[CUBE] itunes 4-Where to now?

[Joost van de Griek]

On 2003-05-01 18:22, Sean Terrill wrote:

> Quoth Joost van de Griek (joost at jvdg.net) at 5/1/03 5:58:
> 
>> On 2003-05-01 09:30, Sean Terrill wrote:
>> 
>>> Quoth SnowWhite (jj4 at sympatico.ca) at 4/30/03 11:58:
>>> 
>>>> I think music stores are in deep trouble now.  They will need to fill
>>>> niches that on-line does not cover. But that begs the question-Is server
>>>> storage and bandwidth cheaper than a physical location and is it able to
>>>> cover the niches more effectively. I think Apple definately has an
>>>> advantage with server space.
>>> 
>>> Possible, but I doubt it. The technology to deliver online books has been
>>> around for a decade but book stores are still doing just fine, because there
>>> are people who prefer the old medium.
>> 
>> But books != music. There are distinct reasons why, with books, some (most)
>> people prefer the old medium; you hold it in your hands to use it. With
>> music, the medium is irrelevant; as long as the music is coming from the
>> speakers, who cares what the medium is?
> 
> But there are advantages to CDs as well. Some people enjoy having the liner
> notes/lyrics/whatever that come with the CD. A CD is inherently portable
> (not everyone has an MP3 player) and a very common standard (almost
> everyone, even if they don't have a PC, can play CDs; a computer or other
> MP3 player is harder to find and a AAC player even harder). No compressed
> format will ever truly have CD quality either, so hardcore audiophiles will
> probably continue to buy CDs until the technology catches up to their
> expectations. My point in all this is that the medium still makes a huge
> difference in how you listen to music.

Again, I didn't (and don't argue that point. I like having actual CD's, too.

All I was objecting to was the "it didn't work for books, therefore it will
not work for CD's" statement.

However, seeing as there are huge numbers of people trading electronic
copies of CD's already, whereas with books, this is a much smaller problem,
I would be inclined to think that when it comes down to it, people find the
medium of bigger importance in the case of books than in the case of music.

,xtG
.tsooJ
-- 
You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the
best golfer is a black guy, The Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is
accusing the US of arrogance, and Germany doesn't want to go to war.
-- 
Joost van de Griek
<http://www.jvdg.net/>