Comments on: Think the new $0.69 iTunes Price is cheap? It’s nothing compared to Zune Pass.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:04:37 +0000

when i said bmb, i meant b&w

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:51:33 +0000

I understand your point but I would have to say that there is definitely a difference up to a certain point. The 50k home audio system is pushing it, but if we are talking about $150 or so (Sony “hifi” system, let’s say) and a $1k amp/system combo (a pair of bmb mid ranged speakers and a decent amp), the difference is definitely enough to dampen my listening experience. While I would still like the song for being a good song, I would get less involved, possibly losing my attention to it after a while. In this regard, I would have to disagree with you that while a “lacking” audio system would not ruin my experience, but I would very much rather dish out a one time premium for much better quality. I would rather rent a blu ray than a dvd just so the experience is better, but I wouldn’t say DVD is unbearable (though VHS kinda is).

I know we are going off on a tangent since you post was about the price of music and not music quality, but I hope I answered your question with my opinion.

By: Jason Burns

Jason Burns — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:40:41 +0000

It’s an interesting question that you pose, and my answer might surprise you. I find the quality argument particularly interesting when it comes to music, and I argue it with a close friend of mine regularly. He insists on ripping to flac, uncompressed, and playing back on a $50,000 home audio system. I have had similar arguments that work towards my point with musicians in regard to amplifier modeling when recording. The argument is pretty simple. When you listen to music, do you listen to the quality of production or the song? In this case quality of production can be extended to the quality of reproduction when being played back. Now for me, I listen to the song, the emotion of the vocals, I like a lyrical melody or a crushing guitar riff. I can remember growing up listening to 8 tracks and then regular tapes and never going “Man, I could really rock out if it wasn’t for this tape hiss.” Of course when CD came out, I loved the sound, but I still listened to tapes also until it became inconvenient to do so. Now, we listen on MP3 players, and I have several different sets of headphones from white buds to studio monitoring headphones, and the honest answer is that when I am not listening critically, that is mixing and mastering, I am too caught up in the song itself to worry about bit rate or sampling frequency. Compression artifacts do not ruin my listening experience either. Of course there are extremes, I wouldn’t want to listen to anything under say 128k bit rate, or in mono or less than 44.1Khz, but even then I could probably dip below that and not be upset about it. So I pose you this question in return, if you are listening to a song you love, and the quality is “pretty good,” does that ruin your listening experience? I liken it to Blu-Ray vs. DVD. I will of course recognize that Blu-Ray is of much greater quality picture, but I don’t watch DVDs thinking “God this movie sucks, if only it was on Blu-Ray.”

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:26:05 +0000

However, I do plan to get either the Zune or Ipod this summer though.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:25:10 +0000

Well, prior to the 6th gen, the ipod video had the Wolfson DAC, which is quite a bit better than the Zune DAC. Also, it seems to be easier to mod a ipod video (again, prior to 6th gen) compared to a Zune.

Personally, I haven’t owned either, I use my cell phone for music, but I do own a pair of k702 at home and high music quality output from my devices is always a concern.

Wouldn’t you agree audio quality is also a big factor with these twp devices, probably the best portable audio device in the world? I mean, you edit music. =)

By: Smith Bluemit

Smith Bluemit — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:10:12 +0000

I want to compare Zune with iPod.

Thanks. for article

By: Jason Burns

Jason Burns — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:38:26 +0000

So let me get this straight, your argument is to steal it? How is that a sensical argument to price?

By: NotTellingYou

NotTellingYou — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:36:29 +0000

So. If you want to talk about price… I use torrents.ru and already own more music than yours Zune can fit. And I downloaded that absolutely free. BTW, I use iPod Touch and I can’t buy any track in AppStore. I have no credit card in this country. Too bad.

By: Physics Scientist

Physics Scientist — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:39:30 +0000

Great article! I’m loving your website;

By: Jason Burns

Jason Burns — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:25:45 +0000

Ah, check your own facts friend, $0.99 gets you DRM free songs on Zune also. I get unprotected MP3 files from the Zune Marketplace all of the time, keep them as long as you want.