subscription posts

Why iTunes needs to offer an album-based subscription service

by Sang Tang (RSS feed) on Sep 14th, 2009

One of the key announcements to come out of Apple's "It's only rock and roll, but I like it" event on September 9th was iTunes LP. As implied in its name, iTunes LP seeks to provide a more rich album experience, something that has taken a backseat given the decline of physical albums.

iTunes LP includes features typically found on physical albums, such as liner notes and photos, as well as exclusive video content. One of the goals of iTunes LP is to resuscitate album sales, which have been struggling in the iTunes age of à la carte individual track sales. While iTunes LP provides a means to resuscitate the album, an album-based subscription service would further this goal even more.

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Tags: a la carte, a la carte pricing, ALaCarte, ALaCartePricing, album sales, AlbumSales, declining album sales, DecliningAlbumSales, itunes lp, itunes music store, itunes store, ItunesLp, ItunesMusicStore, ItunesStore, subscription

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, iTS, Multimedia, iTunes, Apple

Rumor: Apple to offer iTunes subscription model

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Mar 19th, 2008

According to the Financial Times, Apple is (still) considering an "all-you-can-eat" subscription model, which is strange, because why would anyone want to eat digital music? They must mean "listen." Yes, as speculated before (in order to figure out what Jobs will be doing in a year, just listen to what he says he won't do now, apparently), Apple might come up with a plan where you would pay either a monthly fee or a lifetime subscription to download music from iTunes presumably straight into your iPod or iPhone.

Supposedly what's holding the deal up isn't the price negotiation between consumers and Apple, it's between Apple and the record companies. Nokia, which is planning a similar deal, is reportedly happy to pay $80 per device to the music companies for the rights, but Apple is only offering $20.

Which makes sense -- Apple is the 800 lb. gorilla in the media device market, and so they have the ability in most cases to pay what they want or not bother. If the two sides do come to a deal, however, even the terms of property are still up in the air. A few ideas being bounced around would let consumers keep a certain number of songs even if they changed devices, while some deals would only allow access while the subscription was active.

What this may mean for us as consumers, at least, would be that Apple is planning to bring the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store to even more devices in the iPod line (or at least expand the capacity of the iPod touch to hold a subscription collection like this). If Apple really is planning to open up their library to a subscription, they should make it as easy as possible to obtain the music on demand.

Tags: all-you-can-listen, apple, business-model, financial times, FinancialTimes, itunes, model, rumor, subscription

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Odds and ends

Gaming-specific CrossOver coming soon

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 8th, 2008

MacWindows reports that CrossOver (which was already doing pretty well with Windows games inside OS X) is planning to release a gaming-optimized version of their virtualization software. It'll be called CrossOver Gaming, and while we're not actually given details of how it's going to be "optimized" for games, we are told that it will be compatible with more Windows games than ever before.

Additionally, the new version will actually be a subscription model-- instead of just buying the software, you'll pay $5 a month (presumably for quick updates on brand new games). Other than that, we're not quite sure what advantage CrossOver's system will have over, say, running games in Windows via Boot Camp (seems to me that if you have the hardware to run Windows games, you have the hardware to run Windows and games at the same time), but we'll have to see-- CrossOver says the new Gaming version is due sometime later this year.

[Via IMG]

Tags: crossover, games, gaming, software, subscription, virtualization, windows

Filed under: iLife, Software, Cool tools, .Mac

Pomoto 1.0.1 plays better with iPhoto

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 22nd, 2007

Pomoto is basically a replacement for iPhoto's .Mac web albums, designed to take your iPhoto collection and put it on the web with as little trouble as possible. Like FlickrExport (although this is a separate app, of course, not a plugin), it looks like a pretty smooth way to get all the cool stuff in iPhoto out where everyone else can see it.

The latest version, 1.0.1, includes support for iPhoto 7 Smart Albums and Events, better "privatization" of private Albums, and "more robust photo loading," which I'll leave up to you to decide. Since Pomoto publishes your photos for you, it's really an app tagged into a subscription service, so it costs either $3 a month or $30 a year. If you really like the .Mac photo publishing features, but don't need all of .Mac, it's definitely worth checking out.

Tags: .mac, iphoto, photos, pomoto, replacement, subscription

Filed under: Gaming, Multimedia, Software

GameTap Lite client (finally) released

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 10th, 2007

The long awaited GameTap client for the Mac is out (direct download right here), and our (newly redesigned) sister site for all things gaming Joystiq put together this video (complete with music from "Psycho Mother$*#^ing Soldier"), along with a pictoral preview of what you can expect when you download and install.

According to Joystiq, the Transgaming setup works very well-- they even found an Xbox 360 controller driver to use with it, and the client brought them right into OS X arcade gaming heaven. There are apparently some games you can play for free, but most games will require a subscription; we're told it's 99 cents for the first month, and it'll be about $7 to $10 a month after that, depending on how often you pay. This client is actually the "Lite" version-- GameTap says the deluxe version is coming later this year which will offer full screen gameplay, the ability to download more games while playing, and "a richer game environment," whatever that means. What are you waiting for? Download that sucker and go psycho, solider!

Tags: client, games, gametap, joystiq, psychosoldier, release, software, subscription

Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, Steve Jobs, Apple

Jobs: iPod users don't want to rent music

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Apr 26th, 2007

Reuters reports that Steve isn't looking to create a subscription-based iTunes model. "Never say never, but customers don't seem to be interested in it," Jobs told Reuters. "The subscription model has failed so far." Jobs said that iTunes customers want to own their music, not rent it.

I think that's a pity because I've tasted a subscription model and actually enjoyed using it. Given Apple's move away from DRM, a necessary component of music subscription, Jobs stance is not a surprise. TUAW readers weighed in on subscriptions in this recent post.

Tags: Da Steve, DaSteve, music, rent, renting, Steve Jobs, SteveJobs, subscription, subscription model, SubscriptionModel

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTS

Do you want to rent your music?

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Apr 3rd, 2007

For $15/month you can load up a Zune with a wide (although not exhaustive) catalog of rental music. Your music plays back for the length of your subscription and your credit card is automatically charged each month until you cancel. Of course, for the same $180/year you can purchase quite a few iTunes albums and singles (or go completely wacky at a used CD store or swapping service like lala.com), but you can't jump onto an actual iPod subscription model.

Subscription models are surprisingly nice. All the music you want, when you want it, without much in the way of limits. If you feel like listening to Nirvana one day and Barry Manilow the next, a subscription model means you can sample without commitment. It's a perfect match to the "for now but not forever" mindset. Sure, if you find something you absolutely love, you can go out and buy it but subscriptions give you the aural equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet (and, sometimes, a similar need for antacid.) With a subscription, Billboard's top music can always be in your pocket.

If an iTunes subscription model was available, would you be willing to try it out? How much would you agree to spend per month? Less than Microsoft's $14.95? More? What dollar amount would you put on such a service? And if iTunes left out album-only tracks the way Zune Marketplace does, would this be an insurmountable barrier to you?

Tags: subscription, zune, zune marketplace, ZuneMarketplace

Filed under: iTunes

Jobs close to winning iTMS pricing war?

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Apr 24th, 2006

The New York Post is reporting that the record companies "might be on the verge" of finally throwing in the towel on the fight for variable pricing in the iTMS. The labels are reportedly pulling out all the stops, with some executives even telling the Post that they are considering allowing their label's deal to simply run out so they could pull their catalog from the store.

With neither side backing down, and the subscription model not even an option in Jobs' eyes, it sounds like things might get interesting soon as every label's contract is due for renewal within the next couple of months. Oddly, the Post forgot to mention that, even with the current iTMS flat-rate $.99/song model, the labels are already raking in far more cash with each song and album sold than with traditional CDs.

While Engadget sounds like they're clamoring for an iTMS subscription model that revokes your entire library the moment you decide to cancel service, I have to say I'm hopeful that Jobs can successfully stick it to the labels and make them deal with a pricing model that actual *gasp* favors consumers. Stay tuned for more iTMS drama as it unfolds.

Tags: 99, executives, iTMS, iTunes, labels, prices, pricing, record, subscription

Filed under: iTS, Multimedia, Video

Avatar: The Last Airbender in iTunes

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Mar 16th, 2006

This afternoon, we noticed that Nick's Avatar: The Last Airbender (which I had never heard of) has been added to the iTunes Music Store [iTunes link]. Nineteen episodes from season 1 are available for $1.99US each.

Season 2 follows the same subscription model that Apple is using to distribute The Daily Show and The Colbert Report: For $29.99US, you can purchase a season pass to Avatar and receive each episode automatically as they're added to the iTMS. Before you do the math, note that season 1 is listed as a "partial season," so it isn't certain how many season 2 episodes you'll get for your thirty bucks.

Tags: itunes, itunes music store, ItunesMusicStore, nickelodeon, season pass, SeasonPass, subscription, video

Filed under: Hardware, Multimedia, iTunes

ROKR E2 dumping iTunes for an iRadio service?

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jan 3rd, 2006

MacRumors picked up on a New York Times report that the forthcoming ROKR E2 will be dumping iTunes in favor of a new subscription-based iRadio service, featuring over 400 channels of commercial-free radio. So basically: instead of a phone that can freely play all of your music, you can pay a reported $7/month for what is basically XM/Sirius in your phone. For those of you still waiting for an iTunes-based ROKR successor, the recently-announced RAZR v3i sounds like it won't dissappoint. In my opinion though, following up the less-than-stellar ROKR with a new version that doesn't even support playing my music is two steps in the wrong direction.

But what do you guys think of this? Do you want a ROKR phone with a radio-on-steriods in it, or are you already yelling "I want my iTunes library!"

Tags: E2, iRadio, iTunes, library, music, phone, radio, ROKR, subscription

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