[breathen]

> Twenty years ago, iTunes’ emphasis was on collecting, experiencing, and enjoying an art form.

This was (and is) also a blatant form of consumerism. I honestly don't see any difference in the negative effects on this outside of going through apple rather than my local FYE.

[Liquix]

? no it wasn't. it was taking a beautiful, timeless, intrinsically valuable thing (music) and building a business around it.

the idea was that if iTunes is the best way to tag, collect, burn, and listen to music, people would naturally adopt it and then go spend money in the store.

this lies in contrast to modern apps' desire to provide an endless library of content within the app or paid service. drives up engagement but pretty soon the point is less "best in class for music lovers" and more "how do we keep them here forever spending money"

[crazygringo]

I don't know what you mean.

Content in Apple Music is still best in class.

And music lovers spend less money with a monthly streaming subscription, than they used to spend purchasing tracks or albums. I don't know about you, but I certainly spent more than $10.99 a month back when I was buying CD's. And it's even cheaper now in relative terms if you factor in inflation.

[snakeyjake]

>I don't know what you mean.

Some people think that curating a music collection is fundamentally different from collecting funkopops or some other similar mass-market consumerist behavior.

Those people are wrong, but that is what they think.

They'll ramble on about purity and emotion completely oblivious to the fact that someone searching for, categorizing, and collecting various types of paperclips is perfectly capable of experiencing the same emotions.

[refulgentis]

They mean that 20 years ago I was really into music blogs and videos and tagging and getting videos onto my iPod to the point it's literally what got me into programming: step by step, shitty AppleScript to set up auto convert + add to iTunes flows, compiling C to get the latest HandBrake that could do non-DVDs...

Now it's too easy: I have the absolutely fantastic experience of having infinite music in my hand on demand without any of the work. I've completely lost touch with music over the last decade. I am always vaguely frustrated because it's not _that_ good, it panders to my taste too much, and there's no value to any of it.

The foraging made it a hobby and intellectually stimulating, the "please tap this! or this! or this! or this!" makes it boring and all the same.

[crazygringo]

> The foraging made it a hobby and intellectually stimulating

Funny, I get a far superior foraging experience exploring radio stations based on obscure artists and other people's playlists.

I don't understand how the friction of having to build programming tools made your music experience better.

And I truly don't understand how making things easier leads to you losing touch with music. Maybe it's more just a function of getting older and having other, new priorities enter your life?

[refulgentis]

I checked in with the poster, they got oddly upset, shook their head and started mumbling under the breath: "no, _DVDs_, handbrake. the programming was for iTunes movies". Then they spoke more clearly: "no, my lifestyle hasn't changed, and no I won't prove it, even if I wanted to, I don't understand the idea of strangers telling me my lifestyle changed and that's why I don't read Pitchfork anymore"

[crazygringo]

Ha! Thanks for the laugh. Now these are the comments I come to HN for... :)

[philwelch]

Maybe as you matured and developed more responsibilities as life went on, you had less time and energy to invest in music as a serious hobby. This is a normal development.

[refulgentis]

I checked in with the poster: they got oddly indignant about it and claimed they knew themselves well and they meant their comment. I asked for more concrete proof that their lifestyle hadn't changed significantly and they refused.

[progman32]

Is this parody, or an actual private conversation you had with the poster?

[breathen]

I still don't see the distinction—you presumably bought the music somewhere. It can't just be the marketing you're complaining about because piracy is just as viable now as it was then.

[incanus77]

Sure, Apple aligned itself in a way that ultimately added to its and its partners’ bottom lines. But somehow, the company’s attitude felt aspirational to me in a way that it does not today.

[mrguyorama]

Then you fell for the lifestyle advertising. Simple as that

[incanus77]

I can see your point. For me personally, though, the progression was:

1. Like the look & feel of Apple hardware

2. Feel like the iPod/iTunes scene is shiny bullshit, but whatever

3. Buy a laptop & figure I'll give OS X a shot, if not install Linux

4. Fall in love with the ability to really get some work done rather than have to futz with my system all the time (despite loving to futz with my system)

5. Eventually, become an Apple platform developer

[dghlsakjg]

iTunes started as a free utility for organizing and playing mp3s for mac users, then Windows support was added. For the first few years you couldn't even spend money on it if you wanted, then they added the iTunes store without removing any functionality, and still charged nothing.

What it is now is absolutely blatant consumerism, but you are misremembering what iTunes originally was.