Re: [ARSCLIST] Clarifying the MAM-A gold comment

["Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> :Latest datapoint to support your argument:
>
> As reported in NYTimes yesterday, Forrester Research data indicates iPods are
not generating the
> iTunes sales predicted. Bottom line is each iPod sold generates about 22
iTunes song purchases. That
> means I fall right in the average. I bought two Verve out-of-print jazz
albums, hated the quality of
> the iTunes sound so much I vowed never again, and have stuck to my vow.
>
> BTW -- I don't think most typical iPod owners care about the sound, I think
they just have either
> friends who already ripped what they want to MP3 or they are handy with pirate
file-sharing networks
> and get their tunes that way.
>
> If Apple and Big Music are concerned about too small a download to iPod ratio,
then they all the
> more should embrace my idea of two-tier quality and two-tier pricing. Reduce
the price for
> mega-crunched MP4 junk to 75 cents a song and sell ALF versions (ie what
should be CD quality) for
> $1.25 a song. They may find a better bulge in their wallets than they thought,
and in the least I
> don't think the net-net would be a reduction in profits because I think they'd
sell more 75 cent
> tunes than 99 cent tunes because right now, a full album is $9.99 -- same
price Amazon or J&R or
> soon-to-be-dead Tower charge on sale for the full-fledged CD. Reduce that to
$7.50 and it suddenly
> doesn't seem such a ripoff to most people.
>
Well...assume that most of the "younger crowd" wouldn't recognize more accurate
sound if they stepped in a pile of it (and, given their choice of material, I'm
not
sure if it would, or COULD, be recognized...)!! Apple, I suspect, thinks of the
older
demographic as just "incidental additional sales" as opposed to a possible more
profitable market. In fact, does iTunes offer much in the way of
"adult-oriented"
content (other than MOR junk...?!).

As well, there are other portable MP3 players...as well as software to convert
users' analog libraries to MP3 format...and that combination is usually a better
buy than genuine iPods and iTunes. It would be possible (outside the US, anyway)
to provide web access to many, if not most, pre-1956 recordings (pre-1957 in
17 more days!) for playing or download! Mono, yes, but...

Steven C. Barr