Will iTunes go social on Sept 1?
Yesterday we speculated that as part of its Sept 1 press announcement, Apple would finally make use of Lala’s streaming software that they bought last winter and abruptly closed in May.
Speculation has run rampant, as it always does, about what new offerings Apple will bestow on the world at its next media event, to be held next Wednesday in San Francisco.
Today we learn via Hypebot that Media Memo’s Peter Kafka has an inside scoop: Industry executives tell me Apple (AAPL) has yet to approach the big labels for new license deals, which they say Steve Jobs and company would need if they want to run a streaming ‘locker’ service. But Apple can do interesting things at iTunes without new label deals.”
Rather than the subscription streaming service we’ve been waiting for from Apple, Kafka claims that Apple will unveil social media functionality for the iTunes software:
“Think social, not streaming,” Kafka writes. “Lots of people like to share music, and if this lets you do that, that’s exciting.”
Looks like we may have to keep dinking around with Rhapsody and Rdio a while longer before Apple and Google give us truly bug-free, robust streaming music subscription offerings. But either way, we’re excited to see what Apple rolls out next week.
August 27, 2010 at 8:24 pm, Bell Whethers said:
I like how you don't mention MOG's service…with good reason, I'd say. Why is it so hard to make a good front-end? It's already been done, they just need to copy Lala and Napster!
August 27, 2010 at 8:29 pm, karmamule said:
Hey, I like Mog! Yeah they have some rough spots to smooth out, but they've got a nice selection and the 'Artist Only / Similar Artist' slider for creating custom playlists is tons of fun. In any case I love true streaming subscription services, so if Apple is just tossing in some social features I won't be that tempted.