Itunes

[imnotanaddict]

Originally posted by GLiO@19 October 2003 - 05:10
A few days ago Apple released their Windows version of iTunes. If you don't know what iTunes is, it's a music download program that lets you search for songs and arists, sample the music at CD quality, then buy and download the songs for $.99 each.

I took it upon myself to try it out.

I have been a steady Kazaa user ever since Napster died. I've downloaded hundreds of songs (not at a time, mind you) from Kazaa and burned tons of CDs.

So I download the iTunes software (free from itunes.com) and installed without problems. The first thing I noticed is that it didn't try to install any adware or Internet Explorer favorites. This is always nice. Once the program opened I see the Mac style interface we all know and love/hate.

You have to register a username and password which takes all of a minute. Credit card information is also needed so you can purchase songs.

I wanted to find a song by Eve 6 and I couldn't remeber the name or any lyrics, but thankfully iTunes let's you stream a CD quality 30 second sample, and it's almost instant. Finding the song was easy with this feature. A great relief from Kazaa; where if you don't know the name of song, your stuck downloading a bunch of random songs, some of which may have bad quality or never start.

iTunes only has one version of a song, unless it has explicit lyrics, then they also offer a clean version of the song (another nice feature). And you don't have to worry about the songs having fuzz, clicks, low quality or any of those other annoying things that are common in Kazaa audio files.

I can't tell you how refreshing it is to search for a song and find it, and not have to worry about how many sources or bandwidth it has and which filename is the one you want. I love it.

The only things that bugged me was it is a little slow loading different sections of the program (music store, music library etc). The other is that the files don't have an .mp3 extension and you can't open them in anything but iTunes or Quicktime (which I hear is changing soon).

At $.99 a song, its very affordable. This is great because now you never have to buy an entire CD (for those who still buy CDs) for just a few songs. Once you have the songs, you can freely burn them to a CD, or if you have an iPod, load them on there.

I don't know about anyone else here, but I got a great satisfaction out of knowing that I own the files, fully and legally.

There are so many more features in iTunes like radio and importing your current music library into iTunes, but I don't have time to go into them.

So overall I give iTunes an 8 out of 10. I just thought I'd give everyone an idea of what to expect in the future and what not.

Feel free to post your feedback here.

I don't know about anyone else here, but I got a great satisfaction out of knowing that I own the files, fully and legally.

Oh cool that means you can share them without reprocusions then right? I mean
if you own them fully and legally you can do with them what you like.

.99 a song isnt that close to in many instances the same as cd price? Although granted I see the advantage if you only like 1 o 2 songs on a cd. .99 a song could get expensive if you want an extensive library.

[DasScoot]

Originally posted by imnotanaddict@19 October 2003 - 06:16


Oh cool that means you can share them without reprocusions then right? I mean
if you own them fully and legally you can do with them what you like.

.99 a song isnt that close to in many instances the same as cd price? Although granted I see the advantage if you only like 1 o 2 songs on a cd. .99 a song could get expensive if you want an extensive library.

You own a copy of the song, you do not own the rights to redistribute them.




Personnally, I'll buy into this when 2 things happen: they release them in normal mp3 form, and when I have money to spend.

[ScotchGuy]

It seems nice, but I would never use it.

I've never downloaded a fake off of Kazaa, it's amazing how far common sense will take you. I have found a few songs that were of terrible quality (3 out of 450). Just check the quality before the download and you should be fine.

What turns me off the most about this is that it's song format is only supported for iPod. That's just plain stupid, why would I spend $450 for all of my songs and then only be able to listen to them in my nonexistent iPod. Apple's got quite a deal going for them. Spend a $.99 a song and then spend $300 dollars for the only thing that plays that format.

I've spent a total of $0 to listen to 450 songs. Or with Apple I could spend $750, which is the better deal? I think I'll take my chances with the RIAA.

[mogadishu]

this is the most pointless program ever created. you hardly save any money.. and u cant have them in mp3.. and u dont get the cd. whats the point. id rather spend 15 on a cd, than 12 on a bunch of mp3s. ... but 15 is too expensive so i just use soulseek.

[kenny g]

Originally posted by GLiO@19 October 2003 - 14:10


I don't know about anyone else here, but I got a great satisfaction out of knowing that I own the files, fully and legally.

I don't know about anyone else here, but I get a great sense of satisafaction out of knowing that I have obtained the files completely free without paying money to any recording industry scum and therefore knowing that I
have money to spend on other things .

Yes, you may well not be working for apple directly but you certainly stink of a marketeer in action mate. Sorry if I am wrong , like .

[Xanex]

What I would like to know is what they class as "CD Quality"

if its any less than 192kbps then they can got hell

they can goto hell anyway =)

doubt i can use it im in the UK tho at the rate of 99c a track thats loads cheaper than over here if you convert the currency.

on a side note, kinda amases me and puzzles at the same time that the largest stock exchange in the world, the $ is worth less than the £ currently 1.62$ to the 1£, any clues on this?


Xan

(fish) (bait) (fire)

[kenny g]

Originally posted by Xanex@19 October 2003 - 22:35


on a side note, kinda amases me and puzzles at the same time that the largest stock exchange in the world, the $ is worth less than the £ currently 1.62$ to the 1£, any clues on this?

well , Japan has the world's second biggest economy and you get 186 yen for your squidney . It is only numbers at the end of the day . It only relates to how they started off . I mean you get 2.2 lbs in a Kilo but it doesn't mean that things are heavier in metric countries.

[echidna]

I'm really disappointed to read that apple has made these changes to itunes for windows. On Mac OS itunes keeps files as mp3 or as wav and the primary function of itunes was as a cd ripper and music collection management rather than as a file search/acquisition system.
itunes also burned great audio and mp3 cds

i will probably give it a try because it is so great on mac but as i said i'm disappointed that apple has seen fit to retard itunes like this. what a pisser.
when i first met it itunes was the best cd ripper i'd ever used, it made all of the windows rippers seem like annoying toys, alas.

a couple of clarifying questions...

is it still a good ripper? does it still burn good compilations? do current versions of itunes for mac OS use the proprietary m4p format? is the proprietary format only for songs downloaded from apple or are ripped tracks saved like this too?

[cosmic doobie]

The corporates are killing music.
iTunes can suck my plums !
99 cents a track - still too expensive!

It's zero cents on Kazaa Lite

[Xanex]

Originally posted by kenny g+19 October 2003 - 15:05--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (kenny g @ 19 October 2003 - 15:05)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Xanex@19 October 2003 - 22:35


on a side note, kinda amases me and puzzles at the same time that the largest stock exchange in the world, the &#036; is worth less than the £ currently 1.62&#036; to the 1£, any clues on this?

well , Japan has the world&#39;s second biggest economy and you get 186 yen for your squidney . It is only numbers at the end of the day . It only relates to how they started off . I mean you get 2.2 lbs in a Kilo but it doesn&#39;t mean that things are heavier in metric countries. [/b][/quote]
i mean in the sense a CD is still worth a CD when you boil down to it (not literally).

so if you equate 99c to 1 track thats about 14-16 tracks on a good cd, roughly 15&#036; for a CD, you where as its about £13 for a good cd here (good cd = chart and antichart stuff)

and since its about 1.62&#036; to the £ work it out.

SO all in all, is a CD still worth a CD? go figure. i guess they should just have prices like that fixed or somethin, some cd&#39;s i can get on import cheaper than if i where to buy them here.

oh well just a thought