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Apple phases out iTunes LP sparking new ‘downloads are doomed’ chatter

By | Published on Wednesday 7 March 2018

Apple

Apple is phasing out the good old iTunes LP. Remember that? No, me neither. It was when labels put out special editions of album releases on iTunes with some exclusive multimedia gubbins thrown in for no apparent reason. They were big news for at least a week in 2009. Actually, that’s unfair. It was probably a fortnight.

With its focus now very much on streaming service Apple Music, the tech giant can no longer be bothered with iTunes albums that have some multimedia on the side. And who can blame them? Not I.

This news has kickstarted a modest flurry of new speculation about when Apple might give up on music downloads entirely and shut down the iTunes store. That was sparked by Metro, which – although conceding that iTunes was dropping iTunes LPs rather than LPs at large – headlined its article “End of iTunes?”

It went on: “Although this one decision does not spell immediate doom for iTunes, music industry sources and experts said it’s evidence which chimes with rumours that Apple is intending to stop selling music downloads and shift to a subscription model”.

“This would mean users would have to pay a monthly fee, rather than buying individual songs”, it then explained. “But it also could mean that people who spent a fortune buying songs on iTunes had basically wasted their money, because pretty much everything they purchased is now available for £9.99 a month”. So, to paraphrase, bad news may be incoming for older music consumers when downloads are finally kicked into the dustbin by big bad Apple.

Although the older music consumer may remember previously wasting their money on vinyl records that became defunct when they starting wasting their money on cassettes that became defunct when they started wasting their money on CDs that became defunct when they started wasting their money on downloads. All you can do is enjoy the ride, I reckon. Just keep your downloads safe and sound on a dusty hard-drive in your garage ready for the MP3 revival that’s pencilled in for 2036.



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