

Apple stepping up pressure on music labels to snub Amazon  - cageface
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/03/apple-stepping-up-pressure-on-music-labels-to-snub-amazon.ars

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freetard
It looks like every day that passes, Apple is trying to really demonstrate
they're the new Microsoft.

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tvon
Maybe I just remember it differently because at the time I was using Linux and
always looking for ways to deal with everyone else who used Office and/or
Exchange, but IMO the "New Apple == Old Microsoft" comparison is way off base.

Apple is easy to avoid, trivial even, you can buy one of many other music
players, buy other phones and use other media managers. You don't _need_ to
use any Apple product unless you opt-in to their system (buying a device) and
even if you do opt-in, if you buy DRM-free tracks (which Apple pushed for,
btw) you can leave iTunes any time you want if you buy a non-Apple device (the
only exception being video which is still DRM-laden AFAIK).

Old Microsoft was impossible to avoid because government and businesses opted
you in, and you couldn't opt-out no matter how hard you tried if you wanted to
interact with those systems. Word documents were difficult or impossible to
reverse engineer and MS did what it could to prevent any advancement in that
area, and Exchange was nearly impossible to interface with (it's still
problematic) if you weren't using Outlook.

I mean, it's not like government and businesses are using iTunes and thereby
forcing people to buy Apple products to interact with the corporate iTunes
system (as was the case with old Microsoft, Exchange and Office).

Besides, Apple is certainly behaving badly, granted, but in this case they
aren't even pressuring the labels to _stop_ doing business with Amazon,
they're pressuring them to stop giving Amazon a day of exclusivity. The Old
Microsoft way was to threaten to cut off vendors just for competing, not for
giving a competitor an advantage.

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JamieEi
> The Old Microsoft way was to threaten to cut off vendors just for competing,
> not for giving a competitor an advantage.

What specific incident(s) are you referring to? The closest thing I can think
of is threatening to witholding volume discounts based on vendor behavior. As
I understand it this practice is only illegal because the dominant market
position of Windows and Office makes MS (retroactively) a monopoly. If a small
startup did the same thing that would be fine both legally and (IMO) morally.
I don't know of any cases where a vendor was threatened with not being able to
sell Windows or Office (i.e., "cut off"), however.

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tvon
I'm not referencing anything specific, so I could very well be wrong with that
example.

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aswanson
How did apple and Microsoft ridiculously complexify file management. Why is it
so hard to add and delete files ? Why do I have to sync with special software?
Why can't the damn thing (zune or ipod) be the disk that it is? All about
locking in control.

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glhaynes
Is this the way most users of these devices feel? I don't get that impression
at all. I'd go so far as to say that I bet MP3 players would be
_significantly_ less popular today if they all required file management via
Explorer/Finder.

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aswanson
Are users really that incompetent? With all the millions of copies of
Microsoft word, photoshop, winamp, etc that require knowledge of files and
folders can the concept be that inscrutable to everyone? I mean, most people
who are under the age of 50 these days are more likely than not to grasp the
concept of a file, I'd bet.

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GHFigs
There is a significant difference between understanding something
intellectually and understanding it in such a way that it becomes intuitive or
second-nature. That the task of getting the content from one place to another
can be done reliably with practically no user intervention is a boon for
people who don't find operating a computer intrinsically rewarding, and one of
the key reasons the iPod was and is so successful among those people.

Being a HN reader, you probably have enough experience with computers that the
cognitive load of tasks like file management is basically zero. But for most
people, even many people who use computers on a daily basis, the cognitive
load involved in managing a library of thousands of files is much higher than
that of simply plugging something in. Unless they have a particular motivation
to favor the former, the latter is always going to be more appealing.

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DenisM
So let's see here. Being a monopoly in music distribution and telling
suppliers where else they can sell their stuff. Hello, anti-trust!

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GHFigs
_Being a monopoly in music distribution_

What definition of monopoly leads you to that conclusion?

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CoryMathews
If you are large enough to determine the entire music industry you are a
monopoly.

Microsoft gets all sorts of crap for windows being a monopoly yet there is
still mac and linux that anyone can change to. Yet they are still considered a
monopoly.

By that definition apple is a monopoly.

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tvon
Microsoft hasn't been a monopoly for, what, a decade?

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jamesbritt
I see now that when Jobs said that the "Don't be evil" mantra is bullshit, he
meant pretty much that.

Apparently, not being evil is bullshit.

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skinnymuch
Dude. Wrong person(s)/company.

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tjmc
What is it with Jobs lately? Having a near-death experience and then deciding
to be _more_ of an asshole must be the true embodiment of "Think Different".

Edit: Perhaps he actually died last year and they got him to the pet cemetery
before the stock went down.

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Batsu
If this were a movie, Apple would be the greedy figure that eventually gets
left behind by every who believed in him when he winds up with a gun pointed
at his best friend's head.

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jws
Just to be factual. Apple is not asking anyone to snub Amazon. They, according
to a single anonymous source, are no longer providing promotional support to
releases that give a competitor an exclusive period and then grant the iTunes
store the right to sell their material after the best selling day is over.

Sounds reasonable to me. I wouldn't allocate my best marketing spots to
weakened releases either.

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khelloworld
Wonder how much of this will happen once Jobs retires.

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DenisM
I can tell you how much - look at Microsoft in 1990s.

If there is an opportunity to make a lot of money by abusing the antitrust
law, the money will be made and distributed via bonuses to the sociopaths. The
sociopaths will infiltrate the company, any company, as soon as they smell
blood in the water. The law moves too slowly to impede them.

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marshallp
Bezos (lowering costs for consumers) vs Jobs (fleecing consumers) - I know who
i'm rooting for

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tvon
It sounds like you like one, and not the other, and are making up summaries to
fit.

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marshallp
No, because jobs has been around longer and pirates of silicon valley movie, i
actually like jobs more. However, from an intellectual standpoint i think
bezos is the better man for consumers.

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tvon
I see where you're coming from, but I think you're overlooking a few things.

Apple basically showed the labels that selling music online was "good", they
pressured the labels to drop DRM and regularly pressure the content owners
(music and video) to lower prices.

Basically everything great about Amazon MP3 (prices and lack of DRM) is there
not because Bezos insisted on it, but because the labels are eager to (re)gain
the upper hand against Apple.

Besides, Apple is objecting to Amazon getting a day of exclusivity in return
for featuring new releases, I don't see how that benefits anyone other the
label and Amazon.

Not that I approve of Apple's tactics here, just saying that painting Bezos as
the good guy is not exactly correct and while Jobs has freakish control
issues, he has historically focused on providing the best experience (in his
eyes) for consumers.

