If I buy a CD, I can stick it in my computer and rip it into iTunes. That's legal, right?
I think what they really want is for you to buy the cd for your cd player, and then buy the same content from iTunes for your iPod.
You can edit and manipulate the mp3 or aac file ripped from the CD. Why shouldn't you be able to edit a song you bought? It's silly.
It's funny reading people defending Apple's DRM. Replace Apple with Microsoft and it's a different issue.
Record companies are the ones forcing both Apple and Microsoft to put DRM in their files. I don't blame Apple or Microsoft for the DRM. DRM is not going to go away so get used to it or buy CDs!
If we held all companies responsible for promises from their CEOs no company would ever stand up to it.
Yeah, why should CEO's be accountable? Who cares if the image of the company is at stake?
If Microsoft wants to DRM their music that is their choice. If people want to buy DRM music that is their choice. No one is forcing you to buy Zune, MSN Music, or CDs, if you don't like it, don't buy it. Just because it's socially acceptable to hack DRM doesn't mean its legal or right.
Apple has an ethical duty to provide products that don't harm the computers of its customers. If Sony did this they would be drawn and quartered by slashgeeks. But Apple fanboys high-five eachother, saying, "Way to go Apple. This shows how bad Windows is." Stakeholders in Apple are hurt by this and I find it unprofessional of Jobs to blame Microsoft for Apple's failure.
Read a little more and you might learn something.
You have no qualifications to call BS. You would be wise to read my previous statement. You just launced from it to get on your soap box.
You are speaking about the present, not the future. Long-term sustainability has nothing to do with current sales. Take a business class and pay attention or keep your immature comments to yourself.
Who has lost their completitive advantage? It sure isn't Apple, and they know that.
Apple computers make up a tiny market share. Onces iPods loose their luster and the fad fades, you will see how Apple is on the losing side of competitive advantage. Dell and HP will continue to grow. How many small incremental features can be added to the iPod before people look the other way? Rivals are offering similar devices with more features at a lower price. And the iPod clones will definitely destroy global revenue. Apple is sunk without a strategic alliance and a different strategy.
Why would they turn to Dell -- a company with a horrible, horrible track record for quality and reliability -- to make their products, when their current business arrangements seem to be working just fine?
Apple would not "turn" to Dell. We are talking about a strategic alliance. Quality issues could be dealt with when Apple lends their expertise in quality during manufacturing. Apple's current products may be made in Asia, and that's fine. But Apple can benefit from an alliance with Dell. Dell would offer expertise and knowledge of mass distribution, packaging and marketing, along with manufacturing efficiencies.
Apple's strengths, as some have said are product design and function. Compaines that put too many resources in innovation are proven business losers. Dell is mass marketer and mass producer with long term competitive advantages. Apple needs to change their business strategy before the iPod fad dollars run out. I'm looking forward to seeing what the iPod clones do the Apple's revenues onces the spread thoughout the world.
Articles like this are so silly. Does anyone obsess over the countless other mp3 devices? No. Get over the iPod already! There were mp3 players before iPod and many will come out in the future.
People have replaced hi-end audio with low-quality gadgets. An iPod couldn't hold a candle in sound quality to a $99 record player with a decent stylus or even a modest Sony CD player with a 1-Bit DAC.
Try this: plug a decent pair of headphones into an iPod. The compare the same song on a CD player. You will hear the difference.
Consumers love being asked to guess which product to buy, knowing that there's only one chance in three they'll be able to use the product five years from now.
Yes, and all Apple fanboys feel warm inside knowing that protected iTunes files will only run on their iPods. Every fanboy gets his due desert.
Cut off $100 of the player and $.49 of each song and you MIGHT be able to compete.
Thanks for the revalation. Yes, new market entrants must provide products and services at a lower price point. [I clap my hands and hand you a silver star.]
But the real competition will come when the marketing and service power of Best Buy is able to one up Apple. Time will tell. This is another competitive advantage Best Buy/Real/Sandisk will have over Apple. And if Best Buy is really predatory, they will stop selling iPods.
First of all, Real, Sandisk and Best Buy are firms in other industries offering a substitute product. This alliance is healthy for the competitive environment. What makes this alliance dubious? I think Best Buy has the retail power and agressive marketing to make this idea work.
Why are you personally threatened by this? If you're an Apple fanboy, you can still purchase your protected media from the iTunes store. God forbid anyone offer competition to Apple. Face it, in the near distant future, Apple's main money-maker will sink in a see of substitute products and services. Has Apple created a strategy to get itself out of a mess like that?
But competing against Apple where the atributes you have to beat are Coolness, User Interface, and User Friendlyness? What the hell are they smoking? It's not going to happen, it's going to be like those damn Mac Commercials...the dividing line between cool and crap is very clear.
God forbid that an organization make an attempt to offer products and services in an open market. Do you think it will be so difficult for these large companies to create "Coolness, User Interface, and User Friendlyness"? At the very least the companies can copy Apple's business model. The benefit to the consumer and the industry is product diversity and healthy competition.
Good writing isn't produced like this, and it's not reasonable for the population of a single SAT trial to produce good writing.
Good writing can be produced under pressure. It depends on the talent of the writer.
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If I buy a CD, I can stick it in my computer and rip it into iTunes. That's legal, right?
I think what they really want is for you to buy the cd for your cd player, and then buy the same content from iTunes for your iPod.
You can edit and manipulate the mp3 or aac file ripped from the CD. Why shouldn't you be able to edit a song you bought? It's silly.
It's funny reading people defending Apple's DRM. Replace Apple with Microsoft and it's a different issue.
Record companies are the ones forcing both Apple and Microsoft to put DRM in their files. I don't blame Apple or Microsoft for the DRM. DRM is not going to go away so get used to it or buy CDs!
If we held all companies responsible for promises from their CEOs no company would ever stand up to it. Yeah, why should CEO's be accountable? Who cares if the image of the company is at stake? If Microsoft wants to DRM their music that is their choice. If people want to buy DRM music that is their choice. No one is forcing you to buy Zune, MSN Music, or CDs, if you don't like it, don't buy it. Just because it's socially acceptable to hack DRM doesn't mean its legal or right.
Apple has an ethical duty to provide products that don't harm the computers of its customers. If Sony did this they would be drawn and quartered by slashgeeks. But Apple fanboys high-five eachother, saying, "Way to go Apple. This shows how bad Windows is." Stakeholders in Apple are hurt by this and I find it unprofessional of Jobs to blame Microsoft for Apple's failure.
I wouldn't underestimate Microsoft. I appreciate the time you took to write a good post. Good comments too.
Read a little more and you might learn something.
You have no qualifications to call BS. You would be wise to read my previous statement. You just launced from it to get on your soap box. You are speaking about the present, not the future. Long-term sustainability has nothing to do with current sales. Take a business class and pay attention or keep your immature comments to yourself.
Drink a Coke product and go from looking like the comic book guy from the Simpsons, to a svelte lady's man while playing Everquest.
Who has lost their completitive advantage? It sure isn't Apple, and they know that. Apple computers make up a tiny market share. Onces iPods loose their luster and the fad fades, you will see how Apple is on the losing side of competitive advantage. Dell and HP will continue to grow. How many small incremental features can be added to the iPod before people look the other way? Rivals are offering similar devices with more features at a lower price. And the iPod clones will definitely destroy global revenue. Apple is sunk without a strategic alliance and a different strategy.
Why would they turn to Dell -- a company with a horrible, horrible track record for quality and reliability -- to make their products, when their current business arrangements seem to be working just fine?
Apple would not "turn" to Dell. We are talking about a strategic alliance. Quality issues could be dealt with when Apple lends their expertise in quality during manufacturing.
Apple's current products may be made in Asia, and that's fine. But Apple can benefit from an alliance with Dell. Dell would offer expertise and knowledge of mass distribution, packaging and marketing, along with manufacturing efficiencies.
Apple's strengths, as some have said are product design and function. Compaines that put too many resources in innovation are proven business losers. Dell is mass marketer and mass producer with long term competitive advantages. Apple needs to change their business strategy before the iPod fad dollars run out. I'm looking forward to seeing what the iPod clones do the Apple's revenues onces the spread thoughout the world.
Articles like this are so silly. Does anyone obsess over the countless other mp3 devices? No. Get over the iPod already! There were mp3 players before iPod and many will come out in the future.
People have replaced hi-end audio with low-quality gadgets.
An iPod couldn't hold a candle in sound quality to a $99 record player with a decent stylus or even a modest Sony CD player with a 1-Bit DAC.
Try this: plug a decent pair of headphones into an iPod. The compare the same song on a CD player. You will hear the difference.
Consumers love being asked to guess which product to buy, knowing that there's only one chance in three they'll be able to use the product five years from now.
Yes, and all Apple fanboys feel warm inside knowing that protected iTunes files will only run on their iPods. Every fanboy gets his due desert.
Cut off $100 of the player and $.49 of each song and you MIGHT be able to compete.
Thanks for the revalation. Yes, new market entrants must provide products and services at a lower price point. [I clap my hands and hand you a silver star.]
But the real competition will come when the marketing and service power of Best Buy is able to one up Apple. Time will tell. This is another competitive advantage Best Buy/Real/Sandisk will have over Apple. And if Best Buy is really predatory, they will stop selling iPods.
First of all, Real, Sandisk and Best Buy are firms in other industries offering a substitute product. This alliance is healthy for the competitive environment. What makes this alliance dubious? I think Best Buy has the retail power and agressive marketing to make this idea work.
Why are you personally threatened by this? If you're an Apple fanboy, you can still purchase your protected media from the iTunes store. God forbid anyone offer competition to Apple. Face it, in the near distant future, Apple's main money-maker will sink in a see of substitute products and services. Has Apple created a strategy to get itself out of a mess like that?
But competing against Apple where the atributes you have to beat are Coolness, User Interface, and User Friendlyness? What the hell are they smoking? It's not going to happen, it's going to be like those damn Mac Commercials...the dividing line between cool and crap is very clear.
God forbid that an organization make an attempt to offer products and services in an open market.
Do you think it will be so difficult for these large companies to create "Coolness, User Interface, and User Friendlyness"? At the very least the companies can copy Apple's business model. The benefit to the consumer and the industry is product diversity and healthy competition.
Good writing isn't produced like this, and it's not reasonable for the population of a single SAT trial to produce good writing.
Good writing can be produced under pressure. It depends on the talent of the writer.