[ILikeMusic]

iTunes price hikes lead to lower unit sales, revenues | iLounge News


And the recording industry had to really threaten and twist Apple's arm to get this through, even though Apple predicted exactly this result. Given their track record so far the recording industry shouldn't be pressuring Steve Jobs, they should be begging for his advice...

 

[krmathis]

Price increase = lower sales!
I am still waiting for Apple Lossless in iTunes Store. Until then I am just keeping an eye on what is going on in there...

 

[mbriant]

It might not be as bad as it looks ( for the music industry at least ). Perhaps because of the new prices, people are buying elsewhere or even springing for the CD.

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbriant /img/forum/go_quote.gif Perhaps because of the new prices, people are buying elsewhere or even springing for the CD.

Whether the music industry gets more profit from CD sales or iTunes Store downloads, I don't know. What I do know is that I only buy CDs, and I almost always pay less for a brand new CD than it would cost for a lossy iTunes Store download. And that was true even before any iTunes Store price increases.

 

[IceClass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILikeMusic /img/forum/go_quote.gif iTunes price hikes lead to lower unit sales, revenues | iLounge News Given their track record so far the recording industry shouldn't be pressuring Steve Jobs, they should be begging for his advice...

Given their record so far, the recording industry should just roll over and croak.

 

[dazzer1975]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaska /img/forum/go_quote.gif Whether the music industry gets more profit from CD sales or iTunes Store downloads, I don't know. What I do know is that I only buy CDs, and I almost always pay less for a brand new CD than it would cost for a lossy iTunes Store download. And that was true even before any iTunes Store price increases.

Agreed, even dvd's of movies and tv shows are all cheaper than choosing to download through itunes.

I have never gotten my head around the fact that itunes store seems to be doing so well when the lossless hard copy's of all the media available on itunes was cheaper than the itunes prices.

And like you say, the fact that people pay a higher price for the same media in a lower bitrate just boggles my mind.

Thats without mentioning actually owning the original hard copy which you can then convert into digital files of any bitrate and format as you choose.

 

[nc8000]

One word, convenience

 

[krmathis]

^ Yeah!
I bet it mostly comes down to convenience. Since you can browse through all the albums from your own home, buy what you want and get instant access to the music. While for CD's you either have to travel to a store, or order online and wait several days for it to arrive through mail.

Downside being that you end up with lossy encoded music, and that the price don't really reflect what you get. There are no physical product, and you even cut a link or two between the record company and customer.

 

[ILikeMusic]

The funny thing is that (whatever else one may think about them) Apple knows price points, and strenuously objected to the change on the basis that moving away from .99 for any track model would be confusing and ultimately destructive... and that seems to be exactly what has happened. The recording industry took an established and extremely successful model and had to monkey with it against the recommendations of the leader in the online music marketing industry. I guess eight-figure salaries don't necessarily buy business acumen.

You know... I think this must all be the fault of those illegal downloaders!

.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Heh. Maybe Apple allowed the price changes just so they could say, "I told you so."

Though I stopped buying music from iTunes well before the price changes - I've "regressed" to physical discs. I've had much luck buying used vinyl on the cheap and have even been finding lots of used CDs in the $2-$3 range. I've also been trying to pick up SACDs before they go out of print and start selling for $60 or $70. Maybe I'll go back to downloads some day, but physical media makes a lot more sense financially and sonically today.

 

[wolfen68]

I've been buying cd's or using Amazon for that occasional single song or two....what's itunes?

 

[ILikeMusic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfen68 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been buying cd's or using Amazon for that occasional single song or two....what's itunes?

That's what a lot of people are going to be asking now that Amazon is 30% less expensive...

 

[spideyman409]

What would happen if your computer crashed? Can you re-dl the songs from itunes?

I know I wouldn't have to worry about it b/c my 5 disc cd player will work regardless of the DRM or "authorized" accounts BS =)

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spideyman409 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What would happen if your computer crashed? Can you re-dl the songs from itunes?

Just recover from backup!

 

[dazzer1975]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spideyman409 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What would happen if your computer crashed? Can you re-dl the songs from itunes? I know I wouldn't have to worry about it b/c my 5 disc cd player will work regardless of the DRM or "authorized" accounts BS =)

as krmathis said, use backup.

However, if you don't backup to cd as well and your hardware fails as hdd's are prones to do then essentially you're screwed as once you've downloaded from itunes thats it, no more downloads of the file you've bought and paid for.

Like I said, might as well just buy the cd in the first place, have the cd as backup, pay less and have any bitrate and format you like.

cd's FTW