Mossberg picks iTunes over subscription schemes

because subscription is just stupid and you end up paying more for each song.

Did anyone really need Mossberg to tell us this?

That while Mossberg is a great Mac enthusiest, he's also great at routinely pointing out the obvious. Nonetheless, he's a very well read columnist and is a great evangilist for Apple!

someone has to spell it out for the idiots out there.

You don't say...

You know, I hear that water is wet too...

About the only use subscription services have would be if it were possible to record the music separately (such as with Audio Hijack Pro) while it's playing on your computer, but because no subscription services currently support the Mac platform, there's no way to test this. If Apple eventually offers subscription through iTMS, that's what I'd do, loading up on all the music that I could "rip" within one month.

it. How do subscriptions keep copying from happening?

I suppose they don't, just like iTunes doesn't keep you from ripping all of your family's and friend's cd's.

It is like owning land...you legally do, but it doesn't stop the landslide form taking it away. "Ownership" is such a strange concept.

His comment about the itunes user downloading 500 songs vs. the subscriber downloading 500 songs is valid, however, he fails to realize that the subscriber has access to a lot more music than those lame 500 songs. You could take a month and listen to a single artist's complete collection of work. What if you stop paying? Gee, you 'lose' it. But, if you're talking 25 albums, that's $250 you didn't pay for. And there are a lot of artists, and lots of different works out there. The 'buyer' gets what he can afford, so he tends to lean to the things he knows he'll like. The subscriber can download tons of stuff from differing artists, looking for things he may like but doesn't realize it yet. You're going to become exposed to more music and a lot more artists then using the iTMS.

It just amazes me how so many people on these boards seem to completely not understand how subscription services work, and how they can actually be more beneficial to the music afficiando, rather then less. (Of course, I'm sure if Apple's iTMS started out as a subscription service, most of you "subscriptions suck!" people would be "They're just copying Apple!" and "Why waste your money buying 10 albums a month when, for the cost of 1, you can listen to any of a 1 million songs!")

And the subscriber can still buy music, you people do understand that, right? In fact, he's still got $380 to spend on albums and such. And then he KNOWS its music he wants and wants for the long term, and doesn't necessarily get stuck with a slew of albums from crap artists like "Hanson" or "Mariah Carey" or "Michael Bolton" (well, unless he wants to, I guess).

Subscriptions aren't for everyone, esp. if you don't listen to a lot of music, but just like some people buy books, and others just go to the library, there's people who'll have no problem 'renting' music.

[Oh, and if you think there can't be any money in it, keep in mind idiots buy ringtones for their cellphones like it was porn, selling like $3 billion worth a year. And if you can make that kind of money selling freakin' ringtones, imagine what you could make on renting music]

Most people do not download "Tons of stuff"; they purchase their favorite stuff. Only people who are into "Flavor of the month" do silly things like that, and most people do not want to pay for the privilege of listening to "tons of stuff". That's why subscription do not work; people want to pay for thing they want, not the potential to listen to "tons of stuff."

Paying for music over and over is so dumb. One dollar at iTunes and it's yours. You don't have to check in every month. You can burn a CD of it. And you can put it on your iPod. Mossberg is so right. iTunes is the easist and most generous when it comes to the DRM. The best thing about it is that Windows users can use the same software and store exactly as Mac users. No other service offers Mac users music downloads.