[tabasco_hot]

I emailed Apple 20 times to add a specific Metal category. Take a person straight to what they want.
I have to admit I was shocked to see Metallica being downloaded after they ignited the spark for the need for this whole thing in the first place. I'm surprised they didn't jump on board the iTMS from the get go.
Maybe they are fanatical about Microsoft? And anti Mac.. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[hwolf]

The MSN Music pricing structure seems very odd - a mix of songs that can be individually purchased; or can only be purchased with the entire album; or (this is the odd part) songs that can only be obtained as part of a CD purchase!?
For example: from the MSN Music home page; select Genre=Jazz; click on song title "My Favorite Things" by Coltrane under the list "Top Songs". The web page it brings you to is for a Ken Burns compilation album of 10 songs: only 3 of which can be individually purchased; 3 songs can only be purchased as part of "Album only"; and another 4 songs that can only be purchased "CD only".
So apparently it is impossible to buy and download all 10 songs!?

[mdawson]

In reply to:

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is a mp3 at 128 kbps as good as AACat the same bitrate? Is Apple going to have to talk about the "bitrate myth" now? Even if AAC at 128 kbps is just as good as WMA at 160 kbps Apple will face problems where people will want the "better" bitrate. They should up the bitrate even if it is already better just so MS can't use that in ads. No point in trying to explain to the public

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This is indeed a sticky area where the grand ignorance of the layman will supercede the facts of the matter. All of the compressed data music schemes are by default not CD-quality and are more often than not less than CD-quality. MP3 and AAC use psychoacoustic algorithms to strip away unnecessary portions of the audio signal. These are sounds that are believed to be either unperceivable or masked during regular playback thus eliminating the need to encode them.
The commercial usage of psychoacoustic recording schemes goes back to the introduction of MiniDisc (MD) and Digital Compact Cassette (DCC). The ATRAC (Adaptive TRansform Acoustic Coding) system used by Sony for MD was similar to Philips DCC PASC (Precision Adaptive Sub-band Coding) but most audio reviews deemed ATRAC to be the better model.
iTMS uses AAC for its music encoding which is based on MPEG-4. MP3s are based on MPEG-1/2. Obviously, one would hope that things would be much improved in the 4th generation MPEG standard from that of first and second generation standards. It is very likely that, as usual, Microsoft is relying on marketing hype and consumer ignorance to push crap over quality. I have yet to see a definitive report claiming that WMA is better than AAC, though I have often seen claims that AAC is better than MP3 despite its lower bit rate.

[bfunk2k4]

Metallica and Prince are Microsoft pawns. They both have been selling songs on their own web sites for some time now. I would bet that Microsoft has paid they (or gives them a better cut from each track.) That is the only logical reason an artist would let only one store sell your music. I'm sure that The Beatles will soon be a MS exclusive, too. And as far as Metallica I think that one of the resons that they are anti iTMS is that Apple won't let them "Album Only." Metallica was against the "singles" format, as I remember.

[Deromax]

Are you sure people will favor quality at all cost? I don't think so, as the 95% Wintel market share will prove this.
I instead propose the following reflexion : iTune is best because I can put more songs on my player and they take less time to download.
Deromax.

[ALG]

I can not imagine anything in the entire world to make me watch SNL let alone want to. .......... ewwwwww that is a scary thought.

[ibeetle]

MP3.com and emusic.com are the two best.

[ibeetle]

oh and I forgot the best one is allofmp3.com
I think there one of the better ones next to emusic

[EpaAmigo]

Interesting article.
This should be fun to watch unfold. True, Microsoft gets the homecourt advantage of bundling the service with the OS. But there are some real issues they need to resolve:
- Lack of trust: from Passport hacks to OS security to privacy concerns. Who is going to trust these guys enough to set up an account with them? I'd rather not have my credit card info stolen, thankyouverymuch.
- Apathy: I know very few people who actually use the junk, erm, exciting features bundled on their PC, let alone know about it.

[Quoth_the_Raven]

Most average users couldn't give a rat's ass about bit rate as long as the files sound good. If they did, how would you explain the HUGE success of Apple's 128 kbps AAC format? I think Apple has reached a happy "quality vs file size" medium. Their real strength over any competitor is the iPod and it's smooth intergration with the iTMS. Nobody can claim to match it.

[Macheath_Messer]

I'd like to see Apple implement a version of AAC encoding that uses VBR. As I understand it, Nero, an AAC-encoder on the Windows side of things, is capable of creating VBR AAC's.
If Apple would release a VBR spec. for AAC encoding (for iTunes/Quicktime and iPods), perhaps the company could play around with higher bitrates. Classical music @ 128 kbps ain't pretty. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
Another niche Apple could fill is to become a worldwide repository for out-of-print albums. I've liked what they've done with the Verve catalog so far, and I'd like to see more of it.
On another topic, I can't believe Metallica is actually allowing their stuff to be sold. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif