All Articles Tagged subscription

MediaMemo is hearing that Apple Internet exec, Eddy Cue, has been tasked with exploring a $30/month iTunes TV Show subscription service:

A so-called “over the top” service could theoretically rival the ones most consumers already buy from cable TV operators — if Apple is able to get enough buy-in from broadcast and cable TV programmers.

Disney, with Steve Jobs its largest shareholder, pops up as among the first to potentially get on board.

Unlimited TV on your iPhone, Mac/PC, Apple TV, and maybe… iTablet with one monthly fee. You want?

(Re: iTablet, sure would make a nifty announcement to go along with the iTablet, like movie rentals did at Macworld 2008 for Apple TV Take 2….)

Spotify [Free with premium subscription - iTunes link] is now available for iPhone (and iPod touch) is now available — if you live in the UK, Sweden, Spain, France, Norway or Finland.

According to Spotify, if you live in those countries and have a premium subscription, you can enjoy:

• Access to millions of tracks with Spotify�s constantly updated catalogue
• Search and stream music instantly. Browse by artist, title, album, genre, label or year
• Create and synchronise playlists. Updates from the desktop application will be synced instantly and vice versa
• Playlists can be downloaded and played in offline mode when you have no connection, are on a plane or subway, or abroad and subject to roaming data fees
• Listen to tracks and albums in their entirety. Rewind, fast-forward, pause, skip and shuffle
• View cover art for all tracks and albums

So, if you live in one of those countries, and have a premium account, and an iPhone or iPod touch (list long enough yet?) and you try out the Spotify App, let us know how it works for you!

[Thanks James for the tip!]

Read the rest of this entry »

RealNetworks recently submitted their on-demand music streaming application for the iPhone and iPod Touch to Apple for review. Yes, this is the moment all of you Rhapsody subscribers have been waiting for.

Rhapsody is a subscription based service, $12.99/Month, that allows you the ability to listen to any single song or album on-demand. Current subscribers to Rhapsody can simply log into the app with their existing user name and password and can be streaming music in no time. If you are not a subscriber you will have the opportunity to take the app for a free limited time test drive.

The big question is whether or not Apple will approve this app but given the amount of negative press Apple’s app approval process is currently getting, we are leaning towards this one being approved.

Subscription based music streaming is in high demand on devices such as iPhone so it makes us wonder – when will Apple make it’s move into the music streaming business? Not that this would be likely to actually happen but Apple could even offer the service as an extra perk to all of us who subscribe to their MobileMe service.

Would you be willing to pay Apple for a service such as Rhapsody or are you perfectly content with current iTunes setup?

[Real Networks Blog via Daring Fireball]

First push-Instant Messenger (IM) apps, now Turn-by-Turn Navigation? Can our long standing dreams finally become reality?

A few days ago we mentioned Gokivo + Yahoo! Maps had made it into the App Store. Now it’s joined by:

AT&T Navigator [free - iTunes Link] provides an iPhone front end to AT&T’s $9.99/month subscription service.

MobileNavigator Europe ($94.99 – iTunes link) features Reality View Pro, Lane Assistant Pro, Speed Assistant and Day & Night Mode component as well as the opportunity, to show POIs along the route. (See YouTube for the gist)

What’s interesting from a user-perspective is the ranger of options we’ll likely be seeing: either free or $0.99 up front and ongoing subscriptions, or more expensive up front (will $100 be the price point?) and no subscriptions — though will we have to wonder about charges for updated maps eventually?

What’s your preference?

People don’t want to rent their music. So said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Of course, the Jobsinator also said people don’t want to watch video on tiny iPod screens, and we see how far that got him…

So, while 100% unsubstantiated rumor at the moment, The Financial Times (via Apple Insider) is reporting a “tip off” that says Apple is now considering an unlimited music program similar to Nokia’s “Comes With Music”.

Under the terms of that plan, manufacturers would pay the recording industry a per-device fee (passed on to the consumer, ‘natch) that would allow for “unlimited” music over the course of a year. When the year’s up, consumers could either renew the subscription themselves or let it lapse and keep “50-60″ songs they’ve already downloaded.

What the cost(s) will be (guesses range from $5 a month to $100 per device), what kind of DRM (digital rights management) will be in place, what quality compression (128-bit like standard iTunes or higher 256-bit like iTunes+ and Amazon MP3) will be used, and basically every and all other details remain to be announced.

It is noted that, because of it’s existing cell phone billing arrangement, a more traditional monthly subscription model may also be made available exclusively for the iPhone.

The parties (Apple and the music industry) are reportedly still far apart when it comes to terms, but revenue streams makes for strange bedfellows (hi, AT&T!) so we’ll have to wait for another Special Music Event (starring Paul McCartney, of course) to know for sure.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind a subscription service. If the music industry had any sense (please, hold your laughter ’til the end…), they would provide radio-like free streams of low bit-rate music with an easy “buy now” button for higher quality. It would allow people to discover music again, just like the iTunes/Starbucks initiative, and give the rapidly dehydrating recording industry their own little sip of water…

What do you think? Buy or die? Rent over spend? How do you want your iPhone music?