Gigaom 5 Music-focused Itunes Alternatives For Mac

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In one swift move, Apple didn’t almost kill just Mac Gamer HQ, it nearly killed tens of websites that exist for the sole purpose of promoting their ecosystem. How could that be?

It all started on April 24, when Apple it would reduce the commissions it pays on App purchases from 7% to 2.5%, effective May 1st. Almost a two-thirds cut. If you’re part of the iTunes Affiliate Program, each time a purchase is made using your affiliate link, Apple gives a commission.

The buyer pays the normal price and the affiliate gets a cut from Apple, a win-win situation for readers and content producers. Plus, because of the steady decline of Ad revenue, affiliate sales have become the main source of revenue for many sites, us included. By drastically reducing the commissions it pays, Apple could easily destroy the fragile business model many websites follow to survive. Some of the bigger sites would probably make it (without forgetting how huge sites such as MacNN, GigaOM or Technology Tell, didn’t survive in spite of having millions of readers per month), but many of the smaller ones would be doomed. Why the sudden change? Apple’s move was hard to understand.

Why make such a drastic change with so little notice? The difference in revenue wouldn’t be even noticed on Apple’s bottom line, yet it could kill websites that exist for the sole purpose of promoting their ecosystem. Turns out, the move was a big misunderstanding. After I the iTunes Affiliate support team with some Mac-specific questions, the whole internet realized Apple is reducing affiliate commissions for in-app purchases only.

Gigaom 5 Music-focused Itunes Alternatives For Mac

Soon after, Apple officially confirmed the change. Misunderstanding or change of mind? We will never know. In the meantime, the panic Apple started is gone. The actual changes Apple made will be barely noticeable (most sales come from direct App sales) and everything can go back to normal. Unfortunately no. Where does this leave us?

We’re lucky this was just a big scare, but the whole episode made me realize how fragile Mac Gamer HQ is. A commission reduction from 7% to 2.5% on all Mac apps would deeply affect us. Affiliate commissions from iTunes are our main source of income by a long shot and the idea of losing two-thirds seriously made me question this site’s future.

One single change from Apple could kill it in a heartbeat. I can only blame myself for putting all the eggs in the same basket, but it was my only alternative. Ad revenue is tiny nowadays and sponsorships only work on extraordinarily popular blogs such as.

There’s sadly not enough interest in Mac gaming to make that work. I never expected this site to earn enough to become a full-time job, but some revenue is needed to pay for hosting, services (a CDN, themes, plugins, email providers, etc), and staff. If you can’t cover your costs and are expected to do all the work yourself for no reward, it’s impossible to keep it up in the long term. Talking about money may sound greedy to some, but it’s a reality all bloggers face. Why do you think all Mac gaming sites so far have eventually shut down? From the top of my head, I can name the original Mac Gamer, OneClickMac, iGameRadio, GameAgent, Inside Mac Games, and Control Command Escape. And I’m sure I’m missing more sites, now forgotten in the big graveyard that is the internet.

When reaching out to their former owners, many told me their blogs didn’t survive because they were not sustainable, let alone profitable. A person can only be drained of time, money, and energy for so long. Changing history It seemed for a moment that we were next, but I won’t allow it, not without a fight.

There’s a reason I decided to bring on paid freelancers (if you want quality, you have to pay for it). I need more high-quality content from several excellent writers.

I need Mac Gamer HQ to become bigger than myself. But to get there, the site needs to be sustainable first. I have been toying with a premium service I believe would be very useful to some of you.

The idea has been in my head for over a year, but after Apple scared the shit out of me, I decided to finally take the plunge. I won’t share anything today but just know that it will be revealed soon. In fact, I commit to revealing it within one month, before the end of May 2017. In the meantime, I still don’t see a better alternative than affiliate sales.

Some have found success with Patreon or simply asking for donations, but I don’t feel comfortable asking for your money. I don’t have anything against it, but I want you to use your extra cash to buy games instead. That’s why we’re all here in the first place. Want to support Mac Gamer HQ? If you want to support us, you can help out by doing two things:.

Use the links found in our articles when buying a game. Many are affiliate links. Bookmark the following links and use them whenever you will purchase a game or App (or anything else on Amazon):. Using these links will not change the fact that you will always pay the same price everyone else pays, yet each purchase will earn a small commission for the site. I think this is a great, free way to support us if you enjoy our work here.

Gigaom 5 Music-focused Itunes Alternatives For Mac

Gigaom 5 Music-focused Itunes Alternatives For Mac Free

Mac Gamer HQ has been my hobby, passion, and time sink for more than four years and I would hate to see it fail. I promise you I will do my best to make this site sustainable so it can live for a very long time.

In the meantime, as I don’t usually share this stuff, I would really like to hear what you think about all of this in the comments section.

One of the largest complaints about iTunes is the inability to experience new songs without it coming at a cost. Spotify counters this with their program.

Spotify is a music listening program that allows you to “help yourself to” just about any song that you would love to listen to. You have the ability to share with your Facebook friends what you’re watching through the convenient Facebook hook-up. Plus, the drawbacks are very minimal, even for free users. If you are willing to enjoy music with a few ads and through your computer’s Internet connection, then Spotify could be a great alternative for you. If you want to kick the ads out of the window, you’ll have to pay $4.99 a month, and if you want unlimited play, anywhere, then you’ll have to pay $9.99 a month.

When put into perspective, that’s equal to about 10 songs on iTunes. Chances are, the power users are willing to pay $10 a month listen to more than 10 new songs in a month, so all in all, it comes out as a money saver. Spotify is available on their. Rdio If you are willing to pay a bit for better quality and selection than Spotify, then Rdio is your dream come true.

I’ve found Rdio to be a great music service and I have found myself enjoying Rdio a bit more during my test in terms of the user experience. Rdio (not spell-check’s best friend by the way), offers many of the same features that we found on Spotify. Truly on paper, they seem the same.

Similar to Spotify, when you pay, you don’t have to worry about ads. You also have streaming features and the ability to enjoy contemporary and classics at the same time. However, all plans with Rdio allow for offline enjoyment, not just the most expensive version. The uniqueness of Rdio is the way you find new songs you may not have bothered searching for. Rdio requires you to be active on the site to be able to discover new tastes, through finding your Rdio friends, influencers, etc. Rdio’s cheapest plan, $4.99, gives you the ability to enjoy the vast library on your computer only. Pay $5 more a month, and you’ll enjoy all of the same content on your mobile device as well. The third option allows for two unlimited subscriptions on one account, for $17.99 a month.

Rdio is available for download on their. IRip 2 The previous two programs counter the problem of music listening consumption. However, the application iRip 2 counters a common problem that iTunes doesn’t help with – transferring your content from your iOS device to your Mac. Simply connect your iOS device to your Mac with iRip 2 running and you have the ability to transfer your music, movies, television shows, books, photos, contacts, and more. This puts more of a focus on all of the content on your iDevice, rather than just being music-focused.

Yes, iRip 2 even has the ability for you to view your text messages as well, all stored onto iRip 2. If you have music you don’t feel the need to transfer, but still want to enjoy, iRip 2 allows you to preview multimedia as well. When done, iRip 2 allows for your music to be easily transferred to iTunes, rather than just being stuck in iRip 2. Get back in control of your content with iRip 2, available on their for free to try and for $19.95 to buy.

Gigaom 5 Music-focused Itunes Alternatives For Mac

Clementine If you are looking for an alternative that is still close to iTunes in terms of what it can do, then Clementine is one of the software that can do that. Clementine allows you to listen to the music you already owned, plus the ability to listen to songs on Spotify, Last.fm, and many more websites. In addition to all of this, you still have the ability to add songs to your iOS devices and more. Other smaller features found on Clementine include lyrics, album art searching, and more. One interesting point to make is that Clementine’s latest update, adding Spotify and other services, was back in the winter of last year, before OS X Mountain Lion. The website mentions that they have support for Lion, but support of Mountain Lion isn’t explicitly mentioned. This could simply be in name only, not necessarily reflective of OS support, but it’s something to remember just in case a feature isn’t working out on Clementine.

Clementine can be found and downloaded on their. Pandora is the music website and app that we all know and love. While not available through an official Pandora app, there are many unofficial Mac apps that allow you to use Pandora.

However, Pandora offers song recommendations to listen to based on your votes that you give other songs you listen to. Pandora attempts, and for many individuals succeeds, to offer great selections. Though it lacks the freedom of choice that comes with other services. Pandora is free, however, for no commercials, the service costs $36/year.

Gigaom 5 Music-focused Itunes Alternatives For Mac Os

When testing Pandora, I found the $36/year – no commercial – figure to be a bit unnecessary. However, it’s up to the individual. Pandora is available on their and through the today. Is there any other iTunes alternative that we have left out? Tell us in the comments!