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Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

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Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#21

Post by k-mcgrady »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #17
k-mcgrady wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say it was a problem but one of the theories for why they would make this change is audio quality. I believe it would allow you to build pre-amps and things into headphones.

Yes, you would need at least a D/A converter and a preamp in the headphone. But why would you want to do this? Good headphone DACs/amps are relatively big and heavy and they run on batteries (yet another thing to charge). The Fiio E5 is a small headphone amp (no DAC), and it's still the size of an iPod Shuffle.

>> "they run on batteries"

I think that's the point of lightning - they can derive power through the port. As for size I think there's already a few products out there that manage it. I saw one reviewed a few weeks ago.

Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#22

Post by kstrauser »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #2

Makes sense if it's for the exclusive content opportunities. I remember seeing a report when Kanye made his new album a Tidal exclusive and the number of users they got from that deal alone was staggering. The problem is that a lot of those users will cancel after their free trial but if they keep coming back for exclusives they'll a) want to stick around b) have no free trial so will pay for a month anyway and might…

If the headphone jack rumors are true, I'd bet it has nothing to do with audio quality and is more about the limited usefulness of the old jack. It plays music fine, but has no support for microphones or controls (like the fast forward / pause button on Apple earbuds) without weird nonstandard hacks (like the extra ring on the jack of Apple earbuds).

Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#23

Post by madeofpalk »

rloc wrote: post #9

I remember when Gruber was telling us that Apple was not buying Beats for the streaming service and its associated contracts. The truth is Apple acquired Beats almost solely for this asset. This move makes totally sense if you consider that Apple is trying to control the streaming market the same way it controlled the download to own one. I'm sure the labels will do whatever they can to avoid it. Spotify is a (big) t…

> That also explains why Apple is not approving the last Spotify app update. It's war.

To be fair, Apple has a long history of blocking apps with the own payment and subscription system.

Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#24

Post by kstrauser »

markcerqueira wrote: post #11
colinbartlett wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Apple Music already the #2 most popular streaming music service behind Spotify? I'd hardly call 15 million paid subscribers unpopular.

How many of those 15 million are people who forgot to turn off auto-renew on their free trial?

Maybe 3. Who doesn't notice $10 a month on their card? People with little spare money would feel it, and people with lots of spare money usually get that way by paying attention to their finances.

Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#25

Post by madeofpalk »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #13
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> high quality audio (...) once they bring out the iPhone with lightning headphones ... and you've lost me. I mean, the 3.5 mm jack solution is used by audiophiles for connecting headphones costing several iPhones to equipment costing dozens of iPhones. If it was in any way a problem for audio fidelity, these people would've gone for a new solution long ago.

I didn't say it was a problem but one of the theories for why they would make this change is audio quality. I believe it would allow you to build pre-amps and things into headphones.

Removing the headphone jack doesn't magically make the lighting port more capable.

There already exists a range of audio equipment and headphones that use the lightning port on existing iOS devices.

Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#26

Post by k-mcgrady »

rloc wrote: post #18
k-mcgrady wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I remember when Gruber was telling us that Apple was not buying Beats for the streaming service and its associated contracts. He really said that? I thought everyone at the time was pretty much agreed they were buying it for the streaming service, not the headphones. >> "That also explains why Apple is not approving the last Spotify app update. It's war." They're not approving it because supposedly Spotify built i…

>> "He really said that?" http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/05/08/beats "The problem with this theory is that those licenses (to my understanding) aren’t transferable in the event of an acquisition. Music label executives may be dumb, but they’re not that dumb." >> "They're not approving it because supposedly Spotify built in their own payment system which is a clear violation of App Store guidelines. Could be wr…

>> "Maybe but I think it was a strategy. Spotify wanted to grab attention with this. The origin of the issue is really the fact that Apple is not releasing the 30% tax. This is unsustainable in the music business where there is close to 0 margin."

I definitely agree it was a strategy. No way Spotify thought they would get away with that, it's a PR exercise. The issue isn't Apple's 30% though - it's Spotify's business model. Apple charges all publishers the same flat rate. If you can't sustain your business on it either leave the App Store or force your users to register through your website. I can see how it sucks for Spotify but it is not unfair in my opinion (unless Apple had a monopoly on streaming music, then it would be anticompetitive but for now it's an advantage they have and should be free to use).

Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#27

Post by alsetmusic »

rloc wrote: post #18
k-mcgrady wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I remember when Gruber was telling us that Apple was not buying Beats for the streaming service and its associated contracts. He really said that? I thought everyone at the time was pretty much agreed they were buying it for the streaming service, not the headphones. >> "That also explains why Apple is not approving the last Spotify app update. It's war." They're not approving it because supposedly Spotify built i…

>> "He really said that?" http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/05/08/beats "The problem with this theory is that those licenses (to my understanding) aren’t transferable in the event of an acquisition. Music label executives may be dumb, but they’re not that dumb." >> "They're not approving it because supposedly Spotify built in their own payment system which is a clear violation of App Store guidelines. Could be wr…

First, you said: >> That also explains why Apple is not approving the last Spotify app update. It's war.

Then: > The origin of the issue is really the fact that Apple is not releasing the 30% tax.

I'm honestly not sure if you're contradicting your first statement or if I'm misunderstanding your choice of words.

Is Apple failing to pay out? Seems like I would have read about it if they reneged on their contract with a highly visible third party.

Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#28

Post by rconti »

rloc wrote: post #18
k-mcgrady wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I remember when Gruber was telling us that Apple was not buying Beats for the streaming service and its associated contracts. He really said that? I thought everyone at the time was pretty much agreed they were buying it for the streaming service, not the headphones. >> "That also explains why Apple is not approving the last Spotify app update. It's war." They're not approving it because supposedly Spotify built i…

>> "He really said that?" http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/05/08/beats "The problem with this theory is that those licenses (to my understanding) aren’t transferable in the event of an acquisition. Music label executives may be dumb, but they’re not that dumb." >> "They're not approving it because supposedly Spotify built in their own payment system which is a clear violation of App Store guidelines. Could be wr…

Huh. As a Mac/iPhone/Spotify user, this is the first I've heard of any of this.

Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#29

Post by Throwaway23412 »

markcerqueira wrote: post #11
colinbartlett wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Apple Music already the #2 most popular streaming music service behind Spotify? I'd hardly call 15 million paid subscribers unpopular.

How many of those 15 million are people who forgot to turn off auto-renew on their free trial?

Apple Music has been out for a year today. After the initial three-month free trial, I would think that most people would notice $10 missing from their bank accounts every month.

Re: Apple in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Tidal Music Service

#30

Post by rloc »

alsetmusic wrote: post #27
rloc wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "He really said that?" http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/05/08/beats "The problem with this theory is that those licenses (to my understanding) aren’t transferable in the event of an acquisition. Music label executives may be dumb, but they’re not that dumb." >> "They're not approving it because supposedly Spotify built in their own payment system which is a clear violation of App Store guidelines. Could be wr…

First, you said: >> That also explains why Apple is not approving the last Spotify app update. It's war. Then: > The origin of the issue is really the fact that Apple is not releasing the 30% tax. I'm honestly not sure if you're contradicting your first statement or if I'm misunderstanding your choice of words. Is Apple failing to pay out? Seems like I would have read about it if they reneged on their contract with a…

The two statements are related, the source being the second one. The first one is just a PR strategy. I wrote my first post too fast.
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