Monday, March 24, 2008
Apple to Trump Zune Pass?
Posted by David Tucker in "Zune News" @ 06:00 AM
“Is Apple ready to jump on the music subscription bandwagon? It seems out of character, since they won’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?” - Michael Santo, RealTechNews.com
Whenever someone has ever asked me why I don’t have an iPod, I’ve always been very truthful in my answer. I would have had an iPod about three years ago if it wasn’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’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’m glad I wasn’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.
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’s almost essential that Apple comes out with subscription. Subscription is the future of content and despite Apple’s posturing, I’m sure it knows it. The plan that Apple proposes isn’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’t figure out how Apple would make any money on it that way but I’ll leave that in their hands.
Personally I’d like to see it happen so that all the people on iPods will finally come to understand what a music subscription is. I’m not sure if Apple’s business model is workable but if it is then the bar for Zune 3G will be that much higher!
Whenever someone has ever asked me why I don’t have an iPod, I’ve always been very truthful in my answer. I would have had an iPod about three years ago if it wasn’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’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’m glad I wasn’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.
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’s almost essential that Apple comes out with subscription. Subscription is the future of content and despite Apple’s posturing, I’m sure it knows it. The plan that Apple proposes isn’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’t figure out how Apple would make any money on it that way but I’ll leave that in their hands.
Personally I’d like to see it happen so that all the people on iPods will finally come to understand what a music subscription is. I’m not sure if Apple’s business model is workable but if it is then the bar for Zune 3G will be that much higher!
