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Gossip&News<br />
Is 99¢ Better Than Free?<br />
If <strong>the</strong> record industry’s mind doesn’t<br />
seem to be on <strong>the</strong> battle for high-resolution<br />
music (SACD and DVD-A), it’s<br />
because its execs figure <strong>the</strong>re’s more<br />
money to be won — and lost — in<br />
low-resolution music: <strong>the</strong> kind you<br />
<strong>download</strong>.<br />
Trouble is, most <strong>download</strong>ers aren’t<br />
paying anything for <strong>the</strong> music <strong>the</strong>y grab..<br />
Is <strong>the</strong>re a way for EMI, Sony and Universal<br />
to make a buck from <strong>download</strong>able<br />
music? Absolutely. Have <strong>the</strong>y been<br />
succeeding? Nope.<br />
So Apple Computer had everyone’s<br />
attention when it launched its new Music<br />
Store in late April. Of course Steve Jobs<br />
is not just CEO of Apple, he is also CEO<br />
of Pixar, co-producer of Toy Story, A<br />
Bug’s Life and Monsters, Inc. If he wants<br />
to call an entertainment biz mogul, <strong>the</strong><br />
phone number is already in his address<br />
book.<br />
Here’s how it works. You start with<br />
Apple’s iTune program (shown above),<br />
available for Mac OS X only, coming for<br />
Windows around Christmas. On Day<br />
70 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
One, <strong>the</strong>re were some 200,000 songs<br />
on line. You can hunt for and hear 30<br />
seconds of any song you want. You can<br />
<strong>the</strong>n buy it with Apple’s “One Click”<br />
system. The basic cost is US$0.99 a<br />
song, with a ceiling of $9.99 an album.<br />
The song you buy is yours forever,<br />
in contrast to subscription systems, in<br />
which you lose your music if you drop<br />
your subscription. You can install <strong>the</strong><br />
music on any three computers at a time,<br />
and into an unlimited number of iPods,<br />
Apple’s smash hit portable player.<br />
When <strong>the</strong> service was launched <strong>the</strong>re<br />
was more: you could let friends across<br />
town or around <strong>the</strong> world log into your<br />
computer and listen to your songs (<strong>the</strong>y<br />
needed broadband access, because this<br />
is streaming audio, not a <strong>download</strong>). Or<br />
you could tune in to to your home collection<br />
on your office computer. A new<br />
release of iTunes blipped that feature.<br />
Yes, but how does it sound? MP3<br />
again, right? Not exactly.<br />
Unlike most players, <strong>the</strong> iPod is not<br />
married to MP3: you can in fact upload<br />
uncompressed music to it if you want.<br />
Apple’s store is using Advanced Audio<br />
Codec, based on a Dolby standard.<br />
Though <strong>the</strong> <strong>download</strong>s are compressed<br />
in <strong>the</strong> extreme (128 kbps, compared to<br />
about 1,120 kbps for CD), AAC supposedly<br />
does a better job that MP3. Indeed,<br />
Steve Jobs claims that AAC can actually<br />
sound better than CD, because <strong>the</strong> <strong>download</strong>s<br />
come from original master tapes,<br />
not <strong>the</strong> commercial CDs.<br />
We found that a touch hard to swallow,<br />
truth to tell. As we write this <strong>the</strong><br />
store is not available in Canada, where we<br />
are, so we had to be content to listen to<br />
some of those 30 second samples. Apple<br />
says <strong>the</strong>y have <strong>the</strong> same resolution as <strong>the</strong><br />
full <strong>download</strong>s. If that’s true, it’s bad<br />
news. We sampled some current pop<br />
and country songs, and also wandered<br />
over to <strong>the</strong> ra<strong>the</strong>r sparse classical catalog.<br />
What we heard was a long way from CD<br />
quality.<br />
But we’re aware how undemanding<br />
many consumers are. The question is:<br />
will <strong>the</strong> Apple Music Store draw people<br />
away from KaZaa and Grokster?<br />
Certainly <strong>the</strong> initial wave of enthusiasm<br />
augurs well. In <strong>the</strong> first 18 hours,<br />
<strong>the</strong> store sold more music than all its<br />
competitors toge<strong>the</strong>r had sold in <strong>the</strong> past<br />
six months. Is that because it’s new? Or<br />
because it’s great?<br />
Our own view is that <strong>the</strong> price is way<br />
too high. The album price of $10 means<br />
$15 Canadian dollars. In <strong>the</strong> case of current<br />
hit albums, we can buy <strong>the</strong>m around<br />
here for a dollar less on CD. The Apple<br />
Store is giving you no disc, no booklet,<br />
no lyrics, no information, and is paying<br />
for no shipping cost. It is also giving you<br />
about 12% of <strong>the</strong> information that’s on<br />
<strong>the</strong> CD. For audiophiles, <strong>the</strong> conclusion<br />
is easy: just say no.<br />
But imagine this really works. That<br />
all <strong>the</strong> record labels come on board. That<br />
anyone with a computer built in <strong>the</strong> past<br />
six years can join. That <strong>the</strong> record stores<br />
can no longer see any reason to offer<br />
CDs.<br />
We’re already not wholly thrilled<br />
with CD. With AAC, <strong>the</strong> effort in<br />
making great audio equipment is pretty<br />
much wasted.