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Rumor: Apple to shut down Beats Music (streaming music service)

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Everyone saw this coming, can't see Dre and Iovine being very mad about this, despite how much they've invested into it.
 
Akahige said:
So they didn't buy it for the streaming service, a lot of money for the headphones then.

Reznor must be pissed.
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They already have iTunes Radio, they wanted to knock the competition out through acquisition before it got any bigger. Now they can add Beats features to iTunes Radio and move on.
 
the Beats acquisition was mostly about getting Jimmy Iovine and Dr. DreÂ’s talent on board, and picking up the headphone business, not about streaming music.
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But why? I still ever understood this acquisition, of it all though I'd say positioning the streaming service as a competitor to Spotfiy was the one part that made the most sense.

Why do Apple seriously care about having Dr Dre on the team? And did they really want to spend a fortune just to get a shit headphone business?
 
Nostremitus said:
I'd be willing to bet that the board members who sign off on these types of actions view Beats Music as competition to iTunes/ iTunes Radio. Too much overlap. If anything they may start incorporating certain aspects of Beats Music into iTunes Radio.
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Apple is the only tech company out there that embraces cannibalization, so I highly doubt they're scared of overlap.
 
I was hoping they would fold all the music licenses into iTunes Radio, since I can stream that for free on T Mobile. They have to be taking advantage of that library somehow.
 
This strikes me as odd because when Tim Cook was on the Charlie Rose show very recently, (Rose had an exclusive, long-form interview following the iPhone/AppleWatch reveal show) he spoke highly about the Beats service and the concept of a curated streaming music service.

If you listen to that conversation, it would seem the Beats concept would be replacing iTunes Radio, not the other way around.


EDIT: Here's a transcript of that portion...

Cook on buying Beats


Rose: Why did you think you had to buy a headphone manufacturer?

Cook: In Beats, what we saw is several things. We saw --

Rose: Talent.

Cook: -- a talent that I'm super impressed with. Jimmy and Dre -- off the charts. Creative geniuses. They also had teams under Newson that I've really liked. Jimmy has a deep knowledge of the musical industry. Dre knows artists. Dre is an artist. And they had started a subscription service. And this subscription service -- some people think they're all alike. Well, let me tell you -- I went into the [deal] skeptically.

Rose: As to the acquisition? Yeah.

Cook: Not to the acquisition. Into their service.

Rose: Right.

Cook: Because Jimmy had told me how great it was. And so, one night, I'm sitting playing with theirs versus some others. And all of a sudden, it dawns on me that when I listened to theirs for a while, I feel completely different. And the reason is that they recognized that human curation was important in the subscription service, that the sequencing of songs that you listen to affects how you feel.

It's hard to describe. But you know it when you feel it. And so, that night, I couldn't sleep that night. And so, I was thinking, "We've -- we need to do this." I think they've done a fabulous job with their brand. And -- in the headphone business. It's a fast-growing business. They went into [it] not too long ago, and, you know, have done really well. However, they needed a global footprint. We have a global footprint. They had been primarily U.S., not solely U.S., but primarily U.S.. And so, I felt we could get a subscription service. We could get incredible talent that I think we can all put our heads together and do some things that are beyond what either of us are currently doing. And we could get a fast-growing business.

And, you know -- financially, it's not the only element of looking at it at all. But next year, in our fiscal year, which is about to start, it's a creditive [spelled phonetically]. When is the last time you heard of a technology CEO saying that they were doing an acquisition that was a [unintelligible]? And it just doesn't happen. And so, I think it's wonderful to get the influx of talent, the different perspectives. It's this idea -- diversity -- that I use in a big way. I think it's really going to help us. And I [am] -- 100 percent sold on the subscription -- music subscription service. And of course, we can scale it, where Beats would have had a more difficult time, because they're a small company.
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So yeah. Hard to imagine they are scrapping the service. Cook seems to love it.
 
I recall hearing the Beats acquisition was also about getting whatever licenses fell under the Beats streaming service as well to consolidate it under iTunes. Figure the headphone, talent acquisition just sort of came hand in hand with the deal.
 
rezuth said:
http://9to5mac.com/2014/09/22/apple-is-reportedly-shutting-down-its-beats-music-streaming-service/

Update: Apple tells Re/code that the streaming service is not shutting down. However, Re/code says that the branding could be altered at some point in the future.
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Exactly, once they call it itunes music the sales with increase 100x for the service


Behind the scenes it's probably getting a complete visual rebranding with Apple iOS 8 visuals. I've had zero reason to leave spotify. I tried Beats Music for a month and thought it wasn't bad at all, but there was no reason to stay with it while spotify app support is everywhere and beats has major catching up
 
Makes sense.

Beats music launched without much impact. They'll either shut it down, take the tech and put it into iTunes for the subscription service they will build - or they'll just do a rebrand without a shutdown incorporating the name iTunes somewhere in it since it's the biggest name in music retail.
 
Isn't Beats Music US-only anyway? Can anyone tell me why Apple would've had to buy them for the streaming service? Is the technology so great? Do they have important patents? The UI? Are they curb stomping Spotify?

Guevara said:
Beats music is dead, long live iTunes streaming?
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I'd expect them to first get licenses for other parts of the world.
 
El Chupacabra said:
Isn't Beats Music US-only anyway? Can anyone tell me why Apple would've had to buy them for the streaming service? Is the technology so great? Do they have important patents? The UI? Are they curb stomping Spotify?
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Beats Music in terms of software is quite well reviewed. Instead of spending months/years building their own service from scratch, they can get a ready made one that they can get out to consumers pretty quickly if they wish. Also Apple's development teams are surprisingly small despite the size of the company.
 
RPGCrazied said:
What gets me is the cost to make them. Its like $20 or something, yet they sell them for $300. I don't get it.
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Cause your not buying those headphones for sound quality (cause its garbage), people buy it for a fashion statement. Material objects are big sellers.
 
RPGCrazied said:
What gets me is the cost to make them. Its like $20 or something, yet they sell them for $300. I don't get it.
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and smartphones don't cost anywhere near $600 to produce but that's what you're paying for an off-contract iphone

so really it's a match made in heaven
 
Any chance Apple will add on demand music streaming like Spotify? Or would that kill their iTunes business? I hate just having a radio so unless something changes, I'm sticking with Spotify.
 
Hiko said:
Any chance Apple will add on demand music streaming like Spotify? Or would that kill their iTunes business? I hate just having a radio so unless something changes, I'm sticking with Spotify.
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Their iTunes business is already dying: nothing wrong with iTunes specifically, but buying digital music is way down in favor of streaming.
 
Remark said:
Isn't Beats Music's subs really fucking low?

It would make sense to close it down tbh
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Something like 5M people tried it, but well under 1M decided to pay for it.

edit: duh it's in the article:

Thanks to seven-day free trials and multi-month demos through AT&T, 5 million people had tried Beats by May, but only 250,000 had signed up for a paid subscription. That’s pretty small compared to the 10 million paid subscribers and 40 million total listeners on Spotify, and 76.4 million active listeners on Pandora.
 
Is this shocking at all? With iTunes radio, logic would dictate they would kill something that has no market share and implement it instead into their already solid platform. I'd be kind of shocked if things weren't integrated at some point since they're big on that.
 
CannonO said:
Which $35 headphones are those? Genuinely curious, as Beats headphones do feel overpriced to me, but also seem better than most of the other options in major retailers and thus do sound like a premium if you don't have much premium stuff to try. Note: I don't own Beats because I also find them hella tacky.
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I roll with a pair of Seinhesiers HD201's for my PC, which have a DRAMATICALLY better sound quality than the pair of Beats that I borrowed from a friend. They're currently 22 dollars on amazon, and the only real downside is that they're kind of ugly and have a stupid long cord. That being said, the HD401 and HD518's are 50 dollars now, have a really great sound range, and the 518's are pretty cool looking.

I wish their bluetooth headsets were better though. I dropped 100 bucks on a pair of MM100's only to have it essentially die 3 months after purchase. I got a pair of Novio 220's after that and have been using them ever since. 35 bucks and strong as hell. Only downside is they have an activity light which flashes.

The big names in audio hardware don't seem to give a crap about overear bluetooth headsets, which really sucks.

Zombie James said:
But fashion.
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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042A8CW2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Half the cost of the top of the line for Beats.

Beats are the modern day Skull Candy.
 
To be honest I was close to purchasing the $370 wireless beats headset. I like the sound, the level of comfort and the battery life (wireless). However the price tho. Now if they decided to include a year of beats subscription with those headphones I'd most likely pick up a set.
 
GWX said:
That review compares it to a $200 Seinheiser headphone, and not a $35 one... WTF!
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I've broken this part out separately because I find the styling of the Beats Solo2 rather...um...humorous. Not that they look funny, they don't. In fact, they look quite handsome in an understated way. The Solo2 says to me, "Hi. I'm a headphone." No flashy bling; no celebrity pretentions; it doesn't scream to be worn as a necklace. It's just a nice, conservative headphone.
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Oh shut up.

Honestly though, when it comes to small form factor headphones with great sound that are still stylish, I still think nothing beats the KOSS Portapro.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QR8W6K/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I have been asked about these literally every time I wear them out, and a few weeks later saw people rocking them themselves. And they're 40 bucks.

Don't spend 200 dollars on every day headphones people, it's never worth it. If you're an audiophile and you're looking for something in home for your great system, cool, spend the money. But invest wisely.
 
GWX said:
That review compares it to a $200 Seinheiser headphone, and not a $35 one... WTF!
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It's not just one review, a lot of them have been surprisingly positive. I'm actually kind of curious now.

I'll most likely stick with my ATH-M50s.
 
Mesoian said:
Oh shut up.

Honestly though, when it comes to small form factor headphones with great sound that are still stylish, I still think nothing beats the KOSS Portapro.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QR8W6K/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I have been asked about these literally every time I wear them out, and a few weeks later saw people rocking them themselves. And they're 40 bucks.

Don't spend 200 dollars on every day headphones people, it's never worth it. If you're an audiophile and you're looking for something in home for your great system, cool, spend the money. But invest wisely.
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I had a PortaPro, and I loved the sound. But then the foam started to rip, the connectors between the headband and the speakers started to brake, and in less than two years they were gone. And the top of the headband loved to get stuck in my hair :lol.

edit:
ZeroAKA said:
It's not just one review, a lot of them have been surprisingly positive. I'm actually kind of curious now.

I'll most likely stick with my ATH-M50s.
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I've been surfing around and you're right, the reviews are surprisingly positive.
 
Solideliquid said:
To be honest I was close to purchasing the $370 wireless beats headset. I like the sound, the level of comfort and the battery life (wireless). However the price tho. Now if they decided to include a year of beats subscription with those headphones I'd most likely pick up a set.
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I'm sure Monoprice are more than half the price of Wireless and the only difference really is there's no B on the cup.
 
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