Steve Jobs, the greatest of all time, once asked, “Who would want to watch video on their phone/mp3 player?” This was one of the classic, ‘no one wants it until we have it ready for release’ approaches that Apple uses all the time. It’s pretty stupid, especially when the tech media eat it up and go nuts about how ridiculous it sounds. Well, I am curious about why people would buy music from iTunes. I just don’t get it, it doesn’t seem like it would be worth the time to do it. Let’s look at some of the pros of using iTunes.
- First off, the system is pretty sound and it’s designed to milk you of your cash in small increments. It’s so easy to use, find music and click buy…bam there’s your music.
- The software works perfectly with your iPhone or iPod. What’s better it automatically syncs your music across to the devices.
- You are already used to the interface and have no interest in changing because change is scary and scary things are too scary.
Ok, there you go three things that are keeping you from broadening your horizons. I couldn’t think of anything more than those, if you do feel free to comment and let me know. iTunes works well and works with your devices, but what about listening to stuff you don’t want to buy? I guess you could use Pandora, Last.fm, Rhapsody, or you could use MySpace music. These are great, but they aren’t all that great when you look at them.
Pandora was the greatest thing since sliced bread, heck I use it from time to time and I am listening to it on my iPhone right now! Last.fm is like Pandora for kindergartners, so that isn’t worth the time. Rhapsody, is pretty good in that you can listen to whatever you want, but once you end your subscription you are up shit’s creek and that just stinks. MySpace music is, well, MySpace. If you enjoy poisoned ads that will infect your PC, then go ahead with that noise. So, what’s left? Zune and Spotify of course!
Just so you know, I am by no means into getting my knees dirty for Microsoft but every now and again they do something not dumb. The new Zune is quite a beautiful piece of hardware, on top of that it is part of the Zune store which is simply sick! Picture this, being able to download whatever you want and listen to it on your device and get ten songs per month that you can keep forever? That would be awesome, and I can hear you Apple fanboys hoping now, “Maybe Apple will give that to us in a couple years and I can massage Steve Jobs’ sack”. Well, this is a Microsoft thing. Zune Pass gives you this deal and I think this is how music should be distributed. If you don’t have a Zune, you should think about getting one, unless of course Apple pulls the douche out of their butts and goes to a subscription model. Who knows, apparently pigs do fly so Jobs could get some cool back.
What about Spotify? Well, Spotify is basically a Zune Pass, but without the downloading thing. Spotify is an internet streaming site much like Rhapsody, however you only stream the music and it’s fricken free. I think this service, once it comes to the US and is legit will change things a lot. I just hope that the record execs don’t decide to prove that they’re inadequate as they usually do these days.
Spread a little WhackArnolds:
