Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Actually Napster when it started wasn't just the easiest way to get music, it was the only way to get music online. The initial iteration of Napster lasted from 1999 to 2001. iTunes didn't start until late 2001, which was also when the first iPod came out . I think that most digital music initially was where people ripped copies of songs off their cd's. I didn't switch to Apple until around 2006. Before then I used windows and linux and had a mp3 player.
If I recall correctly, Jobs insisted on specific price tiers rather than allow the publishers to set their own prices. It took a number of years before most of the publishers put their music on line at the iTunes store. Apple initially wanted to use the same model for ebooks.
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Napster didn't invent the MP3. There were ways prior to Napster to purchase digital music. They were just not very good. An industry is not going to embrace change unless they are forced to.
I was trying to look up an article on digital music prior to Napster, but my Google-fu just isn't up to it.
But here's a bit I did find on
Wikipedia that illustrates my point (sorry for the long quote, but I believe it is on topic):
The major record labels eventually decided to launch their own online stores, allowing them more direct control over costs and pricing and more control over the presentation and packaging of songs and albums. Sony Music Entertainment's service did not do as well as was hoped. Many consumers felt the service was difficult to navigate and use. Sony's pricing of US$3.50 per song track also discouraged many early adopters of the service. Furthermore, as MP3 Newswire pointed out in its review of the service, users were actually only renting the tracks for that $3.50, because the patron did not own the audio file. After a certain point the files expired and could not be played again without repurchase. The service quickly failed.
Undaunted, the record industry tried again. Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment teamed up with a service called Duet, later renamed pressplay. EMI, AOL/Time Warner and Bertelsmann Music Group teamed up with MusicNet. Again, both services struggled, hampered by high prices and heavy limitations on how downloaded files could be used once paid for. In the end, consumers chose instead to download music using illegal, free file sharing programs, which many consumers felt were more convenient and easier to use.