Tower is launching their download site.

I mean, how much competition is really out there for services trying to compete with iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster...
Do individual retailers like Tower and Walmart really attract people to buy songs online instead of at a one stop shop like iTunes?

I know some services have exclusives, but come on, they are all pretty much .99 a track, or 9.99 an album, excluding eMusic. If they would have lower prices or higher quality or varying selection, I could mentally justify the different services.

I wish they would all at least try to compete with eMusic in terms of price and lack of restrictions.

its probably not very expensive to set up, comparative to building another brick and mortar store, they have name recognition, and probably more afraid of getting put the fuck out of business than they are of trying to adapt and compete.

Remember, Timmy, this is all about business.

Yeah, we should only have one retail outlet per good.

PS: Fuck iTunes.

My real question is who actually pays to download music?

My feeling has always been that I'll download it for free, or I'll buy the cd. I'm not handing over money unless I get something tangible for it.

Does anyone go buy 4 songs from Tower, then download an album from iTunes, then go get something from Napster. For almost all of these download experiences, require installing and setting up software and accounts and all kinds of annoying stuff.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be a few options out there, but do we really need 25 websites, all with their own required software, that have the same thing available for the same price?

I'm all for no required software. I have never paid for digital music, outside of my subscription to eMusic in the Glory Days.

We don't need it, but if it fosters competition and drives the prices down, why not?

Ding, ding...we have a winnah.

I would think it would take a lot of money to set up, and then a lot less money to administer. They would have to rip and catalog like a zillion cds.

Is this a serious statement?

i paid for some songs from itunes once
NEVER AGAIN

im wondering is there a quick way to turn them into mp3's?
they protected into shit
and i dont want to burn a cd just to rip it

This makes me sad because what you are saying is that all the value is the piece of plastic and paper. Should it cost less in digital form, most definitely but the idea that digital music should be free and has no value is wrong.

Yes.

You don't think that Tower is going to have a team of fucking monkeys working around the clock to burn all the cds in each store do you?!

Don't you think that they would enter into some kind of licensing agreement with the distributors, and come up with the content that way?

no no no...
starve the artist
we'll get better music

moby told me so and shit

im not being sarcastic
well
the moby thing was

How would I know how their license agreement works or how much effort it is to make all the content accessible on their website? I'm sure they have some automated system to make each album available, but there would be license agreements for each record label. How would I know how they create and maintain a website with such a vast amount of pages and files?

Hmmm...Simple Goddamn common sense?

You don't think that they work with those labels through "traditional" distribution resources?

I would be willing to bet a million dollars to a donut that they do.

Uh, ok. I'm sorry I have no Goddamn common sense about how music retailers develop, and maintain their cyberstores. My bad. I'm such a fucking moron that I am ashamed. It must really be a good idea that a floundering music store chain is prodding into digital sales since they can't seem to run their retail stores to make profits anymore. It seems like a good idea for them to prod into what already seems like a watered down market. Maybe they will invest a bazillion dollars into internet advertising next. That seems to be the way people are going these days.

ha funny you should bring this up.

My husband has been using iTunes lately so I decided to download some songs from there, hoping to put them on a burned playlist.

Just found out the hard way about 30 minutes ago that that isn't possible. What a friggin joke.

I'm so annoyed right now.

*whistles*

You can make a burned playlist from iTunes, can't you? I thought you couldn't after five times, but once you should be fine.

I only use Itunes to make mix cd's of songs I downloaded from free mp3 sites like 3hive. I'm hoping they get so many digital download services that actually have to compete against each other that they drive the price of complete albums down to about $3.50.