Louis Louis. Forbes' Arik Hesseldahl ("Apple Tunes Up"):
[A]fter a short tryout and a tad of obligatory skepticism, we can honestly say we're impressed. The iTunes Music Store, an online music download service that is integrated into Apple's iTunes 4 digital jukebox software, is enormously easy to use and dangerously addictive.
On the user-friendliness front, I can observationally add it was far easier for my Dad to set himself up than it can be for him to edit a Word document. He was thrilled to find plenty of Louis Prima. [Bag and Baggage]
I must confess that for all my criticisms of the RIAA and its attempts to stifle technologies which do not fit into its outdated business model, I have never used Napster, Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster or any other file trading services. There are a few reasons. Lack of bandwidth for one (not an issue now thanks to my new EarthLink dsl connection at home). Also I have vague fears of viruses or adware that might hijack or embed itself in my computer. Finally, although I oppose the RIAA's rhetoric that brands all online music consumers as thieves, my own moral compass has cautioned patience, to wait until there is a legal and safe alternative.
Well, I'm glad that I'm a Mac user and that some very cool software is available for us (and that the Windows world will have to wait for months for an alternative! *gloat*). Maybe it's because I've never looked at the other services that I'm so impressed with the iTunes Music Store. It's a fabulous time-waster for one thing. I spent at least an hour browsing through their catalogue, just listening to the free 30 second streaming samples which they provide for each song. Some of these are daggy songs from my childhood & teens which I haven't heard for years, which I'd never think of buying - although at 99 cents a song, I guess that I could. It is dangerously easy to buy music on iTunes. Once you've given them a credit card number, it's all "one-click" purchasing. Before I knew it I had bought 5 songs. I am yet to test the features of transferring the purchased songs to other computers (up to 2 others) or burning the songs to a CD (up to 10 times), so I can't comment on how the DRM works in practice. The catalog is extensive enough to keep me busy & poor. It does have gaps in its content. For example, I noticed that a few prominent artists are missing (the Beatles & Madonna). Also, most of the catalog is mainstream in that the artists are somehow connected with a major record label. There's no reason why local and more independent artists (such as Australian alternative bands) couldn't appear on iTunes - or is there? Finally, the coverage is often incomplete for the artists which are on the catalog. For example, the only Crowded House albums on the catalogue are Woodface and the self-titled album. Also, not necessarily all the songs in an album will be on the catalogue - such as only 2 songs of Crowded House's self-titled album are included. None of this is very surprising or intimidating - as a law librarian, I'm very used to dealing "selected coverage" issues with electronic journals. Just because the library supposedly has access to an electronic version of a journal - it doesn't mean that the particular article which I'm looking for will be covered.
You can find music by browsing through their catalogue or using their search engine. The search engine works well, especially if you're looking for something specific. One drawback with browsing is that you might not have the same definitions of "alternative", "pop" and "rock" as iTunes' catalogers. On the other hand, browsing gives you the chance to serenditously find music which you've long forgotten about.
On the whole, I am very impressed with the iTunes Music Store. It's easy, legal and cheap - at least in my opinion. Most importantly, it seems to work. I'm sure that as it gets more established, it will improve in coverage and other functionality.
By the way, there is a very interesting article about this in Salon - to read it you need to subscribe or watch an ad to get a daily pass.
9:30:17 AM 
|
|
