http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/ Engadget Comments for Steve Jobs and EMI present "an exciting new digital offering" -- live! http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 9:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 3:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
http://www.emigroup.com/NR/rdonlyres/87F9CEF1-E658-4A0F-B2B8-DB56BCEFC3C1/0/EMI2Aprilpressconferenceslides.pdf

It is about DRM free music tracks and videos.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
http://www.emigroup.com/Press/2007/press18.htm

Press release:

EMI Music launches DRM-free superior sound quality downloads across its entire digital repertoire

Apple's iTunes store to be the first online music store to sell EMI's new downloads ]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
http://mfile.akamai.com/7135/live/reflector:42929.asx?bkup=42930]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
Look, I'm all for hating DRM for what it is. But once you start tossing lies into the mix, that's where I've got an objection. I could easily have a lossless CD rip with DRM - just shoving MS DRM isn't going to hurt the sound quality.

And, yeah, the 30 cents more a track thing does suck. If you're going to pull that stunt, it needs to be lossless, not just a higher bitrate.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
If you had waited until the webcast was over before posting, or even just 3 more minutes, you would have gotten your answer:
"*256kbps* DRM-free tracks"
]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
First of all, 256 AAC sounds even better than a 256 MP3 according to "audiophiles" (after all, AAC was developed long after MP3 and stands for Advanced Audio Coding) and I personally can't tell the difference between a 256 MP3 and the CD I ripped it from to begin with. Also, from the webcast:

"Complete albums from EMI Music artists purchased on the iTunes Store will automatically be sold at the higher sound quality and DRM-free, with no change in the price."
]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Also the songs won't be in the MP3 or another open standard format. I think I'll wait until the songs are $1 and in a format like MP3. At least they got the sound quality right.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
AAC is part of the MPEG4 spec: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

You can play back AAC on pretty much everything these days. Hell, my phone can play it. Even the Zune can do AAC]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
just when i thought a major label was finally getting it. doh. they'll never learn.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Music videos are also DRM free.
Existing purchases can also be upgraded to DRM free for $0.3.
This is something fantastic.

EMI. Thank you so much.

Watermark all you want, I don't care caus eI don't share.
But now I can just cut out HMV Virgin and all from the loop.

I can only pray that TV shows are next.

Wow wow wow]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
And why not just make them lossless?

But DRM-free is very nice.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
I agree, lossless music downloads would be optimal, but at this point, it's not too feasible.]]>Apr 3rd 2007 2:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
However iTunes offers you to convert AAC Files into MP3.

What I would have liked to see were Lossless Files so I remain with buying CDs for Albums and the iTunes Store for individual Tracks.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is MPEG-4 AAC

From the Wikipedia article mentioned above: "AAC was developed with the cooperation and contributions of companies including Dolby, Fraunhofer (FhG), AT&T, Sony and Nokia, and was officially declared an international standard by the Moving Pictures Experts Group in April 1997."

Apple, Microsoft, Pioneer, Samsung, Sony... the list goes on and on. Exactly how is that proprietary?

Now, Apple Lossless Codec (ALC) is proprietary! But it's also much smaller than a WAV or an AIFF. So, if Apple decided to start offering ALCs would you complain about that being a proprietary format, even though it's lossless and could be converted to numerous different formats from there?]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
For "folks with money", they're saying,"Get something twice as good for just a little more". And, if you already have it, pay a bit to upgrade it to a higher quality and hear what you've been missing on your HIGH quality equipment.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/AAC is as proprietary as MP3... which is to say it's not. Anyone that pays the license fee can play it back.

Now, if what you MEANT to say was that you wanted .MP3 so that it could play back on some old hardware, that IS a valid complaint BUT, since the files will be effectively lossless, encoding that file to a very high quality MP3 won't be a problem at all.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
@jaxim : neither of the 'A's in AAC stands for Apple. AAC on it's own isn't proprietary. AAC+FairPlay is.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
The price for an album on iTunes is unchanged. Futhermore, last time I was in a CD shop I couldn't ask to only pay for the two songs I wanted off an album...]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 8:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
And what if it wasn't Apple? Hint--it wasn't Apple.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
MP3 IS PROPRIETARY AS AAC IS. IT'S YOUR PERCEPTION AND LACK OF KNOWLEDGE THAT MAKE IT LOOK NON-PROPRIETARY.

As someone else said even the Zune can do AAC as can a whole slew of other devices.]]>Apr 2nd 2007 8:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
MusicInterfaces.com]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 9:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
1. Go to the gas station.
2. Spot a chump.
3. Tell him you need to make a very important phone call to your sick grandmother but don't have any change. The chump will gladly give you the change for a phone call and even offer well wishes for your grandmother.
4. Go home, get on your computer, and find something else to complain about. I hear banks still don't give away free money. Why don't you start there?]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/so that music industry could identify the bad guy putting the purchased song in any p2p-network?]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 9:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
I think $1.29 is a fine price to pay for a high-quality, interoperable single codec format. If you're afraid that aac or wmv or mp3 will become totally unsupported in your lifetime, then the CD is still an available option (with that unspoken premium still in effect).

The big question is... is this going to work in conjuction with the "Complete Your Album" option? If a premium song costs $1.29, but the album still only costs $9.99...]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/
Apparently you need a patent license - from a consortium, not from Apple - to manufacture technology with AAC-playback (just like MP3 & DVD). But for any player that says it can do MPEG4, the manufacturer would have HAD TO license AAC as well, correct?

wikipedia about AAC:
http://tinyurl.com/3djk98]]>Apr 2nd 2007 9:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 9:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/Apr 2nd 2007 9:43AM