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Apple could be done with iTunes
If you have some time this weekend, maybe open up iTunes and double check your MP3 tags again, just for old-times sake. On Monday Apple's WWDC 2019 event starts with a keynote, and as we've heard before, it could mark a final shift away from the company's overburdened media app. Apple has already launched a TV app that will help its Apple TV+ video service reach more platforms this fall. According to Bloomberg, what we'll see on Monday will mark the end of iTunes once Apple shows off macOS desktop apps that mimic their counterparts on iOS, with separate ones for Music, TV and Podcasts. If you need to manage your iThings (local backups, OS updates, etc.), the Music app will take over there just as iTunes always has. The timing makes sense, and not just because Apple is now making billions of dollars from services that didn't exist when it launched the iTunes Music Store in 2003. We're also expecting to see the "Marzipan" apps that devs can port from iOS to the Mac, and iTunes is too old-school to fit that mold.
Spotify director Sean Parker: Apple tried to keep Spotify out of the United States
Daniel Ek (co-founder of Spotify) and Sean Parker (Director at Spotify) just took the stage here at D10, with Walt Mossberg asking the two about the company's impact in America, negotiations with record labels and -- perhaps surprisingly -- its links with Apple. Outside of confirming that there's still around 10 million Spotify users worldwide (with around three million of those being of the paid variety), the duo also confirmed that it's working daily to improve the catalog. Said Ek: "We're up to 18 million songs, growing at 10,000 or 20,000 songs per day -- it's very much a growing catalog." Walt was curious as to why iTunes had upwards of 30 million tracks, and why all of the services simply don't have the same library, but both players were quick to brush off the topic and pivot directly to the importance of playlists. Ek stated: "If you look at iTunes, the vast majority of songs haven't been purchased by anyone -- it's driven by hits. We see 80 percent of our whole catalog listened to." Following that, Parker contributed: "The playlist is now the CD. It used to be a few songs were wanted by the consumer, and the rest of it was garbage. It's the new mixtape, but accelerated on a massive scale." As it turns out, Spotify actually sells "bundles" (which are glorified playlists) as pay products in Europe, and when Walt asked why these weren't available in America, Parker obliged: "We just haven't released it yet." In other words, they're coming soon.
Universal Studios' films now available on iCloud, Fox still grounded
Back in early March, it became clear that content from Fox and Universal Studios would be held back from being available in the all-encompassing iCloud, presumably due to the HBO release window stranglehold impacting both libraries. Today, however, the tides of change are having an impact of their own. Mac Rumors is reporting that Universal titles no longer boast the unfortunate warning that they used to, allowing iTunes users to enjoy titles from iTunes in the Cloud. Regrettably, Fox titles still exhibit the hold back, but we're told that negotiations are ongoing to remedy that. So, movie plans back on for this evening?
Apple and other music retailers purportedly looking at 24-bit, high-fidelity audio downloads
Digital downloads, at least pertaining to music, have come a long, long way. The iTunes Music Store in particular has surpassed Walmart as America's leading seller of music, and it's evolved from a DRM-laden mess to a restriction-free(ish) marketplace with higher-than-average bitrate support. But it seems that 256kbps simply isn't high enough. According to unnamed "executives involved in talks," Apple -- as well as a few other digital music retailers -- are currently in discussions with labels to "improve the quality of the song files they sell." Essentially, these retailers are hoping to hawk 24-bit audio rather than the compressed 16-bit files available today, possibly with a price premium attached. The real trick, however, won't be coercing the labels to cooperate, but to retool future devices to actually play back 24-bit files. iTunes itself is already capable of handling 'em, but the iPod, iPhone and a slew of other handheld devices aren't. The report doesn't mention how close to a deal anyone is, but we're guessing it'll be sooner rather than later. Here's hoping the iPhone 5 ships with 128GB of capacity -- we're going to need an awful lot of space to handle those lossless Police albums.
iTunes celebrates its 10th birthday, still takes too long to sync your iPhone
If you've managed to use any piece of technology for ten years, it's safe to say that said piece has some serious lasting power in an era filled with flavors-of-the-week. It's a bit startling to think that Apple's iTunes has now fallen into that category, but sure enough, the music-turned-media-application is now a decade old. Fittingly enough, it just hit version 10.0 a few months ago, and it may very well be tweaked to play nice with an all new device later this week. Head on past the break for a look at the very first iTunes introduction at Macworld 2001, and then think about how many times you've hated your life as you watched that sync progress bar crawl along at glacial speeds. No, seriously, think about it.
DoJ's inquiry at Apple purportedly expanding beyond iTunes practices
Take this for whatever it's worth (which isn't a whole heck of a lot without any official confirmation from any of the parties involved), but the New York Post has it that the Justice Department's inquiry into Apple's iTunes practices may in fact be growing. 'Course, it's not exactly surprising to hear that authorities are now investigating every nook and cranny of Apple's tactics thanks to Steve Jobs' public thrashing of Flash and his sly insistence that the world shun Adobe while hugging HTML5, but we've still yet to hear from the DoJ and Apple about what exactly is going on within Cupertino. At any rate, the Post notes that a number of "sources" have confirmed that the inquiry is growing, most notably to include "how the iPhone and iPad maker does business with media outfits in areas beyond music." We'd heard whispers that things may be getting just a bit too dictator-ish in the developers Ts and Cs, and now it seems that the DoJ is "asking questions about the terms that Apple lays out for computer programmers who want to develop apps for the iPad." It'll be interesting to see how all of this plays out, but we can bet devs (and end-users, frankly) are hoping and praying for less restrictions in the future.
Disney and CBS interested in Apple's subscription-based iTunes TV idea?
Disney and Apple -- now, where have we heard about these two mingling in content related activities before? Sure enough, whispers of a potential tie-up regarding a $30 per month TV service for iTunes are turning into more of a gentle roar, with The Wall Street Journal reporting today that both CBS and Walt Disney Company are "considering participating in Apple's plan to offer television subscriptions over the internet." Naturally, this comes from those ever present (and perpetually undisclosed) "sources," but considering that the outfit just shelled out for Lala, we wouldn't put anything past it. As the story goes, CBS is considering offering up content from CBS and CW, while Disney could include programming from ABC, Disney Channel and ABC Family networks; details on the purported program are obviously still under wraps, but we know that both of these guys would be looking for some sort of monthly compensation in exchange for access to their lineups. Whatever the case, it's being bruited that Apple could complete licensing deals and introduce the service sometime in 2010, so we'll be keeping an ear to the ground for more.
A walk through iTunes history
Recognize the software above? The brushed steel, the rounded buttons, the liquid digital-style display. If you said SoundJam, you're right. But if you said iTunes, you're right, too -- SoundJam is the app that Apple originally bought to turn into the multimedia/handheld software juggernaut we know today. This is the first (public) iteration of the software, as told in this interesting history of iTunes over at Mac|Life. The program actually started as a Winamp-style (oh man, remember Winamp? Justin Frankel's now doing stuff with Reaper, which is the app artists will use to release their songs in Rock Band. But I digress...) media management application, and it's really interesting to see how it turned into a real keystone of Apple's media plans over the years, from the "Rip. Mix. Burn." idea to the home base for the iPhone, up into the current iTMS (complete with music, movies, TV shows and even audiobooks) and of course the game-changing App Store. If you'd told the SoundJam guys that their software would one day revolutionize the music and smartphone industries, not to mention be at the center of a multimillion dollar software delivery system, they'd probably have told you to keep dreaming. And we're only at version 9. Who knows what we'll see in the next ten years of iTunes?
Incredible: Apple responsible for 25% of US music sales
The NPD Group has released amazing numbers this week: Apple is generating one quarter of all US music sales. Equally impressive, but less surprising, is that Apple is also responsible for 69% of all online music sales. Wal-Mart is #2 for US music sales at 14% (that's a combination of both their online and CD sales) and Best Buy is third. Speaking of CDs, the aging format is still the overall top seller in the US and Wal-Mart is the top CD distributor. However, NPD expects that Apple's sales will equal that of CDs by 2010. I know it's impossible to say what I'm about to without sounding like a grumpy old man, but here it comes anyway. For me, the tremendous thing isn't that Apple has commandeered the market so handily, it is the rate at which the distribution model has evolved. I'm only 38 years old, but as a kid I had a box of records. By the time I was in junior high school I was buying cassettes and in college I bought CDs. Today, I can't remember the exact last time I bought music in a format I could physically hold in my hands. I'm glad the big wigs in the music industry are starting to get it. Now if only the TV execs would follow suit.
Apple, record labels working to spur album sales with interactive goodies, tablet due this September?
Let's face it, folks -- the CD insert is no longer "the new hotness." And besides, those wacky PDFs included with iTunes album purchases never did much more than take up valuable hard drive space anyway, right?. In an effort to get consumers to stop buying single tracks and start buying more filler entire albums, Apple has reportedly joined forces with EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music Group in a project that's being codenamed "Cocktail." Financial Times is reporting that said initiative is considering adding "interactive booklets, sleeve notes and other interactive features with music downloads," with one executive familiar with the situation saying that "it's not just a bunch of PDFs; there's real engagement with the ancillary stuff." Of course, all of this should still be taken with a pinch of salt for now, as even the music companies mentioned above refused to comment. And given the tremendous indifference consumers have shown with that other interactive tech that's being pushed so hard right now, we're not even sure it'll have the desired effect.In related news, another sect of folks "briefed on the project" have stated that these new content deals could be launched alongside a new, full-featured "tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution." Adding fuel to the already raging fire, the report asserts that the "touch-sensitive device... will have a screen that may be up to ten inches diagonally," and while it will "connect to the internet like the iPod touch, it'll probably [do so] without phone capabilities." You do know that Apple has been good for a music / iPod-related event right around September the past few years, right?[Via AppleInsider]
iTunes support confirmed for Palm Pre
We'd already heard through the gravevine that iTunes support would be baked into Palm's forthcoming Pre, but now it's official. During Palm's D7 keynote today in Carlsbad, Paul Cousino showed attendees that non-DRM music, photos and videos could be synced with the Pre via iTunes (on Mac and Windows, naturally). In his words: "It shows up in iTunes just like a regular device." Update: So, Palm has issued an official press release detailing the new webOS features shown today at All Things Digital. The so-called media sync feature is straight up designed to "synchronize seamlessly with iTunes," giving users the ability to use Apple's media management software for transferring all non-DRM media. Furthermore, the Pre is engineered to act as a "mass storage drive," letting users side-load content on the fly. The full release also details the App Catalog and Twitter in Universal Search.
Apple prepping iTunes Replay on-demand streaming service?
Probably more than any other facet of Apple, we've seen rumor after rumor regarding iTunes fade away in the sunset. Of course, many of those delightful plans were likely shot down by the likes of the MPAA, RIAA and other so-called content guardians, but we say all that in order to depress your hopes on this one. For whatever it's worth, an undisclosed source at CNET has confirmed an AppleInsider report that Cupertino is prepping an on-demand video streaming service for the next iteration of iTunes. Slated to be dubbed iTunes Replay, the service would purportedly "allow users to stream their iTunes video purchases directly from the company's servers for playback anywhere, anytime without eating up local storage." There's no denying that Netflix's Watch Instantly has been a universal hit, but that's in large part due to the firm's willingness to embed that functionality onto all sorts of devices. Is Apple planning on going toe-to-toe with the market leader via your computer and a box it still regards as a hobby? We've got our doubts, obviously.[Via CNET]
Apple rumored to be turning iTunes into a DRM-free music store UPDATE: Not anytime soon
We can't count the number of times we've heard from one random source or another that Apple was about to pull the trigger on a subscription-based / 100% DRM-free music service, and given how those have worked out in the past, we'd highly recommend taking this one with a huge dose of salt. French site ElectronLibre has it that Apple will finally offer up all of its music in DRM-free form starting as early as tomorrow, specifically calling out Sony, Universal and Warner as outfits who would join the protection-free cause. Should this happen, it would obviously be a dream come true for ole Steve, but we're still left to wonder what would happen to bitrates, prices and (potentially most important) all other iTMS content. Something tells us Hollywood isn't quite as ready to release its death grip.Update: Don't hold your breath -- CNET says that while Apple is in negotiations with the bigs to go DRM-free, nothing's set in stone and changes are unlikely before the end of the year. Amazon it is![Via AppleInsider]
Apple iTunes content throwing HDCP flags on new MacBook / MacBook Pro
Man, you just can't win these days. So Apple offers up an energy-efficient, forward-thinking Mini DisplayPort on its latest MacBook / MacBook Pro, and now users that are still rocking displays sans HDCP-compliant HDMI / DVI ports are up fecal's creek without a paddle. Apparently select content in the iTunes Store is laced in HDCP, which isn't all that unexpected in and of itself; the problem comes in when you realize that the new unibody machines don't offer a VGA / VGA-to-component output, meaning that you have to connect it to an HDCP-compliant display if you want to see anything. We know, one word in particular keeps coming to mind to describe this fiasco: awesome.
Rumor: iTunes 8 to include Genius recommender, grid view, new visualizer
Kevin Rose is at it again, with a brand new round of rumors about iTunes 8, supposedly premiered next week at the big Apple iPod event. Did I miss the meeting where we all declared him king of iPod rumors? King or not, he's got what he claims is inside information, including a writeup about something called the "Genius" sidebar, which creates recommended playlists for you, a new grid view (like Delicious Library?), and a new music visualizer.Additionally, Rose's tipster mentions HD TV shows in the iTMS, and reiterates the previous rumors of new IPod nanos and Touches. None of these things are a huge surprise -- while the Genuis system will certainly be interesting to see (and make fun of) if real, HDTV and the new iPods are old news in Rumorville by now.Is it OK if we hope for some faster and easier iPhone syncing with a new version of iTunes as well? Whatever is coming next week, we'll find out all about it then.
El Tunes gives Linux users iTMS playback capabilities
It has been a solid tick since we've seen a good FairPlay hack, so it's with great pleasure that we pass along El Tunes for Ubuntu 8.04 users everywhere. Tested to work on Hardy Heron using RhythmBox (but assumed to work on any modern Linux Distro with GStreamer and a media player that utilizes GStreamer), said plug-in enables open-source aficionados to play songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store. As for limitations, the current version has no Pause / Seek support and cannot de-authorize a machine for playback, but a future version should hopefully cure those two quirks and add support for purchased video content and audio streaming to an AirTunes device. Give it a shot and let us know how it treats ya.
Complete My Album is selling music
I was just as much a naysayer as Dave was when the service first came out (and for the record, I haven't used it all either), but apparently there are lots of people who do use Apple's "Complete My Album" service in iTunes -- the NYT says that it has become a prime selling tool, especially for bands and labels that pre-release singles from their album in a digital format. A whopping 52% of Lil Wayne's latest album sales on iTunes were sold through the "Complete My Album" feature. That means half the people who bought the album on iTunes had previously purchased one of the singles, and clicked through that way to buy the rest of their music.And though neither Dave or I use "Complete My Album," that's a good sign for consumers, and a nice wake up call for the record industry -- the days of playing a song on the radio to up album sales are over. Digital releases are what sells music, and though "Complete My Album" currently only works on music previously purchased in the iTunes store, Apple could very easily extend that to all music in iTunes -- if you like a song that you've downloaded as a free single from the artist's website, it's just as easy to find music of theirs to buy in iTunes the same way.We're done with a world where radio airplay determines what sells at the record store. These days, consumers are the ones who tell record makers what they want to buy -- it's already in their iTunes playlists.
4 million iTunes songs disappear, speculations abound
Last week, Apple's iTunes Store turned 5 years old. Now the blogosphere is buzzing with the fact that Apple said they had over "10 million" songs in their library, then later changed the page to say "6 million." That's a difference of 4 million songs unaccounted for. MacNN did the math and said that if they had 10 million songs, it would have accounted for a 66% increase in their catalog in only a month. MacNN has before and after pictures of the iTunes Store page showing the changes. So... typo? Or is Apple doing some weird shuffling of their library?[via MacNN]
Lawmakers eying taxation on digital downloads
Color us completely unsurprised, but it's being reported that a number of state politicians are looking at the possibility of imposing new laws to levy taxes on digital downloads as a method of taping up shattered budgets. Yep, anything from music to videos to books are at risk, as a growing number of lawmakers are looking to start collecting taxes from each iTunes track and Kindle eBook you purchase. Of course, this idea is far from new, and a number of US states already impose such taxes, but it seems that the ever-growing amount of content purchased online has caught the eye of those looking for new streams of tax revenue. Needless to say, the issue as a whole is about as far from black and white as you can get, but we're not asking you to take our word for it -- tap the read link to get a good feel of just how sticky the situation really is.[Image courtesy of Izzy]
Apple officially says it's the #1 music retailer in the US
Based on today's earlier leak of some weekly NPD marketshare data, we had our doubts that Apple had actually overtaken Wal-Mart as the number one music retailer in the US, but it looks like that January surge of iTunes gift cards and new iPod owners pushed it over the top for good -- and now we've got the PR to prove it. Apple's giving out the same "4 billion songs to 50 million customers" numbers as it has for a while now, but it says iTunes was the biggest game in town in January and February. Of course, there's a lot of 2008 left to go, so Wally might make a comeback -- it was the overall champ last year -- but Apple's achievement is still a major milestone for digitally distributed content, and we hope to see a lot more iTunes-like services on that list soon.
