Music industry and MP3s

[jerseydevil]

Not really sure if this shoul go into the entertainment forum - but the Napster threads were discussed in general messages.

Anyway - what do people think about AppleMusic.com

The revolutionary iTunes Music Store puts 200,000 songs at your fingertips. It’s built right into iTunes 4 and lets you search or browse genres, new releases, exclusives and more. Preview any song for free. When you find a song you want, buy it for just 99¢.

It's the music industry's attempt to sell music over the web and combat illegal copying. To me it's a rip off - 99 cents a song. I don't mind paying for something - and if it was 33 cents or even 50 cents I would consider it. But the music companies don't have to pay for packaging or manufacturing of a CD and it's still comes out about the same price as going down to the store and buying a CD. It'll cost $15 - for 15 songs.

For instance - there are 18 tracks on Fellowship of the Ring - it would cost you 17.82 to download all the songs and you don't even get a CD, Jewel Case or cover art. I got Fellowship of the Ring for about $12 at Target or something like that.

The music industry had better stop trying to rip off the consumer and treating us like idiots if they want to put a "stop" to illegal downloading. I'm not going to buy a song for 99 cents. Not to mention that a selection of 200,000 songs is a joke.

[Coney]

99 cents a song prolly works out cheaper than buying a CD from the store in the UK. (if say, the average album has 12 songs).

I wouldn't pay to download music........but I'm glad that so many do........means more will be released on file-sharing programs

(these day's I'm more inclined to rent a CD for 30p from a library and copy it.......kazza has too much dross on it [crap quality songs])

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Coney
99 cents a song prolly works out cheaper than buying a CD from the store in the UK. (if say, the average album has 12 songs).

I had to edit this. I'm used to going from pounds to dollars.

It's $0.6171 per pound. So that would be about 9.25 pounds for you to download 15 songs. 11.10 pounds to download Fellowship of the Rings. What are the prices for a CD in the UK - I never bought any CDs when I was in England. I have bought CDs from Canada though - a lot cheaper there with the exchange rate.

(these day's I'm more inclined to rent a CD for 30p from a library and copy it.......kazza has too much dross on it [crap quality songs])

I download songs off of Kazaa usually when I hear a song on TV or something.

[Bombadillo]

Originally posted by Coney
I wouldn't pay to download music........but I'm glad that so many do........means more will be released on file-sharing programs

Yeah. I already noticed there's a bunch of songs popping up on Kazaa that I never could find before. So I'll stick to Kazaa.

[Sween]

i have downloaded something like 3 thousand songs off the internet in my time and i havent bought a CD for 9 years !

But this is cos ive never been a CD buying person really never intrested me rather spend it on toys then football stuff then beer (logical progession of any boy)!

But getting music off the internet has made me much more intrested in music in genral so im much more inclined to go to a concert or a festival....infact i got my ticket for leeds festival yesterday

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I don't think it's so unreasonable, JD. It's the convenience factor. Pay extra to get it right from your home, and have it on your computer a few seconds later.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Gwaimir Windgem
I don't think it's so unreasonable, JD. It's the convenience factor. Pay extra to get it right from your home, and have it on your computer a few seconds later.

I can do that for free though. 99 cents isn't going to make me reconsider and start downloading from the music industry site just for the chance that the song MIGHT be of higher quality. For a lower price - I would probably consider paying for it. As for now - I will continue to download for free from kazaa - which is just as convenient and yet has a much larger selection.

CDs are overpriced as it is. There is no reason CDs shouldn't be priced at the same level as tapes or less. It costs less to manufacture CDs. Now they're asking for us to pay a $1 a song when they don't even have to manufacture anything. It's a rip off and they're just trying to have 99% profits at the expense of the consumer.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Yes, you certainly can. But it's legal to do it the other way. Not to say that I don't download music from Kazaa... I'm just presenting a case for those who pay for the download, and for the music companies who do this.

[Ruinel]

If they want to make it worth while for someone to actually buy the music from them, then they should be selling it for a lot less than what it would cost in the store. Remember that the CD's in the store require the cost of the CD itself, the printing of the materials that go inside, the plastic cover, the transportation of the products to the store itself, promotions and marketing, etc.

I will admit that there are costs to upkeep of the website, but the overall cost is limited compared to distributing the CD's in stores. So, if the consumer is downloading and bypassing the costs to the music company, then the consumer should logically see a reduction in cost per song.

Doesn't seem to be the case here. I'll keep sharing my music... but thanks for the wonderful offer.

[Melko Belcha]

All I can say is downloading songs for free is not different then going into the store and getting a five finger discount. Stealing is stealing. I am in a band and downloading songs is one of the things that can hurt us the most. I agree that record companies overcharge for cd's, but they judge a bands worth off their cd sells. If a band has bad cd sells then why should the record company put up money to send them out on tour or put them in the studio again? Bands make their money from touring and merchandise, without the cd sells then they will not go on tour and they end up owing the record company money. If you like a band take the time to buy their cd, downloading their sounds is the best way to make sure they are never going to record another cd or come to your town on tour. I am not trying to support the greedy record companies, but the young bands out there that the record companies loan money to so they can record their cd and get promotion, if the record company does not make the money back from the cd sells then the band owes the record company the money. Do the band a favor if you like their music and buy it, downloading it will only increase the chance that your favorite band might go bankrupt and never put out another cd ever again.

[Ruinel]

I do buy the CD's in the store. But I also sample music on line. if I like it I will buy the CD. I happen to have tons of CD's all over my car, all over my home. But I'm not going to run out buy a CD and then find out it SUCKED and I just wasted anywhere from $15 to $22 on up.

[Coney]

Originally posted by jerseydevil
I had to edit this. I'm used to going from pounds to dollars.

It's $0.6171 per pound. So that would be about 9.25 pounds for you to download 15 songs. 11.10 pounds to download Fellowship of the Rings. What are the prices for a CD in the UK - I never bought any CDs when I was in England. I have bought CDs from Canada though - a lot cheaper there with the exchange rate.

Prices vary a bit....Some examples

Boy/girl bands (ie those aimed at the younger kids) £8-£12
Mainstream stuff is usually about £10-£15
Then the other stuff, Pink Floyd's The Wall still has a whopping £28 price tag

Obviously prices differ from area-area

[Sheeana]

I think it's a step in the right direction. And once non-Americans are allowed to buy music, I'll definately be using it to track down some of the more elusive tracks.

[miss_poet]

NoN-Americans aren't allowed to buy music?!??!?! How sad! They should be able to! Music is cool! Maybe I took that the wrong way but I think that they should be able to buy music! Or just get a CD-Burner