Your iPod is useless. Seriously. "But why Fresh? Why is my iPod useless?"
Well, as of six months from now you won't need it. The mp3 is dead. Just like DVDs are dead, you just don't know it yet.
I'll back it up - I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about consolidation for a minute. There is no way I'm limiting myself to 100 items. Not happening. I have a love affair with stuff, but I don't need my iPod. You can have it - if I didn't think it might be cool to pull out in 20 years and show my kids. I don't even need the MP3 player in my phone anymore.
The wave of the future is coming. And the future is called Spotify. Here's the rub. Right now, on most smart phones, you can access streaming audio sites like Pandora or Slacker Radio.
The only problem with Pandora or Slacker is that you are putting the Playlist in their hands. At the very most, you simply suggest what band you would like to hear and they extrapolate a list of songs and other artists from that tidbit of information, which is based on the listening preferences of other users. But who wants to listen to a random set of songs based on one artist? Especially if all the songs that follow are picked form other people's listening habits? It's a well-known fact that other people's taste in music sucks.
Enter Spotify. It's a streaming music service but you get to pick what
you hear. Playlist creation? It's all in your hands. Want to listen to
Wham's entire discology followed by select Human League cuts? Me neither,
but like I said, other people's taste in music is horrible.
With Spotify, you will have up to 3,333 songs (that's roughly 300 albums) on hand at any time residing on your portable device. You get to pick them and it's free. F-R-Double-E.
Sounds awesome right? It does but it also sounds like the death knell for the recording industry's current business model, which has been on life support since 2003.
There are, however, a couple of variables in how this will play out. If the record companies wanted to crush this, they could. They own all the rights to the songs that you want to listen to for free. Funny thing is, they are all on board. The Big 4 signed off on it in exchange for a share of the stock. Next up - will the cellphone makers and cell service providers sign off on it? Specifically, will taste-maker Apple let it into their iPhone App store and will AT&T allow a bandwidth sucking app like Spotify onto their network. Both Apple and AT&T have good reasons to just say no.
As mentioned above, downloading 3,333 songs to any device over a cellular network will put a hurting on the bandwidth. As for Apple - why buy the cow when you get the milk for free. Spotify is a direct affront to Apple's music industry dominating iTunes.
And here's where the intrigue begins. The labels want Spotify to succeed. They want it on every phone in ever teenager's sweaty little hand. Why? Streaming audio has been growing by leaps and bounds while purchases of MP3s have begun to drop off. Having a share of Spotify would also give the major record labels a bargaining chip when it comes time to renegotiate their iTunes contract with Apple, a process that, for the past couple of years, has been favoring Apple's market dominance, allowing Apple to pretty much do what ever they want.
So that's the skinny. Spotify is not available in the United States - yet. Word is, it will be here in six months. If you are trying to par your life down to 100 things, go ahead and throw away your MP3 player. I'm going to keep mine. I like shiny, useless things.
With Spotify, you will have up to 3,333 songs (that's roughly 300 albums) on hand at any time residing on your portable device. You get to pick them and it's free. F-R-Double-E.
Sounds awesome right? It does but it also sounds like the death knell for the recording industry's current business model, which has been on life support since 2003.
There are, however, a couple of variables in how this will play out. If the record companies wanted to crush this, they could. They own all the rights to the songs that you want to listen to for free. Funny thing is, they are all on board. The Big 4 signed off on it in exchange for a share of the stock. Next up - will the cellphone makers and cell service providers sign off on it? Specifically, will taste-maker Apple let it into their iPhone App store and will AT&T allow a bandwidth sucking app like Spotify onto their network. Both Apple and AT&T have good reasons to just say no.
As mentioned above, downloading 3,333 songs to any device over a cellular network will put a hurting on the bandwidth. As for Apple - why buy the cow when you get the milk for free. Spotify is a direct affront to Apple's music industry dominating iTunes.
And here's where the intrigue begins. The labels want Spotify to succeed. They want it on every phone in ever teenager's sweaty little hand. Why? Streaming audio has been growing by leaps and bounds while purchases of MP3s have begun to drop off. Having a share of Spotify would also give the major record labels a bargaining chip when it comes time to renegotiate their iTunes contract with Apple, a process that, for the past couple of years, has been favoring Apple's market dominance, allowing Apple to pretty much do what ever they want.
So that's the skinny. Spotify is not available in the United States - yet. Word is, it will be here in six months. If you are trying to par your life down to 100 things, go ahead and throw away your MP3 player. I'm going to keep mine. I like shiny, useless things.
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