[rockn]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140509/TECHNOLOGY/305090059/Report-Apple-verge-buying-Dr-Dre-s-Beats-3-2B

[bladesmith]

 
Not sure if that's good or bad. I started using Spotify, I will stay there for now. (Who knows what the future holds.)

[NIGHTFALL1970]

Quote:"The headphones have become a bit of status symbol worn by celebrities as well as audiophiles".

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140509/TECHNOLOGY/305090059#ixzz31EiaUgw8

Really, I found them to be "brite" and "boomy".

[geowak]

It's too bad Apple cannot create the level of innovation, the way it was with Jobs. I did not think they would. But buying Beats is just acknowledgment that they are a marketing force to be reckoned with. I have not seen anything "innovative" from Beats. Apple is on the decline and this is proof of it. Beats started to destroy what MOG built and they did not finish before Apple felt threatened in the music streaming arena??

[rockn]

I was hoping this has something to do with iTunes releasing hi res downloads or steaming where MOG left off. The headphones suck...just my opinion.

[Phil A]

I was shocked when I heard this and the price.  I am not a headphone user anyway (still have old Koss Pro 4AAAs that are like probably over 30 years old) and I'm not impressed by what I've heard of their stuff.  To me it's like a certification.  It would be like paying $1k for a receiver that should sell for a quarter of that but it has a particular certification.  However, we do live in the age of loudness wars the way much music is mastered and many are into portable players.  The pic of the last portable player I used is below.

[dB Cooper]

I heard it was more for the streaming service than for the shitty headphones (I agree 100% with rockn) but that doesn't make sense considering they already have one. Hope this rumor turns out to be BS.

[Mike Nomad]

~

[toocool4]

After reading the whole article, the only thing that stood out was

“The headphones have become a bit of status symbol worn by celebrities as well as audiophiles.”

Not sure who wrote the article but I don’t think they spoke to any audiophiles, as I don’t know any respectable audiophiles that would buy one of these headphones.

[jarcher]

Apple is sitting on a pile of cash, and while this doesn't seem as questionable as the 19 billion Facebook acquisition of Whatsapp, it still seems like a bad deal if in fact they do it at anywhere near $3 billion. 

Apple needs to get in the music streaming / subscription game with declining revenue from download sales, BUT Beats paid only $10-16 MILLION for MOG recently, so why it alone would be worth BILLIONS doesn't make sense.  The Apple brand is still more bankable than Beats, so it seems like they could have created their own streaming / subscription radio service for a lot less. 

And even if BEATS is by far the best known and most profitable headphone maker, paying BILLIONS for it also doesn't make sense.  At best last year they were valued at $1 billion.  Even at that price you could probably buy a company like Sennheiser many times over and have them make whatever you want Apple branded, assuming you wanted all the R&D and manufacturing in-house vs contracting out production like they do with the ear buds.  Somehow I doubt even Beats has their own factories, but contracts out production.

So I guess I really don't get it.  Apple does have tons of cash it's sitting on, but this just doesn't make business sense.

[J Fallows]

I think so, they bought the brand.
It's all about the brand.
Can't really say I'm sorry that it appears  Monster has been left out.

[dB Cooper]

Amusing article from techhive: http://www.techhive.com/article/2153701/audiophiles-freak-out-about-apple-buying-beats.html

Personally I don't care except for thinking its a waste of money for Apple; I'm not buying any "celebrity endorsement" cans no matter whose name is on them. And I hope it doesn't cause them to discontinue the 'in-ear' (BA) model, which unlike the ones that come in the box with the phones are actually pretty good once you put the Comply foam tips on them.

[geowak]

Amusing article from techhive: http://www.techhive.com/article/2153701/audiophiles-freak-out-about-apple-buying-beats.html

Personally I don't care except for thinking its a waste of money for Apple; I'm not buying any "celebrity endorsement" cans no matter whose name is on them. And I hope it doesn't cause them to discontinue the 'in-ear' (BA) model, which unlike the ones that come in the box with the phones are actually pretty good once you put the Comply foam tips on them.

DB

The clip inside that article by Dr Dre is the most amusing. This guy appears to care only about being part of the billionaires club. It really does not matter what I think of the guy, Apple looked at Beats and wants the company. It's been mentioned before, Dr D just uses his money to buy stuff made by others and puts his tag on it. There is no creativity there.... (I suppose his music has a big following and that is where he started to build his wealth.)

I think Apple needs some really creative minds, not just marketing success...

[mav52]

DB

The clip inside that article by Dr Dre is the most amusing. This guy appears to care only about being part of the billionaires club. It really does not matter what I think of the guy, Apple looked at Beats and wants the company. It's been mentioned before, Dr D just uses his money to buy stuff made by others and puts his tag on it. There is no creativity there.... (I suppose his music has a big following and that is where he started to build his wealth.)

So true Dr Dre even went so far as to announce his billionaire status"" "The first billionaire in hip hop right here from the motherf----n West Coast,"   http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/09/technology/dre-video/

[geowak]

So true Dr Dre even went so far as to announce his billionaire status"" "The first billionaire in hip hop right here from the motherf----n West Coast,"   http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/09/technology/dre-video/

Not wishing any ill will to the Dr. but judging from the past events in music recording industry hip hop, he might want to keep his security "posse" close to his side 24/7. Rock/pop artists are known to knock themselves off with drugs, hip hop and rap dudes seem to have turf wars. Correct me if I'm wrong....

[AKLegal]

Not wishing any ill will to the Dr. but judging from the past events in music recording industry hip hop, he might want to keep his security "posse" close to his side 24/7. Rock/pop artists are known to knock themselves off with drugs, hip hop and rap dudes seem to have turf wars. Correct me if I'm wrong....

I don't think he will have a problem with drugs, he has been around for 30 years and he has been rich for most of them.  The turf war thing went away 16~17 years ago when 2 Pac died.  He was the main guy advocating that crap.

Beats and Apple look like a match made in heaven to me.  Both made their money repackaging existing stuff just marketing it better.  Both are overrated quality and value wise (Beats way more than Apple).  Beats gives Apple a solid streaming service.  Apple overpaid but its not the dumbest thing I have seen a corporation do this year.  I just doubt the Beats brand can grow more than it has but again you could say the same thing about Apple.

[Crimson]

It's all about the streaming platform if the rumors are true, IMO. Downloads are trending downwards and subscription services are the new game.

[WC]

It seems like a lot of money to pay for a streaming service. They are picking up a profitable headphone business. They are projected to bring in $1 billion in revenue this year. No matter what audiophiles think of the head phones they do have over 50% of the headphone market share. So, quite a few people are buying them.

Now they can cover all the bases for music. Downloads, streaming radio, and streaming music. I really hope they start selling at least CD quality downloads.

[wushuliu]

So true Dr Dre even went so far as to announce his billionaire status"" "The first billionaire in hip hop right here from the motherf----n West Coast,"   http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/09/technology/dre-video/

Yeah but in the broader historical context that is a very, very big deal so good for him. 20 years ago he would have been just another pawn in the music business albeit a wealthy one. 30 years ago he wouldn't even have made royalties. The generation of hip hop musicians before  him are dead broke with nothing to show for their hard work.

[wushuliu]

It seems like a lot of money to pay for a streaming service. They are picking up a profitable headphone business. They are projected to bring in $1 billion in revenue this year. No matter what audiophiles think of the head phones they do have over 50% of the headphone market share. So, quite a few people are buying them.

Now they can cover all the bases for music. Downloads, streaming radio, and streaming music. I really hope they start selling at least CD quality downloads.

Beats is not just a headphone company, they also license software for laptops, phones, etc. They're all over the place. 3 Billion is alot but then that's the sign of the times with all these mega big deals that seem inflated.

However it should be noted that this is also to do with the convergence on streaming as THE means to distribute all media. Sony has announced that blu-ray is dying, dropping steeply in sales much faster than anticipated due to streaming. The huge cable companies are lobbying hard to kill Net Neutrality right now to make you pay different levels of access and control your consumption, Time Warner is being bought by Comcast basically creating a monopoly... All this is craziness to control streaming. It's all about streaming. So Apple is looking to secure it's piece of the pie with Beats.