Post by tangerinesun on Jan 22, 2016 14:02:56 GMT -5
Got any advice to share, whether from you yourself or someone else? Here's a bucket for that.
〜〜〜
A WORD ON THE "APPLE TAX"
If you are one of about 11 people listening to iTunes radio for a cost of zero, this has extra relevance as the plug is about to be pulled on that service. $9.99/month is the new free at Apple, Inc., although you can keep using Apple Beats Radio at no charge, with commercials and limited song skips.
About the $9.99 monthly subscription for Apple Music: isn't that what they charge at, oh, Spotify for example?
Yes... unless. Unless you sign up for the non-Apple service using your Apple iDevice. Then it's $12.99/month. An additional 30% per month forever, in other words.
What? This is the way the Apple App Store works. They take a 30% markup on sales, and if you subscribe through an iOS app, your payment is processed through the App Store every time.
But then, you'd have to be an idiot to register anything through an Apple Store app, right? Money for nothing.
Not exactly so, since sometimes you have no choice — the iThing is only available in the app store — and a one-time markup on a $2.00 purchase is not that hard to bear. As with Amazon, or Google Play, or any retailer, there has to be a fee for service.
Only, some would wonder whether this pricing structure applied to rival music services is not the same as an anti-competitive price barrier. Since App Store rules forbid any messaging about this within an app, there's a strong potential for consumers to get reamed, that is, misled.
Apple hardballing on music for portables does not stop at streaming. The downloadable song file that costs a dollar whether at Apple or Amazon would be $1.30 within Amazon's shopping app, except Amazon refuses to play that game. They just won't sell you music that way.
The same goes for other sellers like Bandcamp or CD Baby. Physical media or other hardgoods, OK. Digital downloads, no way.
I can't tell if there's an extra layer of no-you-don't in addition to the markup, in the case of downloadable music. People aren't eager to talk about details of contractual obligations to Apple.
But you can always make a purchase from an Apple competitor with a mobile web browser, and then consume what you just bought with your iOS app... can't you? Well, no. Not so fast. Not if it's a digital delivery.
You're prohibited from downloading over the air to your iPhone, say. You'll have to get the file using a desktop or laptop computer, then move it to the phone. Sellers are also so scared of trouble, or so legally constrained (don't know which), that they won't even show you the option to buy if your web browser has a mobile signature.
You're welcome to wishlist something you found for later, of course. Knock yourselves out, mobile shoppers.
This confused the hell out of me until I learned how things stood. Now that we both know, we can be disgusted about it together. FYI.
〜〜〜
A WORD ON THE "APPLE TAX"
If you are one of about 11 people listening to iTunes radio for a cost of zero, this has extra relevance as the plug is about to be pulled on that service. $9.99/month is the new free at Apple, Inc., although you can keep using Apple Beats Radio at no charge, with commercials and limited song skips.
About the $9.99 monthly subscription for Apple Music: isn't that what they charge at, oh, Spotify for example?
Yes... unless. Unless you sign up for the non-Apple service using your Apple iDevice. Then it's $12.99/month. An additional 30% per month forever, in other words.
What? This is the way the Apple App Store works. They take a 30% markup on sales, and if you subscribe through an iOS app, your payment is processed through the App Store every time.
But then, you'd have to be an idiot to register anything through an Apple Store app, right? Money for nothing.
Not exactly so, since sometimes you have no choice — the iThing is only available in the app store — and a one-time markup on a $2.00 purchase is not that hard to bear. As with Amazon, or Google Play, or any retailer, there has to be a fee for service.
Only, some would wonder whether this pricing structure applied to rival music services is not the same as an anti-competitive price barrier. Since App Store rules forbid any messaging about this within an app, there's a strong potential for consumers to get reamed, that is, misled.
Apple hardballing on music for portables does not stop at streaming. The downloadable song file that costs a dollar whether at Apple or Amazon would be $1.30 within Amazon's shopping app, except Amazon refuses to play that game. They just won't sell you music that way.
The same goes for other sellers like Bandcamp or CD Baby. Physical media or other hardgoods, OK. Digital downloads, no way.
I can't tell if there's an extra layer of no-you-don't in addition to the markup, in the case of downloadable music. People aren't eager to talk about details of contractual obligations to Apple.
But you can always make a purchase from an Apple competitor with a mobile web browser, and then consume what you just bought with your iOS app... can't you? Well, no. Not so fast. Not if it's a digital delivery.
You're prohibited from downloading over the air to your iPhone, say. You'll have to get the file using a desktop or laptop computer, then move it to the phone. Sellers are also so scared of trouble, or so legally constrained (don't know which), that they won't even show you the option to buy if your web browser has a mobile signature.
You're welcome to wishlist something you found for later, of course. Knock yourselves out, mobile shoppers.
This confused the hell out of me until I learned how things stood. Now that we both know, we can be disgusted about it together. FYI.