Reviews: 'It's too simple...'


It would seem that Apple has hit yet another homerun with its iTunes Music Store. Pundits are tripping over themselves to praise the new service:

o Salon technology & business writer Farhad Manjoo states, "The music service Jobs unveiled is a delight. The system is foolproof: You type in a name, a song comes up, and you press a button to buy it. That's it."

o USA Today's Edward C Baig says, "Leave it to Steve Jobs & Co. to deliver the first legitimate Net music service to hit all the high notes. My only complaint: It's too simple to ring up credit card charges."

o Walt Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal (subscription require), "It's an enormous step forward, and the first online music service I can recommend. Only Apple is selling major-label downloads that a typical consumer or family can freely use, in any common scenario, without running into restrictions."

Perhaps the ultimate proof of the degree to which Apple has outdone the entire lies in the fact that the company's new service saw 275,000 songs downloaded in 18 hours - astounding.

Hands on

Though I'm in Taiwan, I have managed (see "Where are you, really?" below) to download two singles and a full album from the Music Store. And, well - surprise, surprise - it was easy. No, it was beautiful:

o Initially, the Music Store rejected my .Mac password and it directed me to a page launched in Safari where I updated it.
o After logging in, the Music Store prompted me to refresh my credit payment info.
o That done I searched for "Rush," clicked to buy the first song (Working Man) and iTunes threw up an "Are you sure?" dialog. After answering "yes," the song (7:09, 6.2MB) began to download and was finished in about a minute.
o That accomplished I moved on to a full album (Grace under pressure), purchased ($7.70, eight songs) and downloaded it (38.7MB). This purchase took about five minutes door-to-door.

And, the quality? Well, it doesn't sound quite as good (IMHO) as the 192-bit tracks I've ripped straight from CD, but that could be a false impression.

Also, I purposely download "Working Man" so I could compare it to the CD version, which I own. And, yes, there is an audible difference quality.

Is it a really, really big, annoying difference in quality? That's likely a matter for the individual to decide and this individual can live it given the convenience and cost of the service.

Where are you, really?

For better for worse, the Music Store's location-checking function (ie to confirm the person logging in is physically located in the US) doesn't check a user's IP to verify location. It appears to only check which time zone the user has selected in the Date & Time preference pane.

That Apple has chosen this frankly unreliable location detection method isn't surprising as IP spoofing is easy. Not as easy resetting one's time zone in Date & Time, but nevertheless easy enough. Moreover, some RealBasic jockey would have released a "MusicStore IP Helper" [sic] in a matter of weeks if not days anyway.

I think, however, the bottom line that Apple and the RIAA are getting paid instead of the user just firing up apps like Hotline or Limewire. Either way, the user gets his music. With the Music Store, people actually get paid.

And that brings up the real catch for people outside the US - the service does require a credit card billed to a US address.

Coda

Though I spent only about $10 (the wife had to have a song too), that could easily double, triple or worse in the space of an hour. I feel very much like Edward C Baig (quoted above); it's just too easy.

Also, I think they should offer users the option of downloading a higher quality stream at a premium. I would go for it...

What are your impressions?