iTunes Music Store

[Kenny Gioia]

So what do you all think.

Good for the music industry or bad.

I like the simplicity and fair pricing.

Not crazy about the reduced quality (although better than mp3)

I think some artist will get hurt.

It would be nice if some independents could buy some add space so some artists could keep a big chunk of that $.99

I would also like to see some free downloads for multiple purchases or just to promote new artists.

I like the 30 sec audition.

[ckevperry]

Might start a whole new trend of artists releasing single songs between albums. That would be appealing to many artists I bet.

It is so addictively quick and easy to buy songs.

If Apple really wants to double their revenues, I think they should hurry up and finish itunes for windows.

[jimlongo]

i think it's brilliant for consumers. I don't mind the quality, sure I'd prefer 192/96 but the sad truth is that I have little time to sit in front of good monitors in rapt attention any more. Besides as bandwidth, disk sizes, and better encoding etc., become more ubiquitous sound quality will get better.

Even now, if done well most AACs will sound as good as the source material on a lot of back catalog.

Ahhhhhh the hits of the 50's 60's and 70's. If it was available here I would have bought 30 songs on my first visit that I will never buy if I am forced to go buy re-issues on CDs.

The other thing I think will take off is the idea of the Artist Page as promotional material. You know if I was a recording artist I'd be banging on my record companies door right now wanting to know what I have to do to get one of those feature pages that directs you to video, exclusive tracks, or webpage. That's where I see some real marketing opportunities for artist's and record companies.

[jho]

The results are yet to be seen, but I view them as promising. It should curb the file sharing out of convenience because it will be an even better service and the price is nothing really.

I give it 2 thumbs up on first glance...

I like the suggestion to get indy's on there..

[Barnabas]

What is going to keep people from buying a song from Apple and then sharing it through a Napster-like program? Is there any copy protection on these AAC files?

[Kenny Gioia]

Yes it is copy protected.

You can only play it on three different computers.

And you can only burn 10 cd's from an identical playlist