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MP3 Market Approaching Critical Mass
An anonymous reader writes "Led by the Apple iPod, Jupiter Research says that sales of DAPs are reaching a point where it will ignite an industry of support products and services. According to Jupiter analyst David Card
'Historically, any new device or medium that reaches a U.S. household penetration of 15 percent to 20 percent creates a critical mass of customers for other products and services.' The iPod already has a slew of peripherals out there and this is particularly good news for the paid download services like iTunes, especially with Apple announcing Wednesday they sold another 5.3 million iPods last quarter."
But wouldn't that initial product that makes the penetration be a PC (or PC-esque Mac)? iPod and isotopes are the side effect of having a computer. Cascade effect in action. Soon, designer ear-buds with be the 'in' thing.
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt = [citation required]
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Trust me, people buy them. If they just spent $400 on an iPod they're going to want to protect it, sell them a case. They want to listen to their iPod in their CD players at home/in the car, sell them a transmitter. It's an expensive toy, so $50 more to make it work better and stay in better shape is not much...
I can play MP3s on my phone, PDA, handheld...etc
Why is this even news? Maybe interesting to get a real article about this topic, but hardly news.
Don't be surpised to get a free "made in china" portable MP3 player with your next CD purchase.
Life is not for the lazy.
Now, nearly two years after Apple's iTunes launch, record executives have become worried that they have inadvertently ceded too much power over their industry to this charismatic computer executive.
Frustrated at what they see as Jobs' intransigence on song pricing and other issues, some record executives are now turning their hopes toward other partners...
Cripes, this is so damn typical of the entertainment industry. They're so interested in screwing everyone they can for a buck that the minute someone is successful using their property, they feel they need to bite back. It's rather like watching a bunch of cavemen around the first fire. One gets burned so they all put the fire out with their clubs, then thump their chests and hoot in victory before sitting around in the dark and cold again.
I think RIAA deserves the Duh! Prize (if there was one.) Next year or so it'll be the MPAA doing the same thing.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Uh... but this article clearly states that the Music Industry is scared of Apple's potential stranglehold with online music sales (iTunes). I *seriously* doubt that a paid-for puff piece (even a one that was engineered to look neutral) would put the Apple-Music Industry relationship in doubt. That, as an investor, would get me worried about Apple's stock price (ie, LOTS of their current price has nothing to do with OSX or even the iPod. It's all about how iTMS and possibly, iMovieVideoStore will use the good relationship with the industry to keep the growth alive and market booming).
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Is anyone else suddenly feeling the overwhelming urge to chamber a round into their shotgun? Is this the same Jupiter that is hell-bent on screwing over the internet with spyware and adware? If so, how on god's green earth is it that we're taking their "research" seriously?
Do tell o' wise one, where may I see this promised land of the MP3 market? All I see are DRMed AACs, WMAs, RMs, whatever...
I'd be a very happy person if there was a legal MP3 market, but alas the title is misleading.
>When will the quality of music reach tolerable mass?
Lots of good music has been recorded since the invention of the phonograph. I take it you do not enjoy the current mainstream popular material, but I assure you, THAT has been the steady state of popular music for a long, long time.
Every generation leaves behind two kinds of music collections:
1. The music that the record companies wanted you to buy, which you did.
and
2. The music that was not force-marketed.
Guess which box of records is worth $5.00 at the yard sale, and which records can be sold for $50.00 a piece?
There's nothing new here. It's been this way forever.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
"So you're paying $30 for that non-Apple add-on. Why isn't Apple making these things?"
Because they've probably determined that it's not their core competency, and is in fact an example of di-worse-ification.
Chuck
IMHO, you're almost correct: everyone that wants an IPod has one, and the people that don't are less than thrilled about the device, and/or are happy with CD's, don't have $200-$400 in disposable income, etc.
stuff |
The one benefit with radio: You have a much better chance hearing a song you've never heard before.
Where do live that you have this bizarro-radio?
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
And while it will be tough to find new people to sell to, that's not the only factor. Everybody also has a car. And yet, man, look at all the cars that get bought every single day. Everybody also has a computer, and a TV. So how the hell are those computer and TV makers staying in business? It's not a problem. It's a fact of the market. There may be less growth in iPods in years to come, but Apple will still sell plenty.
Do not touch -Willie
Good to see someone else concerned with this. If you buy an entire album off iTunes it will still cost you around the same as buying the album from Best Buy...except that the sound quality will be absolute shite. It's hard to tell on my crappy comp speakers, but on my home or car stereo it's painfully obvious.
I'd be more willing to buy MP3s if the cost reflected the audio quality.
When we say "RIAA", we mean that as shorthand for "The Record Companies".
We get it. You post this every time we use "RIAA" and it seems that you're not smart enough to get what is meant in this context.
PLEASE DO NOT TYPE IN YOUR PEDANTIC MESSAGE ANYMORE!
Yep, these are the guys who proclaimed that "home taping is killing music" back in the 1980, and killed off DAT in the 1990s. The MPAA cried bloody murder when VHS hit the market, but amazingly the global film industry is still quite robust.
What really cracks me up is that the RIAA had their heads so far up their asses that they had *no strategy* whatsoever for online music sales until Jobs came along and offered them a way out. Now that they have a path away from stupidity, they're trying to jack prices up again, the same way they did with CDs.
It's like they're fundamentally unprepared to realize that the landscape is changing and that they can't make the same margins they used to make per song. They have to shift their entire way of doing business, but they're so fat and happy that it's like Jabba the Hut doing the long jump.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
can/will = can but you used the 'will' to somehow make your statement seem stronger than it is. In other words I'm accusing you of trying to mislead. I've run many miles with an iPod and it's spun up the drive many times during those runs. I won't argue with the 'can' but the 'will' is pure BS.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Problem for apple is that everyone already has an ipod and it will be tough to find new people to sell to.
Not when you sell a product that expires. Non replaceable batteries that expire every 18-36 months means people have to buy new ones. Also, there are constant feature upgrades -- even if they are only stylistic. I have an older iPod, and I can't wait for the battery to die so I can justify getting a new one with that awesome jog wheel... [drool]
Similarly, the auto industry seems to be doing just fine.
Every major religion recognizes that there was a man Jesus of Nazareth who lived about 2000 years ago in the land now known as Israel.
I think you might have a lot of trouble backing this up. Some major religious are not hierarchical and do not have a authoritative figure or body to make such declarations on their behalf. Even in religious organizations that do have such a structure, I doubt anything other than christianity recognizes your fact in the religion itself (which was how your statement was worded).
Aside from that you make a some good points. Don't be too hard on the original poster for being ignorant about christianity. Most evangelists I have spoken to who are trying to convert me seem to have never even read the bible and don't know what I'm talking about when I mention parts I remember from when I read it long ago.
Heh. Maybe more like cane toads? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads http://www.fdrproject.org/pages/toads.htm
Or maybe you should reconsider your assumption that we're all so bad off.
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
Everyone owns a car! Finding new people to sell cars to is going to be tough
A lot of people get really caught up in the US-centric view of the world. Until very recently, iPods were not readily available in many markets in Europe. They are now. Sales went up 40% in Europe.
There are new markets left to tap, and new generations of the product that will offer compelling reasons to upgrade. The availability of iPods in the retail channel is amazing. People know what an iPod is.
If 10% of the people that bought an iPod buy a Mac in the future, that is a huge impact on apple! The "cult of the ipod" makes me think they will do better than 10% with the conversions...
But, only a fool expects 100% growth to be able to continue for several consecutive years! It is better to have a company that has steady growth over a decade rather than a "one-hit wonder." Apple is showing that their big hit is being converted to a long-term revenue stream.
When you're selling the everlovin' crap out of your product, it is not "totally overpriced", by definition.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Great. Now how do I skip to track 5? Oops.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
Errr.... no. In many industries, having a range of prices, especially that vary with time, allows not only for greater profits, but for larger numbers of satisfied customers. The math is a bit more involuted than a simple supply/demand scissors curve, because you also have to factor in substitutibility, price elasticity, and information costs, and time value of money, but in many situations this allows for a good thing all around.
This is one reason why grocery stores have sales; people who would not ordinarily buy a product at price X will consider buying it at price 0.9X. Furthermore, it's one reason why grocery stores accept manufacturers coupons; the customer gets a lower price, the grocery store gets slightly more money (for slightly more hassle), and the increased sales (and potentially increased regular customers) result in net higher profits for the manufacturer.
In this case, the RIAA is wishing that they could run the backcatalog at a discount, while charging a premium for newest releases. And if they were willing to, say, knock $0.24 off their current $0.65 share of the price for releases over 10 years old, while adding $0.01 to the recent releases and $0.25 to items released within the last year, I'd consider it likely to be a net benefit for consumers overall.
Someone with more background in economics and without a head cold might explain it better, but it comes down to: the ability for suppliers to have prices that vary is a good thing for the consumer. Unnaturally fixed prices (such as, say, when fixed by a cartel) are bad.
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
As far as MP3 hitting critical mass goes, isn't it already there?
Doesn't everybody already have some kind of hardware or software these days that can play the MP3 format?
What I want to see is audiobooks sold in MP3 CD format. Currently, audiobooks take a huge number of tapes (or conventional CD's) to hold audio, and because it's spoken word, it would compress very easily while still remaining high quality.
I've converted the Harry Potter books to MP3 CD's, and they sound great. The first two books even fit together on a single CD! All this was from a large stack of grossly inefficient standard audio CD's. No need to store spoken word at 44100x16x2 uncompressed!
I'm hoping the makers of audiobooks will realize that MP3 has already hit critical mass for years now....
Dr. Demento On The 'Net!
When has the music industry *EVER* done this? When have they ever discussed doing it for online music? These guys have shown over and over again that they are interested in standardized pricing for music, punctuated only by *more expensive* pricing on certain high-demand albums.
If their track record wasn't so horrendous, I'd believe that they are truly interested in coming up with flexible pricing. But they've shown us nothing to indicate that they're really serious about doing anything other than holding on to their doomed business model for as long as possible.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
It's a kind of balance.
Support costs for accessories can be substantial, and a consistent level of quality in product and customer service are key to the Apple brand. Extending the business is inevitable, but must be made in step with the brand's "promise."
Also, a strong third-party market only helps Apple (lots of choice, innovation, good pricing, etc.). Why enter and compete in a market when the existing competition is helping you? Any effective step by Apple into the accessory market would either cause furious competition (cutting into the profitability) or discourage new competitors (level it out).
As of now, Apple is getting the best of both worlds - iPod accesories make the iPod more attractive, "cool", and reinforce the brand. Meanwhile Apple can operate independent of this market. The company is reaping the market rewards from a successful product. Soon, however, the brand will mature and there will need to be an injection of marketing, innovation, and features. The third-party market will only accelerate the effectiveness of Apple's brand.