“Initially, Apple apparently had the government’s approval to introduce the services. But then a regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, asserted its authority and demanded the closings … just six months after they were started there.”
“Users interested only in iTunes’ media management features—people with terabytes of MP3s who want a solid app to catalog and organize their libraries—feel abandoned as Apple moves away from local file storage in favor of cloud-based services.”
“When the developer Erik Kemp designed the first metadata system for MP3s in 1996, he provided only three options for attaching text to the music. Every audio file could be labeled with only an artist, song name, and album title. Kemp’s system has since been augmented and improved upon, but never replaced.” Robinson Meyer explains … Continue reading “The Tragedy Of iTunes And Classical Music”
“Apple still makes billions per year on iTunes downloads. But Spotify, Pandora, and other startups have eroded that business, first with their free streaming services and more recently with a paid subscription model. It’s been clear for a while now that streaming is the music industry’s future: iTunes Store sales dropped an alarming 14 percent … Continue reading “So This Is The End Of iTunes”
“Vintage/Anchor Books is now experimenting with selling short stories à la carte, through its Vintage Shorts digital imprint. Throughout May, to mark Short Story Month, Vintage will release a digital short story each day for 99 cents, the price of many iTunes singles.” The range is wide, form Poe, Chekhov, and Cather to Alice Munro, … Continue reading “E-Short Stories For 99 Cents, Just Like Singles From iTunes”
“Other artists, he said, can choose from among a variety of options, such as selling individual tracks, albums only, streaming only or downloading only. ‘The difference is,’ Brooks said, ‘is that the copyright owner gets to make that decision.’”
One label owner: “If the streaming services like Spotify become a predominant model, then very few if any labels can survive on that kind of money. It’s certainly better than people stealing music.”
“Just keeping it in the US, if we assume that 50 million people upgrade, and listen to 10 hours of iTunes Radio per month (about 200 tracks), that’s $96.9m per month going to the labels. Pure gravy! Order some fresh flowers!”
“The iTunes Store turns 10 on Sunday, and during this decade, Apple has sold billions and billions of songs and apps out of its electronic storefront. But all those videos, apps, and songs have crippled the once-great MP3 player.”
“Apple has agreed to hand out more than $100 million in iTunes store credits to settle a lawsuit alleging that its iPhone and iPad apps allowed children to make purchases without their parent’s knowledge or consent.”
