My take on the iTunes Music Store…

First, let me say, I really like it and have
already purchased a total
of
33 songs off of it. Then, let me point you to all this goodness over
here:

href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/29/arts/music/29POPL.html?ex=1369540800&en=7784bd29a8bc3fd6&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND">Two
from the NY Times: Apple…
Two from the NY Times: href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/29/arts/music/29POPL.html?ex=1369540800&en=7784bd29a8bc3fd6&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND">Apple
Finds the Future for Online Music Sales. Apple Computer’s new
service, iTunes Music Store, has been the first real success story in the
long effort to sell music over the Internet; and:  href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/29/technology/circuits/29tune.html?ex=1369540800&en=d45b1056080cb7b1&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND">Two
Labels Warm Up to MP3’s. Two record labels are including
unprotected MP3 files along with conventional CD audio tracks. [ href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html">New York Times:
Technology] Meanwhile, over on Wired: href="http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,59005,00.html">Listen Up:
Songs Now 79 Cents. [[ t e
c h n o \ c u l t u r e ]]

Now, here’s my criticism, and it has less to do with Apple than it has to
do with the music labels (surprise!) that have licensed their music to be
sold on the iTunes Music Store:
An example: Since it has opened, the iTunes Music Store has had Queens
of the Stone Age as one of their artists with Exclusive Tracks. Nice
and fine, except the only QOTSA tracks they had available were the two
exclusive tracks. Bad move. So, I have been waiting for Songs
for the Deaf to pop up at the iTunes Music Store, b/c I’ve been
jonesing to buy it. Tuesday, I received an email from the store saying
that it had arrived. Yesterday, while at work, I launched iTunes to go
buy the album. I find it and it says it is only a Partial Album and there
is no Buy Entire Album option. I’m sure this is some move by the labels,
to ensure that the person who wants the full album scoots out to a real
world store and buys the CD. But here’s their mistake: I would
have clicked Buy Entire Album and this would have cost them virtually no
production costs to make available, but since it was not available, I only
downloaded “No One Knows” and “Go with the Flow” and will never go
buy the entire album in the store. If they suddenly make the entire album
available now, I’m still not going to click that button, because I already
own two of the songs. All I will do is if another song makes single
status and I like it, I might come back and pick up that song, if I like
it. I am an indication of a lot of lost potential consumer dollars.
Wake up and smell the future, music industry. CDs are
dead.

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