"Album Only" - An iTunes rant

[GrungeSunset]

iPod users or anyone who buys music from iTunes will know what I'm talking about. I don't mind paying for music but it is frustrating when I want to buy one song but it's "album only." That means instead of spending $1 for the song I have to spend $10 for the song plus 14 songs I don't want. I tried to keep an open mind and listened to the previews of all the other songs on the album to see if it was worth buying but......it wasn't.

Is there any logic behind this or is it a ploy to get more money?

[Ande]

The logic behind it is: Get More Money.

It's really a shame, but it's just one of many ways that digital rights holders aren't really that interested in what the customer wants anymore.

Definitely a pain. Sometimes there are other sellers who are less troublesome than itunes, but often there are not.

Best,
Ande

[Bish]

You'd have the same problem if you wanted to buy the CD.

They just figured out how to manipulate the digital public, as well.

[Minotaur]

It's all we had in the days of LP when a song was not released as a single. I hated buying a whole album for one song.

[NEZTOK]

I had that happen to me when I tried to buy "Alice's Restaurant."

[cnev]

and that's why I use alternate methods to download music.

[Apache]

Slight tangent, but the tunes classification on ITunes, apparently a Rammstien album I recently downloaded is "pop"...

[GrungeSunset]

Selling songs individually on CDs doesn't make sense. 15 songs, 15 CDs not very economical. But when there's no physical medium it shouldn't make a difference whether I buy one or all of them. Part of the appeal of buying music this way is I can pick exactly what I want which would make me the consumer more likely to buy. As it stands $10 for an album when I'll only listen to one song just isn't worth it.

[Big Lar]

I would guess this would depend greatly on the album. Is an album just a collection of unrelated songs or does it have a structure to it that is greater than the sum of it's parts?

Personally, I'd never buy only Run Like Hell or Comfortably Numb rather than the entire album The Wall from Pink Floyd. I guess I'm old fashioned.

[cnev]

I only use songs that are related to what I am doing on guitar and so I don't ever need the whole album and actually if I was downloading them to listen to I wouldn't download a whole album without hearing it since I can think of only a few albums I've ever listened to that every song on it I liked, maybe less than two, unless you are talking a greatest hits album.

To be honest most of what I download I've already owned and purchased at one time or another on casssette, 8track, vinyl or CD. How many times do I need to give them their money, once is more than enough.