I do not recommend that people purchase iTunes players or songs, since I do not think it makes sense to purchase a degraded, proprietary music format. But many people do purchase iTunes, and if so, this article might be useful.
Been to the iTunes App Store lately?
If so, you may have experienced a little sticker shock. The iPhone app count now exceeds 100,000, and many software developers have found that the only way to reliably make money is not only to charge for an app, but to charge enough money to signal that it is not just another $1 throwaway.
Take music search. Back when iPhones were novel, Shazam was the favorite way for newbies to show their friends what the device could do. Just hold it up to a speaker and Shazam identifies the song.
How cool is that? And it’s free!
Not anymore. This month, the company announced that it was adopting a new business approach that will be known as the — brace yourself — “freemium??? model. If you already had the app, you can continue to use it, and enjoy future updates, at no charge. But if you didn’t, get ready to shell out $5.
Shazam says many people have paid for the privilege of joining the roughly 10 million people who got it free, but the supposition is that most of those paying people didn’t know about two competitors that are, in many ways, much better.
