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$30,000 to fill an iPod

May 12, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

So Microsoft's latest Apple Tax ad actually goes after the iPod and promotes the Zune, which is interesting on a number of levels. The argument? That filling a 120 GB iPod with songs from the iTunes Store would cost about $30,000. Or you could just get a Zune and subscribe to a Zune Pass for $15 a month, which is a little.

While some will argue nonsensically about how you don't "own" subscription music, I'd also point out that that $15 includes 10 free songs each month, which over time, would amount to quite a music collection, presumably of music you tried and then liked so much you decided to buy it. That's a lot better than spending a buck a song, only to later discover your musical tastes have evolved. As they will.

By the way: How long would it take to spend $30,000 on Zune Pass? About 2000 months, or over 166 years. In that amount of time, your musical tastes will surely change several times, too. :) Good thing you didn't waste money buying that music, eh?

Interesting ad.

Discuss this Article 146

Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"Chloe on 24, the super computer geek uses Mac on the show." She doesn't use OS X though.
boyreinvented
on May 12, 2009
"Apple is a bit player in music distribution outside of the US." Err, WRONG! Do you live in the US? I'm guessing you do as you certainly have no idea about the rest of the world. I'm in the UK and here, in the UK, most people's music players are iPods. Other than those downloading for free or buying CDs, my friends all use iTunes to get their music.
hamiltonstallings
on May 12, 2009
@Wae That funnyordie link was hilarious. Thank you sir!
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"Do you live in the US?" Gawd NO! "I'm in the UK and....my friends all use iTunes to get their music." That explains a lot. *reading your shirt*
bettieblu
on May 12, 2009
"She doesn't use OS X though" nor Windows. I dont know what it is, probably all fake, if anything its Linux.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"I dont know what it is, probably all fake" Like using Mac's in an enterprise or government setting? That's what Mike said.
kent909
on May 12, 2009
I live on 80 acres. If I filled my property up will cars it would cost me hundreds of millions of dollars. So what. It would probably take 8 hours a day for a year to listen to $30,000 worth of music. This is by far one of the most absurd arguments I have ever heard. Not as absurd as a person owning 2 iPods.
lotsamystuff
on May 12, 2009
"Only because Apple is irrelevent [sic]." Wishful thinking, Wae. Their dominance in segments Microsoft continues to struggle with is the very reason MS sees the need to attack them so directly. For an "irrelevant" company, they sure seem to be having quite an impact. But please, feel free to continue to wear your Microsoft-branded blinders if you like.
SPiotr
on May 12, 2009
@mikegalos "I guess the illusion of changing the world is worth more to them than actually doing it." Calling on the wisdom of Rob Enderle now Mike? V poor.
gorath
on May 12, 2009
Wae, i-tunes is an unprecedented success in digital music sales. It is way bigger than any of it's competitors. Personally, I hate the software, but, we have to put our music on i-tunes, because it accounts for an incredible majority of our digital music sales. I hate i-tunes even more now that (ahem) "they" have decided to remove DRM, because they've now askerd us to re-submit our entire catalogue, which will take the best part of a year - and maybe more, because we still have to do the things that we do on a day to day basis anyhows.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"It would probably take 8 hours a day for a year to listen to $30,000 worth of music." Estimating that they're probably talking about the $0.99 songs at 128kbps with each song averaging out to about 4 minutes in length (~1MB/minute @ 30000 songs for ~120GB total), it would take 35 weeks at 8 hours a day, everyday, of listening time to expend it. If you want to look at it a bit more simply, it would take a year with 8 hours a day of listening during work weeks (Monday to Friday), with 2 weeks off for vacation. ;)
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"It is way bigger than any of it's competitors." No actually it isn't. It's biggest competitor is piracy, and iTunes is nowhere close to beating it.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
Speaking of which: http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/15929-BitTorrent-app-rejected-by-Apple.html
mikegalos@msn.com
on May 12, 2009
"Chloe on 24, the super computer geek uses Mac on the show." Not my type of TV show (I'm not exactly a torture apologist) but it's a good example seeing that Apple doesn't have a product in the supercomputing/HPC space at all. (By comparison, Windows, which is new to supercomputing, is now on the Top 10 list at http://www.top500.org with the Shanghai Supercomputing Center's Dawning 5000A system coming in as the 10th fastest supercomputer in the world at 180,600 GigaFlops. It uses 30,720 Opterons and runs Windows HPC Server 2008.)
DRWAM
on May 12, 2009
Yo, Wae. My second WD 500GB SATA retail drive died at 2.5 yrs [the first died at 15 months. Retail only had one year warranty. No more WD for me, and I'll look for the OEM warranties, which tend to be longer. Dangit@! This time, the data was backed up, which is why I always have two backups now.
mikegalos@msn.com
on May 12, 2009
SPiotr Actually my use of ""I guess the illusion of changing the world is worth more to them than actually doing it."" was a reference to the changes in Apple since the days when Steve Jobs supposedly recruited John Scully by saying "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?" Sadly, changing the world seems to not be a choice Jobs cares about offering anymore.
DRWAM
on May 12, 2009
Many people won't listen to the same music over and over, so 'renting' music may be a better option. Also, doing the math shows that you are actually buying 10 songs each month for $10, and renting unlimited songs for $5/month. My kids get bored with CD's after a while, then I must buy the new one. Zune Pass seems pretty good. Does it work with a Sansa?
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"Retail only had one year warranty." That's the odd thing about hard drives though. Usually in computer parts, OEM stuff has a 1 year warranty and retail is 3 years. For hard drives, it's the opposite (at least in "bulk OEM" sold through the channel). You should probably double-check with the WD online warranty check to confirm that because they changed their retail warranty terms awhile back. Oh, and ALWAYS avoid reboxed hard drives sold under other brands (like Cicero). You DON'T want a refurbished hard drive! @doc: Tell me the model and serial number and I can check for you.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
@doc: http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp?wdc_lang=en Only [some] external hard drives have a 1-year warranty. Internal drives have 3 or 5 years, even in retail. Looks like WD is doing better on this.
gorath
on May 12, 2009
Waethorn, you're a jackass, and you're full of it.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"Zune Pass seems pretty good. Does it work with a Sansa?" Maybe later. It'll work with Zune-branded hardware, and in WM phones that include the software later this year (probably in WM6.5 phones). Does Zune Pass work with Xbox 360 Media Center Extender?
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
@gorath: Sorry to rain on your parade pal, but music piracy is as rampant as ever. People aren't letting up, even though I see computers everyday that are infucted with spyware up the yin-yang because they figure they can get something for nothing without paying the consequences. iTunes hasn't done anything to curb that. If you're in the music industry and that sounds like a reality check to you, then so be it. Your business better get used to that, because nothing Apple is doing is making it easier for you. In fact, it sounds like you're getting jacked around by Apple as much as the everyday Joe Schmoe that's downloading that same music catalog for free on Limewire. FYI: Limewire includes a plugin for iTunes too.
darkmax
on May 12, 2009
@mikegalos "It's called product placement and Apple spends a lot each year making sure you see their logo on shows that target their specific demographic. Pretty much any time a logo is visible on TV or in a movie you can assume it's a hidden commercial bought and paid for by the company's ad agency. It's really amusing to see TV shows showing Macs used in professions that Apple has never bothered with in real life. Especially when Apple could have put that ad money into research and development so they could be involved in more of the world. I guess the illusion of changing the world is worth more to them than actually doing it." Yes, poroduct placement and guess who's ultimately footing the bill? Oh! Wait... there is no such thing as an Apple Tax, so said fanbois.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
@darkmax: +1
kent909
on May 12, 2009
I just got a 1.5TB HD. Now I can go out and buy $375K in tunes.
DRWAM
on May 12, 2009
Wae, please check your PM box. Thanks. Back on. Zune pass could possibly yeild more Zune sales. Some may find it a less expensive legal way to get music. Don't piss off the RIAA. They'll even throw your grandmother in jail, or fine her for a trillion dollars.
bettieblu
on May 12, 2009
"Like using Mac's in an enterprise or government setting? That's what Mike said." I have seen Mac's used in the US military. I believe the Army uses OS X servers as well. All though that is the minority for sure. I think that the OS in 24 is just a animation running on top of OS X or Windows to simulate some computer activity.
niyokochan
on May 12, 2009
I have a 4GB Zune and just recently bought an 8GB IPod Touch. Having been away from an iPod since the initial release of the 40GB IPod Photos, I have to say that the iPod music player and iTunes music players is horrible and fustrating. I had a much more enjoyable and easy navigating experience with the Zune. Their UI is amazing. But one problem right now...I live in Japan...and I cannot use a Zune Pass. :( I want it so bad because I can just jump around to so many different types of music and find new music I never thought I'd like. Microsoft needs to make the Zune Marketplace international!! Please ( ..)
gorath
on May 12, 2009
Waethorn, the reason I think you're a jackass is... You first claim that i-tunes is not dominant outside the US. I then tell you categorically that it is, this is a fact that I deal with every day. You then try to counter that with piracy? We know about piracy, all too well. That doesn't change the fact that i-tunes is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bit player. I hate the i-tunes software, the i-tunes system, even the method we are forced to use to upload our music on to their servers, and we've been screwed by apple like a cheap whore, but that doesn't change the fact that they are the dominant player in digital music sales. You're wrong on this one, no amount of squirming will counter that, but turning it around and using piracy to validate your statement? Are you so desperate that you can't just say "Oh, right, I didn't know that" and acept that your small-minded preconceptions were false? Seriously, get over yourself.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"You first claim that i-tunes is not dominant outside the US." It isn't. I would probably still argue that though. "You then try to counter that with piracy?" I didn't counter anything. It was my point actually. " that doesn't change the fact that they are the dominant player in digital music sales." See now you're using words that I didn't. I said that iTunes isn't dominant in digital music *distribution*, NOT sales. There's a difference there. Are they the leader in sales? Quite possibly. Is it anything to gloat about? Well, go ahead and answer that. How far have your album sales been going ever since Napster hit the scene? "no amount of squirming will counter that, but turning it around and using piracy to validate your statement....Seriously, get over yourself." Touché. I'm not the one trying to defend my business model here. I'm just stating facts. iTunes is not the leader in music distribution - piracy is. If you can't recognize that already, you seriously need a reality check.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
BTW: I think Microsoft should address the issues of piracy in their Zune ads. Specifically, they should mention the fact that downloading from P2P networks is the quickest way to grab a virus. Yesterday I cleaned 2 systems with the Wimad trojan-downloader that was injected into the users' entire MP3 collections that were downloaded from Limewire. Limewire may be a spyware and virus-free program (most other P2P programs aren't), but the Gnutella network is royally F***ED over. That was yesterday. Today is another day.
robertsjoe
on May 12, 2009
You have to remember that this is a Zune they are talking about. A nothing product. No one owns these things. Zune is the cheap alternative to the iPods. Like PCs are to Macs. Cheap, cheap PC users!
cesjr
on May 12, 2009
I think it's funny they show the old style iPod. MS loves to live in the past. The new force is the iPod touch. What does MS have to compete with that? oh yeah, nothing. So great, you can have your subscription music, but on a much less flexible and powerful device. Really, if subscription music ever becomes popular, apple could simply offer subscriptions themselves. I think the biggest reason they don't, apart from its niche appeal, is the DRM. It just becomes a pain to move the files anywhere. Also, I checked out Rhapsody, and it's far from complete. I would have signed up, except for that. Tons of stuff missing.
robertsjoe
on May 12, 2009
@mikegalos: "I notice you didn't mention that Bill Hill bought it to run Internet Explorer 8 on Windows Vista. billhillsblog.blogspot.com/.../text-rendering-on-macbook-pro-running.html" The point is that he didn't buy a cheap ass laptop. The kind that Microsoft is selling in their cheap ass PC user ads. "As a note, Bill Hill's work on display of fonts and readability of text really changed the world - at least for the billion people who use Windows." Oh please! He would not even have thought of doing that work had it not been for the Mac introducing beautiful fonts and the technology behind it. Don't give this guy credit for "changing the world". Changing the world?! Please! That's an insult to the visionaries at Apple that introduced this work back in the 80's! The Mac's font technology did that. Microsoft just copied it and leeched the innovation and idea of doing so in an OS. As is their modus operandi.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
Rant: If 10 people + you came into my store and told me that Bittorrent isn't used primarily for illegal file-sharing, I could show you one person that's naive, and 9 that are lying through their teeth.
SPiotr
on May 12, 2009
@mikegalos "Actually my use of .... was a reference to the changes in Apple since the days when Steve Jobs supposedly recruited John Scully by saying ......." Yes. I know what you are talking about. I am just very disappointed that you feel the need to borrow Enderle's current meme to try, as usual, to push your own anti-Apple agenda.
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
@robertsjoe: I see it's getting dark out. No wonder you're inside now.
robertsjoe
on May 12, 2009
@mikegalos: "It's really amusing to see TV shows showing Macs used in professions that Apple has never bothered with in real life. Especially when Apple could have put that ad money into research and development so they could be involved in more of the world." Yet the creative people that write, direct, etc. the shows, would mostly use Macs. Not PCs. Creative people. Not cheap kids on the street or the general public with no taste.
robertsjoe
on May 12, 2009
@waethorn: "Apple is a bit player in music distribution outside of the US. Their music players sell, but I see just as many if not more of the cheaper brands in the open." You have no idea, do you? The iPod is the #1 player in most parts of the world. Plain and simple. The other crap Chinese knock-off, any one individual brand, doesn't come close to the sales of the iPod. If you bothered to know what you're saying you know you are talking about, your posts on this blog would be zero per annum.
robertsjoe
on May 12, 2009
@mikegalos: "Not my type of TV show (I'm not exactly a torture apologist) but it's a good example seeing that Apple doesn't have a product in the supercomputing/HPC space at all." You don't know what you're talking about again. See here http://www.apple.com/science/profiles/vatech2/ If you look at the list site you linked to, you'd see it's there too. Stop being such a fanboy. Although, you make me laugh. The ClearType comment was amusing. As if Microsoft changed the world. Hahahahaha. (BTW, these "hahahahaha" lines are in memory of Paul's unprofessional posts which contain the same.)
robertsjoe
on May 12, 2009
@waethorn: "Why not try selling the Zune outside the US." "They already do." Yeah. In Canada. That's 2 countries in the world. The Zune is dead.
tayme
on May 12, 2009
This is just hilarious, although a bit predictable! Thank you all for the entertainment! Paul posts a hit-bait article using the phrase"Apple Tax". It gets the desired results... - The expected crowd of Apple fanatics show up claiming to have "never seen a Zune "in the wild", saying that the Microsoft ads are terrible, stating that subscription based music is a bad idea, unless Apple decides it is a good idea, and chiding Paul for being biased - something he has never claimed not to be. - Several regular Microsoft fanatics come along and defend the company that they blindly support by changing the subject to OS X vs Windows. - The banned Ocean shows up, using "lotsamystuff"'s account to throw in some troll comments. (I know it has to be Ocean, "lotsamystuff" is smarter than that kind of childish prank. - Waethorn shows up posting a link that would definitely not meet the terms of the Acceptable Use Policy linked to below and making derogatory comments about a person's personal choices. - mikegalos shows up adding political commentary where it doesn't belong, being arrogant and using double standards because in his mind, he is a much better person than the rest of us. - robertsjoe gets out of school, heads down to the basement to Daddy's Mac to bow before Lord Steve and show his allegiance to him by posting anti-MS drivel on a site that used to be related to Windows news. - I read it and laugh...loudly! Yup, its another day on the SuperSite! --tayme
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
@robertsjoe: what are you doing up past your bedtime? your mommy better make sure the sides on your crib are a little more secure.
robertsjoe
on May 12, 2009
.... and @tayme comes along and adds even less to the conversation than the people he's talking about. He shouldn't even bother coming back here since he's not taken seriously anyway. Another day with the Microsoft fanboys... BTW, tayme.. this site NEVER was about Microsoft. Partly yes. But it's a vehicle for Paul's anti-Apple rants and raves. And you PC fanboys come along for the ride.2
gorath
on May 12, 2009
actually, Waethorn, napster was barely a blip on the radar. These days, piracy is a major concern, but I still maintain that comparing i-tunes to piracy, in order to discredit it's role in digital music, is like claiming that high-street chemists are a bit-player in selling medication to people, because the real winners are the drug barons and cartels. that is to say, mornoic. You knew what my statement menat, but you have to warp it, to fit your criteria, because for some sick reason, you don't seem capable of rationalising that apple actually played, and still does play, an enormous part in the adoption of digital music by consumers. just to recap, here's your original quote... "Apple is a bit player in music distribution outside of the US. Their music players sell, but I see just as many if not more of the cheaper brands in the open." They're not a bit player in the US, or outside of the US, that's not an opinion, it's a fact.
robertsjoe
on May 12, 2009
@waethorn: It's not night time here in Japan. Get your head out of the sand. It's a bigger world out here than the one where you peddle inferior products to unsuspecting victims.
DRWAM
on May 12, 2009
100th comment!
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"It's not night time here in Japan. Get your head out of the sand. It's a bigger world out here than the one where you peddle inferior products to unsuspecting victims." Pot meet kettle.
robertsjoe
on May 12, 2009
@waethorn: "Yesterday I cleaned 2 systems with the Wimad trojan-downloader that was injected into the users' entire MP3 collections that were downloaded from Limewire. Limewire may be a spyware and virus-free program (most other P2P programs aren't), but the Gnutella network is royally F***ED over." How much do you charge them? You are part of the enormous Microsoft tax that comes with people running Windows. Did you tell them that they wouldn't have this problem, save lots of time, hassle and money by switching to another operating system? Or do you just take the money and laugh?
Waethorn
on May 12, 2009
"that is to say, mornoic." FAIL!

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