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17 Jun 2004
As we've all heard, iTunes Music Store is now available in Britain, France and Germany. I ranted a bit about how unfair the whole thing was a year ago, but now I'm beginning to see the wisdom of that old saying, "Be careful what you wish for—it might come true." Crikey. It's like crack. The really lethal thing is the low price per track. You think, "Well, I'll just get this track—it's only 79p1, after all." But all those 79 pences soon add up.
My first purchase was a nostalgic one. I've got a load of really worn out cassettes of The Smiths from the late 80's which I can't play any more as I don't have a tape player. So I got one of the three Smiths tracks available, What Difference Does It Make?, from the first album. I put the headphones on, turned up the volume, and from the first jangly, bouncy bars of Johnny Marr's thrilling guitar riffs, I travelled back in time. I was back in a youth center hall in the early 1980's, whirling around with my first proper boyfriend, arms windmilling crazily and drunk on the joy and freedom of it. That's not bad for 79p.
Seriously though, I don't think iTMS will replace buying CDs for me. The quality isn't quite up to listening on a proper hifi, and—at least at the moment—they don't feature the kind of artists I tend to like.
1 I won't go on about the fact that 79p is eqivalent to $1.44 at today's exchange rates—significantly more than 99¢—we Europeans always end up paying through the nose.
2
Has there actually been a piece of music worth 2 cents written since 1890? I think you're still overpaying.
by OGeorge @ 17/06/2004 9:07 pm • Permalink •
3
Paul, they aren't the same files. Those files aren't limited in the ways that they can be played, or how many places.
Of course you aren't benefitting the artists like the ITMS does either. I wonder if they still pay for shellack breakage on ITMS purchases... [I wish I could find that pie chart again]
by Howard Jones @ 17/06/2004 10:06 pm • Permalink •
4
I'm still not really convinced that attempting to sell downloads is the best strategy for the music industry to adopt. Not given that the same files will always inevitably be available free-at-the-point-of-delivery elsewhere...
5
Dear Bsag
My own very self-indulgent rant/trip down memory lane on the very same topic is here.
But why does iTUK have no Bruce or, worse, Nils Lofgren (oooh, Cry Tough - it's still good, at least in my imagination). No Beat - Don't you think "Stand down, Tony" would work just as well as Margaret? No Kraftwerk (but I have them all anyway)? And the Dead Kennedys didn't even get a listing.
But they do have some Scarlatti, so cannot complain. And Alison Moyet. And Devo (that's enough music - Ed.)
Regards JP
6
Consider that the UK price includes VAT that if you remove that 17.5% and then convert to dollars then you'll see that the exchange is much fairer. I was at the launch and Apple people were at pains to point that out, despite steve not stressing it in the speech.
As for the low amount of tracks on there. The answer is simple. When Apple said 'Late summer' most of the labels believed them and were caught on the hop with only a portion of the neccesary data ready. It's actually a very labour-intensive process getting all the required info together. Anyway I certainly know EMI and Warners were totally unprepared and that Loudeye, the distribution companty for much of the music going to iTunes, well, screwed up... Expect a lot more music going on over the next quarter.
7
At least it's actually open in the UK. It still hasn't arrived in Sweden yet although we're probably one of the most IT crazed nations given the availability of broadband everywhere.
I guess it's to do with our record companies. They're probably sulking because Roxette no longer sell so well over in the rest of Europe.
8
Yes, all well and good, iTunes is open in Britain. Yet, I still can't get Beatles tracks in the states via iTunes. Harumph.
It is a particulary addictive little endeavor, however, mainly by solving the problem of late night music conversations that go, "Do you remember that song?" "Oh yes, it was called something or other" "Do you have it?" "No."
9
ChrisS- Not likely to see any Beatles songs in there, with the ongoing Apple Records/ Apple Computers spat.
bsag-
I'll expect to not see any posts from you for the next few days 
. What it really does is open your eyes to how much pocket change you waste everyday. Now, when I go through an ATM and have to pay a $1 fee, I think to myself, "Man, I could've bought a song for that!" Previously, I would think, "Well, it's only a dollar..."
10
At this point let all UK residents bask in the smugness of charge-free ATM's..
11
I think that VAT is a rip-off in itself, and it seems a bit mad (since we're supposed to be in the EC) that you pay 17.5% more if you buy something over the net sourced in the UK than if you get the same product from, say, Germany. Anyway, that's nothing to do with Apple. Yes, I do think that there is plenty of music made since 1980 worth more than 2 cents, but probably none that made it into the charts Let's face it, the selection of artists would probably never be able to please everyone. It's not bad, and we'll have to wait and see how it develops over the next few months.
Now I'll tell you what my second purchase was: Noah by the Fairfield Four from the album 'I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray'. It's a fantastic song, and one of the Fairfield Four (I wish I knew who) has a voice so low it's practically in the infrasound range.
Here's another cool thing. At the moment, the 'Listeners also bought...' section for this track lists the album The Smiths by The Smiths. I wonder who bought that then :-D My odd musical taste could really play havoc with the Recommendations!
12
It took several days of repeated retries for me to get it to work. (I have a British billing address for my .Mac account, despite currently being in Denmark.)
Once it decided that my banking details were OK after all, I started in the same way as you, Bsag: with nostalgia.
I bought an old single from my childhood, followed by an old album I used to own, I put on my headphones, turned up the volume, and I was back there once again! (I'm too ashamed to say what the music was, though, but let's just say that iTunes might ban me for bad taste!)
I now have to apply self-control, or I'll very easily become a very poor man!
by David (TEFL Smiler) @ 19/06/2004 12:06 pm • Permalink •
13
1
Actually, we brits end up paying significantly more. The Germans and the French get ripped off a bit less (I think it was 79p vs 65p vs 55p in the US). Must be the cost of shipping those bits around.
(Fine choice of Smiths song, by the way)----- Yes, the French/German price is 0.99 Euros. I wonder if there's some sort of trading commission we can complain to.
by Caitlin @ 17/06/2004 9:06 pm • Permalink •