May
2
2003
weaning myself off kazaa
So I’m officially hooked on Apple’s new iTunes Music Service.
It’s a super-easy, guilt-free way to download high-quality music tracks. The interface is very clean and intuitive, and is integrated directly into iTunes, the music software I use already on my work laptop.
And it’s getting to be like crack for me.
I’ve spent nearly $30 since the service launched on Monday. But I’ve downloaded some great music — particularly songs I wouldn’t have bought the whole album for, and random “rare” tracks — and there’s a ton of stuff on there that I want to go back to get.
My only criticisms: The sign-up process can be a bit annoying and send you in circles (in my case, I had an Apple account, but not an Apple Store account with my credit card on file, so I got bounced around for a couple screens). The song catalogue, while certainly impressive in terms of the rigamarole that went into getting the licensing deals, is limited and missing a lot (i.e. no Dave Matthews Band, and a very limited selection of tracks by Aimee Mann or The Beatles). (I’m heartened, though, by Apple’s built in “recommend a song/artist/album” feature and their continuing efforts to post new songs.) And I worry that even 99 cents per song is too high a cost to convince people to give up the free services for the paid model.
Also, one of my “pet” things, one of the big reasons I like the free file-trading sites so much, is the availability of rare tracks — particularly live and acoustic recordings of popular songs. Apple’s store doesn’t offer much of that yet — although I did download an “exclusive” acoustic version of Matchbox Twenty’s “Unwell.”
And, yeah, there are some protections on the downloaded music files (AACs rather than MP3s), but they’re actually fairly easy to circumvent (particularly if you’re not one of those purists who can easily tell the difference between a 192kbps MP3 and a 128kbps MP3), even using Apple’s own software. For me, it’s necessary, so I can play my downloaded files on my PC. (Let’s hope this admission doesn’t bring out the DMCA gods to smite me for my impudence.)
Meanwhile, all this comes at a fairly opportune time, as recent court rulings have protected file-sharing networks and essentially given copyright holders such as the RIAA and MPAA the go-ahead to go after individual file traders.
(And apparently music-sharing isn’t the biggest draw on the file-trading networks, anyway — It’s porn. (Wired: “Smut Trading Outstrips Tune Swaps” - 04/30/03))
Professional reviews have been pretty glowing so far:
Why would you use Apple’s store instead of bootleg services like Kazaa, where the songs are free? Well, on Kazaa, the songs can be hard to find, especially in the version you want. There’s a lot of trial and error. Also, the quality can be poor, with pops and hissing and the endings cut off. There’s no album art included. And lots of people using Kazaa have received viruses and spyware along with their music. But, most of all, downloading songs from Kazaa is at the very least unethical, and probably illegal … With the Apple store, you do have to pay, but your conscience can be clear.
…Apple’s service is best thought of not as a technological breakthrough but as a psychological one. The product is clearly the result of what must have been tough negotiations between Apple and the labels — and in the end, Steve Jobs seems to have convinced music execs of the folly of their ways.
…iTunes lets music buyers pay for only the songs they want. No more albums bundled with unwanted songs, and no more monthly fees. If you like the Chicks’ version of “Landslide,” it’s yours for a buck. If, instead of buying the rest of the album, you’d rather cull 16 more songs from other artists, you can. Need “We Will Rock You” for the big school rally? Ninety-nine cents. The company hasn’t said whether or not it will carry music from independent labels outside the big five. But if Apple doesn’t carry your favorite song, who cares? You didn’t pay them any money anyway.
After nearly a week of playing with Apple’s new iTunes Music Store and downloading dozens of songs, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m creeping toward bankruptcy, one buck at a time.
And, at least here at the beginning, the service has proven to be rather successful. Billboard reports that the iTunes Music Store sold some 275,000 tracks in its first 18 hours, despite all the technical difficulties accessing the service the first day. (“New Apple Service Off To Quick Start” - 05/01/03)
The iTunes Music Service isn’t available yet for PC, although Apple’s promising a Windows version for later this year. That’s when all this will get really interesting, seeing if the broader Internet/computing audience (because Apple really does have a rather premium, specialized audience) will latch on to the service, and the notion of paying for music online.
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Comments
Why “wean” yourself off Kazaa? If you want whole albums, use Soulseek. They might not have Dave Matthews Band or Matchbox 20, but I’m sure you can copy that from one of your friends. Top 40 stuff is easy to find without even using the internet.
And if you feel guilty because artists don’t get any money, just send them a check for 99cents when you download one of their songs. That’s probably around 2000% of what they get from iTunes. If you are happy to give money to your favorite artists because their songs give you pleasure, you should feel guilty about wasting that “appreciation money” by giving nearly all of it to Apple and a record company. Apple doesn’t care about music; they manufacture computers.
If you send money to the artists you love because their music makes you happy, and you still feel guilty because you got their music in an illegal way (illegal because the record industry wrote laws to postpone its own death) then
A) You have a backwards and anti-democratic view of the law, where laws dictate what’s right and not the other way around. (If you drank a beer during the prohibition you’d feel guilty, even though after the prohibition you wouldn’t.)
B) You are so used to handing over currency to get something you want that getting it for free makes you feel bad. (If there was a coin slot on your toilet for ten years you’d feel guilty about peeing without paying a quarter)
Try weaning yourself of these hangups, not Kazaa.
If you are worried about getting caught, use WASTE amoung friends for now, or download stuff at colleges and public labs (they have faster connections anyway). And keep an eye on Freenet, the open, indestructible, anonymous network.
Or just take a few months off downloading, and pay the music you already have some more attention.
p.s., hangup B has a name: consumerism. In the most advanced cases, the amount you appreciate and value an experience becomes linked to how much you paid for it: peeing isn’t even as pleasureable or satisfying unless you pay for the priviledge. I would say that most iTunes users are this far gone.
Yeah I love their new service, especially now it’s on windows. Digital distribution services like apple iTunes are the future, though I think it’s longer-off than the media hype would have us believe. It’s at such an early stage that it will be years before most of the world uses it as the main way to get music. Maybe they can crack down on illegal file sharing in the states but how can you sue an illegal download trader from Bombay?
Also wanted to say I hope all independent artists eventually get to feel the benefit of itunes not just those on a selected few indie labels. Apple have stated “We want every piece of music ever recorded.” If this is true we’re looking at a bright future for independent music and the end of the MTV, major label stranglehold on music.