I've seen an article on Wired.com about this (thanks ste) and it seems already people aren't thrilled with the licensing format that is in place on these music files. I can almost accept the fact that you'll have to jump through hoops if you want to be able to download your music. Look, the music industry is whining that they're losing money thanks to mp3s - the public wants to be able to get their music their way (which right now is digitally) - I can agree to compromise.
What I can't agree to is bad customer service. If they're going to have these tight restrictions about the files - they're also going to have to be flexible when things don't go perfectly - as we all know can happen when you're working with computers.
Here's my personal experience with them:
On Wednesday night, I purchased two albums from them. (Not just individual songs, I figured I'd go the full 9-yards and buy the whole album)
First problem. After you buy an album, you need to download it. Sure, I knew that. What I didn't know is that you have to download EACH SONG INDIVIDUALLY. One click per song. With two large sized albums with many songs on each - it can be just a LITTLE annoying.
Ok. We're compromising, right? I'll suck it up and deal.
After all the songs downloaded, I tried to play them. Second problem. Before each song plays - it has to download and verify your license. You can't mulitple select a bunch and do this. You need to do this before EACH SONG will play. "Verifing your license" means another window pops up that asks for your buymusic login and password... you enter it... it thinks awhile... it thinks some more... Then it comes back and says click "play" to actually play the song.
Ok. Getting a little annoyed here, but still willing to suck it up and deal.
Now that I've heard the music, I want to burn a CD (like they say you can do) so I can listen to it in my car.
Third and VERY big problem.
Since I'm using Windows200, they force you to use a windows media plugin made by Roxio. Roxio doesn't even really mention this plugin on their site except for a one year old press release. (I went there hoping they'd have an update). This plugin CRASHES consistently EVERY time I try to burn a CD. It is simply impossible to create a cd from my machine using that plugin. (Trying to use another plugin like Nero doesn't work. The license for the songs only works with that Roxio plugin).
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Scott Blum
I was going to say that your post was completely made up....
as their customer support was TOTALLY NON-EXISTANT for me. The online forms didn't work, none of the email addresses work, no warning of the license restrictions regarding the burn issue that you had.
The only contact has been form letters that were sent to everyone. No response to any of my messages (except the one I sent to Buy.com that they escalated it to BuyMusic.com.)
Of course, they say BuyMusic.com, not PlayMusic.com.
Get Loaded...Because BuyMusic is going to give you a LOAD!
2 - Al Barger
Why would I pay good money for a product absolutely INFERIOR to what I can download for FREE?
They're not even close to having an acceptable product here. Besides exorbitant pricing, they are not going to get anywhere with me with restrictive licensing. I'm not going to buy files in WMA format. I would only even consider paying for downloaded music as unrestricted MP3 files I could sling around at will, burn to disc using whatever program suits me, transfer from machine to machine.
Of course, if the record companies don't want to make such an offering, that's fine. We'll just go on doing it ourselves for free on P2P and THEY GET NOTHING. Ha!
3 - Brian Flemming
I hope iTunes for the PC will work as well as iTunes does on Mac.
It suffers from none of the problems you mention--You download a whole album literally with one click, it starts playing right away as the rest of it downloads. No "activating" songs or anything like that. Transferring to an iPod (even to a friend's iPod) or burning CDs is seamless.
4 - Nick Torba
Pay for music, are you on drugs?
5 - Breckenridge
Hopefully Apple will get it right on the PC. iTunes store is the best thing ever, and works like you expect it to.
Easy!
6 - Tephlon
I'd like to be able to pay for downloaded music. If only to silence the critisism from the likes of the RIAA (Or their European counterparts).
Unfortunately, as of this time, the RIAA's of Europe have yet to make a deal.
I'm hoping for iTunes (For the PC) and a reasonable price for each song.
7 - Sean
Perhaps you can use the Dimensional Warp Generator to teleport your songs from your primary PC to your secondary PC! ;)
http://www.inertramblings.com/archives/000168.html
8 - J
I have a mac and pc (xp). If the PC version of iTunes is 1/2 as good as the Mac one, then you will love it. However, apple will make it work perfectly since music store is a division and they want to make money from it. More than likely they will only allow iPods to be the portable player, but that is not a bad thing.
I have had my mac for like 3 weeks now, and have purchased around 15 songs. No problems at all. Burn to a CD, so problem. Transfer to my IPod, no problem.
J
9 - Brian Shunk
This whole mess is very ugly. The record companies want to have 2 cakes and eat them both. As far as iTunes and BuyMusic.com are concerned, of course there will be problems. These companies are the first to enter with this business model. It was easy for Napster or Kazaa because they didn't have the whole messy business of "security." You can bet that larger companies are quietly watching while developing their own strategies.
Until there is a good working business model for downloading, there are still wonderful and inexpensive alternatives to getting caught up in the whole sticky mess. Used record stores sell used CDs for around $8. That works out to about .66 cents per song for 12 songs. You can burn as many times as you like in any format and you get the packaging which works as a nice backup. Radio is still free, libraries lend out CD's for free and you can always "borrow" from a friend. Keep it simple! In other words, we got by before Napster and Kazaa... and after all we are talking about music , which is really supposted to be enjoyed. You should have to get frustrated with it to listen in.
10 - Eric Olsen
Excellent perspective Brian, thanks.
11 - Beau
A nightmare of a story. It hurt to read it. I've found a different way of getting my music down to CD with the only hassle being setting some time aside and working towards something that works every time. While music is playing on my system, I simply open up a digital sound recorder (I use Cakewalk, but Windows Sound Recorder will work fine.) and hit record. You will need some sort of sound editor if you want to cut or mix your tunes in any particular fashion, but it's a great system and I find that it works wonderfully. Once you've captured the .wav, convert it to .mp3 and you're all done. Burn and listen! I subscribe to MusicMatch MX and I love the service. It allows me to recieve any artist or radio station on demand in CD quality. I'm not sure if what I am doing is legal or not, but it's the same thing that I used to do when I was a kid listening to local radio with a cassette tape loaded in my beat up Radio Shack tape player. After all, I am paying for the service, and I only use the rcordings for personal consumption.
12 - ch
I worked for a company that deliverered WMA and WMV files protected by the Windows Media DRM stuff. Our customers originally faced the same problems that you did, but we solved them over 2 years ago. We pre-delivered licenses, so that when you played the content IT ACTUALLY PLAYED. We also batch-delivered licenses for entire CDs, and did not place restrictions on CD burning and transfers to portable devices. We were working with second-tier content, which may have made things easier, but BuyMusic is clearly a prototype implementation if they haven't addressed these issues.
13 - Bill
Buy.com is the worst online retailer ever. I bought a camera there which they listed online as "in stock". once I made my online purchase I recieved an email with then notified me the camera was on backorder for 3 weeks. When I tried to cancel the order, I found out that you are required to pay $9.95 to talk to a live CSR simply to cancel an order.
What's the point? Simple. This company is horrible at normal customer service- the same is true for their music service. Remember folks, you're getting what you pay for.
14 - tim
Well I downloaded two songs from buymusic and all seemed to work as planned. The first thing I did was burn them to a CD, RIP 'em back as MP3s and salute, music the way I want it.. screw their restrictions.. food for though.. :)
cheers
15 - iPaul
Buy a mac. I select albums or songs I want and they download to my Mac. CDs are trivial (just click the burn button on the upper right hand corner).
16 - Ken of kenfager.com
Since I made the switch from Win to Mac OS X about two months ago, using all my downloaded media has been even more fun. iTunes catalogged my whole mp3 collection by name/genre/album the first time I fired it up. Burning CDs and DVDs is a matter of dragging the files and clicking a button to burn. All of you say you cant wait until iTunes for the PC (which will be on par with the Mac version), I say just quit the hassle and buy a Mac. No Digital Rights Management bs, no constant security updates, no Blue Screen of Death, and a ton of other great features.
17 - William Byrd
better option:
eMusic.Com
I pay $10 month for all I can download unrestricted MP3s....
18 - jam
I've been a happy eMusic.com for over a year now ..
Be sure to browse/sample the catalog to see if the music matches your taste !
19 - RockerDown
I am on a mac.. I have been using iTunes since the day it was released (well. .the iTunes music store)... and have not had a single, solitary problem... get a mac.. or wait until the Win release...
20 - Wing
Well, I have platforms from all three genres(Win/Mac/Lin). Quite honestly, the iTunes store has been the easiest and least problematic program I have ever used to buy things with.
The ease is just something that can't be described unless you use it. It's like flicking on a light switch or popping in a CD into a player. You expect it to just work and iTunes does. It just works.
I have music on my iBook that I listen to purchase music from and I have CDs in my car that I listen to while on the road.
I'm very happy with iTunes. I hope that when it comes out on the PC, the experience will carry over.