Shawn Blanc, comparing cloud music services like Rdio to Netflix:
However, I have a different attitude towards movies than I do towards music. I will maybe watch my favorite movies once or twice a year, at the most. A great album that I love I will listen to every day for months and months.
Movies are entertaining. Music is personal.
And so I don’t know if the paradigm that access is better than ownership has the same effect on our music library as it does for our DVD collection. The music we listen to, in many ways, is a definition and extension of who we are.
All this to say, that what excites me right now is the idea of access and ownership. I want to own my music, but I want to have it available anywhere and everywhere and on each of the music-playing devices that I own.
I totally agree, and it’s the thing that has kept me from really enjoying my Rdio trial membership.
I really hope that whatever Apple comes up with a solution that meets both needs Shawn has so elegantly described.