from Hacker News

Riffing on Apple Jam Packs

by herbertl on 5/25/25, 9:20 PM with 1 comments

• by bigyabai on 5/25/25, 9:47 PM

  Loop/sample CDs weren't anything new or special. There were lots of them by the time Apple threw their hat in the ring, and many could be had for $10 or $15 at the local thrift store. None of them seemed to sell at MSRP - discs were always traded around second-hand under the ownership of a local producer or mixing booth, and online sample packs only ever seem to sell in-volume when they're on sale.

  Nowadays the sample market is trying to adopt the iTunes model to middling success. They want to sell individual samples, eking out tiny profits over larger prospective purchases. But this isn't working particularly great either, and the "golden age" of sampling has largely evaporated to make way for these subscription and app-based services. In a certain sense, the consolidation Apple forced on their publishing partners killed the idea of "sample packs" for iOS and iPadOS platforms, which is a bit of a shame.

  But hey, at least the packaging looked all nice in that wedding dress white.