Yet another example of Microsoft copying someone elses great idea years too late and making a pigs ear of it. And yet somehow they manage to get the market share and everyone ends up using their products.
All this means is that consumers pay through the nose for something they could have got 3-4 years ago and much cheaper.
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Microsoft's Answer to iTunes
Microsoft's Answer to iTunes
I agree that the price of some albums is higher than you would get in a real shop but there are albums that are cheaper than the shop price.
You also get the convenience of buying online coupled with being able to preview the tracks you're interested in and are able to buy just the track that you're looking for.
On the other hand iTunes doesn't yet have a large enough catalogue (well for me anyway), there have been many times where I have searched for something and haven't been able to find it.
iTunes has the advantage of built in podcast support, synchronising seamlessly with my iPod (not just the music but calendars, address book, to do list, photos and e-mails). It has a liberal DRM system (listen on up to 5 computers at once, put it on unlimited iPods and burn it onto unlimited CDs. Sound good to you??). The compression used is miles better than MP3 and it's dead easy to share your music over a home or uni network.
I don't know the particulars of the Microsoft system but considering Microsoft's track record (XP activation process), the DRM is going to be painfully restrictive and probably use WMA which is an inferior "standard". Also it probably won't have the same level of support for podcasts and iPods as iTunes does (simply because they're made by different companies) but you can't rule it out.
Some people use the best, some use the cheapest and some are lucky in finding that the cheapest happens to be the best.
Time will tell which one will win out.
---------------------------
Cheap webhosting and domain names.
http://www.toms-hosting.com
You also get the convenience of buying online coupled with being able to preview the tracks you're interested in and are able to buy just the track that you're looking for.
On the other hand iTunes doesn't yet have a large enough catalogue (well for me anyway), there have been many times where I have searched for something and haven't been able to find it.
iTunes has the advantage of built in podcast support, synchronising seamlessly with my iPod (not just the music but calendars, address book, to do list, photos and e-mails). It has a liberal DRM system (listen on up to 5 computers at once, put it on unlimited iPods and burn it onto unlimited CDs. Sound good to you??). The compression used is miles better than MP3 and it's dead easy to share your music over a home or uni network.
I don't know the particulars of the Microsoft system but considering Microsoft's track record (XP activation process), the DRM is going to be painfully restrictive and probably use WMA which is an inferior "standard". Also it probably won't have the same level of support for podcasts and iPods as iTunes does (simply because they're made by different companies) but you can't rule it out.
Some people use the best, some use the cheapest and some are lucky in finding that the cheapest happens to be the best.
Time will tell which one will win out.
---------------------------
Cheap webhosting and domain names.
http://www.toms-hosting.com
Microsoft's Answer to iTunes
Well if you can manage to find albums for less than £7.99 incl delivery then fair play to ya. At least you get the added benefit of getting the actual CD.
Personally any album I've been interested in has been at least £10 or so. My only gripe is the size of the iTunes music store catalogue.
Personally any album I've been interested in has been at least £10 or so. My only gripe is the size of the iTunes music store catalogue.
Microsoft's Answer to iTunes
Cheers, I'll give them a go next time I'm looking for an album.