kirkswig
Sep 27, 2004, 10:58 PM
Post #8 of 12
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Re: [Bubba & sfmacaws] Technological Scum
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Yep, I'm guessing that the online music stores are screening the IP number of their customers and not just the credit cards and addresses.
This is what I get when I first try accessing iTunes (this is using a Prodigy.net.mx ADSL account):
The iTunes Music Store is not available in your country yet. You will be able to browse music and listen to previews, but you won't be able to purchase music unless your billing address is in the United States, the United Kingdom, France or Germany.
But there's a CONTINUE button. So I click it.
And I am able to register, give them my password and my NOB BILLING ADDRESS, as well as my credit card, expiration date and CVV code, and then...
I can one-click a song. Right now I'm downloading Bang A Gong (Get it on) by TRex.
And in the time it took for me to compose the previous sentence (dang URL syntax and all) I see now that the song has completed downloading, not only that, I'm playing it right at this very instant.
So yes, iTunes works, even in Mexico. They are no doubt dealing with the millions of requests from Mexicans to access their service, requests they can't legally satisfy at this time, so they put up this Gargoyle of a message to scare the Mexicans off (probably would be more effective if it was in ***SPANISH***) but if you continue undeterred and you have that U.S. billing address you too can bang a gong.
And get it on.
:::insert most excellent guitar solo here:::
EDIT: What a rip! There IS NO excellent guitar solo here! The version of {i]Bang a Gong I want to hear is apparently by Power Station, and iTunes doesn't make this version available. Yes, they have Pink Floyd, but they don't have The Beatles! Yes, they have Aerosmith, but they don't have AC/DC! They have some of Elton John, but not Blue Moves, which is probably the most underrated double lp ever produced and may be his best work ever!
AND NO LED ZEPPELIN!!!!!!!
So I am sorry I did this. Bubba has a point. I spend an hour on iTunes and almost half of everything I want to hear I can't find. I understand that this isn't Mexico-specific, this is licensing and artists saying no or we want more, but still, how can you blame somebody for going elsewhere?
I was a long-time Rhapsody user before I moved to MX. Rhapsody is the deal where you pay $10 a month and get to hear any song you want that's in their collection, any time you want. Their collection is approximately that of iTunesa s near as I can gather. I mean, I couldn't find The Beatles on Rhapsody either. But what I could do was create a "radio station" using The Beatles as a hint to what music I wanted to listen to, and don't you know, like every third song on this virtual radio station was by The Beatles.
(I have no idea why I'm italicizing the names of rock groups or the names of their albums. Please forgive me.)
The thing with Rhapsody though is that if they didn't carry a particular group or a particular album or song it wasn't that big of a deal. I could always listen to something else, and for the same price. Apple's model is flawed I think. I mean, I paid five bucks for the Dark Side of the Moon LP, then I paid it again when a friend stole it from me (no longer a friend), and then I bought the eight-track, and then I bought the cassette, and then I bought the CD at least twice, and now Apple wants me to pay ten bucks to download it from them. OK. But what happens when they upgrade the format? What happens when they decide that, hey, on these new Macs and iPods we've yet to produce, you're going to need to upgrade your music collecton so as to experience the latest advances in music fidelity? And what do we all do then?
Say no?
And miss out on the G9 processor, which lets us play Doom4, or edit 3D video from our new camcorders?
If I'm going to buy a song from iTunes, I want to be able to buy a license to listen to that song, no matter how many new ways of listening to it they create.
I might soon be tempted to try Rhapsody again. Having an always-available music source scares me when I only have 256Kbps downstream capacity, and I've got other things to do with this connection. Still, it's the better model, at least for me. I can listen to any song in their library, any time I want, as often as I want, and I don't have to worry about upgrading or losing my license or getting busted by the music police.
OK, I'm rambling I know... it's just annoying that we can't get this right, that's all. Bubba shouldn't have to feel like he's a thief if all he wants to do is listen to Debby Boone singing You LIght Up My Life. I may not agree with the choice, but it's his right to listen to it if he wants.
To boldly go where no wig has gone before.
(This post was edited by kirkswig on Sep 28, 2004, 2:57 AM)
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