Rhapsody

Why I Won’t Miss iTunes

October 1, 2008 by Jim Connelly

So here’s the deal: The National Music Publisher’s Association has said that they want to increase the royalty rate for each legal download from $0.09 to $0.15 per song. Apple has responded by threatening to shut down iTunes.

I assume that “iTunes” means “iTunes Music Store,” and this has nothing to do the the TV Shows, Films and Applications that also go through iTunes, because, well, that would just be stupid.

I’m not here to argue the merits of what one side will say is only a six cent increase and the other side will say is a 66% increase, nor am I going to point out that this is Apple’s way of saying that if they don’t continue to get exactly what they want, they’re going to take their ball and go home.

But I will say this: if the iTunes Music Store went away tomorrow, it wouldn’t even be a blip on my radar.

10 Things You Need To Know About Zune

July 24, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

Last week Microsoft confirmed the name of its soon to be released digital audio player. It’s called Zune, and here’s what you need to know about it:

Apple Calls the iTune

May 4, 2006 by Jim Connelly

We love our iPods and iTunes here at Medialoper, so here’s some team coverage on one of the bigger stories of the week. As you probably know by now, Apple won its latest round with the music industry by refusing to move from their flat-rate pricing model to a more tiered model where new releases are significantly more expensive than long tail catalog product.

And while yesterday Kirk had a real nice insight as to why the record companies backed down, I have a slightly different take.