Caples says I jinxed cloud music service, Lala...
Well, maybe I did…In my original post, from almost exactly one year ago, and which is basically a visceral reaction to a phone conversation I had w/Caples’ and his stubborn arrogance about the service’s superiority, I make the following points (I’m paraphrasing myself here):
- The idea of the .10c offer w/an upsell opportunity is flawed, a micro micro payment…lame.
- No iPhone app, and why would I pay to stream a collection I already own? Ah…Pandora anyone?
- As my pal Tim Wilson used to say when we were at Boris, this is about the integration story…which Lala didn’t really have.
So I’m sorry to have jixed the service Caples…But wait!
Lest we not forget that Apple acquired Lala…And at the time of the announced shut down, Wired speculated about the reasoning behind it…
While Apple’s hardware has embraced the cloud since .mac (now Mobile Me), its iTunes software lags far behind. Today’s news, while unfortunate for Lala users, represents good news for iTunes users, because it’s a sign that iTunes too could be headed for the cloud, obviating their need to manage music collections manually between multiple devices.
Yah, I guess…I can already manage music collections locally on my network via Home Sharing…And that feature doesn’t make music in the cloud a killer app.
Lala’s interface was pretty bitchin’…And it was clear they understood the consumption model…Particularly with regard to their relating owned songs to songs or artists of potential interest to their users…So perhaps the purchase was just Jobs following up to a fan-boys comment about owning all the engineering talent in the Valley…
In a follow up email, Caples threw out his reasoning for liking the service, again dissin’ the cloud as not that important:
For me, the cloud stuff on Lala wasn’t that important…I liked the cheaper download prices and the higher bitrates, the social media capability (sharing playable album or song widgets on facebook), and the possibility to buy CDs through them if you were so inclined.
Matt Rosoff over at Digital Noise posted his thoughts, making the point that the music industry hates “digital lockers” and that not letting users stream the stuff is bad mojo:
If you persistently refuse to let customers use your product in the way they want to use it, they’ll stop buying it. Ten years of stiff revenue declines in the recorded music business should have made that lesson clear.
Yah, again, I don’t think this is about streaming for Apple…Or for the consumer…How long as Rhapsody been pushing a subscription model from the cloud? Like 12 years? Ah…still not catching on…No, IMHO, this was about the acquisition of talent by Apple, and using that talent to improve their existing products…And perhaps their existing streaming content line…Certainly work to be done…
Anyway…Sorry Caples…While I only embedded one album into one post…I do kinda miss having the option. C’est la Apple.
