Thursday, December 8, 2005
News
Podcasts Starting To Lure Advertisers
When Hi-Fi Meets The iPod
An unlikely confrontation is taking shape, where the seemingly unstoppable iPod is meeting with an immovable object — the audiophile's love of good old-fashioned vinyl.
Apple Laptop Demand Slows, iPod Backlog Rises
Apple's US distribution partners are reporting ample supply of both the iBook G4 and PowerBook G4, and are requesting very few new orders as consumers may be prolonging their purchases in anticipation of Intel-based models early next year.
Opinion
Why Isn't There A Decent Mac Blog Editor?
If there's one thing I would love to find — something which doesn't seem to exist — is a decent Mac OS X blog editing program.
Just Let Us Play The Movie
The entertainment industry has a great opportunity for new markets, and the PC and consumer-electronics industries have an opening for new products. But realizing this potential will require all of them to show some respect for their customers.
Mac Mini Software Challenge, Revisited
I had bumped up hard against the edges of my software's capabilities.
Review
All I Don't Want For Chirstmas Is... Another iPod
The computer industry's favorite word is "upgrade," and Apple yells it from the mountaintop.
Sidetrack
My Theory On Why Apple Will Never Have Music Subscription Service
This is my theory on why Apple will never have music subscription services on the iTunes Music Store.
Firstly, a reminder: iTunes Music Store exists to sell iPods. And to make sure customers continue to buy iPods when they upgrade.
If you've purchased $1,000 worth of tunes from iTMS, you'd need an iPod to listen to those tunes. When it's time to upgrade, you'll hesitate in buying a Zen player, because you'll lose your $1,000 worth of tunes. (Either that, or you'll need to spend x hours burning CDs, and another y hours to rip the same CDs.)
Now imagine that your chief music investment is the many months of paying $19.95 subscription fee to listen to music. When it come time to upgrade, you''ll not hestiate to jump ship, because you know there are other $19.95 deals out there that will work with the Zen player. And because you know that you will need to continue to pay that $19.95 monthly subscription anyway, whether you stick with Apple or jump to Creative.
There is no need to preserve your investment, because there is nothing to preserve. You stop paying the subscription fee, and your music goes 'poof' anyway. Bought a player from another company? No problem, just subscribe to another music store that is compatible to the new player.
In other words, purchased music breeds loyalty, whereas subscription services do not. And since Apple is chiefly selling iPods and not tunes, loyalty is what matters.
Hence, in my opinion, you'll see hell freezes over before Apple pushes for subscription service. :-)
(Well, hell did freezed over at Cupertino before, so I will not be really surprised if hell freezes again. One possible scenario is for Apple to have a subscription service that pushes customers to purchase music. Hey, what do you know, Apple just happens to have a free podcast called iTunes New Music Tuesday...)
I should have expected this: Real's Rhapsody.com service is only for U.S. IP addresses only.
Podcasts remain my sole source for listening to new music. Thank you, Dave and Adam and all.
