Ever see that nifty law that states you can’t sell someone a Bill of Sales? I can’t recall which one it is right now (if you’re aware, please share it). I’m assuming there might be laws against selling someone a document stating you’ve sold them nothing in other places, too.
Anyway. How’s this relate to iTunes?
Simple. It looks like people are starting to get irritated. Maybe not in the USA, but then again, we’ve been weaned by and large off of getting anything of value for our money.
Don’t laugh, people stand ready and willing to pay 6$ for a coffee. I can’t say I’m wholey innocent on that count.
But where I (and now select European countries) draw the line is when you don’t actually give me anything for my money. Which is what iTunes does.
You do get some functionality.. but they don’t charge you for the software. You’re charged for music, which you’re then handicapped from actually using. Furthermore, the license by which you use it (ever read that?) is so onerous it’s probably not possible to listen to the stuff you’ve bought under many circumstance.
Lesse if we can find a license document. Here’s a fun not-a-legal-opinion from APLawrence you might find interesting.
Esentially you’ve been reduced, by iTunes, to licensing media as if you were a radio station. And paying about 8 times as much for the privledge of listening to whatever it is you’ve just licensed. Note that you didn’t buy it.’
So where am I going with this? Simple. You just purchased a bill of goods. Payed for something you don’t actually own. Good feeling, eh?
Oh, and at 99 cents a track that’s more than it would have cost on a nice shiney disk you can do whatever you wanted to, mastered in a lossless format, with lots of nice insert artwork. That can be re-sold.
Technology News: iTunes : iTunes Protesters Crank Up the Volume
