Wouldn’t it be great if when you bought a CD on iTunes they would ship you the actual CD (so you have a high-quality backup, liner notes, etc) in addition to letting you download the entire album?
Wouldn’t it be great if when you bought a CD on iTunes they would ship you the actual CD (so you have a high-quality backup, liner notes, etc) in addition to letting you download the entire album?
Or let you pick up a copy at an Apple store – burned & printed on demand?
I think Matt wants the actual CD, not a burned and printed copy. I would say to have this as an option would prove to be an incredible feature. Although for most albums, I wouldn’t want to spend the money on shipping – but for some I could definitely see this option being invaluable.
Fabulous idea, and a much needed one, because iTunes downloaded songs, or imported songs ARE NOT PERFECT! And songs on CDs ARE perfect. I’ve noticed iTunes songs skip for no apparent reason, and I hate the fact that we’re trying to “fade out the CD” in favor of MP3. I just don’t see it happening.
Are you suggesting that with the price of an iTunes album that you get the CD, too? The price would go up for sure. I think they should make an option where you pay an extra (X number of dollars) and then they mail/ship you the disc from (some partner that’s in it for the money).
It’s a good idea mainly because I like the liner notes and the artwork. I don’t Apple is touting this as a way to get rid of CDs but I think they realize that CDs do degrade overtime and digital formats (AAC, OGG, MP3, etc.) don’t. When I buy a CD the first thing I do is rip it to MP3 format (I like the IDv3 tags) at 192kbps. Then I can share it with different devices, or put it on an iPod (if I get one).
I would gladly pay extra.
Part of problem is even though the digital files last “forever” I don’t consider the encoding level from the iTunes store to be archival quality.
An interesting idea, but one I’d think would have to be an option (like the 1-Click Buy vs. Shopping cart option). For one thing, they would have to start charging more for those who want the CD – the reason they can charge $9.99 for an album is because they’re not paying the overhead of packaging, media, or shipping. They might also offer the option of customizing what’s shipped – some people might just want the liner notes shipped to them while others want the CD, jewel case, and liner notes.
Personally, I prefer buying music through iTunes because I always feel bad throwing out the CD case afterwards. (I just don’t have the room or desire to store several hundred CD cases.) I also hate that part of the money I pay for CDs is for the packaging that I throw away (or even for the CD that I stow away in a CD pouch never to be played again once it’s ripped to mp3).
I realize that the music on iTunes is not near the quality available on a CD, and I’d be willing to pay a little more for higher quality. But if it comes down to paying $15 for a high quality CD w/jewel case and $10 for a decent quality set of mp3s, I’ll go with the mp3s 9 times out 10.
And finally, you also have to consider that if they ship you the original CD, their DRM scheme is effectively out the window. You can easily delete the copies you downloaded and rip at a higher quality without any of the DRM that comes with iTMS files.
So you don’t like AAC? I don’t like it because I’d like to be able to use a different player other than iTunes.
OGG is alright but my personal opinion is that MP3 at 192kbps definitely has the better sound of the three.
I have no problems with AAC as a format, just the bitrate is a bit low.
this idea is great, infact, it’s what has kept me from purchasing music fromt he iTunes music store. I want the great sound of a cd, and the control to rip it to my computer in a quality I choose. Just having the physical cd is always cool in my mind too.
I have been importing my CDs in AAC format, at 160 kbps. I noticed downloads come in at 128.
Matt’s right when he says 128 is not “archival quality.” I agree. What does everyone import their CDs at? What would be considered “archival quality?” I am curious to see how everyone else deals with all these “import options.”
Not a good idea at all. It’s the centrally-controlled distribution of these little pieces of plastic that has given greedy middle-men so much power in the first place.
If you want a CD, go and buy it, rip it yourself. And keep lobbying your government so that the right to rip for personal use is protected.
Yes, that would be excellent. Too bad that would mean that not only do they have to pay for all of their bandwidth, but they have to charge you for shipping and for the actual cd and storage and add a whole new division onto the buisness. It would eliminate the easy somewhat-decently-priced downloading service and turn it into a normal cd store that you also get downloads with.
It would be nice, and if they did, I would probably buy from them, but it will never happen.
I, personally, don’t use iTunes because I only get 128kbps AAC. I buy the actual cd for anywhere from $9-$12 and get the lossless cd with the case and the album booklet and everything.
I don’t think it would be that difficult to equip every Apple store with a very high quality CD burner capable of putting the art on the CD and a high quality printer to produce the liner notes. Yes, probably slightly lower quality than a mass-produced one, but would I pay $2 extra for it? For some albums, hell, yes. Add the ability to burn out-of-print and never-released-on-CD albums and for those I’d pay a premium.
The business downside of Matt’s idea is primarily shipping and handling costs. Yes, you’d still have some handling, but it’s minimal; not like boxing something, affixing a label, getting it ready to ship…
I know this may sound terribly old-fashioned of me…but why not just buy a CD?
Because iTunes or even iTunes+$2 is cheaper, Paul. And iTunes is immediate, so maybe you could get your online music and a voucher to get a hardcopy if you need it.
The voucher might be a good idea. they could strike up a deal with another dealer, either online, walk-in or both where you could redeem the voucher for the CD. They avoid having to deal with shipping and another vendor gets more traffic.