Re: [ARSCLIST] Clarifying the MAM-A gold comment

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Bob:

:Latest datapoint to support your argument:

As reported in NYTimes yesterday, Forrester Research data indicates iPods are not generating the 
iTunes sales predicted. Bottom line is each iPod sold generates about 22 iTunes song purchases. That 
means I fall right in the average. I bought two Verve out-of-print jazz albums, hated the quality of 
the iTunes sound so much I vowed never again, and have stuck to my vow.

BTW -- I don't think most typical iPod owners care about the sound, I think they just have either 
friends who already ripped what they want to MP3 or they are handy with pirate file-sharing networks 
and get their tunes that way.

If Apple and Big Music are concerned about too small a download to iPod ratio, then they all the 
more should embrace my idea of two-tier quality and two-tier pricing. Reduce the price for 
mega-crunched MP4 junk to 75 cents a song and sell ALF versions (ie what should be CD quality) for 
$1.25 a song. They may find a better bulge in their wallets than they thought, and in the least I 
don't think the net-net would be a reduction in profits because I think they'd sell more 75 cent 
tunes than 99 cent tunes because right now, a full album is $9.99 -- same price Amazon or J&R or 
soon-to-be-dead Tower charge on sale for the full-fledged CD. Reduce that to $7.50 and it suddenly 
doesn't seem such a ripoff to most people.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Olhsson" <olh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 8:19 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Clarifying the MAM-A gold comment


> Mike Richter wrote:
> > ...You can make a
> > radio or a preamp by hand, but it takes massive capital investment to
> > make CD-Rs.
>
> This is the problem with most things digital. It creates obsession with a "mass market" that in 
> many cases doesn't exist at all outside the mind of stock market speculators.
>
> --
> Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
> Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
> Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
> 615.385.8051    http://www.hyperback.com