iPod Classic Holds 120GB ($24K)
This has all been said before, I have the urge anyway (with the Hadopi Law looming large in the rearview mirror).
The biggest iPod music player, the “Classic” holds 120GB of files. A single song takes about 5MB, more if it’s of high quality and less if it’s of poor quality.
120GB is 120,000 megabytes. 120,000/5 = 24000 songs.
The official price for a song is one dollar. So, to legally fill a new iPod, it costs (would cost) approximately $24,000.
Where does Apple think that people get their music from? How many of their customers have spent $24K on iTunes? Might Apple subtly be encouraging filesharing via the P2P networks?
One could argue that they’re selling guns for which the ammunition is freely available online (that’s one point of view anyway).
Another thought: I’m a music lover. Before the internet, I probably spent about $50-100 every month on albums. That works out to about $1000 per year.
Basic economic theory says that productivity gains lead to windfall profits followed by low prices. Releasing music as MP3’s instead of physical CD’s is a massive productivity gain. Consequently, by artificially keeping prices high, the record companies are reaping windfall profits. Which will inevitably be followed by low prices. The battle against filesharing is really a struggle to prevent the market from becoming competitive.
Boy would I feel like a sucker if I gave my $1000 to a company making massive profits purely by artificially enforcing an anti-competitive market.