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Why Buy Music From iTunes?

mzpro5

Well-Known Member
Famous
Well with the iPad and the iCloud I considered buying some music from iTunes.

So I settle on Vince Gill's newest "Guitar Slinger" iTunes wants 11.99 for it. Before buying I check Amazon - they are selling the CD for 8.99 and the MP3 album for 8.99.

So I checked several other albums that are listed in the top sellers.

Ambition by Wale - iTunes 13.99 Amazon CD 9.99
Under the Mistletoe by J. Bieber - iTunes 14.99 Amazon CD 11.99
For the Record by Mirand Lambert - iTunes 13.99 Amazon CD 9.99

I can get a physical copy of the album that is mine with higher SQ for less - where is the incentive to use iTunes?
 
The advantage iTunes offers is that you don't have to spend the time/effort ripping and transcoding the physical disc to your music library. You also have a benefit of having that music available to all of your iDevices using iCloud without having to connect to the PC to sync. I think the icloud service makes all of your iTunes purchases available, so you can't loose the files of your computer ever fails.

For the record though, I'm with you. I don't buy music from iTunes.
 
The only reason is convenience for people who want to buy it and listen to it immediately within seconds of the purchase (and are unwilling to go to Amazon.com and buy it there). Otherwise, it makes more sense to buy from the Amazon MP3 store since it's cheaper. That's my take anyway. Sadly, in this day and age I think there are plenty of people who will pay more to do a fraction less work.
 
Towen7 said:
The advantage iTunes offers is that you don't have to spend the time/effort ripping and transcoding the physical disc to your music library. You also have a benefit of having that music available to all of your iDevices using iCloud without having to connect to the PC to sync. I think the icloud service makes all of your iTunes purchases available, so you can't loose the files of your computer ever fails.

For the record though, I'm with you. I don't buy music from iTunes.

That's why I was going to try it but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend 3-4 bucks more for lesser quality just to save the 1-3 minutes it would take to add it to my computer.

I'm really waiting for the deal to upload my music library to iCloud for a yearly price.
 
Amazon and Google both have cloud-player services that let you upload your collection.
 
Towen7 said:
Amazon and Google both have cloud-player services that let you upload your collection.

I've already got some stuff from my collection on the Amazon cloud but they only allow file uploads and not folders which most of my albums are.
 
In fairness, these price differences you cited are more the exception than the norm. More often than not, Amazon's CD prices are higher than that same album on iTunes. That said, the iWorld is all about iConvenience. It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to be better and it doesn't necessarily have to be economical, it just has to be convenient. And there's no denying, having a new album in the 15 seconds it takes to point, click and download is pretty friggin' convenient.
 
Zing said:
And there's no denying, having a new album in the 15 seconds it takes to point, click and download is pretty friggin' convenient.

Especially when you've had a few cocktails. I'll admit, both my wife and I are guilty of taking the iConvenient route when we're drinking and listening to music :)
 
After buying that "downloaded" music file, can iTunes take it off your player if they loose rights to the "music" ?
Just wondering ?
 
AndySTL said:
The only reason is convenience for people who want to buy it and listen to it immediately within seconds of the purchase (and are unwilling to go to Amazon.com and buy it there). Otherwise, it makes more sense to buy from the Amazon MP3 store since it's cheaper. That's my take anyway. Sadly, in this day and age I think there are plenty of people who will pay more to do a fraction less work.



Actually, it makes more sense to buy the CD used on Amazon. Much cheaper than MP3 (depending on title), lossless CD sound, and it's a hard copy you can use for back ups.

I agree about downloaded music being more convenient. Nothing will beat that, but I would still rather have the higher quality CD version even if it means me having to wait 2-3 days for that extra savings and quality.

I just wish more people had that same mindset. If they did, then maybe we would see more music from iTunes, Amazon, etc. available in a lossless format like Flac and/or Apple Lossless. Then we would have the best of both worlds....quality AND convenience.
 
Yesfan70 said:
AndySTL said:
The only reason is convenience for people who want to buy it and listen to it immediately within seconds of the purchase (and are unwilling to go to Amazon.com and buy it there). Otherwise, it makes more sense to buy from the Amazon MP3 store since it's cheaper. That's my take anyway. Sadly, in this day and age I think there are plenty of people who will pay more to do a fraction less work.



Actually, it makes more sense to buy the CD used on Amazon. Much cheaper than MP3 (depending on title), lossless CD sound, and it's a hard copy you can use for back ups.

I agree about downloaded music being more convenient. Nothing will beat that, but I would still rather have the higher quality CD version even if it means me having to wait 2-3 days for that extra savings and quality.

I just wish more people had that same mindset. If they did, then maybe we would see more music from iTunes, Amazon, etc. available in a lossless format like Flac and/or Apple Lossless. Then we would have the best of both worlds....quality AND convenience.

:text-+1:

I completely agree Yesfan! :text-bravo:


Dennie
 
Barney said:
After buying that "downloaded" music file, can iTunes take it off your player if they loose rights to the "music" ?
Just wondering ?

I don't think this is a big concern Barney! (Howdy BTW! :greetings-waveyellow: ) They buy the rights before they offer the music, think Beatles, and once they own the rights, they own the rights. No take backs!



Dennie
 
Yesfan70 said:
Actually, it makes more sense to buy the CD used on Amazon. Much cheaper than MP3 (depending on title), lossless CD sound, and it's a hard copy you can use for back ups.

I hear ya, but I'm assuming that most people who are using or considering using iTunes for purchases are not interested in having the disc at all. I think they prefer the backup to be on an external hard drive etc... I think we can all agree that iTunes was designed with convenience being among the highest priorities.
 
AndySTL said:
Yesfan70 said:
Actually, it makes more sense to buy the CD used on Amazon. Much cheaper than MP3 (depending on title), lossless CD sound, and it's a hard copy you can use for back ups.

I hear ya, but I'm assuming that most people who are using or considering using iTunes for purchases are not interested in having the disc at all. I think they prefer the backup to be on an external hard drive etc... I think we can all agree that iTunes was designed with convenience being among the highest priorities.
Absolutely and Quality often takes a backseat to "Convenience"! :angry-banghead:


Dennie
 
AndySTL said:
Yesfan70 said:
...I hear ya, but I'm assuming that most people who are using or considering using iTunes for purchases are not interested in having the disc at all. I think they prefer the backup to be on an external hard drive etc... I think we can all agree that iTunes was designed with convenience being among the highest priorities.



Totally agree. My main beef is I wished more people were more involved with music. Mainstream is nothing more than singles and the average joe doesn't seem to take any interest in what else a particular artist might also produce.

Many people I know, mostly people that work with me, are amazed on how much I "know" about music. What funny is over half of my knowledge has came from liner notes in my albums. It's amazing how much a music fan can learn about a particular artist if they take some time to sit down and read the liner notes. It's even more enjoyable when you're doing that while listening to that album.

Music can offer so much more than people think.
 
Im not trying to convince anyone that itunes is great,but for me its not the conveinance,but i have a hard time finding music i like,sometimes i sample 20 to 30 songs from an artist before i find a song or 2 i want to purchase.it actually saves me a lot of money. in the last few years ive purchased a couple hundred songs from itunes,and if i instead bought the entire cds it would have cost an extra 1000$ ,if you listen to entire cds the used route seems like a great idea.
 
That's exactly why I'm such a fan of subscription services like Rhapsody. You get the opportunity to sample stuff before you buy the disc.
 
For those of you who don't know, iTunes increased their sample time from 30 to 90 seconds a few months ago. I, for one, find that hugely beneficial.
 
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