Apple blows it bigtime.
They have been talking about a new music service that would make it effortless for those with iPods to download mp3s from the labels... however, they fundamentally screwed up by pricing the service much higher than expected, and offering fewer mp3s than expected.

The details? 99 cents a piece with a choice of 200,000 songs. This is particularly disappointing considering the fact that there was talk about Apple offering prices as low as 10 cents a song.

Really, it is time for record companies to stop thinking about mp3 pricing as something that should be competitive with album pricing. Here you have a product where you aren't really giving anyone anything physical -- in many ways, people use mp3s more like a customized radio station than actual, physical objects that they own.

So, why should someone pay $24 to download the mp3's for this album when I can buy the album used for a third of that price? Of course, I could share the CD with a friend, but if I did that with an mp3 that I purchased, I would be a criminal.

Apple is coming out with a 30 GB iPod. Using songs off of this service, you can fill up that mp3 player entirely from Apple's new service for the price of this and this combined -- assuming that you could find 7500 mp3s on their service that you actually wanted.

I thought for just awhile that Steve Jobs kind of understood mp3s or online music, but he appears to be just as clueless as everyone else. Steve is great at making things easier for people, but that's not enough. Making it easier for the record labels to pick our pockets isn't going to necessarily make people line up to have their pockets picked. Sell us mp3's for a buck each?! <satire>Oh, yes please! Give us that!</satire>

And as for the idea of Apple buying a music label, it's no wonder the stockholders are terrified. Can anyone say AOL / Time-Warner? Oil and water? A cheese grater to your private parts and table salt?

Of course, if you create an mp3 "radio player" device which downloads customized radio, lets me select the music I like, recommends new songs or bands based on my previous interests, but doesn't give me access to the mp3s themselves, then you could bring me essentially the same functionality for a fraction of the price... and possibly even free if you do it with commercials.

I'll dismiss this harebrained idea -- it's too close to satire -- instead, I'll stick to Steve Jobs' original idea until someone gets realistic.

Rip. Mix. Burn, baby!