Comments on: Unlimited iTunes?

by: Ben

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:34:57 +0000

Apple is kind of known for surprises, so I wouldn’t put it past them to do something like this. (And it wouldn’t be subscription-based. That much is already clear.) Just wait and see. :) And there are companies doing this already (like Nokia).

by: Mali

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:46:40 +0000

This is basically just reiterating what rikker has said about the no-DRM movement but the basic idea that Apple is too strict with their music purchases as it is would prevent something of this nature ever happening. Only if there are numerous other successful companies who end up doing the same thing BEFORE Apple will this be a likelihood. And even then…I won’t be holding my breath.

by: rikker

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:04:43 +0000

Another reason this isn’t happening:

Apple led the no-DRM movement. Subscription service requires DRM to make sure your music goes away after you stop subscribing. There’s no way to offer a subscription music service without DRM.

Apple doing subscription now would be them saying ‘just kidding about that no-DRM stuff’…

Not happening.

by: M

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:53:59 +0000

I agree with rikker. This rumour just hangs around on street corners, flagging down passing cop cars to whisper what it heard from “a reliable source involved in the negotiations”, then takes the tip money and spends it on drink and coke. I’ll believe this one when it’s on the Apple.com page.

by: rikker

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:58:38 +0000

It seems like I’ve been hearing this rumor for years now.

Now, it’s clear from the numbers that iTunes is just a loss leader to sell iPods, since most people who buy a $300 iPod don’t purchase 300 songs (at least, not before the next generation iPod comes out and they invest another $300). But having sold billions of songs, the only way Apple would ever do this is if it would boost iPod sales to the point of eclipsing the amount of money they make on iTunes. Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense to bundle it with the iPod, especially. Previous incarnations of this rumor have been about a paid subscription service (buffet style), ala the new Napster, among others.

I still think it’s unlikely, because Apple’s whole process of continually releasing new models seems already very good at driving ever more purchases of iPods (and it enables Apple to bypass Grimm’s law and keep charging the same prices for iPods over the years, by discontinuing models as fast as they make new ones).

Apple has already sold iPods of varying capacities approaching (or perhaps already surpassing–I’m not up on the latest numbers) the 100 million unit mark. If we take the price range of those, between $79 and $399, and guess an average of 200 dollars spent per iPod, that’s equal to 20,000,000,000 iPod songs, which is several times more than the number of iTunes songs ever sold, and yet doesn’t seem like such a great difference that they would want to cut something the revenue from iTunes individual song purchases. If anything, I’d say buffet subscription is more likely, and that rumor’s already been shot down by Apple numerous times.

Just my thoughts (as a non-Apple user)…