[Tiffany Mac]

I've been downloading music for the past two days. I've used Limewire (which slows down my system) and i've tried some other programs.

I hear that Apple is having a show in a week. Wouldn't it be cool if Apple had a built in DOWNLOAD MP3 function? I think iTunes is great, and that would be a really cool feature.

Do you think Apple could or would do this?


-Tiffany

[Apple Pro Underwear]

sorry, but major corporations are not going to want to help with the "pirating" of music

try using direct connect to download.

http://www.neo-modus.com/

[BuonRotto]

I doubt it just because it would put Apple in legal hell. Right now they fall clearly on the line of fair use, but not sharing/pirating.

Considering their plans to introduce Rendezvous-enabled iTunes where people can essentially "stream" each others' playlists with one another, I think Apple has a path around the pirating aspect of music sharing to some extent. If anything, they might push Quicktime Streaming Server/Broadcaster more into consumer space either as a plug-in/add-on or as a separate iApp for this kind of more remote functionality too.

[TheIceMan]

Originally posted by Apple Pro Underwear:
sorry, but major corporations are not going to want to help with the "pirating" of music

I agree. These P2P setups are getting sued by the major recording labels. I do not think Apple would want to entangle themselves in this sort of mess.

[resImadA]

What if we could browse, sample, and buy/download individual tracks from within iTunes?

I'd go for that if the price was right

[Millennium]

Highly unlikely. The RIAA would go berserk.

However, something perhaps a bit less far-fetched: built-in streaming to the local network. This seems like a likely use for the much-discussed Rendezvous support that Apple is building into iTunes. The idea would be to let you keep all your MP3's on a single machine, and seamlessly stream them out to the whole network. That seems very likely, for the release after next if not the one coming up.

[diamondsw]

Originally posted by Tiffany Mac:
I've been downloading music for the past two days. I've used Limewire (which slows down my system) and i've tried some other programs.

I hear that Apple is having a show in a week. Wouldn't it be cool if Apple had a built in DOWNLOAD MP3 function? I think iTunes is great, and that would be a really cool feature.

Do you think Apple could or would do this?


-Tiffany

Learn to use question marks in your subject. As it is, I think you're deliberately misleading people to read your rather "ill thought out" question. make no mistake - there ARE stupid questions.

[Vanquish]

make no mistake

[ryju]

Remember the iPod commercial? It said at the bottom "Don't Steal Music."
I don't think they would contradict themselves.

[MacGorilla]

Whamb 1.1 lets you share playlists via Rendezous now. Works really well.

http://www.whamb.com

[CheesePuff]

Originally posted by ryju:
Remember the iPod commercial? It said at the bottom "Don't Steal Music."
I don't think they would contradict themselves.

When you buy a iPod there is a sticker you have to peel off the screen that says "Don't Steal Music" in many languages.

[libraryguy]

Originally posted by resImadA:
What if we could browse, sample, and buy/download individual tracks from within iTunes?

I'd go for that if the price was right

If they do allow music downloads via iTunes I think this is how they will do it. It's the only legal way really and plus it would be added revenue for Apple and the music industry. Hopefully if they do they will have a huge selection and fair prices. Honestly, I doubt it will happen at all.

[Jansar]

As the Apple Santa said, Apple's gonna "get their ass handed to them" if that ever happens.

[Subzero Diesel949]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Highly unlikely. The RIAA would go berserk.

However, something perhaps a bit less far-fetched: built-in streaming to the local network. This seems like a likely use for the much-discussed Rendezvous support that Apple is building into iTunes. The idea would be to let you keep all your MP3's on a single machine, and seamlessly stream them out to the whole network. That seems very likely, for the release after next if not the one coming up.

Doubt it. The RIAA wants $$$ for any "air time" for the same reason they're after I-net radio.

[Person Man]

Originally posted by Vanquish:

make no mistake

That said, I think Apple has to release new, extreme versions of their iApps, or face an untimely death. While they develop their new hardware in an undisclosed, secret location, they must realize that now, more than ever, we need faster CPU chips.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Subzero Diesel949:
Doubt it. The RIAA wants $$$ for any "air time" for the same reason they're after I-net radio.

True, but the RIAA would make all music pay-per-view (pay-per-listen?) if they thought they could.

Unfortunately for them, fair use does limit the amount of racketeering they can do. While it's true that they can require businesses to license music for internal broadcasts, they can't do that for home users who keep the broadcast within their own homes (thus, Rendezvous; tying the capability to Rendezvous would ensure that it can't get out to the Internet at large). Given Apple's recent attempts at becoming more consumer-friendly, this does have a shot. Or at least, it has more of a shot than an "MP3 Download" feature.

[Tiffany Mac]

Maybe Apple could work out a deal with a few major record companies. They supply the MP3's and we (the users) can pay for it. I don't mind paying a small fee.

This would be a great solution?

[waffffffle]

Yea this isn't going to happen.

However I really think iTunes needs to be more aware of other mp3 sources because right now its a pain to get your newly downloaded songs into iTunes (from Limewire, etc). I think it woudl be nice if there was some sort of way iTunes could watch a folder and as soon as mp3s are added to that folder it will import them to the library and move the file to the proper location (organized). Right now that doesn't work too well.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by waffffffle:
Yea this isn't going to happen.

However I really think iTunes needs to be more aware of other mp3 sources because right now its a pain to get your newly downloaded songs into iTunes (from Limewire, etc). I think it woudl be nice if there was some sort of way iTunes could watch a folder and as soon as mp3s are added to that folder it will import them to the library and move the file to the proper location (organized). Right now that doesn't work too well.

The thing is, currently the only legal way to get most MP3's is to rip them yourself (yes, it's legal to download them if the copyright holder has given permission for that, but that's still rather rare in this day and age). Apple's walking a pretty thin line with the RIAA at this point in time, and I don't think they would want to risk appearing to condone piracy. Never mind that this shouldn't even be possible (it being a presumption of guilt and all that) but who ever said the RIAA respected anyone's rights but their own?

[C.J. Moof]

An idea similar to this already in use is Audible.com. They don't do music, but spoken word, and the format isn't .mp3, but their own format. If you look at an audible file with a text editor, you'll see the user account name stamped in the beginning few lines. That's part of their content management system- the file is internally "personalized" and allowed to play on the account holder's iTunes and iPod only. It can be burned to an Audio CD, but not an MP3 disc- iTunes won't convert it to mp3 for you, and I've never seen another app that can either.

If Apple paired up with a record label who would agree to the same distrubition model, downloading from iTunes could be a reality. I can't see any major label agreeing to have their files downloadable without any digital rights management system.

On a side note, legally downloaded dozens of mp3 albums as a subscriber of emusic.com. Some of their encodings could sound better, but they're not unacceptable.

[so1omon]

Actually, i think it would be cool if iTunes could connect to emusic.com the way it does with Audible.

Just a thought.

[stew]

I second the emusic.com idea. Emusic is a cool service, iTunes integration would rock.