It is so if Steve Jobs says so. [But Apple stock went down.-ed. A diversion, part of Jobs' secret strategy.]
UPDATE: Fortune has just announced its top 50 global “most admired” companies with Apple breaking into the top 10 for the first time at number 9. In case you’re interested, General Electric is 1 and Dow Chemical (in a rebound from the Vietnam era) squeaks in at 50. Google and Yahoo do not appear. (Is that the Lantos Effect?)
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I am as big a fan of Aple as anyone, but I will keep buying CDs.
I admire what Steve Jobs is trying to do with the Apple music store.
It is more consumer-friendly then its competitors, but it is still quite limited compared with “old fashioned” CDs.
When I buy a CD, I can rip a high-quality, non-DRM-crippled digital version of the album — playable on my computer, iPod or wherever I want….and I still have a perfect-quality offline backup (i.e. the CD itself!)
Roger, this is a great story. I’m in the process of setting up a 501(c)(3) in order to help young musicians from Eastern Europe get published by pressing CDs. After reading this, I’m probably going to look more heavily into working with iTunes, eMusic (another great download site) or something similar.
Rudy Carrera
Why wouldn’t they call it “Mini Mac?”
To Rudy: It hasn’t gotten alot of press, but Apple has definitely gone the extra mile to develop good relations with small labels. So I think you’re on the right track.
OK back to Roger’s post. I wouldn’t include Google or Yahoo! either.. at least not yet. Google is still in the honeymoon phase, and they haven’t yet met their first major business threat. When we see how they adapt, then we’ll know the merits of their organization.
I agree with Steve that CD’s are becoming outmoded, except that as the article points out, there’s still plenty you can do with CD’s that you can’t with ripped media. For one thing, I resent digital controls placed on my music. I bought it, and the product is now mine. But those are finding their way into CD’s now, so perhaps the issue is moot.
Either way, I rarely listen to my CD collection anymore. I’ve long since ripped all my CD’s, and I rip new ones as I buy them. I don’t think I have listened to a CD directly in about three or four years. For some recordings, like my Joe Frank collection, it’s actually impractical to carry them as CD’s at all. So saying the CD is obsolete isn’t insane by any means.
Of course Jobs is going to say CDs are outmoded. CDs and CD players are his #1 competitor.
Mac sales are down over the last five years over the previous five (17.6 million Macs sold FY 1996-2000, 17.0 million Macs sold FY 2001-2005) and Apple Computer, Inc. non-iPod/iTMS revenues have seen an even greater decline ($36 billion FY 1996-2000 vs. $31 billion FY 2001-2005). The Macintosh is a no-growth specialty-market computer platform, like mainframes for IBM. Apple Computer’s future growth is clearly dependent on the continued success of the iPod and iTMS.
What makes it especially interesting is that Apple Computer was in obvious violation of its trademark dispute settlement agreement with Apple Corps, Ltd. (parent company of Apple Electronics, Apple Music, and Apple Records, among others) when it got into the music player and music distribution businesses. It is pretty much inevitable that Apple Corps is going to wind up with a cut of the iPod and iTMS revenue streams.