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Apple Archive

Album Art and Liner Notes: An iTunes Disadvantage

- 2006.05.26

The iTunes Music Store has made obtaining legal music online much easier than in the past. Previously, legal music downloadable from the Internet would frequently work only with certain devices or certain applications.

There was nothing like the iPod to draw (almost) everyone together using a single application, and many PC users played their music through a myriad of applications such as WinAmp, MusicMatch, or RealOne player, whereas Mac users often used Audion or SoundJam.

Now that the iPod has become popular (to put it mildly), it has pretty much standardized iTunes as the music player of choice for both Mac and PC users, and most people are familiar with the iTunes Music Store even if they haven't used it.

CDs or Downloads?

There are those who are hesitant to purchase anything over the Internet (my mother, for instance), who would prefer to actually go to a store to buy what they want. What many do not realize is that the iTunes Music Store can help them out. Each song is available with a 30-second preview. While sites like Amazon.com often have previews of a selection of songs from an album available, iTunes gives you the ability to preview all of them so that you can just buy the tracks that you like.

I was surprised to see that they have a classical section, and they will give you a 30-second sample of any piece of music there, too.

iTunes track sampling also provides a great way to learn about new music. Often, bands and artists listed on Last.fm, a music profiling site, don't have tracks that can be previewed on the site. The iTunes Music Store provides a useful second stop - plus a place to actually purchase the music that you heard.

This not only gives you - the consumer - the choice of whether to buy the album or not, but where to buy it. If you would prefer to have the actual CD, you can purchase it from your local record store just as easily as you can from iTunes. Simply use iTunes to sample tracks before you buy.

This is great, but those who decide to purchase from their local HMV or Tower Records are sales lost for Apple. Yes, digital music is the future, but many people still like CDs. For some the idea of owning something physical is preferable to downloading it over the Internet. Some have cars that only support CDs.

Artwork and Liner Notes

Others really like to get the artwork and track liner notes that only come with physical CDs. Sure, iTunes provides support for album covers, but its support isn't for high-resolution artwork that can be browsed through like a booklet.

It would be nice if Apple offered a proper way to download and view the liner notes of an album you've purchase. Perhaps an idea for the next version of iTunes, this could convince some to purchase music over the Internet instead of in a store - especially if they could print out the booklet, fold it, and store it in a generic CD case with the burned copy of the album they just downloaded from iTunes.

While I do not think that Apple should sell physical CDs (not only would this make little sense due to costs, but it would also be possibly infringing even more on the Apple Computer vs. Apple Corps dispute), I do think that Apple should look into including high-resolution artwork and liner notes with the downloaded music. Not only would this potentially bring in some of the CD-only purchasers, but it could ultimately provide a new creative format for bands and producers to use in order to distribute art and information along with an album. LEM

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