Apple Updates

I don't know about you, but I'm already sick of hearing about the Apple updates. Love to get the news, but damn... nearly EVERY website with any kind of tech / music slant is covering it ad nauseum. However, if by some chance this lil' blog is your only source for music news & tech, I figured I should make mention of a few relevant updates. You know... just in case.

Overall, I am pleased that the iTunes store is going DRM Free. I still don't like the pricing model, and I like even LESS that you have to pay to upgrade your songs / videos, etc. They're making a move in the right direction, but they've got a long way to go. Here are some details:

iTunes Music Store Finally Ditches DRM, Adds New Prices
By Eliot Van Buskirk
January 06, 2009 | 3:41:21

After years of fits, starts, threats and ultimatums, Steve Jobs and three major labels have come to terms on a deal: Music will be available immediately on iTunes without DRM restrictions. Free of the limitations that currently restrict music playback to Apple products, the new plan will let consumers choose from three price levels instead of the 99-cent song model the store implemented on day one. The announcement, made Tuesday at the last MacWorld Expo Apple will attend, ends an increasingly ridiculous war between two stubborn players. They may have thought they couldn't live together, but they certainly couldn't thrive apart. In the end, each side got what it wanted in the accord -- after refusing to concede for years. That means we could have got here [From iTunes Music Store Finally Ditches DRM, Adds New Prices | Epicenter from Wired.com]

The Price Of Going DRM-Free: Apple’s Hidden $1.8 Billion Music Tax
by Erick Schonfeld on January 6, 2009

Nearly two years ago, Steve Jobs published an open letter to the music industry calling for the death of DRM (digital rights management). He convinced EMI to ditch DRM back in April, 2007, but the three other major music labels held out. Until today. Now all the songs on iTunes are DRM-free, or soon will be.

And, with that, the DRM era of digital music finally can be put to rest. (Amazon’s MP3 store has been selling DRM-free tracks from all the major labels for a year now already). The labels were likely holding out for other concessions from Apple, such as variable pricing (which they got), and the Apple also thankfully convinced them to sell songs over cellular data networks to iPhones for the same price as they co [From The Price Of Going DRM-Free: Apple’s Hidden $1.8 Billion Music Tax]