Karuuna | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 09:46 am     One complaint I've heard about iTunes is the lack of variety of songs. I'm hoping that once it is also available for Windows, that will encourage more artists to participate. |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 11:34 am     iTunes for Windows is now official (Crossfire was right) and was announced this morning in a presentation at San Francisco's Moscone Center. It will be a free download at Apple's site, available NOW. PC Sys requirements are WindowsXP or Windows2000. More details in this article: http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/16/ituneswindows/ |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 11:37 am     And here it is as predicted. Link Looks like an identical service as the Mac which means .99 cent tunes, and no sign up fee for access to 400,000 songs. I've already downloaded the free iTunes player which was ~20Mb, but it was a smoking fast download, and it seems cool enough. |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 11:39 am     Whoops, Bonzacat already posted. Thanks for that, and sorry to duplicate. |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 11:46 am     Cross, other than the article, we posted different bits of information -- a good team! I love iTunes for Mac, and have tried no other apps for storing, playing and burning CDs. The iTunes Music Store is getting better & better as they add to the selection. Please keep us posted on how you like iTunes for Windows. Have fun! |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 12:25 pm     iTunes kicks booty and takes names. I love having the features like smart playlists and the tune sorting and browsing features it offers. I've been dying to get this ever since I watched the keynote when it was first released. One of these days, I am going to be forced to get a Mac again. |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 12:41 pm     A Mac and an iPod, Cross! And that is great news that you love iTunes for Windows!!! Now have a look at the iTunes Music Store - you can browse and listen without siging up. As an FYI re: music downloading... a "rights" issue I am noticing is how the different services allow you to use a song once downloaded. Hamsterlady mentioned that Rhapsody charges a different amount for streaming vs. downloading/burning to CD. And Real's format doesn't allow you to actually "own" the song, per Jed. I will quote iTunes Music Store's on this subject: "Just 99¢ a song, plus generous personal use rights --- The iTunes Music Store lets you quickly find, purchase and download the music you want for just 99¢ per song. You can burn songs onto an unlimited number of CDs for your personal use, listen to songs on an unlimited number of iPods and play songs on up to three Macintosh computers or Windows PCs. And the iTunes software works so smoothly on both platforms that you can share music with any combination of Macs and Windows PCs on a local area network — regardless of whether you’re running iTunes off a Mac or PC." I would think the other 99¢ services will have a similar policy to stay competetive, and that will be important to anyone's shopping. |
Hamsterlady | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 02:35 pm     Downloading iTunes for Windows right now. Seems like it will take about 13 minutes total. Not bad. Glad you were right about it on the Win platform being introduced today Cross. And Crazy, I'm sorry my post came across as sarcastic and crass as it did. I was tired and I should have spent more time composing the post better. Once again, I apologize. But as far as the $9.99/month fees on some of the services, it only regards the streaming of the music. Not the downloading & burning part. That's all I was getting at. Anyways, will try out the iTunes tonight and let y'all know how I like it. |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 02:47 pm     Good luck, Hamsterlady! I just learned that today Apple also unveiled what they are calling the "2nd generation" of iTunes Music Store. They will have more than 400,000 songs available by the end of October and audio books are now available for download. This was all in conjunction with the iTunes for Windows release today. Here's the link to an interesting article with all the details: http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/16/ims/ |
Hamsterlady | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 03:11 pm     I'm really happy with it so far. Downloaded the Windows iTunes. Got setup with the iTunes store and have already downloaded 4 songs. Thumbs up so far! Off to search the music available more thoroughly. Only complaint though, is the songs are 128 kbps. I prefer 192. Another complaint, the song is in AAC and can't be played in MusicMatch. So what's the sense of burning it to a CD if it won't play in my car or my portable CD player or my DVD player? |
Crazydog | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 03:16 pm     No problem, Hamsterlady. I wasn't sure either what exactly the $9.99 was being charged for either, and if it was possible to pay 99 cents without subscribing. I'm going to try iTunes as well. I would gladly pay 99 cents for a legal download that I can copy to a CD. I can still remember when "cassingles" in the 80s cost $3.99 a pop. And that was almost 20 years ago! 99 cents is a steal! |
Hamsterlady | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 03:29 pm     Just for fun I'm downloading MusicMatch Downloads. It's a 10.75 MB file. MM says their files are in WMA format which means I can convert them to mp3. I'll check back later with prices & any special procedures. |
Hamsterlady | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 03:36 pm     OK... I downloaded one of the same songs I downloaded at iTunes. "Here Without You" by 3 Doors Down Price was exactly the same as iTunes. 99 cents. No $9.99/month fee encountered. First, the sound is MUCH nicer & fuller on MusicMatch than on iTunes' player. Next, I will see if I can convert this WMA to an mp3. Will check back. <hope everybody doesn't mind all this posting I'm doing....LOL > |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 03:40 pm     Hamsterlady -- when iTunes burns a CD, it will play on most any player. My CDs play in my car, all my home players including an ancient Sony 1st generation CD player. (I believe it encodes to MP3 as it burns.) From Apple's site: "Play them anywhere -- You can play your music CDs in your car and on most home stereo systems. And since MP3 playback is becoming available on more and more portable CD players, home stereo components and car systems, you’ll discover new ways to enjoy your music. (Audio CDs play in CD players like the one in your car or home stereo. MP3 CDs play on Mac and Windows computers and in MP3-compatible car stereos and CD players.) |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 03:46 pm     And Hamsterlady -- if you feel like playing more with iTunes, check out all the Preferences. You can change the default import to AIFF, MP3 or WAV. You can also change to 192 kbps (or about 15 others). Also, try the Equalizer to change the style and quality of the sound output. |
Hamsterlady | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 03:49 pm     Also from Apple's site: "AAC: MPEG-4 audio AAC (for Advanced Audio Coding, a big part of the MPEG-4 specification) is the cutting-edge audio codec that’s perfect for the Internet. AAC encoding compresses much more efficiently than older formats like MP3 (which iTunes still supports, by the way), while delivering quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio. In fact, some expert listeners have judged AAC audio files compressed at 128 kbps (stereo) to be virtually indistinguishable from the original uncompressed audio source. iTunes 4 and QuickTime (6.2 and higher) are all you need to get started." It doesn't sound to me like these M4P (AKA AAC files) can be played in mp3-compatible players. I tried to convert that 3 Doors Down song to an mp3 using iTunes' program and it wouldn't let me. Edited to add: I changed the Import options to mp3 at 192 kbps. I bought another song. Guess what? It's another m4p (AAC) file.  |
Hamsterlady | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:04 pm     OK folks I feel better now. Just for the fun of it I decided to burn a CD in iTunes with the songs I'd downloaded from there so far (4)figuring I would be making a coaster. I was wrong. The CD plays in my CD player & DVD player on my comp. In my portable CD player. In my DVD player hooked up to the TV, etc... So I'm breathing easy again. And thanks Bonza. |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:12 pm     Whew..... I was knee-deep in the iTunes Help files trying to find out everything I could.... I'm so glad it's all working for you!!!
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Hamsterlady | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:18 pm     Me too Bonza! hehehe And thanks again! I definitely recommend the iTunes for Windows to all those out there. And I ALSO recommend the MusicMatch downloads to everybody also. Both seem like great places to get music. |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:22 pm     Wish I had been here to answer that. When iTunes makes a CD, it does not record the file in its encoded format, it creates 'orange book' audio CD's that should work nearly everywhere. I say 'nearly' only because some players are picky about cd-r's. But you know that now as you already made a disc. The one thing I really like about iTunes vs all the other services I've looked into, is that the DRM (digital rights management) is very flexible and user friendly. You can add and remove computers, burn CD's pretty much at will. Some of the other protection formats especially on windows are not nearly as flexible, and you could lose access to your music on account of simply reinstalling windows. |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:24 pm     Smart playlists are pure love. Can't wait until I get all my thousands of tunes rated properly. |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:25 pm     You are quite welcome, Hamsterlady! Also, here's a screenshot of the instruction to use iTunes to convert format. For you to do it will be slightly different because I took this shot on my Mac with an older version of iTunes. But at least you can see the major steps...
And thanks to all for the opportunity to conduct an iTunes 101 seminar! |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:27 pm     Just to be fair and balanced (hehehe), I do need to complain that the ITMS has no Led Zeppelin tunes...at least not by Led Zeppelin. They do have plenty of Stevie Ray Vaughan though, which is admirably notable. |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:28 pm     OMG -- Cross -- "thousands of tunes" !?!?! I've only got 687, I better get busy! Edited to add: Stevie Ray -- oh, yes! |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:29 pm     If I may add a word of caution. I would recommend against re-encoding encoded music. That can't help but make it sound worse. I'd only encode music which is not already compressed (from cd's) for best results. |
Hamsterlady | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:30 pm     And no Metallica (but then again I already have at least a hundred of their mp3's anyway). They don't really have much for Rock or Alternative. Maybe at the end of this month. |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:32 pm     Yeah, I have a lot of music, mostly on account of having an ear for several types of seemingly incompatible genres ranging from bluegrass to classical to heavy metal and blues. I have no idea how that happened, but that's me. |
Reader234 | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:35 pm     My 2cents is 99 cents for a (one) downloaded tune is still highway robbery... (at least for the innocent who will make one cd with the downloaded tune, I just keep forgetting about the pirate part of the industry...) (LOL isnt it all about ME??) I mean excuse me but arent we complaining also that $16 is too much for one cd? and yet they think by offering one downloaded tune for 99 cents is a bargain, not in my book, there HAS to be a better (hmmm ok cheaper way!! |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:40 pm     Sixteen bucks is too much for most CD's but that is because most of the music on them is filler. If you can get the two or three songs you do like while saving the other $13.00 for something else, then it is at least a step in the right direction. |
Hamsterlady | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:40 pm     Well, Reader - you can download most of the albums for $9.99 on both iTunes & MM. I did see the Eagles Live album at iTunes for $11 and something cents. The new Jane's Addiction album is $10.89. But it has Nirvana's 'Nevermind' album at $9.99. And one other thing I don't like about the iTunes interface (just like Patrick said on The Screensavers just now) is that you can't make it full screen. |
Bonzacat | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:41 pm     Cross, I've got a closet full of CDs and so far up to 687 songs in iTunes, from CDs and downloads. And in every genre you mentioned... almost. ITMS also doesn't have any Beatles by the Beatles, except for an early recording with Tony Sheridan. I won't hold my breath for the end of the month on more Beatles as Apple Music has brought suit against Apple Computer for getting into the music biz. I suspect that the 99 cent online stores will all explode with inventory in the near future. It really *is* the future of online music. |
Crossfire | Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 04:51 pm     The iTunes interface does maintain some mac-isms, the maximize button does not maximize, and to expand the window, you have to grab the specially provided corner widget instead of just any ole edge, and it's title bar does not turn blue when active, but I can learn to live with those. I'm not the worlds biggest fan of the brushed metal either but I imagine it looks pretty sweet when running on a powerbook. |