Ms. iTunes Store, I enjoyed our long 4+ year on-again off-again romance, but I need to end our relationship. No more emaling me about the new hotness you want to sell me, no more fighting to ensure I only use you on 5 computers. I’ve found that for audio, polygamy is OK, and brings me more happiness and less fighting.
Amazon is my new lady. Yes she’s younger, cheaper, and more willing to please me; with such tricks as one-click “Preview all” for albums, $7.99 albums, and my favorite position: the “256kb/s MP3 files” which auto imports into iTunes.
I remember our first date, Ms. iTunes Store, where I was nervous and slow-to-click through your cold-war-era interface. I’d had tried other’s like Ms. MSN Music on the corner of IE and Media Player Ave., but I wanted a more complete relationship. After coming to terms that you were the best relationship at the time, I eventually bought the iPod’s you were sellin’ on the side. Even though the first one wasn’t free the 2nd iPod was better, and I was then fully hooked to your software and hardware.
Then I starting seeing Audible.com on the side for my spoken word addiction, rather then using you as the middle man between us. This provided me more action for the same or less price, and your sister iTunes and your iPod’s never knew the difference. I still needed you for my music habit, but all that work to get your DRM and DRM-less AAC files into MP3 left me looking for another provider.
Now I’ve found your replacement Ms. iTunes Store, and Ms. Amazon is it. Sure I’ll still see you on the side a few times a year for that obscure offering that 70% market share gets you… but baby your prices and your file formats are legacy, and you’d better start playing nice with all the pimps who are growing tired of your conditions and small payouts to them. Remember, it is ultimately those pimps that control you, and not your fantasy of the other way around… and they really dig Ms. Amazon.
Sorry.
