Downloadable Music Store Interest May Be Fading
from the uh-oh... dept
This doesn't come as a huge surprise, but a new report suggests that interest in buying downloadable music online from places like iTunes seems to be fading. The main reason? All of those thousands of promotions seem to have ended. Apparently, those "buy a Big Mac and get a free download" and "buy a Pepsi and get a free download" type promotions are starting to close up shop. While there was a lot of hype about these music download stores, everyone involved still seems to simply have their head in the sand about what's really going on, and what the real competition is. If they ever do take a step back and see the market for what it is, we should expect to see some serious price drops, along with additional benefits and features for buyers, along with a real effort to use the music as a constant promotion for selling other, more profitable, things. In the meantime, though, most of these companies will stick with the fiction that a buck a song is the right price.
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Whatever happened to the market determining the price ?
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$0.01/mb downloaded.
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I've lost interest for several reasons
First, I don't like DRM. Period.
Second. I don't like encoded music. 128 bit AAC just doesn't cut it for me. I want lossless music to download. And because 128 bit AAC is selling for $.99 a download, what will they charge for lossless format if they implement it? They either need to lower the price of AAC format downloads or they'll have to charge more for lossless music than what you could buy the CD for. Doesn't make sense. But hey, we're talking about the RIAA.
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