Hello, I’m a Mac. And I’m a Cheapskate.
by John Paczkowski
Posted on December 19, 2007 at 12:50 PM PT
Market research has uncovered yet another rift between Mac and PC users. According to the NPD Group’s Digital Music Monitor, Mac users are far more likely than PC users to pay to download music.
They’re also more likely to buy CDs. Of all Mac users surveyed by NPD, 50% paid to download music during the third quarter of 2007 compared to just 16% of PC users. During the same period, more than 32% of Mac users purchased CDs, compared to just 28% of PC users. “There’s still a cultural divide between Apple consumers and the rest of the computing world, and that’s especially apparent when it comes to the way they interact with music,” said NPD Group analyst Russ Crupnick. “Mac users are not only more active in digital music, they are also more likely to buy CDs.”
Course, they’re also “more likely” to have Apple’s iTunes digital music store pre-installed on their machines. That might have something to do with the discrepancy here as well.
In any event, it would seem that, contrary to the claims of NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker, Apple hasn’t “destroyed the music business.” “While the market for digital music is growing, it’s growing slower than many would like it to–CD sales are still declining and digital music has not entirely replaced those lost sales,” Crupnick added. “The more consumers become comfortable paying for digital music, the more chance they will evangelize to others. And at this point in the game, it’s the growing base of Apple consumers that are the industry’s low-hanging fruit when it comes to migrating from physical CDs to digital music.”
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Comments
NBC Universal and any other music/video company turning there backs on Apple are getting rid of their best customers in the process. If they really think that dedicated Apple users will follow them to Hulu or Amazon’s PC only Unbox, they’re in for a rude awakening.
Good luck NBC — with your 4th place in the ratings you’ll need lots if it. Hopefully Zucker & Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris will find themselves unemployed soon enough.
Posted by Ted Todorov at December 20th, 2007 at 10:03 am“Course, they’re also “more likely” to have Apple’s iTunes digital music store pre-installed on their machines. That might have something to do with the discrepancy here as well.”
Does windows not have Windows Media Player which has the built in capabilities to purchase music as well? While it may not be as well marketed (or well though out) as iTunes, WMP 11 even has a “Browse all Online Stores” providing options if one store doesn’t have the music you’re looking for, so illegal downloading can be avoided or at least tempered. The opportunity to purchase is just as readily available, it just seems PC users aren’t taking it. Saying that it’s because iTunes is pre-installed on macs is a disservice to your readers who may not know All windows have a copy or WMP with purchasing abilities. Except maybe in europe now.
Posted by roberto felgueiras at December 20th, 2007 at 12:58 pmIt’s even simpler than that. Apple made the first easy to use store. The best store in many ways. From a marketing standpoint anyway. And they respected their users more than the stores with draconian DRM (admittedly some think Apple’s DRM is draconian – at least they want to get rid of it) and you own your music. Not like the stores that take the music away the minute you stop sending them money every month.,
Other solutions have come along now that can compete. (Amazon) But Apple had the ITMS on Macs long before it was on Windows.
So it’s very simple. Mac users have been doing it longer than PC users have. It’s that simple.
The reason Windows Media Player has no relevance here is it’s more akin to Quicktime player, not iTunes. It’s not as closely tied to one store, or stores people want to use anyway.
And iPods have the ability to turn PC users into Mac users too. Go figure.
Posted by Eric Welch at December 21st, 2007 at 7:20 pmI think part of it is due to the way microsoft charges for things anyway.
Not that mac’s are expensive but they are reasonable. So is all of their software. You know that about once per year, an operating system will be upgraded and cost you $129 or if you have up to 5 machines $199. iWork is a reasonable $79 etc. So mac users are ok with paying a reasonable amount of money for a great product or service because they know that it will work and they will be satisfied.
PC users on the other hand know that they can buy a crazy cheap computer, preloaded with some good stuff and alot of crap and that in 2 years they will donate it and get something else because it either wont work or the newest version of norton bogs the machine down even more than the viruses that it tries to protect you from. But then there is the kicker. if you dont throw away your old computer your paying $100 a year for norton, if you want to upgrade to vista you’ll pay $400, you need office which almost never gets free updates and then only occasionally like 3 times a decade do they offer a $400 new version. So what most people get used to is just making a copy of the software from work and using it at home to eliminate the cost. Their idea of having a cheap computer that is rather disposable and then gouging you for the software is what I think leads these people to the mentality that it really isnt worth it to purchase anything legitimately because microsoft has more or less conditioned them to think, hmmm if it costs this much, they are pretty much telling me that buying it isnt the best way to get this product and hence, they find a better way.
Posted by Stephen Gozza at December 22nd, 2007 at 9:56 pm