Page 231 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

10 | The Tunes Effect

Emusic, which features artists that aren’t signed to major record compa-
nies, pay $9.99 per month to download 40 songs or $14.99 to download 64
songs.
• The streaming model, such as RealNetworks’ Rhapsody, in which users
pay a monthly fee to listen to songs online. Customers then pay an extra
fee (usually less than a dollar per track) to download songs for CD burning
or to add them to portable players.
To date, the iPod has reaped spectacular profits for Apple, and iTunes domi-
nates the online music market, but the future of both is far from certain. Despite
the growing capacity of digital music players, a study in September 2005 found
that half of iPod owners had less than 100 songs stored on their players, with the
average loaded with just 375 songs (Austin 2005). A 60-gigabyte iPod will hold
15,000 songs; consumers are unlikely to spend $15,000 to fill it up. Cell phones
or similar “all in one” devices ultimately could absorb the functions of portable
music players such as the iPod; similarly, the streaming model, which provides
flows of music on demand, may be the most likely model for the long term.
Such services will also have important “community” features, such as sharing
playlists, and members may suggest songs by directly offering clips to each other
(Rhapsody already features such capabilities). As music becomes a service in-
stead of a product, people will be less and less concerned with owning music;
instead, instant access will be more important.
Musical recordings have a relatively short history, and their physical forms
shape the ways we interact with them and how we perceive their value. The
“album” originated in the early twentieth century with bulky collections of
78-rpm discs. These discs were limited to three or four minutes per side, which
shaped the contours of the modern pop song. Each subsequent format, from
LPs to CDs, has been more compact while allowing more storage and greater
possibilities for programming by users; an iPod can store up to 15,000 songs in a
box smaller than a deck of cards. Each format also has reduced our physical in-
teraction with music, such as changing LPs or loading CD players. An iPod can
be programmed to play until its battery expires. With LPs and CDs, the work as
a whole must initially be engaged on the creator’s terms. With an iPod, the user
has complete control over the flow of music.

a BrieF tiMeline

October 2001—Apple introduces the 5GB iPod.
April 2003—iTunes launches online, charging 99 cents per song.
September 2005—Apple introduces the iPod Nano.
October 2005—Video iPod unveiled; video purchases made available on iTunes.
September 2006—Feature film purchases made available on iTunes; 80GB iPods released;
Apple announces that 70 percent of car models in the U.S. for the next model year will
offer the ability to connect an iPod.