Apple I Tunes

[ElectroSoldier]

ElectroSoldier, just a few thoughts. First, if you go to a restaurant, one of the things you're paying for is the service of a server bringing you your food. It's not a tangible object, you can't take it with you, and yet you are paying for it - paying extra to make sure it's good if you leave a tip. It's work being performed that you're paying for, and music and movies are similar - you're not paying for a disc, you're paying for the content of that disk. A blank CD is a few pennies, but one with music on it is usually over $10. What's the difference? The content.

Additionally, if it were the physical copy you're paying for, then you would never be allowed to make backups, etc., and would have to buy the disk all over again if your original were lost or damaged. Most people would rather have the ability to manage the content separate from the physical disk, so they can play the music they bought through an MP3 player or their stereo or their car without having to buy a separate copy of each. If you tie it to the physical media, you lose that flexibility.

When I buy an MP3, I can have it on my PC, in my MP3 player, on a flash drive in my car (both of my cars, actually), and even burn it to a CD if I want. If it were linked to hardware, I'd have to buy a separate copy, on whatever media was needed, for each location.

I think you missed the point Ken.

Paying for something that isnt a physical object is fine, as in your example, service in a restaurant. Thats fine

Yes you are paying for disc content, you are paying for its presentation on the media you are buying too. a small part I agree but a part never the less, however with digital music from places like iTunes the quality of that content is where I draw the line.

They decreased the quality and increased the price. Only a fool pays more for less. Wouldnt you agree? Or is the conventience of digital delivery worth the loss? Its the quality Im buying. I can download a VBR MP3 for free, I can listen to youtube for free, but the quality loss is unacceptable to me.

For me the speed of digital delivery is not worth the loss in even the slightest degree, I would rather wait for it to be delivered or go to the shop and buy it...

When I buy a CD I listen to that CD either at home or in my car, I rip a copy in FLAC to my computer, I can also make an LPCM copy and have it on my portable HiMD player (which can plug into any of my cars) and I dont lose any of the CD quality I paid for. Where as when you buy from iTunes you dont get CD quality sound, its close but far enough to know the difference when you really hear it.

I enjoy all the freedom of taking my music with me, at a much better quality level because I start with a CD.

[Ken Cartwright]

I think you missed the point Ken.

Paying for something that isnt a physical object is fine, as in your example, service in a restaurant. Thats fine

Yes you are paying for disc content, you are paying for its presentation on the media you are buying too. a small part I agree but a part never the less, however with digital music from places like iTunes the quality of that content is where I draw the line.

They decreased the quality and increased the price. Only a fool pays more for less. Wouldnt you agree? Or is the conventience of digital delivery worth the loss? Its the quality Im buying. I can download a VBR MP3 for free, I can listen to youtube for free, but the quality loss is unacceptable to me.

For me the speed of digital delivery is not worth the loss in even the slightest degree, I would rather wait for it to be delivered or go to the shop and buy it...

When I buy a CD I listen to that CD either at home or in my car, I rip a copy in FLAC to my computer, I can also make an LPCM copy and have it on my portable HiMD player (which can plug into any of my cars) and I dont lose any of the CD quality I paid for. Where as when you buy from iTunes you dont get CD quality sound, its close but far enough to know the difference when you really hear it.

I enjoy all the freedom of taking my music with me, at a much better quality level because I start with a CD.

ElectroSoldier, I apologize, I guess I did miss your point - when you said "Its the buying of something that doesnt have any physicallity. Part of the experience for me is opening the box, loading the disc or reel and looking at the box art" I, for some reason, took that to mean you had an issue with buying something that doesn't have any physicality.

As for the quality/cost ratio of MP3s vs. CDs, I was surprised to find many CDs so cheap, but I think several factors make MP3s appealing - no shipping time or cost, the ability to get only the tracks you want (saving money), virtually no physical storage space required, no packing materials to put in a landfill, and no time taken up to do the ripping yourself.

I've done a little reading and it seems that most people, on the audio equipment they use most frequently, don't find an enormous difference in audio quality between decent MP3s and CDs. Factor in the environment, such as a car with wind and road noise, or doing exercises, and the difference generally becomes imperceptible, even to experts. Factoring all that in, I think it really depends on how you "use" your music as to which format is the best fit.

[Ken Cartwright]

Ahhh, but this is a different situation than what it sounds like Apple is doing, or what it sounds like they may be heading towards. In a sense you are linking your music to YOUR hardware by copying it on to whatever format you are choosing. Once you put it on your flashdrive, computer or media device or whatever, then it's linked to your hardware in that you need that specific hardware to play the music. It seems like Apple (and other companies as well) want to remove that ability to store it on your hardware and keep control of it in a central "cloud" location. Which is all good until something happens and they have glitches, or decide your usage has run out, or any number of other possibilities...and you are essentially powerless to do anything unless you want to pursue a law suit or such. That's why some people aren't as open to accepting cloud based media. You buy something and you want something. To use your restaurant analogy, it's more like the restaurant keeping your plate back in the kitchen after you've paid for the meal and saying "whenever you want a bite let us know and we'll bring it to you on a fork." All they have to do is at any point tell you, sorry, you've eaten everything off your plate and you'd have no proof that you didn't get everything you've paid for. At least that's my take on it.

Bill

I agree totally and my post was not to defend Apple's practices in any way, just to address MP3s vs. physical media. I'm sorry if my post was confusing in that aspect. That's where my comment about backing things up comes in to play - the whole DMCA and the movie studios and record companies want to limit access, but to me, I've bought the content, not they physical media, so I should get to use it my way, whether it's on a CD, MP3, DVD, Blu-Ray, etc.

[galileo1]

This is why, if I want music, I head over to Youtube to find it, convert the video to an mp3 and then upload it into iTunes. If they take from there, well, I'll get it again. And the circle of life continues.

Rob

Edited May 19, 2016 by galileo1