I cannot understand why an otherwise intelligent poster and article submitter would post such a useless and soon to be moderated "troll/flamebait". What good may come of this?
I am not trying to pick a fight, I just want to understand the rationale - particularly noting that this forum will be swarming with avid Apple supporters.
140,000,000 - Annualized song sales at current rate 100,000,000 - Number of songs projected to be sold in 1st year 70,000,000 - Number of songs sold the first 365 days of the service 2,700,000 - Current rate of songs sold per week 1,000,000 - Number of songs available by the end of 2004 700,000 - Number of songs available now (5/04) 450 - Number of indy publishers with music on-line 10 - Previously allowable identical CD burns 7 - Currently allowable identical CD burns 5 - Current number of authorized PCs and/or Macs 3 - Previous number of authorized PCs and/or Macs 70% - Market share of iTMS digital music sales 5% - Market share of Apple desktop/laptop/server sales 0 - Number of more successful on-line music services
With about 2000 cd's, there's no way I'm going to start purchasing online music, without the ability to retrieve lost files.
I am not sure if I am understanding you or not, but to be clear (please forgive me if you are not saying this), "lossless" refers to the audio quality of the music. "lossless" does not mean that if you loose the downlaoded file (HD crash, lost laptop, whatever) Apple will replace the file.
I agree that 5 is much more compelling. One thing that initially concerned me about puchasing from iTMS was what happens if a laptop is stollen. I can't very well deauthorize it. Then there would be potentially hundreds of dollars worth of encoded music now limited to just two CPUs!
I think the next step should be remote deauthorization. I don't know how the whole authorization schema works, but it owuld be good to have a remote way of managing it.
Lastly, merging ids would be nice. I just go tmarried and my wife didn't have an iTMS account...but one day this will be common. People may want everything under a single account.
Xerox PARC invented "Drag and Drop" - it was my attempt at humor, John.
Glad to know my helpful solution to your problem was seen as a 'troll'. Had you posted your real issue, (smart playlist copying) I wouldn't have said a word.
Instead of downloading songs with propietary DRM, now we can encode our songs with a new proprietary DRM--songs that won't play on anything else? I think I'll stick with FLAC.
Are you refering to Apple Lossless encoding? This is not a DRMed encoding. It is lossless and creates large files (8-10 times as large as an AAC or MP3) but is not copy protected.
You also ripped on iTunes not working with other music players. This is just FUD. It most certainly works with a large list of 3rd party players.
Finally, I noticed how many links ot other applications, little addons, etc you listed. I ask you, is it worth all the trouble of locating these other applications and getting them to work with something other than iTunes? Why not just use the complete package. Nothing is going to satisfay everyone, but are your complaints against iTunes loading slowly or not being able to download songs off an iPod as easily as you want really worth the hastle?
Me thinks you wish you had an iTunes/iPod music solution but are trying to justify why you haven't spent the money.
2. Copy playlists: Another major issue with the above is that if I have 2 playlists that are 90% the same, I'd like to set the first one up, then just copy the list logic into a new one and only edit the 1 or 2 differences.
Today is your lucky day. Thanks to the folks at Xerox PARC, you can accomplish your goal very easily. 1. create a new play list 2. select the items in the original play list (select all I presume) 3. drag and drop them into the new playlist
One must remember that artists can choose not to distribute their music this way. Notables are easy to recall - Dave Matthews Band, Metallica, Radiohead, The Beatles, etc.
This is temporary. In a few years, no artist will keep their music from this medium, though they may not distribute through the big 5 either. The same press release shows Apple has 450 indy labels represented with iTMS!
The Party Shuffle feature gets rave reviews from me.
In the past, I have used a playlist I call "now playing" to move music in and out of during a party. This can be a real pain when you really just want to play a few playlists back to back.
Party Shuffle changes all that. It allows you to easily DJ a party. You select how many "just played" songs and how many "upcoming songs to show. You then select a source, be it your music library or a playlist or a smart playlist (think Rock or Pop where 1979 year 1990). You then can easily manage what is coming up in the list and view what just got played. You can click the "refresh" (where Burn and Import are) and the list will be regenerated at random. You can also give preference to the higher ranked songs in your library.
Lastly, and this is a feature of the entire music library, not just playlists or Party Shuffle, the same "arrow" icons that show up in the iTMS when you search for a song are present in iTunes. This means you can click an arrow for a song name, album, or artist and it will launch a search on iTMS. But say you don't like that feature? Well you can of course turn it off in preferences, but you may also hodl down "option" and click it. The result? it searches only YOUR library, not the iTMS.
These are subscriber/member numbers and have nothing to do with downloaded tracks, albums or revenue generated.
Excellent point! This is a major twist to the numbers.
So one may assume that mand of the WMA sites would have similar user numbers - as a user may have an account at each to "try them out" but would favor only one site for regular downloading.
What then distinguishes one 99 cent site from another? The encoding (of course), but then what? The music catalog? the experience of browser versus "in-player" shoping?
When you bought the Dark Side of the Moon in the 70's, you most certainly were buying the vinyl and cardboard that contained the music. If someone had stolen it from you, you wouldn't have reported to the cops that the worthless cardboard and vinyl had been taken - thank goodness you still have your music rights!
I think you have convinced yourself that pirating the music from the library is okay because you bought the same song, in a totally different format, long ago. Or maybe that you pay taxes and therefore you kinda bought a little piece of that CD anyway...whatever helps you sleep. You are a theif.
And so what if you buy a used CD to keep the RIAA from getting any money? The artist didn't see a dime of that money either.
The arguement is weak. Justify it however you must but at the end of the day, even a digital download is not a lifetime license to that song. (Not to mention a remaster or stereo version of a once mono song or whatever the future may hold - THX version.)
Stop stealing and part with your ten bucks. Dark Side of the Moon is worth it.
It sounds like you have identified the critical issue - the firewall. I assume you have tested this theory by disabling the firewall and trying to purchase music. If that is the case, then this is truly a simple solution!
Just open up the ports one at a time until iTMS functions properly. This cannot be that big for adea. Even if you are simply using Windows' built in (piece of crap) firewall, you can open ports, allow either TCP or UDP traffic (my guess is iTMS is using TCP) and specify the port number.
Did you try the Knowledge Base suggestion of registering phobos.apple.com and phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net with your adblocker/firewall/etc software to expempt them from restrictions?
How can you expect Apple to help you though configuring your third party software you are using to block network traffic?
Me thinks you best play with your firewall configuration.
My wife's XP box got zapped by too much spyware so I decided to rebuild. Thus far my install CDs are:
Windows XP Professional HP Deskjet printer drivers Mozilla Norton Internet Securtiy 2004 (includes Antivirus and Firewall) Office2000 premium PalmZire install CD (Palm Desktop) iTunes for Windows
This is all I am allowing her to install (thanks "admin" rights) unless she is willing to try out OO.o
You can always could on the/. crowd to want everything for nothing. "Why don't they just XYZ." It's as if capitalism doesn't exist and everyone posting these messages is all about communism. We'll all just work really hard at something and expect nothing in return because everything is free.
He did not spend $2,500 last year on iTunes music. Read the article. He used part of his univeristy meal plan's $2,500 to purchase Pepsi and get free songs. from the looks of the photos, he bought at most a few hundred.
If you aren't going to RTFA then at least don't misquote it!
Don't try too hard - Apple appears to have a fix posted inconsicuously at apple.com/support - the bastards!
If that doesn't work, and I have no idea how technical you are or if you are interested in making this work but this guy looks to have had the same issue - can do everthing but buy music via his firewall. (Start at bottom of page and read up.)
It isn't that difficult to figure this stuff out man. And just for comparrison, try talking to someone live about your issues with other freeware (iTMS is free) and see how far you get.
I am shocked and amazed at how rapidly Walmart has dominated the WMA market. I am equally shocked that iTMS has been surpassed by the WMA alternatives. March 2004 numbers: iTMS - 4.9MM (Fairplay) Walmart - 2.7MM (WMA) Napster 2.0 - 1.9MM (WMA) Musicmatch - 1.5MM (WMA) BuyMusic - 0.5MM (WMA)
That's Fairplay - 4.9MM to WMA 6.6MM (1.7MM more WMA than Fairplay songs - or 34% more than iTMS!)
As an Apple fan (DOS 2001) I want to deny this but the numbers speak for themselves.
It is the truth that whichever format sells more songs will become the standard because to switch to the other format will require not only the re-purchase/re-rip of the song library but the re-purchase of the player as well.
Unless Apple is fibbing on the small margin they make (not likely as they have stated it openly and SEC may have a fvew questions if they have been) then it seems like Apple needs to support WMA with the iPod as well as Fairplay for DRM so that the iPod can remain King, Queen, and Jack of the hill.
I have a Canon digital camcorder, a Fuji digital camera, an Apple iPod (mini). I don't care about making music so garage band isn't for me but if I did it would be a non-Apple keyboard.
My point? Where is Apple going with this digital hub thing? They make great software (that they give me) for all these other pieces of equipment, so where the heck is Apple going?
a couple thgoughts:
The PDA/Phone - Jobs said he isn't interested in a PDA and they are way behind on cell phone tech (not to mention, everyone has one or three) but there are few good options for BOTH and if Apple could do for the PDA-Phone what they did for the digital music player, it would really shake up the market. So the chipset is Mororola or whatever, as long as the interface is from Apple they would control the experience.
The Digital A/V Player - I don't know about you but I don't own a DVR yet because I want a device that will manage music, broadcast / captured broadcast video, and prerecorded media (CD/DVD). Another area where Apple could use iPod lessons learned and make something to build into TVs and stereo systems. It is high time HDTV's started coming with Eithernet and Airport Extreme!
According to Apple's last earnings call (April 15th) IBM has had difficulty keeping up with demand for 90nm G5's, thus a shortage for completing PowerMac and Xserve orders.
Apple is not happy with IBM and both companies are working to remedy the situation.
That Apple has more demand than supply is not a good situtation in that some % of potential customers will go else where. Still, Apple has responded by releasing what they do have avaialble - upgraded G4 systems - for the % that would rather use the G4 technology than the G5.
I agree - Apple should get their stuff together and produce the G5 laptop people areclammoring for. But in the absence of the G5 chips to make it happen, I am glad they are offering these great upgrades.
I do take issue with both your suggestion that by not having a "need" for a G5 I am somehow fooling myself. I think it the other way around - someone who uses a computer for web surfing, e-mail reading, the occasional office document, and other light tasks is fooling themselves that they "need" a G5.
I also agree with the one button mouse issue but I have no problem buying a two button wireless scroll mouse for less than $50. I always did the same for my PCs (Gateway and dell both use pretty lame mice IMHO).
(WARNING: this post has nothing to do with wanting a G5 Powerbook or complaining how a year and a half ago I bought a Powerbook and now Apple has upgraded them *again* and I am so mad. Thus, most people will want to skip this post.)
What do you think about the standard Airport Extreme (80211.g) and Bluetooth in the Powerbooks?
I think this is the most overlooked "new" item. Just as USB and Firewire were first standards on the Mac, is Apple again ushering in a new era of wireless connectivity by making these items standard?
When Intel released the Centreno and those wireless ads that went with them, I never heard it having much response. Is there a high demand for these wireless standards?
I surely wish BMW would sell me a 2002 3-series instead of the improved 2005. I don't want to buy a used one, I just want to buy a new old one. I mean, surely they keep all those old parts around.
Dude, warehousing old graphics cards, HDs, etc costs money and would actually increase Apple's Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). If they then dropped prices, they would have slimmer margins in both directions (lower revenues, higher COGS).
I got my dad to buy a Apple refurb iBook and save $300. It works great, has no physicial defect and as far as I can tell, is identical to a new one with three $100 bills stuck in the DVD/CDR combo drive.
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I cannot understand why an otherwise intelligent poster and article submitter would post such a useless and soon to be moderated "troll/flamebait". What good may come of this?
I am not trying to pick a fight, I just want to understand the rationale - particularly noting that this forum will be swarming with avid Apple supporters.
Well the results are in and between Apple's Press release and the Steve Jobs conference call there are many numbers to consider.
140,000,000 - Annualized song sales at current rate
100,000,000 - Number of songs projected to be sold in 1st year
70,000,000 - Number of songs sold the first 365 days of the service
2,700,000 - Current rate of songs sold per week
1,000,000 - Number of songs available by the end of 2004
700,000 - Number of songs available now (5/04)
450 - Number of indy publishers with music on-line
10 - Previously allowable identical CD burns
7 - Currently allowable identical CD burns
5 - Current number of authorized PCs and/or Macs
3 - Previous number of authorized PCs and/or Macs
70% - Market share of iTMS digital music sales
5% - Market share of Apple desktop/laptop/server sales
0 - Number of more successful on-line music services
With about 2000 cd's, there's no way I'm going to start purchasing online music, without the ability to retrieve lost files.
I am not sure if I am understanding you or not, but to be clear (please forgive me if you are not saying this), "lossless" refers to the audio quality of the music. "lossless" does not mean that if you loose the downlaoded file (HD crash, lost laptop, whatever) Apple will replace the file.
I agree that 5 is much more compelling. One thing that initially concerned me about puchasing from iTMS was what happens if a laptop is stollen. I can't very well deauthorize it. Then there would be potentially hundreds of dollars worth of encoded music now limited to just two CPUs!
I think the next step should be remote deauthorization. I don't know how the whole authorization schema works, but it owuld be good to have a remote way of managing it.
Lastly, merging ids would be nice. I just go tmarried and my wife didn't have an iTMS account...but one day this will be common. People may want everything under a single account.
Xerox PARC invented "Drag and Drop" - it was my attempt at humor, John.
Glad to know my helpful solution to your problem was seen as a 'troll'. Had you posted your real issue, (smart playlist copying) I wouldn't have said a word.
Instead of downloading songs with propietary DRM, now we can encode our songs with a new proprietary DRM--songs that won't play on anything else? I think I'll stick with FLAC.
Are you refering to Apple Lossless encoding? This is not a DRMed encoding. It is lossless and creates large files (8-10 times as large as an AAC or MP3) but is not copy protected.
You also ripped on iTunes not working with other music players. This is just FUD. It most certainly works with a large list of 3rd party players.
Finally, I noticed how many links ot other applications, little addons, etc you listed. I ask you, is it worth all the trouble of locating these other applications and getting them to work with something other than iTunes? Why not just use the complete package. Nothing is going to satisfay everyone, but are your complaints against iTunes loading slowly or not being able to download songs off an iPod as easily as you want really worth the hastle?
Me thinks you wish you had an iTunes/iPod music solution but are trying to justify why you haven't spent the money.
If you look at the bottom of iTunes before you rip a CD, you will see the size of the raw music. This would be helpful info to provide in your test.
Also, I would think the Genre of music would make a difference, just like compressing an image of snow versus an image of a gumball machine.
According to Apple iTunes 4.5 will convert WMA (non-DRM) to AAC.
This of course only works on windows as there is no WMA for Macs. DRMed-WMA doesn't work (duh).
2. Copy playlists: Another major issue with the above is that if I have 2 playlists that are 90% the same, I'd like to set the first one up, then just copy the list logic into a new one and only edit the 1 or 2 differences.
Today is your lucky day. Thanks to the folks at Xerox PARC, you can accomplish your goal very easily.
1. create a new play list
2. select the items in the original play list (select all I presume)
3. drag and drop them into the new playlist
Now you may edit them as you wish.
According to Apple's press release today, Their library is the largest in the world - 700,000 songs.
One must remember that artists can choose not to distribute their music this way. Notables are easy to recall - Dave Matthews Band, Metallica, Radiohead, The Beatles, etc.
This is temporary. In a few years, no artist will keep their music from this medium, though they may not distribute through the big 5 either. The same press release shows Apple has 450 indy labels represented with iTMS!
The Party Shuffle feature gets rave reviews from me.
In the past, I have used a playlist I call "now playing" to move music in and out of during a party. This can be a real pain when you really just want to play a few playlists back to back.
Party Shuffle changes all that. It allows you to easily DJ a party. You select how many "just played" songs and how many "upcoming songs to show. You then select a source, be it your music library or a playlist or a smart playlist (think Rock or Pop where 1979 year 1990). You then can easily manage what is coming up in the list and view what just got played. You can click the "refresh" (where Burn and Import are) and the list will be regenerated at random. You can also give preference to the higher ranked songs in your library.
Lastly, and this is a feature of the entire music library, not just playlists or Party Shuffle, the same "arrow" icons that show up in the iTMS when you search for a song are present in iTunes. This means you can click an arrow for a song name, album, or artist and it will launch a search on iTMS. But say you don't like that feature? Well you can of course turn it off in preferences, but you may also hodl down "option" and click it. The result? it searches only YOUR library, not the iTMS.
Some initial, unofficial reports are coming in that a 4mb AAC translates to about 30mb Apple Lossless.
These are subscriber/member numbers and have nothing to do with downloaded tracks, albums or revenue generated.
Excellent point! This is a major twist to the numbers.
So one may assume that mand of the WMA sites would have similar user numbers - as a user may have an account at each to "try them out" but would favor only one site for regular downloading.
What then distinguishes one 99 cent site from another? The encoding (of course), but then what? The music catalog? the experience of browser versus "in-player" shoping?
Sorry, I for one reject your arguement.
When you bought the Dark Side of the Moon in the 70's, you most certainly were buying the vinyl and cardboard that contained the music. If someone had stolen it from you, you wouldn't have reported to the cops that the worthless cardboard and vinyl had been taken - thank goodness you still have your music rights!
I think you have convinced yourself that pirating the music from the library is okay because you bought the same song, in a totally different format, long ago. Or maybe that you pay taxes and therefore you kinda bought a little piece of that CD anyway...whatever helps you sleep. You are a theif.
And so what if you buy a used CD to keep the RIAA from getting any money? The artist didn't see a dime of that money either.
The arguement is weak. Justify it however you must but at the end of the day, even a digital download is not a lifetime license to that song. (Not to mention a remaster or stereo version of a once mono song or whatever the future may hold - THX version.)
Stop stealing and part with your ten bucks. Dark Side of the Moon is worth it.
It sounds like you have identified the critical issue - the firewall. I assume you have tested this theory by disabling the firewall and trying to purchase music. If that is the case, then this is truly a simple solution!
Just open up the ports one at a time until iTMS functions properly. This cannot be that big for adea. Even if you are simply using Windows' built in (piece of crap) firewall, you can open ports, allow either TCP or UDP traffic (my guess is iTMS is using TCP) and specify the port number.
Did you try the Knowledge Base suggestion of registering phobos.apple.com and phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net with your adblocker/firewall/etc software to expempt them from restrictions?
How can you expect Apple to help you though configuring your third party software you are using to block network traffic?
Me thinks you best play with your firewall configuration.
My wife's XP box got zapped by too much spyware so I decided to rebuild. Thus far my install CDs are:
Windows XP Professional
HP Deskjet printer drivers
Mozilla
Norton Internet Securtiy 2004 (includes Antivirus and Firewall)
Office2000 premium
PalmZire install CD (Palm Desktop)
iTunes for Windows
This is all I am allowing her to install (thanks "admin" rights) unless she is willing to try out OO.o
Ahmen!
/. crowd to want everything for nothing. "Why don't they just XYZ." It's as if capitalism doesn't exist and everyone posting these messages is all about communism. We'll all just work really hard at something and expect nothing in return because everything is free.
You can always could on the
Makes me ill!
He did not spend $2,500 last year on iTunes music. Read the article. He used part of his univeristy meal plan's $2,500 to purchase Pepsi and get free songs. from the looks of the photos, he bought at most a few hundred.
If you aren't going to RTFA then at least don't misquote it!
RTFA RTFA RTFA RTFA RTFA RTFA!!!!!!!!!
Don't try too hard - Apple appears to have a fix posted inconsicuously at apple.com/support - the bastards!
If that doesn't work, and I have no idea how technical you are or if you are interested in making this work but this guy looks to have had the same issue - can do everthing but buy music via his firewall. (Start at bottom of page and read up.)
Lastly, try a Google search for 'itunes firewall 443' and see what pops up!
It isn't that difficult to figure this stuff out man. And just for comparrison, try talking to someone live about your issues with other freeware (iTMS is free) and see how far you get.
I am shocked and amazed at how rapidly Walmart has dominated the WMA market. I am equally shocked that iTMS has been surpassed by the WMA alternatives. March 2004 numbers:
iTMS - 4.9MM (Fairplay)
Walmart - 2.7MM (WMA)
Napster 2.0 - 1.9MM (WMA)
Musicmatch - 1.5MM (WMA)
BuyMusic - 0.5MM (WMA)
That's Fairplay - 4.9MM to WMA 6.6MM (1.7MM more WMA than Fairplay songs - or 34% more than iTMS!)
As an Apple fan (DOS 2001) I want to deny this but the numbers speak for themselves.
It is the truth that whichever format sells more songs will become the standard because to switch to the other format will require not only the re-purchase/re-rip of the song library but the re-purchase of the player as well.
Unless Apple is fibbing on the small margin they make (not likely as they have stated it openly and SEC may have a fvew questions if they have been) then it seems like Apple needs to support WMA with the iPod as well as Fairplay for DRM so that the iPod can remain King, Queen, and Jack of the hill.
I have a Canon digital camcorder, a Fuji digital camera, an Apple iPod (mini). I don't care about making music so garage band isn't for me but if I did it would be a non-Apple keyboard.
My point? Where is Apple going with this digital hub thing? They make great software (that they give me) for all these other pieces of equipment, so where the heck is Apple going?
a couple thgoughts:
The PDA/Phone - Jobs said he isn't interested in a PDA and they are way behind on cell phone tech (not to mention, everyone has one or three) but there are few good options for BOTH and if Apple could do for the PDA-Phone what they did for the digital music player, it would really shake up the market. So the chipset is Mororola or whatever, as long as the interface is from Apple they would control the experience.
The Digital A/V Player - I don't know about you but I don't own a DVR yet because I want a device that will manage music, broadcast / captured broadcast video, and prerecorded media (CD/DVD). Another area where Apple could use iPod lessons learned and make something to build into TVs and stereo systems. It is high time HDTV's started coming with Eithernet and Airport Extreme!
I also recently discovered that RedHat 9 does not recognize the external 5.25" drive that my C64 so easily manages without a hitch.
Do you think Linux will support my Adam tape drive? I better go check...
You need to understand what is going on.
According to Apple's last earnings call (April 15th) IBM has had difficulty keeping up with demand for 90nm G5's, thus a shortage for completing PowerMac and Xserve orders.
Apple is not happy with IBM and both companies are working to remedy the situation.
That Apple has more demand than supply is not a good situtation in that some % of potential customers will go else where. Still, Apple has responded by releasing what they do have avaialble - upgraded G4 systems - for the % that would rather use the G4 technology than the G5.
I agree - Apple should get their stuff together and produce the G5 laptop people areclammoring for. But in the absence of the G5 chips to make it happen, I am glad they are offering these great upgrades.
I do take issue with both your suggestion that by not having a "need" for a G5 I am somehow fooling myself. I think it the other way around - someone who uses a computer for web surfing, e-mail reading, the occasional office document, and other light tasks is fooling themselves that they "need" a G5.
I also agree with the one button mouse issue but I have no problem buying a two button wireless scroll mouse for less than $50. I always did the same for my PCs (Gateway and dell both use pretty lame mice IMHO).
(WARNING: this post has nothing to do with wanting a G5 Powerbook or complaining how a year and a half ago I bought a Powerbook and now Apple has upgraded them *again* and I am so mad. Thus, most people will want to skip this post.)
What do you think about the standard Airport Extreme (80211.g) and Bluetooth in the Powerbooks?
I think this is the most overlooked "new" item. Just as USB and Firewire were first standards on the Mac, is Apple again ushering in a new era of wireless connectivity by making these items standard?
When Intel released the Centreno and those wireless ads that went with them, I never heard it having much response. Is there a high demand for these wireless standards?
I surely wish BMW would sell me a 2002 3-series instead of the improved 2005. I don't want to buy a used one, I just want to buy a new old one. I mean, surely they keep all those old parts around.
Dude, warehousing old graphics cards, HDs, etc costs money and would actually increase Apple's Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). If they then dropped prices, they would have slimmer margins in both directions (lower revenues, higher COGS).
I got my dad to buy a Apple refurb iBook and save $300. It works great, has no physicial defect and as far as I can tell, is identical to a new one with three $100 bills stuck in the DVD/CDR combo drive.