How iTunes Could Improve With Competition

iTunes is the most widely used music service in North America and probably the world. The service has a 80% market share with it's iTunes store. The iTunes store is growing and will soon throw competitors off the racks of shelves. The question is: Why hasn't anyone challenged it?

The iTunes Store has a scot free almost no competition streak. The only competitors are Napster and Rhapsody which are only music not like the all in one iTunes Store package. iTunes has been hard to beat with Apple's power and the fact that they have okay quality music for a reasonable price. The only times a competitor would improve is because of competition like the situation in Canada where wireless carriers are fighting for customers like there's no tomorrow with Bell, Telus and Rogers yanking their throats with unbelievable deals not seen before. Now lets look at iTunes. Previously it offered low quality music at the same price, but that changed thanks to BitTorrent. The site OiNK's Pink Palace used to offer high quality music in all formats at the highest bit rates in each format. When it got shut down, iTunes quickly increased the bitrate of their music and made it DRM free.

That doesn't explain why a new company shouldn't take the crown away. What's shocking is that iTunes hasn't changed much over the years that is worth noticing. Ever since OiNK it's stayed the same. iTunes needs a new competitor,but it's not getting one. I believe a new service can work out the things companies won't do so they can maximize profits. Now, I'm sounding all Mao Zedong-ish but lets think about the people for a second. If we don't give them what they want won't there be rebellion. If something legal like OiNK started, then there wouldn't be such thing, would there. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails was a member and said at the time of closure "I admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made Oink a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could imagine, it was there, and it was in the format you wanted. If Oink cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now." He criticized services like iTunes for being poor and low-quality.

The question is when will we see change. Not so likely. I want to lead that change. Nothing in this world is perfect, but we can make it close enough to call it perfect.