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Google to Compete with iTunes?
mikeythecmptrguy wrote to mention a Forbes report on analyst predictions that Google may be gearing up to compete with iTunes. From the article: "Analyst Robert Peck speculated that it makes sense for Google to create a rival for the popular iTunes service by Apple Computer, given the explosive growth of unique visitors to the iTunes' Web site. 'Further, Nielsen indicates that iTunes users form a distinct target audience with brand preferences along autos, alcohol beverages, magazines, and television,' he added. "
Yeah, even if iTunes sells them cheaper by the album, the price of an album in Russia is about $3. The Russian download services reflect this. And the Russians also have obligatory licensing after publication, sorta like what we have for radio, so their catalogue is hypothetically unlimited.
With AllOfMp3 or the other Russian sites (mp3search.ru or musicmp3.ru), you can get tracks for something like 4 to 12 cents per song, ala carte or not, encoded in the format/bitrate you specify, with or without an artist's permission. ROMS (the Russian ASCAP) has routinely asserted the legality of these sites, and this legality has been supported by Russian legal authorities (the Moscow police, judges and Russian lawmakers have all attested to the legality here).
You can legally import them, in the US at least, just as if you went over to Russia and bought a physical album for $3 in a record store, as long as you intend it for personal use.
It's just price differentials, it's just like if you could buy your Big Macs in China and have them shipped instantly to your mouth for free. Welcome to the information age and the economic chaos/freedom it's bringing.
More importantly, the tracks from these services are completely DRM free.
The best version of this you can get outside of Russia is eMusic, which is subscription based, about 25 cents per song, completely DRM free. Their catalogue is mostly limited to smaller labels though.
So one big question is whether or not there will be meaningful price competition, the other big question for me is whether or not "Don't Be Evil" means "Don't Use DRM" or if it means "Buckle under the pressure of the RIAA, as if it were the hot new China."
The ITMS is essentially a website, built using Apple's own Webobjects.
Between Apple's AAC and Microsoft's WMA, which is cross platform and which is Windows-only?
This is a trick question, right?
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Except for the fact that AAC isn't at all proprietary; AAC is a part of MPEG-2 meaning that it is highly standarized, and is a practical replacement for the MP3 codec as it offers better quality sound at a lower bitrate.
So what you really hate is the DRM emposed on the media, but guess what? No company is interested in selling their media these days without DRM. So you have a choice to make: boycott all companies that sell DRM'd media (basically your only option is Indie stuff, which if you're okay with that..), or buy into a DRM system that's incredible easy to crack (as FairPlay, Apple's Licensed DRM, is).
"Proprietary formats"? No, that's what WMA is. Microsoft's idea of creating their own standard just because they want a licencing cut of everyone using it. Apple's AAC-protected would be that way, only they've made it *perfectly* clear they are not interested in licencing it to anyone. (Hell, there's even a DRM module for OGG. Not that anyone would ever use it).
So please, no more FUD.
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1) I'm not sure it's fair to assume everyone running a business in Russia is a mafioso. Especially a group that has passed the legal scrutiny AllOfMp3 has been subjected to.
2) And I'm not sure it's ripping people off. ROMS is collecting royalties here and delivering them directly to the artists. They're not getting significantly less than if I bought a CD in Moscow, then flew home with it. If anyone is getting ripped off in the music industry, it's artists and consumers, I think this system works better for both of them. Ripped off is always a question of "compared to what?"
3) If you have a legal argument to run against the service, I'd be anxious to hear it. But just calling them shady and hoping it sticks doesn't get you much traction.
4) I never really meant to defend an absolutist hardline, that all DRM everywhere is necessarily E-V-I-L, I just wondered what sort of DRM (if any) Google would employ, and was playing with their motto and recent news. I was probably being too cute, though, and your point is taken here.
5) You raise another interesting point about trying to sell everyday Americans on the idea that DRM hurts them, and the risks of losing them if we conflate such a view with more controversial ones. It's like you're reading out of the EFF handbook on how to be a model citizen.
I've thought about this problem too, and while I will not admit my endorsement of AllOfMp3 is less sound than my anti-DRM position, I must admit it is slightly more controversial.
But it's not significantly more controversial on Slashdot. This, of all places, should be the forum to air these views, to have them carefully considered, before widely endorsing them to folks who don't even know what DRM stands for.
I'm tempted to argue that there's little risk of alienating any audience if you've checked your facts, as I feel I have. And that chilling discussions, even discussions about the legality of services like AllOfMp3, can never be helpful. But I've been wrong before, so I'm happy to meet you in the middle, that we should restrict these discussions to places like Slashdot until our positions can be a bit more scrutinized. Incidentally, given the forum, this exonerates everything I originally posted.
That's my two cents, hopefully it leaves you as "fucking rich" as the first time.