As a consumer, it’s hard to understand why it’s taking so long for Apple and the music labels to hash out agreements on wireless music downloads on the upcoming 3G iPhone.

I would like to be able to download music whenever I want, I want to pay Apple for the privilege, and Apple will pay a share to the labels. Simple, no?

Furthermore, there’s already a price model in place with the iTunes store. Let’s just use that.

But according to the New York Times, the labels for some reason think we should pay more to buy a song wirelessly on a 3G network than we should pay when we sit down in front of our Computers connected to a wired network.

Since the labels aren’t maintaining either network, I’m not sure why the transmission technology matters to them. Wait, I know the answer to that question.

The answer is that the technology doesn’t affect the labels’ costs at all, but the labels want to set a psychological precedent so that average users just come to accept the idea that wireless music downloads costs more than regular music downloads.

If they’re successful, eventually we’ll stop complaining and just hand over the extra cash.

I hope Apple holds the line here.

However, I do concur with the music labels on the value of an all-you-can-eat subscription offering that would let you download and listen to any song on iTunes as long you pay a monthly fee.

Again, though, Apple and the labels are apparently squabbling about the price.

Like I stated, as a consumer, I find it hard to believe that Apple and the music labels are willing to cut off their noses to spite their faces. But the music labels aren’t known for their keen sense of customer service and technology prognostication, either.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 11:55 pm and is filed under General News.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.