't normally download more than $15 songs a month
So lets say I download only one cd a month, $10 before tax at itunes.
I pay the $10, and that's it. The songs are mine, and I can listen to them for ever.
The same thing via a subscription at live market place would be $15 for the first month, and $15 for every month after that in which I want to continue listening to that music.
For some people subscription makes sense, for others purchasing does. I'd like to have the option in itunes, but just because of the lack of that option, doesn't mean I'm going to quit using them.
Personally I'd prefer to buy music tracks DIRECTLY from an artist, ensuring a bigger percentage of profit to them, and more likely hood of their staying in the business and making more music. :)
"Charging you $1 per song when Zune Market Place charges you $15 for UNLIMITED MUSIC? iTunes=rip off"
:| You dont' own the music dip s**t! Close your account and see what happens. Monthly fee for music is the dumbest idea on the planet, thus the reason why iTunes is the number 3 music seller either online or actual store. Because "NO ONE" but retards rent music.
The renting scheme is in no way inherently good or bad. If only retards do it (as Mr. White said), then why do people rent movies from Netflix or lease a vehicle? They're paying, but they don't get anything in the end...
It's all a matter of perspective.
MrWhite - you are an ass and a dolt.
Using your logic, everyone who pays for cable television instead of buying DVD sets is also a "retard" because they don't own anything at the end.
Information of ALL kinds is moving towards the subscription-based model because it makes more economical sense. Software is in the midst of the transition, as you can see in CRM segment.
There are those who perfer to lease cars and those who perfer to own, and either choice makes sense in certain circumstances for certain people. Don't be such a curmudgeon.
[steps off soapbox...]
Priceless is the people who think $200/year forever is cheaper than $1/song. The longer they stay in this scheme the more trapped they are, what do they do when it become $20/month, $30/month and all their music is dependent on monthly fees they have no control over and can't switch to a new provider without starting over...
Morons.
Every time I go into a CD store I feel sorry for the people who have to buy music based on how the cover looks or how they liked the 30-second snippet they heard online or whatever reputation the band has.
Subscription services are like having complete music freedom. Try out whole songs, download as much as you like AND FIND NEW MUSIC LIKE YOU NEVER COULD BEFORE. If you like music you'll download way more than 15 songs a month. In May my work kept me until 9:00-10:00 every night and almost every Saturday. Nevertheless I downloaded 496 songs! And this coming from a guy who owned less than 100 CD's before he got a subscription service.
What if I cancel?", you say. I'm more likely to take cold showers than I am to cancel Urge.
.. and if you stop paying $15/month, all your songs go bye-bye! What a deal!
Charging you $1 per song when Zune Market Place charges you $15 for UNLIMITED MUSIC? iTunes=rip off
Zune Marketplace charges the same $1 to purchase songs. What you're talking about is a subscription service, where you are renting the music, and it stops functioning the second you stop paying for it.
It's not better or worse, the subscription music services are a different option. If one buys more than $180 worth of music a year, than the subscription music plans do have some merit (although you then have to also factor in continuing to pay $180 in subsequent years for any music you've subscribed to).
Again, the Zune Marketplace charges the exact same amount to purchase music. Its kind of silly to say iTunes is a ripoff simply because it doesn't offer a subscription model.
I guess you're right. But i just think a subscription is much better than actually paying a whole large amount at once. But that's just my opinion.
I guess your right, but I don't want to rent music, I buy CDs
You actually have to pay $15 a month to listen to all those albums you downloaded under subscription. Even a year from now, or two? And, if you cancel subscription, they're gone. Now, that's a ripoff.
There's something too ethereal about music subscriptions. If a company goes out of business or you want to switch services, all of your songs are gone! It's essentially on-demand internet radio.
iTunes a rip off? What about record stores charging $18 for a CD...
without DRM at that!
In before Universal launches its own online music/media store.
yeah i wouldn't be surprised at all is ms has something to do with this.... also in conjunction with the live marketplace which has had tons of specualation that universal movies/tv shows were coming to the video marketplace. and it might be a "larger" deal to cover the zune as well. also would make sense for a "v2 zune" which alot of people think will hit before the year is out.
Yea just like how they payed Rockstar millions of dollars just so they can bring epesodic content on the Xbox360 and not the PS3. Microsoft can be a little desperate sometimes but it's all part of the business game.
I wonder how many people won't buy universal music if it's not available on itunes? I know that I don't buy CD's in the store any more, I only buy from itunes.
If my favorite artists (which aren't carried by universal) aren't available on itunes, I don't know what I'd do...
I'm sure there are a lot out there that would take the easy route, and just find an mp3 somewhere on the internet.
This shows me that the large record companies, really care nothing about the artist or the consumer, just their own pockets.
If universal music is not going to be on iTunes. Then its Bittorrent for me.
ITS UCS FOR ME!!!
Yeah, I don't disagree. For someone who downloads a lot of music and doesn't mind paying a monthly fee to keep all of it active, a subscription model is worthwhile.
Of course, especially with purchased digital music finally becoming DRM-free, I think there will be a more clear divide between the two.
I think the Zune Marketplace is actually a good compromise though, as it does offer both options, so someone can maintain their subscription for most music, while still purchasing music they want to keep no matter what (and when DRM-free stuff is added, have more control over where it can be played).
Here's the straight scoop.
MS greased up universal by selling each zune and tossing universal a bone on each unit sold in the way of a "piracy tax" or whatever you wanna call it. Regardless, now universal thinks they should get it from apple, and apple refuses. So, thank all those idiot zune buyers for this crap, as it's their fault for buying into yet another of ms' inevitably failed pieces of hardware. So because of them, ipod users now have less choice. I don't even own an ipod or a zune, but this was really sneaky of ms.
Oh, and Zune "marketplace" sucks. Just like 360 marketplace. See an item for 3 bucks? too bad, you have to spend 6.25 in points, as thats the chunk they sell it in. This is so anti consumer it's not even funny.
Do you know what you're even talking about?
I admit, Microsoft giving that stupid Universal tax was dumb. But the player still costs the same as an iPod (even went down cheaper). Zune is not a "MS's inevitably failed pieces of hardware". While it's not the perfect MP3/PMP player, it's quite good. Even great I should say. It does some stuff the iPod doesn't. Even though WiFi is kind of a weak selling point, with some firmware updates, it can be improved to do more things and have more functions. At least they brought the idea of having WiFi with music out to the market. It can improve. So the Zune is not failed, especially being one of the most bought MP3 players after the iPod.
Zune Marketplace doesn't have content exclusively from Universal. I'm quite sure other record companies give content to ZM. And Microsoft had to do something to get themselves into the music market. Or else they would be dead. So they had to make some sacrifices. Soon, they'll learn the way things work, and things will improve, especially with Universal.
Oh, and about Zune Marketplace. While the point system for buying stuff is kind of stupid (they'll probably fix it), it's still the same price. And you can still buy each song individually, you don't have to pay a full album unless it's one of those soundtracks from movies. Plus the 'option' of having a subscription style of buying is at least nice. Although I don't use it. I just buy 'a la carte'. Even then, I don't buy much. I actually have stuff to do. Plus if you don't have a Zune or an iPod, exactly how makes you think you would know this stuff, or even care about it?
Obviously, this is just a hate comment.
Well, actually Universal didn't stop selling through iTunes, because they are not stupid. They only went month-to-month ;-)
Sorry, this is actually a reply to your post above, about subscription services. Not sure how it ended up attached to another comment.
yes, when you buy tracks online, itunes and zune are the same price (99 cents per track when drm'd). BUT, itunes is a shady 128 kbps, while Zune is a better, but not great 192.
iTunes uses AAC an Marketplace uses WMA. Can't compare bitrates of different encodings like that.
Chuck you forget the Zune music store music is in the WMA format which is worse then ACC which Apples uses.
128 on ACC sounds like a 192 MP3.
You also forget iTunes also offers songs DRM free and at 256 ACC...it costs a bit more, but it's worth the better sound quality and it also being DRM free.
@ jaywarrietta,
Actually, we can compare bitrates. AAC is much newer and better compressed standard than WMA, or even MP3. 128k AAC is comparable to 192kWMA. MS had no choice to but to 192k WMA if it wanted to use it's proprietary codec.
Universal is not leaving iTunes.
Universal is going with a short term contract instead of a long term contract.
So it's like they chose 2 yrs over say 5 yrs.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118334130094154901.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
they are not leaving, they are doing month by month. Which means at any moment they can dash away.
maybe zune marketplace gave them an irresistible offer, you'd never know!
hahahah pathetic ipod/itune owners. " GOD DAMN ZUNE, BETTER THAN OUR oVERPRICED CRAP!!! ARG!! i know! lets all meet on engadget! maybe there we can say really stupid things without ever using a zune and many others will agree with me because we cant admit that our ipod isnt that great or that apple isnt innovative at all but rather reuses failed products and slaps their logo and wait for fans of a bad lame products to buy it" Grow up. Itunes is teh suck .
LMLYP, you do know that the Zune, which has a 30GB hard drive, costs the same amount of money as the 30 gig iPod, AND that a song from the Zune Marketplace costs the exact same amount as a song from the iTunes store, right?
$200 = $250? new to me
All the zunes ive seen are 220-200 , at least here in america ( los angeles)
I think that L.M.L.Y.P is secretly a Apple fanboy that just wants to spark some more flame war among Engadget users. So he's trying to make a 'typical' Zune owner look bad and make people hate him.
@Macchappy: I just thought you should know that the retailers selling Zune dropped the price a bit (couple of tens), so technically, a Zune cost less than an iPod and also offers 30 GB.
michael - haha no michael i need my PC for more than just ... what can apples do? anything important thatll get them out of the ...%5 consumer mark?
anyballs i own a zune and this whole iphone bidness just made me begin to dislike engadget .
"Anyballs"? Hahahahahahaha, I love that. But I kind of hate you for it, though. I'm going to remember that word for the rest of my life now, whether I want to or not.
Do you want a cookie?
Oh wait..i shouldn't feed the trolls.
No, I didn't forget iTunes has DRM free songs, that's why I specified DRM content at the same price with higher bit rate. People above were complaining it wasn't fair to compare itunes purchases to subscription plan financially, so I was comparing marketplace and iTunes as apples to apples (purchased content). Marketplace does have a higher bitrate. I didn't hear that 128 aac sounds like 192 wma, but thanks for bringing that up, I'll look into that. I have all my cds in apple lossless, but I do use subscription marketplace. With a good dac and a tube buffer, 192 wma doesn't sound half bad, and I'm pretty picky (musical fidelity tube buffer, mcintosh preamp and amp, sonus faber speakers). Lossless is still the way to go, though.
The fanboyism in this thread is palpable.
When corperations fight, the consumer loses, easy as that.
do you have any idea how competition in capitalism works? This has to be the most ignorant comment I've yet seen.
I just want to point out that anyone in the HD-DVD camp is not bad. There's reasons why some people might join the HD-DVD side, and the BluRay side. Some people like the fact that HD-DVD has more interactive features and is generally cheaper. Others like that the BluRay can store up more, and 'seems' more higher quality than HD-DVD. So who's to say that BluRay should have won? It's not anyone's fault. It's just a companies opinion on which is better. Plus the fact that downloading HD content is the future, it's not that important.
I don't know about Microsoft paying Universal for exclusive ties, but I don't think they would actually go through such a dumb thing. Their Zune is still to new, and if they made a mistake and try to buddy up with Universal (the most biggest, but yet no-so-nice record company), then there's going to tons of people hating the Zune for that. So I'm thinking that they would probably back onto a more better option. Plus, Engadget reported that they might ink a deal with EMI to have DRM less content on ZuneM too.
Sorry, wrong place. This was suppose to be directed to one of Fatima's comments. The reply link hit a snag, and I just added a comment to the entire post. Sorry.
hell with it, anyway. people should demand their fair use rights, and stop buying from internet music distributors until lossless, non-DRM music is available. EMI going lossless on itunes was a step in the right direction, but i'm not paying for anything i can't have format control of either (converting lossy to lossy - extreme degradation of quality).
why on earth would someone pay for a restriction when they can get freedom for free?
i'll support piracy until i can hear Jesu on the radio, and i'll support CDs until i can buy lossless, non-DRM music online.
i'll support piracy until i can hear Jesu on the radio, and i'll support CDs until i can buy lossless, non-DRM music online.!!
Love it . I dont purchase anything on zune marketplace and ill never let itunes touch my hard..... drive . i have all the joy division , smiths and ween i need . Most stuff isnt sold on either so i buy lps or cds
No amount of rhetoric (Jobsy) makes a music service that only gives the option of purchase better than a service that provides both a purchase and a subscription option (Rhapsody).
@Fatima: haha, you bought an iPod and are apparently very proud of it *point and laugh*
Some people are just so stupid. You couldn't even reply to the correct comment.
Disclaimer: I don't own a Zune, either. I went for the Cowon D2.
I really hope you just accidentally replied to the wrong comment, or else you're a moron... either that or illiterate. I don't own a Zune. I don't own a single piece of DRM-protected media. Ironically enough, DRM prevents a lot of music sales because nobody wants it. I bought a CD with the Sony rootkit mess on it (In Your Honor by the Foo Fighters), and I couldn't put that music on my mp3 player (a Dell DJ at the time). I eventually figured it out and got my music, but I now don't buy music. Why buy something that restricts what you can do with it when you can get it for free and have the freedom to easily transfer it? DRM drove me to piracy.
Can anyone say "Iverse"?
So what happens to all of his purchased music when you decide the Zune's not for you (or later down the track when Microsoft kill the project)? Since all of the Zune music is proprietory, you have zero chance being able to use it elsewhere.
And something tells me Microsoft aren't as likely to allow an 'upgrade' from your current DRMed music to DRM free music.
i guess i'll go back to filesharing. w2g universal.
So, do they expect us to choose physical CDs or file sharing sites instead? You can't really mess with the store that has 90% market share. You see people are with this. If they leave iTunes they lose a hundred-million people market just because they want to sell their songs at a higher price. As a matter of fact, if they are so sure that iTunes users will choose physical CDs instead of piracy, they can move to iTunes Plus, expecting a sales raise along with higher prices just like it happened with EMI, as engadget said the other day. Not to mention the nagging about CD sales are down... were they doing the same thing when cassette sales were down too, or do they expect to now put the cost of restocking, booklets, store staff, transporting etc right in their pocket. Who do they think they are?
We are doing them a huge favor for buying songs in DRM and they have to respect their customers instead of trying to steal their money just like they say they are stealing songs. Show them we ain't as dumb as they think we are. (One solution would be choosing iTunes Plus and try buying as less DRM songs as possible, then let the numbers speak for themselves.)
By the way, why should they get cash for every iPod? Why not warner, EMI, Sony BMG, and some others too? Are they the smart ones? For god's sake, what the heck are they thinking???
Some will say, it's because it plays MP3s and encourages piracy. OK, so if they get their "royalties" (so called) does this mean we would be able to start "downloading MP3s from filesharing sites, like morpheus or grokster or limewire or kazaa"? (as their artist '"Weird Al" Yankovic' said in his latest CD) Because then we would have already paid for these songs, wouldn't we?
Sorry for being so... well... I don't know, I was just SO angry to hear this.
Jeez louise ! Universal gets handed a near perfect online music distribution system, from which I'm sure they're drawing off more profit than Apple is - and now they want to pull out ?
You've got to hand it to these boneheads - they sure know how to run a company into the ground....
iTunes is shit for sound quality anyway. I'll stick with buying CD's and ripping them to FLAC on my computer using EAC.
Since this has turned , yet another into a pro-MS- anti-apple discussion..oh well into the fray...
I find it incredible how in the last 12 months Microsoft has gone from being the big bad wolf to the 'people's friend' or worse some twisted ally in the 'war against Apple'. You should be very careful that you don't help the wolf eat the last lamb in the field!.
Can people not understand there is ONLY Apple LEFT - and that very nearly went bad in the 90's!!. That's all that stands between Microsoft owning everything. And please don't buy the crap that 'google' are a threat - I mean they make a search engine FFS!
Always ask yourself 'who benefits' from a certain story - ESPECIALLY it the story elicits 'sympathy' or provokes an 'emotional' response. This posting for example is very blatant it wants you to reconsider that Apple ISN'T the bad guy that you slowly becoming convinced that it is...
Please understand Apple users don't want to see Microsoft disappear or even lose their market share in desktops, (maybe give up a percentage or two is all but more for Apple's long term security more than anything) but they really don't think it does anyone any good if Microsoft also get the entire digital music player industry as well. Does anyone really think that they should get that entire pie as well ?? I mean FFS!!!
Let's not forget Microsoft is not the underdog here despite the 'conditioning' that the internet tech journals appear to be attempting to perpetuate. That they sell 97% of the worlds desktop operating systems, 50% of the worlds gaming consoles, 80% of the worlds cell phone O/S (according to Balmer?), are attempting to take over the entire MP3 marketplace ( which you ALL know they will do if they can)has apparently been totally forgotten?. This is an enormous machine and it absolutely won't stop - EVER!
I think on ongoing relentless pro-microsoft/anti-Apple slant is ultimately a very dangerous thing to Apple and to the choices of the ordinary consumer.
The cleverest part of this whole guerilla marketing thing is that there are about 5000 people 'on the global payroll' posting EVERYWHERE and ordinary folk think they're just dumb kids..it's genius!!Invisible agents countering waves of public perception...
You think the cold war is over ? Think again...It's just the war is about your HEART and your MIND...( and your wallet now)
Well I hope everyone just starts getting their Universal music from illegal sources if this happens and really teach them a lessen.
I do not know what is motivating Universals decisions lately. When it comes to purchasing movies and music they just seem to want to make life difficult for consumers.
I do not hate HD-DVD, but at this point in time doesn't it at least make financial sense to support both formats like Warner? I get the Fox is only doing bluray and of course the Sony owned studios are also exclusive with bluray, but I guess I missed what benefit their is to Universal for sticking with HD-DVD. They must have more going on then meats the eye. When you have 95% of the CE manufactures and all of the major studios except one backing a format it just seems like a waste.
Here is one of there VP's talking about why they went the way they went http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/20070530_Jonathan_Takiff___Universals_gamble__Will_consumer_win_.html
I disagree with at lot of what he says. But he does make some valid points as well. This format war isn't really a war in my opinion. Bottom line is people will buy based on where the content is. If hardware is more expensive but you can get your favorite movies then people will buy. I personally think that Toshiba continues to lower prices because if they don't the format will die. The only other current choice is the 360 add on or the LG combo without full hddvd support. People like choice and if a consumer doesn't like Toshiba they don't have one. If they don't like Sony they can buy Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, and soon Sharp. The same price competion that happened with DVD is already happening with bluray. If there was only one format it would happen faster because more people would buy instead of waiting for a winner.
Now they cannot reach an agreement with Apple. They just seem to be making decisions that have to be at of greed. If their is some rational explanation, I would like to here it.
Downloadable HD content is a long way away IMO. It took years and years to get VOD. There is some HD that you can VOD or download, but a lot more at SD or lower quality. I see a couple of reasons that some form of physical media will survive. Broadcast, cable, and satellite always re-compress content which lowers picture quality. Also I don't see everyone having access to very high bandwith for sometime. Many just can not afford it. But as DVD showed physical media becomes accessible to almost anyone with a TV. You can buy a DVD player for $25-30 and software for less than $10 on some titles.
I do think apple or anyone else selling music needs better quality. CD's have been standard for more then 10 years and now we are going to worse quality music??? At least music giants sells music using a lossless codec. Too bad it is WMA lossless which no one seems to support.
Speaking of support, what is up with the Zune music store. What happened with PlaysForSure? Microsoft can't have enough courage to let people who choose a Zune buy music from other services? MS fans have been screeming for years about iTunes and iPod being locked together. A competitor should take advantage of a potential weakness anytime they can, major misstep by MS.
That's enough I guess, maybe more later.
Good, companies shouldn't go out of their way to stroke Apples man bits just to play with their devices. I bet that if they weren't the lowest rated carrier att wouldn't have did what it took to get the iphone either.
since when is AT&T/Cingular the lowest rated carrier? They aren't first either but lowest? Ever used a nextel? Hardware is awful, reception is awful, people don't get voice mails for days, text messages for at least 4 hours that i have seen. And then to top that off customer service is atrocious. AT&T is probably somewhere between 2nd and 4th depending on who you ask and what area you live in as far as customer service and network quality goes.
They'll sign. This is just Universal doing a bit of negotiating. CD sales are down 40%., do you really think any company can afford to not sell in the largest digital retailer and the third largest music retailer in America?
unrelated question....
can anyone point me to some software that lets me download music on my ipod to a computer? i'm on a separate computer today and it wont let me use itunes here.
or if downloading music is too much, how about just letting me use my ipod to play music out of this computer's speakers?
thank you in advance.
Plug your computer speakers into your iPod and press play.
To pull music off your ipod:
ephpod
Don't have the link handy...
pcmag.com just had a tech post on this, just do a search. mainly the first thing to do is set the ipod so that it can also act as a removable storage device, and then tell windows to show hidden folders.
there was also an article on how to do it on a mac, i believe that was on applematters.com, but this was a while back so it could have been another mac blog
Sounds like somebody is grumpy that they didnt get an iPhone!
Seriously though, if it's not available on itunes, people will just find stolen music.
About the 1 dollar per iPod. When they are done with MP3 players, will they start requesting dollars for every internet connection made, as it encourages piracy too?
You know... not everyone has MP3 players...!