Apple to Trump Zune Pass?

[David Tucker]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/5524' target='_blank'>http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/5524</a><br /><br /></div><em>&ldquo;Is Apple ready to jump on the music subscription bandwagon? It seems out of character, since they won&rsquo;t (at least so far) even go so far as to consider tiered pricing, but the reports are there. More to the point: does it make sense for Apple and the music industry?&rdquo; - <a href="http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/5524">Michael Santo, RealTechNews.com</a></em><br /><br />Whenever someone has ever asked me why I don&rsquo;t have an iPod, I&rsquo;ve always been very truthful in my answer. I would have had an iPod about three years ago if it wasn&rsquo;t for the fact that I own almost no music. At that time, before the Zune, I was on board Plays For Sure and a Yahoo music subscription. That reasoning has held for a while now. Usually, the advice I&rsquo;m given is to just steal the music. I am firmly against that. And so, when Microsoft offered the Zune, I jumped on it. I&rsquo;m glad I wasn&rsquo;t locked into the iPod ecosystem at that point because, music subscription aside, I think the Zune is a superior device. Not heads and shoulders above but it is likely to be my music player of choice for some time.<br /><br />If this rumor is true and Apple is trying to come out with their own subscription model then Microsoft will lose one of its biggest edges. I think it&rsquo;s almost essential that Apple comes out with subscription. Subscription is the future of content and despite Apple&rsquo;s posturing, I&rsquo;m sure it knows it. The plan that Apple proposes isn&rsquo;t as good as what I currently can get with Zune but it does have a lot of merits. The premium on the player would pay itself off after just a few months for the end user. I can&rsquo;t figure out how Apple would make any money on it that way but I&rsquo;ll leave that in their hands.<br /><br />Personally I&rsquo;d like to see it happen so that all the people on iPods will finally come to understand what a music subscription is. I&rsquo;m not sure if Apple&rsquo;s business model is workable but if it is then the bar for Zune 3G will be that much higher!

[Rocco Augusto]

Apple releasing a subscription service would be just as bad as Fonzie jumping the shark. :D

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1084/fonziejumpsthesharkpngdt3.jpg

[David Tucker]

For who? The biggest loser here would be Microsoft if it were true.

[Alber1690]

If Apple does offer its users a subscription service, Microsoft better say goodbye to iPod converts, well most of them. Because the real benefiters of the Zune and Zune Pass were those "loyal" iPod customers who were paying .99 per track and buying 30+ tracks a month. Now, they won't have a reason to even consider Zune.

The same applies to anyone who was paying anyone else per-track or for a subscription plan and decided to switch to Zune, like David.

[David Tucker]

The important thing, as always, is that Microsoft needs to continue to differentiate itself. FM music & music subscription has always been huge for me but there is one thing that would blow it completely out the box. Give me a movie subscription.

[Kacey Green]

RealTechNews.com</a></em><br /><br />Whenever someone has ever asked me why I don&rsquo;t have an iPod, I&rsquo;ve always been very truthful in my answer. I would have had an iPod about three years ago if it wasn&rsquo;t for the fact that I own almost no music. At that time, before the Zune, I was on board Plays For Sure and a Yahoo music subscription. That reasoning has held for a while now. Usually, the advice I&rsquo;m given is to just steal the music. I am firmly against that. And so, when Microsoft offered the Zune, I jumped on it.

Same here, except it was Urge and I waited until, Urge no longer exisited.

The important thing, as always, is that Microsoft needs to continue to differentiate itself. FM music & music subscription has always been huge for me but there is one thing that would blow it completely out the box. Give me a movie subscription.
Movie and Music Videos will do us well.

[onlydarksets]

I'd consider an iPod or iPhone if it had subscription services.

[Rocco Augusto]

For who? The biggest loser here would be Microsoft if it were true.

I think this would hurt Apple in the long run as they have established themselves as the upper crust of the digital media world. When I discuss subscription based music most people (usually comes up when talking about the Zune) people usually turn their noses up to the idea, mostly because you don't "own" the music.

When people think of subscription services, they think of companies like Urge, eMusic and Napster - all of which are viewed as "cheap" alternatives to iTunes. For Apple to go and offer the same "cheap" service I feel would hurt their brand in the long run.

Though I remember reading something earlier that stated that the average iPod owner only purchases around 20-75 songs from iTunes during the lifespan of their handset. Who knows, this could be a huge money maker for Apple.

[David Tucker]

Personally I think the concept of 'owning' music is absurd and if someone is so 'elite' that they can't rent music and would look down on Apple for offering their customers a variety of options to own music, then that's their problem. Apple would make more money than they'd lose. (And where would these people even go?) I'd bet money that as soon as Apple came out with a subscription service all the Apple people deriding it would mostly vanish.

I own my music experience far more than someone who buys their favorite 75 songs over the course of 5 years. Why? Because not only do I listen to everything I want but I listen to new things I may not even know exist. If that's not owning my music experience, I don't know what is.

[Rocco Augusto]

If it wasn't for the fact that music subscription based services were DRM'ed, I would gladly sign up for one. I understand wholeheartedly why it would be stupid to offer a subscription that wasn't DRM'ed, but I personally just cannot deal with the restriction. I like to listen to my music literally everywhere and DRM'ed media prevents me from doing so.

As for those people that feel they are too elite... well, we are talking about a company that has built a fair share of their recent momentum off super snobby and elitist-holier-than-everything-im-better-cause-i-use-a-mac type of commercials such as these...

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/9317/imapcimamacuz0.jpg

It would just seem foolish to charge someone almost $2,000USD for a underpowered laptop with no optical drive and than offer that person an all you can eat music pass. Customers of Apple products usually can afford to spend a little extra, it just seems so out of character to offer such a pocket friendly service. :o

[David Tucker]

The problem with that logic is that the iPod is mass market. They've sold 10s of millions of the thing. They're not selling to the 'snobby elite'. The snobby elite of the music world are not generally iPod fans, quite actually. (Not that they're Zune fans either...) When I was an iRiver T10 owner and on some of the iRiver forums, I really saw some people there who were truly into their music.

I don't think its out of character for Apple to offer a pocket friendly service either. Apple products are expensive. Somewhat. Its hard to argue the iPod line, any of them, are currently overpriced. The iPhone voice & data plans are pretty reasonable too. Apple isn't in business to rip its customers off...its in business to make as much money as they can and if they felt a music subscription could make them money, you better believe they're going to offer it.

As far as you not wanting to deal with subscription restrictions (its not even true DRM since you don't own it)...I don't see how its really an issue any more. Can every computer in my house play the music? Check. Can my 360? Check. Can my Zune? Check. Where's the last hold out? My car (where I enjoy listening to the local radio anyway...but that's me. I like my FM tuner ;) ) However, my stereo system will be getting an upgrade in the near future to include a line in. And with that there is no place in my life that I couldn't listen to my subscription music...I imagine its the same for most people. I can't even dream of what else you would want to do with it.

[onlydarksets]

If it wasn't for the fact that music subscription based services were DRM'ed, I would gladly sign up for one. I understand wholeheartedly why it would be stupid to offer a subscription that wasn't DRM'ed, but I personally just cannot deal with the restriction. I like to listen to my music literally everywhere and DRM'ed media prevents me from doing so.

I can do that with PFS (or Zune Pass). My MP3 player, computer, Vista Media Center, and phone can all play music from my subscription service. I guess the only thing I can't do is burn it to a CD, but, personally, that wouldn't give me any place new to listen to the music.

[Rocco Augusto]

TWhen I was an iRiver T10 owner

I think I still have mine floating around the house somewhere! :D

I don't see how its really an issue any more. Can every computer in my house play the music? Check. Can my 360? Check. Can my Zune? Check. Where's the last hold out? My car (where I enjoy listening to the local radio anyway...but that's me. I like my FM tuner ;) )

I should have mentioned that I spend a majority of my computing time using Ubuntu and while I do switch back and forth to Vista regularly, it just gets annoying to have to log into Windows or start up VMWare Workstation just to listen to music. I would just use my Zune, but than I have to wear the headphones and when I'm at home or in the office, I like to play music through my speakers.

I know, I know. I should just suck it up and buy some docking station/speaker set up for my Zune but I haven't really had the time to find a really good one that I like. :o

[David Tucker]

Just buy a cable and plug into the line in ;)

[Rocco Augusto]

Just buy a cable and plug into the line in ;)

I do that sometimes, especially in the car, but it never sounds as good as I want it to and find myself turning the volume up pretty high on the device or the stereo and than forgetting about it when I unplug it... which in turns causes me to have a heart attack the next time I use to car stereo and forget its turned up so high. :)