Today I checked out a new podcast from Alex Lindsay and Scott Bourne of the Pixel Corps and Podango Productions respectively. It’s called This Week in Photography and I think it will be a great addition to my collection of podcasts. It will cover news and tips for all thing photography and will include audio, screencast, and video episodes. If you’re into photography, give it gander.
The online music game sure isn’t boring. Over the weekend the news was all about Amazon’s mp3 store going global this year. “This year” was about as specific as it got. Amazon’s store offers DRM free tracks that can be played on any device that supports mp3 and said tracks for for 89 cents a pop. All four major music labels offer tracks for the store.
This of course begs the question, what will iTunes do to combat this? Surely they can’t go on selling DRM’d tracks for a 10 cent premium over Amazon (EMI is the exception on iTunes—DRM free).For Mac users it’s especially perplexing. The deal is that people generally don’t notice DRM until it gets in their way. As an example, when using any app in the iLife suite you can use tracks purchased on iTunes. Try to use any of Apple’s corresponding pro apps and you get a big fat NO to using iTunes music. The thinking being that pro users would be using these for commercial purposes where one would need a license.
The generally held belief is that Apple has no choice but to operate in the manner that they do (Yet people still wonder what they will do about it.). That is, the labels won’t allow them to sell music without DRM. It doesn’t make sense unless you know the history. Back when the iTunes store began, there was no good alternative to legal online music. iTunes kind of saved the day by making a solution that was easy to use and offered the labels a deal they could live with in terms of copyright protection. Now that Apple is the standard in legal online music, the labels don’t like it. They want to change their deals but Apple holds firm on the simplicity of their pricing structure, 99 cents/track. If it’s true Apple is beholden to their contracts with the labels and that the terms state there must be DRM, what can they do? If the sticking point is flexible pricing in exchange for no DRM, Apple would likely be forced to give in at that point. Somehow I don’t think it’s that easy. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the music labels can be a little vindictive.
The other big news that broke this morning was Qtrax. An article from thisislondon.co.uk (latter article linked) this morning talked about Qtrax and a monumental agreement struck with all four major labels to offer free music to the masses. There is some DRM attached just for keeping track of how many times a song is downloaded. Which is bull BTW. The LITTLE catch seems to be that you can’t take it with you. As far as I could tell, you would have to listen to the music from within Qtrax’s own browser type application on your computer. You knew it had to be too good to be true, didn’t you? Well, it is on more than one level. Apparently, at least three of the labels are saying that there is no such agreement with Qtrax. NO! Really?
While the idea is intriguing, it’s not a solution to replace what we already have. I see Qtrax as a possible challenger to the likes of Pandora or Last.fm, not iTunes or even Amazon.
I’m not sure that DRM free, slightly cheaper tracks are enough to pull me away from the ease of use of iTunes. I don’t think I’m alone in this. I can do all the things I need to do with my music. People cry about DRM but how many really run into its roadblocks? With the ubiquity of the iPod and iTunes, they’ll be a tough nut to crack. No matter what solutions come around, this ought to be interesting.
For the last couple of weeks, the second round of the MacHeist bundle sale has been in effect. MacHeist creates “missions” for members to carry out consisting of puzzles that, when solved result in receiving free Mac software. In December of 2006, MacHeist began the sale of its first bundle of Mac apps created by independent Mac developers. The sale lasted for one week and was a notorious success. Notorious in that there were those who felt the sale of 10 indy apps for $49 was robbery, the developer community being the victims. The winners are the consumers, the charity you choose to have 25% of your purchase price go to, and of course MacHeist itself. It’s estimated that they made hundreds of thousands in profit.
Participating developers allow their chosen software to be sold in the bundle presumably for a flat fee (Actual terms of the agreements aren’t disclosed). This year the sale, which ends today, has been going on for 2 weeks. This year the goals were higher and the bundle slightly larger, still for $49. As of this writing, they have made nearly 1.9 million dollars minus the amount that goes to the developers and the 25% to charity. There are some really great useful apps included in the bundle and some that you might never end up using. However, some of the apps alone are more than the bundle’s purchase price at any other time.
MacHeist II got off to a wiz-bang start this time around with a scandal whereby some blog sites were defaced as if by a hacker. As it turns out, the “graffiti” was done with full knowledge of the site owners at the apparent expense of their hosting service providers due to investigations into the issue. This was somehow a marketing push for this years bundle which went awry…or did it. It certainly gained attention from the Mac press which as we know is the point. All publicity is good publicity.
Still, MacHeist has its detractors. The arguments are essentially the same as last time. Are such deep discounts on independent software the best thing for the developer community? Are participating developers getting a good deal out of the whole thing? As John Gruber of Daring Fireball commented last year “Just because someone is satisfied with a bad deal doesn’t mean it isn’t a bad deal.”
I find myself conflicted by the whole thing. As a consumer, it would almost be insane to not take advantage of such a great deal. As a member of the Mac community and fan of its software, I have to ask myself am I acting in the best interest of the platform. I realize that alone, my purchasing or not purchasing the bundle would have little effect. However, we do things sometimes on principle that are in the best interest of others and not ourselves. This weeks MacBreak Weekly didn’t help solve the conundrum. Leo and company had a discussion with Rich Siegel of Bare Bones Software about the bundle and his decision not to participate in it. His reasons include having to support a great number of new customers who paid at best a few dollars for any given app in the bundle, devaluation of the software, and MacHeist’s business practices in general. His points are valid and while they may be generalizations to some extent, I’m not going to argue against them. After this discussion, I had my mind made up that purchasing the bundle wasn’t the best thing to do.
Then I read some comments on Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders about the MBW episode. One of these comments came from one of the developers that is participating in the sale. His feeling was that the amount of users that he is gaining and the overall exposure outweighs any concerns about getting the shaft on compensation. In general, there wouldn’t be a huge number of people that need tech support for any given app. I tend to agree with that. Also, these developers stand to make more money on upgrades down the road. Here’s an example of someone directly involved in the sale that is happy with the results. That can’t be wrong…right?
I think we might actually have a case of both sides being right. A developer that chooses not to be involved in the sale has every right not to and can have their reasons for not doing so. You can’t fault them for that. On the other hand, a developer that thinks they have more to gain by participating than not can’t really be argued with either. They decide to pay the costs for what amounts to advertising for their product. It all depends on your perspective.
I won’t be getting the bundle although I plan on buying some of the apps in it. Those who do buy the bundle should feel good about getting a good deal and becoming acquainted with software that they might not have known about otherwise. Likewise, those who have purchased or will purchase any of the software from the bundle directly from the developer can feel good about supporting the Mac indy developer community.
So, the rumor mill is churning with word that NBC may be returning to the iTunes fold. Notably, a Financial Times interview with NBC’s Jeff Zucker sounded like a love fest.
“We’ve said all along that we admire Apple, that we want to be in business with Apple,” he said. “We’re great fans of Steve Jobs.”
Meanwhile the love continues from none other than Steve Jobs. What gives? Well, we don’t know for sure and we may never know. If NBC is coming back to iTunes, the timing is somewhat suspect. Just last week, Apple announced the update to AppleTV which would allow for rentals and purchases directly from the device. It could certainly be believed that this would be cause for a change in NBC’s tune. The easier it is for people to have on demand content, the better.
The other possibility is that NBC isn’t seeing the benefit that they were hoping for with all the many online avenues for distributing their content. Whatever the reason, it’s bound to be a gain for both companies.
Last week, Apple debuted the ability to rent movies through iTunes. Over the weekend I gave the new service a try.
I have purchased several movies on iTunes and the experience is pretty much the same as buying music. Initially you have to jump through a few more hoops to rent movies. When I proceeded to rent the movie, I was presented with an update to the license agreement which makes provisions for movie rentals. Next, I had to enter in the security code on my card which apparently I hadn’t needed to do before. After a few hiccups, the download was underway. I attribute these hiccups to traffic although that’s just a guess. Being the first weekend after the movie rentals went in to effect, it’s to be expected I suppose.
It took approximately 20 minutes to download over a wireless connection which in my experience is typical of movies weighing in at around 1.25-1.3GB. Twice the download stopped, again probably because of traffic, but a click of the “resume” button picked up where it left off. Keep in mind this was on a laptop so I can’t offer any info on the experience of renting using an AppleTV.
You have 30 days to watch the movie and once you begin viewing, you have 24 hours to watch it as many times as you want. Movies rented on your computer can be transferred to another computer, iPod, or AppleTV. Movies rented on the AppleTV cannot be moved. The movie can only be viewed on one device at a time. Where you are used to seeing your music, tv, and movie purchases, a new section called “Movie Rentals” is added temporarily. In this window you will see the movie you rented with a synopsis and the amount of time that you have left to watch. At the end of the period, the movie is automagically deleted from your hard drive. Thanks Apple!
Let me back up a bit to say that when I went to start the movie, I fired up Front Row (Apple’s interface available on most Macs released since at least the beginning of 2006 for viewing movies, hearing music and looking at photos.) and navigated to the movies section to watch my just downloaded film. Nada. Only my purchased movies were available. Yep, you click play from within iTunes which then gives you the option of going full-screen. I found it curious that rentals were not available in Front Row, but I’m sure there is a good reason.
All in all, I was pleased with the experience which I’m sure is far more seamless with the AppleTV. As I have found out, the terms for watching movie rentals are typical in the industry when downloaded, so a change in that is somewhat unlikely for now. As time goes by, I’m sure the service and selection will improve and become the way we get our entertainment content. Us iTunes loving folks anyway.
Ahhh Macworld 2008. It’s here. I’d like to be there. Oh well.
As was rumored, this years keynote brought us the MacBook Air, the thinnest notebook computer in the world. To achieve this feat, the MacBook Air has no optical drive, only one USB port, a micro DVI port, and no user-replaceable battery. That last feature or lack thereof is a source of some consternation. Really though, just how many of us out there typically get a second battery for our notebooks. There are some other fixed aspects of this machine like the RAM and hard drive. Presumably the HDD would only be replaceable by Apple. The MacBook Air starts at $1799.
Also announced was iTunes movie rentals and the ability to rent those movies directly from AppleTV. This could go a long way to improving the sales of AppleTV boxes. For those who don’t know, AppleTV is a set-top box that connects to your widescreen television and allows you to navigate through the content that is on your computer and is synced with the device. There were problems with the implementation not least of which was the inability to actually purchase content that can be bought from the iTunes store on a computer. A new software update aims to fix all of that.
The rules for movie rentals are that you have 30 days to begin watching your videos and once you begin watching, you have to complete your viewing in 24 hours. At that point the movie disappears. Only movies rented on your computer can be moved to other devices like an iPod or iPhone or AppleTV. Movies rented on AppleTV stay there. The movies are $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases. A small number of HD quality movies can be rented for $5.99. Other than the 24-hour viewing window, this is a good bit of news for Apple’s video plans.
These were the high points of the keynote and for the most part, good stuff. My opinion is that the MacBook Air is a bit too pricey but I’m sure that Apple will sell a load of them at this price as there are a fair number of people looking for this kind of notebook. The movie rentals are a welcome addition to the iTunes store and I’d say a necessary one. With all of the video services out there, Apple needed to do something that would make it easy for people to find movies they want when the want them. This will also help the AppleTV become the thing it should have been all along. Extend the viewing time by a day or two and it’ll be gold.
Okay, here it is one week from Macworld and Apple today releases new Mac Pros. These new beasts boast 8-core processors standard starting at $2799. Also there is a new system architecture that will make a much bigger difference in performance over the previous 8-core machines.
Everyone is asking why Apple would release new machines a week before Macworld. It’s safe to say that they didn’t want to waste precious keynote time for an announcement on a processor speed bump. We can only hope that there are much tastier treats awaiting at the BIG SHOW.
Last week, TechCrunch among others reported that Sony BMG would be abandoning DRM on its music. Being the last of the big four record companies to do so, there was much rejoicing throughout the land. Now comes word that there is a huge catch to this generous gesture. Sony BMG will require customers to buy a card at a brick-and-mortar retail outlet in order to obtain the DRM-free music online.
On the one hand, Apple offers iTunes gift cards at many stores and this could be seen as a similar scheme. When one is out shopping for other things, it could be a handy thing to pick up one of these cards. On the other hand, Apple doesn’t require you to buy their gift cards to buy music from the iTunes store. The cards are mostly a convenient way to give someone the gift of music that they want to buy.
This move by Sony BMG is sort of a step in the right direction although they miss the point of buying music online. Convenience. For those buying music for themselves, why not just buy a CD in the store instead of this card? That is probably in the back of the mind of the geniuses behind this decision. The problem is, it won’t help. CD sales are in decline and that’s not likely going to change.
DRM is dead to be sure. The powers that be just need to figure that out.
So recently I began working on a new 24″ iMac and it’s a beauty. Truly a mouth-watering machine. Not long after getting it I noticed an irregularity in the screen. Some quick tests confirmed that I had a gradient that went left to right, light to dark respectively. I hop on Apple’s forums to investigate further and sure enough, others were having the same issue.
After some soul-searching, I decided to let it go. I know, I know…how could a designer put up with such a problem. The fact is, when looking at an image of just about whatever, you can’t tell. Only solid colors. At least in my case. Now comes word that Apple has locked the discussion forum about this particular issue. Shame shame Apple. This is not the first time that something like this has been done, but it still stinks. As far as I know they haven’t responded in any way to the issue other than this.
I don’t buy into the argument that the iMac is a consumer machine. At one time, yes, it certainly was. Now, iMacs are as capable at doing the heavy lifting of print publishing and even some video work as a traditional “workstation”. If something is wrong, it’s wrong regardless of how a product is positioned in the marketplace.
I love Apple products and will continue to, but this is just sad. Shutting up faithful customers will not be a lasting solution to any problem.
JM
Heh, this is great. NBC is now providing their programming to SanDisk Corp, via their Fanfare service. NBC, USA, and Bravo programming will be available in January. It seems that NBC is willing to release content to anyone who will take it as long as it’s not Apple. Mind you none of the other “services” allows you to do anything much with this content outside of your computer. Those that do offer an experience that no one would want I would imagine.
JM
