Nice Try Apple, but I Buy Singles for a Reason!
Apple just came out with a new marketing gimmick for iTunes called “Complete My Album,” which basically gives you a $0.99 credit for each song you’ve previously purchased from iTunes towards the album that song came from. So, if you got a couple of songs from the same album and the album cost 10 bucks, then you get a discount of *wait for the drumroll* . . . . . . . $1.98 which comes out to an oustanding price of $8.02!
Now tell me, where’s the deal in this?
And since you’re telling me stuff, can you tell me why Apple would think I would want to waste my money buying the whole album when the whole reason iTunes is so successful is because they allow us to easily buy singles any time?
I know I’m a Apple whore, but I ain’t stupid! Whoever does this thinking that they’re getting a deal deserves a Michael Kwan-esque Kick in the Chest!
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To be fair though, the fact that iTunes customers weren’t given credit for their previous single purchases if they decided later to buy the full album was a frequent complaint by some people. The other part of this is that the recording industry is still not ready to abandon the album altogether. Encouraging album purchases both up front and some time later by way of small discounts can help. And if Apple wants to eventually convince the major labels to ditch DRM, they have to play nice
Still, I hear you, and I’ll continue to buy singles when it suits me.
It’s a good idea but I’m not going to purchase whole albums off the internet in MP3 format. If I am going to buy a whole album, I’m going to get the CD so I have something I can actually hold in my hand with some cover art and such.
…oh, but of course I buy singles off the internet since most CDs are one or two awesome songs thrown into a pile of crap.
I think this is a good move on iTunes part. Not that I would fall for it, but I think they’ll make a good chunk of change!
People will vote with their pockets. Overall there are no downside to the public with what Apple is offering. And I believe it makes sense to give back credit as an incentive.