Where is the Music "iTunes" store?

[JUMA55]

For my money, if I was looking to build up a library of tracks to store and keep locally I'd be buying and ripping CDs versus buying tracks and albums off of the Apple Music storefront.

Which is exactly what I did when the first iPod was released. I don't know how many CDs I have since some albums have multiple CDs, but the total number of songs I have on CD and paid for is 37,000+.

 

[Starfia]

OK. I found it. They really want to hide it. You have to look under settings preferences. The box is unchecked. Wow. They just want you to stream.

Glad you found it – I personally disable Apple Music and leave the iTunes Store enabled as well. I almost only ever want to listen to a small selection of music, and music's promotion to that selection usually involves being something I'll gladly pay the album price for. (Though far from a deep hole, I'd consider Settings the first place I'd look for anything I couldn't find, and it's right there in the first tab.)

Apple Music is indeed the featured service; that's been true for ten years this month. I'm really just thankful the company has continued to support the iTunes Store that whole time. If they really didn't want to, presumably they wouldn't.

 

[TheIntruder]

I told my 9 year old daughter that modern music is terrible and she said no it’s not. I said name one good modern band and she said AC/DC 😂

That’s obviously down to my impeccable taste and me being an amazing parent!

But joking aside I still think it’s hard to find good music today, I’m not saying it doesn’t exist.

Ed Sheeran, Luke Combs are the only 2 that pop in my head that I quite like..

I think country music, Rap and pop music just isn’t the same anymore. I’d argue the auto tune brigade has had an impact on this as well. Plus writing isn’t as good. Again all just my opinion

I think every generation tends to think that they music the grew up with is the "best," when it's only their interpretation of the best.

There are acts (the Beatles come to mind) that can transcend generations to an extent, but the formative experiences have a very large influence on taste, and judgement of what is still mostly a subjective assessment for most people.

Musicians, and those with that experience can discern the skill and proficiency of the artist, but most people just like what "sounds good" to them.

Go watch the YT music videos, especially older ones, and the most common comments are the "they don't make it like they used" or "this band is so underappreciated" types.

Making mix tapes used to be a labor of love, and required commitment, to have the sources on hand, determine what will fit within the time limits, and to hit the cues from one source to the next, which became much easier once vinyl records gave way to CDs.

(Speaking of which, the younger generations will also never know the joy of trolling record stores for new and used records and CDs, which was also a time consuming exercise, rewarded by those occasional "finds")

Media consumption has changed in general, not just for music. The music industry has always harbored the dream of being paid for each time a song is played, and they've finally achieved that, albeit for minuscule amounts from the streaming services.

Touring, playing shows (and selling merch) has always been the best way for musicians to make money (provided they don't encounter a crooked promoter, or venues), and the streaming/rental model has only served to reinforce that.

Terrestrial radio has also suffered, and lost its place as the primary method of music discovery, when the streaming services offer an instant, on-demand almost endless buffet of all the consumer can eat, and control.

In my mind, the low-cost rental, a la carte, method of distribution has also served to devalue music, when it is so cheap, readily available, and so easily discarded. In the past, when the costs of acquiring music was higher, there was added joy when discovering a good album, and deeper pain when you realized that album you just spent the hard-earned money on was only good for a couple singles.