Think that the cloud is just going to replace the download, end of story? But wait – the download has yet to totally replace the CD. Turns out that format progression is rarely that clean, and instead, technologies tend to coexist. The modern-day music industry features CDs (declining quickly but still worth billions), downloads (both free and paid), on-demand streams (both ad-supported and subscribed), non-interactive streams (internet radio), and even vinyl for kicks.
What a soup, but who’s complaining? Consumers have more options for finding, accessing, and collecting music than ever before. There are countless options for every demographic, budget (including broke) and user need. Just choose your weapon and start the attack.
Moreover, in the current environment, these formats not only coexist, they are oftentimes intertwined. A CD is ripped to produce a download, and that download is subsequently ported to an iPod, accessed from a networked stereo system, or stored in the cloud for anywhere access.
On Tuesday, MP3.com founder Michael Robertson offered the most cogent and informed version yet of what Apple is likely to do with its Lala acquisition. Instead of just throwing iTunes into the cloud and jumping into on-demand streams, Apple is more likely to enhance existing download collections with sky-based access. “An upcoming major revision of iTunes will copy each user’s catalog to the net making it available from any browser or net-connected iPod/touch/tablet,” Robertson offered, citing conversations with a number of sources. “After installation, iTunes will push in the background their entire media library to their personal mobile iTunes area.”
So, forget about subscription-based access, or far-out concepts like 10-cent streams. Those are all roadkill, and according to Robertson, not part of the Apple roadmap. But the bigger point is that Apple is not replacing the download with the cloud – rather, they are complementing the download with the cloud. It’s still your collection, just easier to access, back-up, and synchronize.
Which supports the earlier point. Sure, the cloud offers demonstrable benefits over fixed downloads. But the download itself is still an easy and viable solution for storing and accessing content. Instead of running into walls, downloads are getting supported by continued technological improvements – cheaper and more compact storage, a better delivery infrastructure, and continued reliability.
Reliability? It’s 3 am. Where are your downloads? Resting safely on your hard drive, and soon, backed up onto an Apple-supplied cloud. Not floating with a third-party startup like Imeem, unrecoverable if anything goes wrong. This sounds like a more elegant solution, one that plays into the realities of format coexistence, not replacement.
Paul Resnikoff, Publisher.
