apple unlimited

[stimpsonslostson]

Apple are in talks with record labels to allow them to sell the ipod/iphone with UNLIMITED music!
you pay a one off or monthly subscription which allows your device to access itunes stores and download anything you want for the lifetime of the contract/device. Sounds like napster to me... but on a HUGE scale.
What do we think? Death knell for the CD industry?
I can't decide personally... I like the instant access to music of itunes, but still prefer to have the cd.
Will you be able to burn copies? Back it up? Lots of ifs, but potentially interesting.
P

[Mike]

I would pay for the instant access for music and as much as I liked. I would be faced with so much choice though it might be a bit intimidating. I would still buy my favourites on CD though for the full HI-FI quality - the radio transmitted mp3's just don't cut it on my B&W speakers!

[Mike]

Here is an article about it on CNET

[mr_e]

...for the lifetime of the contract...

Screw that, to be quite frank: I want music that doesn't disappear if I stop paying money to Apple.

[Mike]

I thought that actually happened on Napster as well. . .

[mr_e]

I know Apple aren't the first people to come up with this piece of shit idea to effectively extort money from people (should that be "ensure customer loyalty"?), and I despised Napster for it when they did it as well. I'm not biased against Apple or anything, and at least they're less likely to go bankrupt... do you think they'd sell this side of the business on to someone if they did go under? Not exactly sure how that would be handled, but it's an important question. If the service is super-cheap, then I may well change my mind on it, but we shall see.

[Mike]

I am sure it will not be super cheap! But you sort of hope it would be. Personally I would probably pay it and then buy my favourites. . . . PROBABLY being the operative word. I don't want to see £20 a month going on nothing.

[mr_e]

If it's cheap enough it may be feasible to use it as a screening service before buying "real" versions of the albums. I'm expecting a one-year minimum subscription and reasonable use clauses somewhere. Incidentally, HMV actually had (not been on their website in a while) a credits system whereby you could listen to tracks for about 2p each, which may be a better option if you want to use t'internet as a "try before you buy" service. I think I'll sit tight on further comments until I see the pricing and terms on this.