6 Things I Would Change in the iTunes Store
I like the iTunes Music store, but I have always found some things extremely annoying with it. I spend some of my music money there and would spend a much larger percentage at iTMS if some of these were resolved. Some of these issues are about getting more “value” from my $0.99, some are about usability and some are just to make it easier for me to be a repeat customer. As things stand right now, I have to know exactly what I want to buy before I visit iTunes and then get all of my information about the artists and songs from other sources.
Wish Lists
All online shopping sites have wish lists. They are extremely helpful in keeping track of things that you want to buy in the future when you are able to or when someone asks you what you want for Christmas. iTunes sorely lacks the ability to mark songs/videos for future purchase.
Browser-like Features
If not a wish list, could we have the ability to bookmark pages? I know you can bookmark iTunes URLs in your favorite browser, but it would be nice to have it within iTunes. And while I’m asking for browser-like functions, could we have tabs? Sometimes I find multiple albums I like and there is a limit to how many times I can hit the back button before I grow tired and give up. A site that sells stuff should not like a tired customer and especially not ones that give up. The store has recently added some user-specific suggestions, but more user customizability so that I can see more of what I’m looking for (music) and less of what I am not (audiobooks) in the limited iTunes real estate.
Better Search Results
Apple needs to realise there is more to a song that its artist, album, composer and title. There are many other things I would like to search on, especially since a lot of data already exists in the files. The data is there- we should have the ability to search all pre-1995 Metallica or post-Yoko Beatles. Anything information that the file contains should be searchable- if this makes it complex for the average user, have these features available only through the Power Search.
Browsing and Navigation
Which brings me to managing the iTunes real estate through better usability. First of all, a song can have multiple artists, but iTunes does not know this. It treats “Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds” as a separate artist from “Gene Kelly”, resulting in no “Singin’ in the Rain” songs showing up under Gene Kelly.
Also, iTunes does not understand the concept of Composers. In many genres of music- classical, soundtracks- the Composer is a more important attribute of a song than the artist. The ability to browse by composer should be obvious- I want to find Beethoven’s symphonies under Beethoven, not under “London Symphony Orchestra”. Also, I am used to flipping through album art at the music store- they have added the ability to flip through movie posters in the movie store, and this should be an obvious addition to the music store.
Finally, we should have the ability to browse by any attribute of the song, or by multiple attributes- that is, composer A within Artist B. I want Gershwin songs sung by Fred Astaire before 1955, but I can’t find them on iTunes even though the information is there.
Album information
Which brings me to Album information. When I buy an album at the store, the release date on a 1941 Jazz CD does not say 1999 just because that is when it was last re-issued. There is a lot more information there and I want it. Make use of the “Comments” field of the tag, provide a small pdf or something but there is a lot of information that comes with music that is being lost.
Also, Artist is a broad term- album liner notes usually tell me who was playing bass, who was on the drums and who produced the track. No such luck with digital tracks. My point is, there is a lot of information in a physical CD/record album that is not showing up on digital tracks and there is a lot of information on digital tracks that is unsearchable through iTunes. Also, while I’m at it, could we have lyrics?
Format
Finally, I come to the feature I want the most but expect the least- lossless, DRM-free formats. Enough has been said about why I would want those two things, so I will not repeat it all. All I will say is that no one ever told me which CD player I could play my CDs on.
Note: If I got any of these wrong, and some of these features actually do exist, let me know in the comments!
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One item left off the list:
Data on who really performed the songs! Trolling for oldies pulls up many less-than-stellar performances attributed to the original artist, but played by someone else.
Buyers need to know this up front!
“First of all, DRM does almost nothing to prevent piracy. It’s ONLY a hassle for people who buy music legitimately and want to make backup copies or share music across multiple devices.”
Wah? yes it does prevent piracy. There are many users that do not wish to pirate software, and do not want the inconvenience of driving to the local cd store, but want to listen to an album right this instance. Digital distribution offers this audience a solution (and many other markets, which for arguments sake will be ignored for now) DRM is absolutely necessary to protect an artist’s rights to profit. And also for argument’s sake we will leave out whether the record labels are a corrupt business or not. I’m just arguing that in a positive market environment, DRM is required.
Rights management in the past was simply done by nature of the distribution medium. For example, black market cassette tapes still need to be physically distributed, meaning that the police force we already pay for can easily keep the piracy to a minimum with ease. Rights management has always existed. And it exists to protect the creators of the product.
We do not need to get rid of DRM, we need a better DRM system. Its misinformation to say we don’t need DRM. Bollocks. That’s like saying we don’t need our Government.
So your argument is that DRM only prevents people who have no interest in pirating music from pirating music.
Okay. That’s retarded. So basically: you’re arguing that DRM is redundant and ineffective while saying that it prevents piracy, you’re completely misusing the word “misinformation,” and your analogy to government is more tortured than a Muslim Canadian swept off to Sudan by the Bush administration.
let’s not use derogatory words. “Stupid, ape-like thinking” is better than the one you chose.
I said “do not wish to pirate…” and if u read the rest of the sentence correctly, I offered reasons that would compel them to pirate. DRM allows those users a legal solution given their buying context. Its implied in my statement that the other solution is to illegally download music.
duh.
This viewpoint is upheld my many many other people, its not a new concept. I argue that this is the reason iTunes is so popular.
Even further, it is the lenient nature of Apple’s DRM that makes iTunes popular, well above any other competing DRM.
How did I say DRM is “redundant”? Redundant to what? DRM is redundant when it is applied to physical CD media. It is not redundant when applied to digital files.
DRM in Apple’s case is not ineffective. It can be made ineffective for a small amount of skilled users, but for the vast majority - it is very effective.
The analogy is correct. DRM is governance to ensure everyone involved with digital content is considered. A component of government is the limitation of action by individuals for the greater good. There is no argument you can come up with that disputes these points. oh yeah, you snever even gave an argument why the analogy is incorrect.
I know you give this site a lot of hits Beeble, but my issue with you has always been the same: you always say you are fair and balanced but you never display clarity of thought, ability to rise out of your own perspective and experience, or even the basic skills of point/counterpoint discussions. I say, are readers like you simply tolerated because you generate traffic? or are you just indicative of the poor quality found online in the day and age of YouTube and Blogs.