Get Better Gear!

Premier Sponsors

Other World Computing

TechRestore

Top 5 Free Apps

Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: August 29, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: March 27, 2009
Release Date: August 07, 2009

iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

Top 5 Paid Apps

Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Genre: Games
Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

    • 8 out of 10
    • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
    • When I first got hooked to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the only place I could get their debut album, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, was through the band's Web site. I listened to the two tracks a

  • Mystics Anonymous

    • 8 out of 10
    • Mystics Anonymous
    • Mystics Anonymous is the brainchild project of Jeff Steblea, a fantastic songwriter and good friend of mine, as well. In fact, I even played the drums on all but one of the tracks on this album. Jef
  • Aretha Sings the Blues

    • 6 out of 10
    • Aretha Franklin
    • While she didn't always have the best taste in song selection, Aretha Franklin is a must-study for anyone with interest in the human voice. She has the kind of powerful, recklessly passionate deliv

  • Pressure Chief

    • 6 out of 10
    • Cake
    • Pressure Chief, Cake's latest album, didn't immediately grab me. In fact, it took perhaps half a dozen listens before I started truly enjoying it. Any

  • An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Torm�

    • 10 out of 10
    • Mel Torm� & George Shearing
    • Of the three men who taught me how to sing, the last was Mel Torme. Apparently, Mel Torme is a joke to anyone more than a decade older than me, a living parody of a Vegas crooner. But I stumbled on th

Reader Specials

Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!

News

Steve Jobs Dismisses Zune as Possible iPod Threat

Apple CEO Steve Jobs dismissed Microsoft's upcoming Zune digital media device as a threat to iPod in an interview with Newsweek published Sunday. Asked if he was worried about Zune, Mr. Jobs replied, "In a word, no." Mr. Jobs also discussed Apple's efforts to woo the record labels, and his strategy to keep iTunes pricing where it is.

Interviewer Steven Levy asked Mr. Jobs if Microsoft's claim that Zune was all about building communities worried him. After answering in the negative, Mr. Jobs dismissed Zune's ability to find other Zune users and share a song with them.

"It takes forever," said Mr. Jobs. "By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left! You're much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you're connected with about two feet of headphone cable."

In a somewhat uncharacteristic move, Mr. Jobs revealed to Mr. Levy some of Apple's behind the scenes efforts to bring the major record labels to iTunes when iPod was still a relatively minor hit with Mac users.

"We got to know these folks and we made a series of predictions that a lot of things they were trying would fail," said Mr. Jobs. "Then they went and tried them, and they all failed, for the reasons that we had predicted. We kept coming back to visit them every month or two, and they started to believe that we might actually have some insight into this, and our credibility grew with them to the point where they were willing to take a chance with us."

Mr. Jobs added that this was one situation where Apple's small share of the personal computing industry helped the company. He said that he was able to convince the labels that a failure with iTunes, which was first limited to the Mac market, would still allow them to try other strategies with the broader world of Windows.

In the same vein, Mr. Jobs repeated Apple's public position when it comes to keeping iTunes pricing at its current levels. The major labels have argued that new songs from "top" artists should be priced higher than older tracks, while Apple insisted that iTunes offer a US$.99 price point across the board. It's that price point, he argued, that keeps ordinary people from pirating music.

"If we go back now and we raise prices," said Mr. Jobs, "[...] we will be violating that implicit deal. Many [users] will say, 'I knew it all along that the music companies were gonna screw me, and now they're screwing me.' And they would never buy anything from iTunes again."

The three page interview covers many other topics, including Levi jeans, how to know when you're product is good, and the nature of "cool."

Post Your Comments

  Remember Me  Forgot your password?

Not a member? Register now. You can post comments without logging in, but they'll show up as a "guest" post.

Commenting is not available in this section entry.