You can download Bon Jovi songs on iTunes, but don't expect the band to be too happy about it.
Rocker Jon Bon Jovi, whose band soared to prominence with its 1986 album Slippery When Wet, reminisced in the Sunday Times Magazine about his days as a kid in New Jersey, falling in love with music -- and ripped Apple CEO Steve Jobs for taking that opportunity away from a new generation of listeners.
"Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it," he said (via MSN), thinking back to his record buying days. Then came the less fanciful: the blame.
"God, it was a magical, magical time. I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: 'What happened?' Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business."
Interestingly, his criticism isn't about illegal downloading or any skewed road to success; instead, Bon Jovi is complaining about the actual experience of listening to music, which he thinks has been downgraded by iTunes downloads and iPods.
Apple's iTunes Store has become the number one music vendor in the country; on February 24th, it sold its 10 billionth song download. Of course, most downloads come in single song form, not a full album, and album art work certainly is less prominent. For his part, the rocker's band has released special editions of albums with bonus songs on the service (such as 2009's The Circle), though that may be in order to keep up with the times, not so much a celebration of online downloading.