iTunes rivals push subscription model
"You can fit 10,000 songs on it," Gorog says. But "to do that would cost you $10,000 if you bought the songs from Apple. With our plan, customers can get 10,000 songs on their device for $180 a year. It's an enormous value."
[The Macintosh News Network]

Is lying good for business? Who buys all their music online? Who are these mythical people that do not own a single CD? Even if you bought it all from iTunes, there are two things that do not hold water... You wouldn't do it all at once and you wouldn't do it song by song (buying by album is often cheaper and you do want some albums). For example The Complete U2 will give you 400 songs for about 30 cents each. But the clincher is that at 15$ per month you'll end up spending a lot more in the subscription model, because when other sources of music become cheaper (eg., The Complete U2 Album) you will buy it, but you still have to pay the 15 bucks a month in order to keep the older music you rented, or more because there is no price guaranty, is there?. The huge problem with the model is technological change (and believe me it will happen) and what it will do with the music you had. This is different from what happen before, with a little stubbornness you could still play your old LPs and Cassettes (hey, even your 8-track!), but if Napster goes down under (again!) your music is gone... Thanks again to Micro$ucks. Or even if it doesn't go under, Micro$ucks may decide they will no longer support your player or your OS (look at what is happening with NT). That's why you should never play "lock-up', buy your music and be done with it.
Update: A friend chimes in with another good point: Who says you have to fill your iPod only with Music?
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