Tweet
Amazon MP3 Store
To buy an album you need their special downloader/installer software which only runs on Winblows or MacOS 10.4. Well isn't that just dandy given I still use MacOS 10.3 on my Macs and Linux on my PCs. WTF do they require this? There is NO good reason
They even let you buy individual tracks without enforcing use of their special software. But not albums 
If there's a worry users might not be able to handle multiple downloads beginning at once, well then just distribute albums as ZIP archives, or make their downloader/installer software a cross-platform Java app. Or an Ajax web app could also handle the downloading, if not the installing (but how freakin' hard is dragging the music files onto iTunes' icon to import it?). Or could an Ajax web app also handle installing? I'm not sure. Thoughts?
Still, their prices are far cheaper than the iTMS and they've no DRM across the board. Their selection isn't anything to write home about, but hopefully that will change. I just wish I could buy albums!!! For anything else I'll be picking them over the iTMS, but I _won't_ upgrade my OS just to get a service - albums - that shouldn't require any special software in the first place. How stupid and pointless is that?
It's not hard to imagine this happening a few years ago and ALL Mac users being left out in the cold. In fact, even today that's so common I'd probably have not even blinked before continuing to happily buy from the iTMS and buy regular old CDs from the local music shop, instead.
But what makes this situation so frustrating is Amazon had a chance here to make a truly platform agnostic online music store with a decent general catalogue - not just indie stuff - and they BLEW IT at the LAST MOMENT! Gaaaah!
Regards,
Jamie Kahn Genet
To buy an album you need their special downloader/installer software which only runs on Winblows or MacOS 10.4. Well isn't that just dandy given I still use MacOS 10.3 on my Macs and Linux on my PCs. WTF do they require this? There is NO good reason
They even let you buy individual tracks without enforcing use of their special software. But not albums If there's a worry users might not be able to handle multiple downloads beginning at once, well then just distribute albums as ZIP archives, or make their downloader/installer software a cross-platform Java app. Or an Ajax web app could also handle the downloading, if not the installing (but how freakin' hard is dragging the music files onto iTunes' icon to import it?). Or could an Ajax web app also handle installing? I'm not sure. Thoughts?
Still, their prices are far cheaper than the iTMS and they've no DRM across the board. Their selection isn't anything to write home about, but hopefully that will change. I just wish I could buy albums!!!
For anything else I'll be picking them over the iTMS, but I _won't_ upgrade my OS just to get a service - albums - that shouldn't require any special software in the first place. How stupid and pointless is that?It's not hard to imagine this happening a few years ago and ALL Mac users being left out in the cold. In fact, even today that's so common I'd probably have not even blinked before continuing to happily buy from the iTMS and buy regular old CDs from the local music shop, instead.
But what makes this situation so frustrating is Amazon had a chance here to make a truly platform agnostic online music store with a decent general catalogue - not just indie stuff - and they BLEW IT at the LAST MOMENT! Gaaaah!
Regards,
Jamie Kahn Genet
Comment