Too Much Blue Sky
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Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Dancing Elephants - Apple vs. Real vs. Consumers
I am not in Apple's camp. I am not in Real's camp. There are no camps. I belong to none of the superpowers of music. I am my own person.
Real's music store just cut their prices in half (49 cents per song) and launched a silly new advertising campaign, calling themselves champions of "Freedom of Choice." And yes, they do have Devo signed up to provide theme songs and Devo-style wackiness. They've launched a corporate website they're calling the Freedom of Choice Blog. And of course, Apple acolytes bombed the "Blog" with anti-Real, pro-Apple comments. You suck. My flag's prettier than yours. My guru can beat up your guru. Blah blah.
Here's my response to the war: I hate all of you. Real's music store is annoying, sloppy to navigate, and doesn't work on Macs. ITunes' Music store is bigger, better, but has bizarre gaps in its music catalog.
There is no freedom of choice because with both services, you do not "own" the songs you buy. You buy a license to use them on certain computers in certain ways, to burn them on some CD's in an approved manner.
Freedom of choice? These are closed systems designed to lock music fans into one system or another. The problem is, we don't play that way. I get my music from EMusic, from buying CD's, from free MP3's online, and from downloading from several sources. I refuse to limit my choices to one system unless it's infinitely large, infinitely portable, and doesn't treat me like I'm a robot.
So the only reason I care about the Real fire sale is so I can buy more music for cheap. But I will do the same thing I always do: I will burn the songs onto CD's, rip them into MP3's, and then take them wherever I want. Am I stealing music? No. I own the songs. The flaws in technology force me to go outside the system to use my music the way I want.
I am not a member of the Real or the Apple camp, because neither of them respects me as a consumer: only as an ATM, a marketing stat, not even a blip on their demographic radar. And anyone who puts themselves in their camp has allowed them to be bought as an unpaid walking, talking, blogging billboard. I refuse to sacrifice my dignity so I can make a corporation happy.
8:10:35 AM
I am not in Apple's camp. I am not in Real's camp. There are no camps. I belong to none of the superpowers of music. I am my own person.
Real's music store just cut their prices in half (49 cents per song) and launched a silly new advertising campaign, calling themselves champions of "Freedom of Choice." And yes, they do have Devo signed up to provide theme songs and Devo-style wackiness. They've launched a corporate website they're calling the Freedom of Choice Blog. And of course, Apple acolytes bombed the "Blog" with anti-Real, pro-Apple comments. You suck. My flag's prettier than yours. My guru can beat up your guru. Blah blah.
Here's my response to the war: I hate all of you. Real's music store is annoying, sloppy to navigate, and doesn't work on Macs. ITunes' Music store is bigger, better, but has bizarre gaps in its music catalog.
There is no freedom of choice because with both services, you do not "own" the songs you buy. You buy a license to use them on certain computers in certain ways, to burn them on some CD's in an approved manner.
Conflict:
I have an MP3 player that's not an iPod. I can't play iTunes
songs or Real songs on them unless I first burn them to a CD, and them
re-import them as MP3's.
Conflict: I can't listen to iTunes songs or Real songs on my car CD player. I can listen to MP3's - see above entry.
Conflict: I can't burn CD's from iTunes program, because the idiots at Apple don't support the CD burner I purchased. So I'm forced to use a third-party program.
Conflict: I burn my CD's at work, because of the above-mentioned problem. But I can't burn Apple songs and Real songs onto the same CD. So if I buy five songs from Real, and five songs from Apple, I need to waste two CD's to burn them, so I can listen to them on my other data sources.
Conflict: Apple and Real songs still don't work on each other's platrorms (Real songs don't play in iTunes, and vice versa.)
Conflict: I can't listen to iTunes songs or Real songs on my car CD player. I can listen to MP3's - see above entry.
Conflict: I can't burn CD's from iTunes program, because the idiots at Apple don't support the CD burner I purchased. So I'm forced to use a third-party program.
Conflict: I burn my CD's at work, because of the above-mentioned problem. But I can't burn Apple songs and Real songs onto the same CD. So if I buy five songs from Real, and five songs from Apple, I need to waste two CD's to burn them, so I can listen to them on my other data sources.
Conflict: Apple and Real songs still don't work on each other's platrorms (Real songs don't play in iTunes, and vice versa.)
Freedom of choice? These are closed systems designed to lock music fans into one system or another. The problem is, we don't play that way. I get my music from EMusic, from buying CD's, from free MP3's online, and from downloading from several sources. I refuse to limit my choices to one system unless it's infinitely large, infinitely portable, and doesn't treat me like I'm a robot.
So the only reason I care about the Real fire sale is so I can buy more music for cheap. But I will do the same thing I always do: I will burn the songs onto CD's, rip them into MP3's, and then take them wherever I want. Am I stealing music? No. I own the songs. The flaws in technology force me to go outside the system to use my music the way I want.
I am not a member of the Real or the Apple camp, because neither of them respects me as a consumer: only as an ATM, a marketing stat, not even a blip on their demographic radar. And anyone who puts themselves in their camp has allowed them to be bought as an unpaid walking, talking, blogging billboard. I refuse to sacrifice my dignity so I can make a corporation happy.
8:10:35 AM
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