APPLE MAKES A PLAY FOR THE MUSIC CLOUD
A less forward-thinking company might shirk at the prospect of an unlimited music streaming service, especially one whose music business is rooted so firmly in pay-per-track iTunes and the iPods/iPhones that carry said tracks. If Apple were as thick-headed and dense as the major record labels, they’d forge ahead with their existing models while attempting to sue the newcomers into oblivion. But Apple is not that company. Apple is smart, aware and aggressive, and as such they’ve recently purchased music streaming site LaLa, a move that seems to indicate the company will soon be pursuing a subscription-based model.
And if Apple is going to make a play at a subscription streaming model, then the holy grail of music experiences — the ability to stream any song, at any time, from anywhere (aka “the cloud”) — is that much closer to becoming reality.
If Apple is going to challenge the notion that music “ownership” — having files on a personal hard drive or storage device — is out-dated, then you better believe that concept is going to receive wider mainstream acceptance. Who wouldn’t be excited about this? If there were an Apple service that allowed me to stream any track at any time from my iPhone or computer, all for a reasonable monthly price, wouldn’t that be the most awesome thing ever? Furthermore, I have full trust in the exceptional developers at Apple to come up with something that’s intuitive and easy to use; while MOG and Spotify have done a great job thus far it’s hard for me to imagine that Apple can’t one-up them, especially with LaLa’s engineers now under their visage.
The more time that goes by the less attached I become to physical product and album artwork. Sure, an album’s artwork can be cool and can ultimately enhance the experience… but I’m coming to view both of those things as peripheral to the actual music. Isn’t it really about the music anyway, the notes that come out of your speakers and into your ears? I don’t necessarily need all that extra stuff… I just want the tunes. And if a streaming service can enhance that experience, I’m all for it.
Apple’s streaming service can’t get here soon enough.
-VN
