Posts Tagged ‘iTunes’
Apple, Hardware, iTunes, Palm, Pre, Software
In General on Thursday, 16 July 2009 at 0:01
The latest release of iTunes (8.2.1) puts an end to the Palm Pre’s syncing with iTunes. Some have expressed surprise, but it was an obvious and proper move on Apple’s part.
I wrote about this issue on two separate occasions, and believed it was clear that Apple needed to address the exposure Palm was taking advantage of.
In the first article I pointed out that:
it has everything to do with denying Palm a seat at the table to which they’re not entitled. Let the Pre use the old iTunes API, if possible, as others have, but not appear as an iPod. I don’t see why Apple should stand idly by while a third party walks in and acts as an equal member of the iPod/iTunes system… Read the rest of this entry »
Apple, iPod, iTunes, Media, Palm, Palm Pre
In General on Tuesday, 2 June 2009 at 19:02
Amazon MP3, eMusic, iTunes, Media
In General on Wednesday, 20 May 2009 at 12:36
I know some people who’ve settled on one source for digital music purchases (I also have a friend who buys CDs and rips them himself, but that’s another topic). This made me wonder what the buying habits of our readers are. I’m curious as to how many people pretty much limit themselves to one source, vs. how many of you “shop around” before you buy…
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iTunes, Media, Sony, Universal
In General on Thursday, 12 February 2009 at 14:22
Billboard recently reported that Total Music, a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, has finally ceased operations. The two music giants have “agreed to stop funding the effort, citing both business and economic factors for doing so.”
As far as I’m concerned, this thing was doomed from the start. It was born, like many of the hare-brained music companies’ schemes, out of thinking they could out-do iTunes. It was just one of several ventures that some of the labels entered into in ridiculous attempts to damage iTunes so they could somehow get back to the wonderful world of selling albums, not singles, at $15 a pop, like the good ol’ days of CDs.
Read the rest of this article on theAppleBlog >>
Apple, DRM, iTunes, Media, Software
In General on Wednesday, 7 January 2009 at 14:38
Like many users, I’m pleased that the labels are finally allowing Apple to sell music free of DRM copy protection. Given that the labels have allowed this for many other vendors (Amazon, Wal-Mart, Zune Store, etc.) I think they’ve been flirting with collusion on the iTunes store for a while anyway.
What I’m happiest about is the higher quality — which I don’t think Apple would have needed permission for – since Apple’s FairPlay DRM was pretty transparent anyway. Of my nearly 8,000 songs, about 200 of them are iTunes, most belonging to my daughter. The DRM has simply never been an issue since they play on every Mac and iPod device we have. I’m not even sure I’ll upgrade them, but a lot of that has to do with price, as we’ll see.
What I’m most curious about are the details and consequences of this deal as it pertains not just to Apple, but also the competion. Here are some questions I have…
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DRM, iTunes, Media, Music, norway, TAB
In General on Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 12:12
Apple, Hardware, iPod, iPod touch, iTunes
In General on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 at 12:37
I haven’t had time to parse everything, and I’ll play with iTunes and give my thoughts on it later, but here are a few things that struck me — in no particular order — from today’s announcement:
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Airport Express, Apple, iTunes, Music
In General on Wednesday, 26 March 2008 at 22:18
Picked up an Airport Express today. This thing has intrigued me ever since it was introduced. Not because it’s a super small and convenient device for creating a high-speed WiFi network — complete with Internet and print sharing. And not because it can also serve as an inexpensive bridge for extending an existing wireless network.
No, what appealed to me about it was AirTunes: The ability to stream music. In other words, to plug into a powered stereo and make those speakers appear “remote” to a copy of iTunes on any Mac or PC on the same network.
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Apple, DRM-free, iTunes, Media
In General on Thursday, 20 March 2008 at 10:47
Back when Apple announced the Safari web browser for Windows, Mozilla missed a great opportunity to plug their Firefox browser, choosing instead to whine like sniveling babies. I called them on that tack, and suggested what they should have done.
Now it appears that eMusic is following the same path. Showing zero confidence in their own offering, they’ve shriveled up at mere rumors of a possible iTunes subscription model and, avoiding the rush, got in line immediately with cries of Antitrust. Pathetic.
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Apple, DRM, iPod, iTunes, Media, Music
In General on Wednesday, 19 March 2008 at 10:29
According to the Financial Times this is in the works.
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of this model, though assuming it’s optional it finally has a shot to succeed now that the largest and most popular online music store (and second-largest music store) would be offering it for those who want it.
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Apple, iPhone, iTunes, Music, RIM
In Uncategorized on Tuesday, 11 March 2008 at 22:10
I’m sure the Apple-bashers will be all over this one.
Starting in April you can get music tracks OTA on your BlackBerry. And they’re DRM-free. And you can transfer them to your computer. And all is right with the world. And iTunes is going out of business. And the iPhone is dead in the water.
Or something like that.
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Apple, FUD, iTunes, Microsoft, Rentals, Thud, Vista Capable
In Uncategorized on Monday, 3 March 2008 at 10:48
A pair of articles on the SuperSite clarify just what a Microsoft bias this site carries, as well as highlighting its love of Apple-bashing.
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Apple, DRM-free, FUD, iTunes, Media, Thud
In Uncategorized on Monday, 14 January 2008 at 14:15
Paul Thurrott attempts to set the record strait on DRM-free music. And in Paul’s world, the move to DRM-free tunes had nothing to do with Apple or Steve Jobs. You see, Paul’s been re-writing Microsoft history for so long he’s not above trying to re-write Apple’s as well.
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DRM-free, iTunes, Media, Music, Sony
In Uncategorized on Thursday, 10 January 2008 at 15:28
iTunes, Media, Music, Sony, Warner
In Uncategorized on Friday, 4 January 2008 at 12:27
Apple, DRM-free, iTunes, Media, Music, Universal, Warner
In Uncategorized on Friday, 28 December 2007 at 14:06
FUD, iTunes, iWork, Kindle, Mac OS X, Media, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Music, Nokia, Software, Thud, Universal, Vista
In Uncategorized on Wednesday, 5 December 2007 at 13:18
iTunes, Media, Music, Universal
In Uncategorized on Wednesday, 28 November 2007 at 11:34
Yesterday I wrote about Universal CEO Doug Morris and how he claims all the mistakes the major labels have made (and are making) in regards to digital downloads are only because they “just didn’t know what to do”.
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iTunes, Media, Music, Universal
In Uncategorized on Tuesday, 27 November 2007 at 11:28
I’ve written numerous posts about Universal’s stupidity regarding their moves in relation to digital downloads and sales. Not only their actions to prop up the unworkable music subscription model, but also those designed to damage Apple’s iTunes store even at the expense of selling more of Universal’s own product.
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Amazon, Apple, iTunes, Kindle, Software
In Uncategorized on Wednesday, 21 November 2007 at 13:12
I have to admit I was intrigued by the idea of the Kindle, and awaited details anxiously. Now that the details are well known, it’s hard for me to look on the device with any enthusiasm.
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Amazon, DRM-free, iTunes, Media, Music, Universal
In Uncategorized on Wednesday, 26 September 2007 at 20:44
Amazon opened their MP3 store today, and it’s clear iTunes has legitimate competition since Amazon avoids the pitfalls that made other music sites a joke. However, through it all some curious questions arise, which I’ll get to below. Meanwhile, here’s why this new site is a valid alternative to iTunes:
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iPod, iTunes, Media, Music, Spiral Frog, Universal
In Uncategorized on Tuesday, 18 September 2007 at 14:38
So Universal has teamed up with SpiralFrog on a subscription service with a twist; the service is now out of beta and officially launched. SpiralFrog is unique among subscription services in that it’s subscription-less (at least for now). No monthly fee is required, the site is intended to be funded solely by advertising and your recurring visits:
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Apple, iPhone, iTunes, Media, Music, Sony, Universal
In General on Saturday, 15 September 2007 at 14:12
iTunes, Media, Music, Sony, Universal
In Uncategorized on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 at 13:51
Oil and water. Matter and anti-matter. Sony and Universal. These are apparently combinations that just don’t mix.The brilliant minds at the record labels have come up with a new idea for the holiday season. They’re going to sell “ringles.” Heh. Ringles. I just had to see that name again.
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Apple, iPhone, iTunes, Microsoft
In General on Monday, 10 September 2007 at 13:40
Oh brother. I take a small trip to Vegas (the team I rooted for won the football game, thanks for asking) and look at all the stuff that goes down. I’ll just touch lightly on these because it’s all old news:
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Apple, iPod, iTunes
In Uncategorized on Thursday, 6 September 2007 at 12:56
I sifted through the rumors yesterday and come up looking pretty good today now that we know what was actually announced. I’ll talk about all the iPod models here, but what I really like is how they handled their high-end models. We’ll get to that in a minute.
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Apple, Hardware, iPod, iTunes
In Uncategorized on Tuesday, 4 September 2007 at 12:48
All this speculation and whatnot about the new iPods tomorrow. I’m on record about the 6G iPod here and here. As for the nano, the rumors I’ve seen (wider body, larger screen, video-capable, more capacity) don’t sound too crazy so they wouldn’t surprise me. I also think the Shuffle will gain an extra GB of memory for the same price.
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Apple, iTunes, Media
In Uncategorized on Sunday, 2 September 2007 at 12:39
You know the saying “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt”? Well, NBC executives do not.
Today, NBC felt the need to counter Apple’s press release from yesterday, in which Apple claimed NBC wanted to more than double the cost of their TV shows, to $4.99. Apple’s claim was pretty strong; it would have been in NBC’s best interest to simply be “thought a fool” by most while leaving room for people to still have a doubt that Apple was coming clean. Instead, NBC decided to remove that doubt in a statement of their own.
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Apple, iTunes
In Uncategorized on Saturday, 1 September 2007 at 12:34
Bob Lefsetz has some interesting thoughts on the NBC/Apple happenings. Among them are these:
“If you haven’t had a hard drive fail, you don’t own a computer. And most people don’t back up. And the formats change. Files get better. Do you really think we’re going to be listening to 128 kbps rips ten years from now? No, we’re going to BUY THE MUSIC ALL OVER AGAIN! Which means it behooves the rights holders to sell it NOW! And to make it so cheap that people don’t CARE that it’s disposable.”
“NBC/Universal is way out of its depth here. It thinks this is an inside job, akin to a battle between studios and agents. But, it’s not. It’s a battle between producers and viewers, and the studio DOESN’T EVEN KNOW IT! You’ve got to make your product available cheaply, in a usable form.”
Pretty good article overall, and worth a read.
FUD, iTunes, Mac OS X, Microsoft, Thud, Vista
In Uncategorized on Saturday, 1 September 2007 at 12:27
On Fridays, Paul Thurrott typically uses his Internet Nexus site to take quick shots (mostly at Apple) without actually having to write much. He does so by tossing snarky comments at headlines, apparently thinking because the word “fun” is in the headline it’s OK. Normally this is no big deal, but this week’s edition is especially egregious:
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Hardware, iTunes, Mac, Music, PC
In General on Monday, 20 August 2007 at 23:03
Tackling the transfer of iTunes media from the PC to the Mac is complicated by the fact that not all data in iTunes is stored within the file itself. Date last played, ratings, number of plays, and potentially even album art are stored via an XML file. Simply transferring the data files (i.e., the MP3s and AACs) will not retain this data.
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Apple, iPhone, iTunes, Music
In General on Friday, 15 June 2007 at 7:45
So the mobile market is getting together to “take on” Apple’s iPhone in relation to music. What’s wrong with their offering? Well, let’s see:
1) The iPhone uses songs you already own (ripped from CDs or bought online) and syncs them beautifully based on criteria you specify in iTunes. Their phones, well, not really. The music you own? Play that at home, pal, on the phone you use ours.
2) It’s a subscription model. Oh goody, we need another one of these. Well, at the very least I’m sure Alexander Wolfe at Information Week will be happy. Subscription models fail, and it’s not hard to see why. People want to use the music they already own, and they don’t want to have to keep paying to play it. They also don’t like the idea of losing all their music if they miss a payment. Oh, and here’s a hint for Omnifone: If you need to quote the price of your service per week, then it’s too expensive.
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Apple, iPod, iTunes, Music
In Uncategorized on Thursday, 7 June 2007 at 11:29
In the guise of documenting the outage of LALA on its first day, Information Weak (the publication’s more realistic name) writer Alexander Wolfe takes shots at Apple’s iPod in this article, while also begging, groveling, and pleading with somebody, anybody, to join him in his love affair with the failed music rental model.
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Apple, iTunes, Music
In Uncategorized on Wednesday, 30 May 2007 at 19:52
In my previous post I wrote a disagreement with Bob Lefsetz regarding his rant on how Apple implemented iTunes Plus (i.e., DRM-free music). I thought Bob was wound a little tight, but the man’s entitled (we all are), and I like his site.
Now, just a few hours later, Bob has another rant up, and it seems he’s just shy of wearing a tin foil hat. The conspiracies are everywhere. Here is the complaint:
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Apple, iTunes, Music
In Uncategorized on Wednesday, 30 May 2007 at 15:45
First, if you check you’ll see that The Lefsetz Letter is one of only thirteen sites I link to in my sidebar, so it goes without saying that I like the site a lot.
Having said that, in my opinion he’s off base in his rant today about iTunes Plus. The gist of his complaint is that you either see the iTunes Plus tracks (i.e., higher-quality and DRM-free) or the usual tracks from before today, but not both. As he states:
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Apple, iTunes, Music
In Uncategorized on Wednesday, 30 May 2007 at 8:47
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