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AppStore hints appear in Apple public protocols
Whenever new technology reportedly meets the iTunes store, it's prudent to check Apple's online storebag protocol to see what's what. Today, I downloaded the latest storeBag.xml from Apple's public iTunes server. What I found was this: There appears to be a new service, labeled "p2-panda" that offers access to the same functionality that Cory reported on last night. Specifically, the panda calls include StoreFront listings, Genres, Top Fifty listings, and Updates. If nothing else, this independently confirms functionality seen from those screen shots.At this time none of the calls appeared to function--whether from a Mac or from an iPhone--but I do not have access to the AppStore software itself, only to the protocols and web browsers. I'll try testing periodically in case the services pop back online.Update: p2 likely refers to Purple 2, the iPhone code name. (Thanks Ryan)Update 2: iPhone developer asap18 reports that the AppStore allows users to search for iTunes music as well as applications. This leads him to believe that AppStore extends the core iTMS functionality on the iPhone.
Lawsuit claims iPod + iTunes bond is monopolistic
Although we aren't inclined to believe that this is the first time such a suit has been brought upon Apple, a new one claiming that the Cupertino powerhouse has unlawfully tied the iPod to its iTunes Store has made its way to the US District Court for the Southern District of California. The complaint was filed by a Florida resident on behalf of all Florida-based iPod owners and iTunes Store customers, and it basically alleges that certain limitations -- such as the inability to play content purchased through iTunes on anything not labeled an iPod -- is "unreasonable and illegal under Florida's antitrust and unfair trade laws." Furthermore, the plaintiff claims that Apple willfully disabled embedded support for rival formats, and stated that it was "in possession of monopoly power in the portable digital media player market, the online music market and the online video market." 'Course, it's not like those lawyers at 1 Infinite Loop aren't used to this stuff by now, and we really can't see this being the beginning of the end (nor a catalyst for rule changes) for the oh-so-mighty iTunes Store.
NBC exec slams iTunes revenues/business model
The ongoing NBC Universal v. iTunes slap-fight has just become well, more slap happy. As reported in Daily Variety, Jeff Zucker (the President and CEO of NBC Universal), revealed some of the details of the NBC/iTunes impasse in an interview with the New Yorker's Ken Auletta. Some of the highlights: In the last year, NBC U reported only $15 million in revenue from the deal with iTunes NBC U programming accounted for 40% of iTunes video sales NBC did want to experiment with higher pricing, albeit for only one show and on an experimental basis, but Apple refused. NBC U also wanted a cut of Apple's hardware sales (presumably iPods) to supplement revenues from the iTunes Music Store. I'm sure it was just a coincidence that these remarks were given on the day of the launch of the Hulu.com beta, NBC's attempt to answer iTunes. Issues of profit sharing and price flexibility aside (I'll refrain from sharing my own opinions regarding those issues), the conclusion I find most interesting in this saga is that Zucker's figures (along with figures Apple has reported in the past) back up what many analysts have been saying all along: demand for television content via iTunes is pretty underwhelming. Think about it, NBC says they made only $15 million in revenue off of media sold via iTunes last year; even in the softening TV on DVD market (where the cost per episode is on average, the same, for the consumer), that's peanuts compared to retail revenues of those same shows. Additionally, if NBC represents 40% of all iTunes video sales, and assuming that the other media companies have a similar revenue split agreement with Apple, that would put total revenues by the content providers for the video/TV sector of the iTMS at approximately $38 million. Strictly looking at the situation in those terms, I can understand why media companies might be reticent to offer up their programming on iTunes. I mean, really, what's the point? If the content is going to be essentially given away, web-based services like Hulu make a lot more sense.
George Harrison solo works now on iTunes
The Beatles are now on iTunes-- kind of. George Harrison has become the last solo Beatle to be added to the iTMS, as iTunes now carries all of his solo work (including "Got My Mind Set on You"-- enjoy having that in your head for the rest of the day). That means that all the Beatles have now had their solo work added to the online store. There's John, Paul, now George, and that other guy. If you want them all, it's gonna take money, a whole lot of precious money. It's gonna take plenty of money, to do it right child. Stuck in your head yet?And yet we still wait (well, most of us do) for the Beatles as a whole to appear on iTunes for purchase. It's become a kind of mythical event, hasn't it? Someday, the heavens will break open, earthquakes will rend the ground under our feet, and the world will end around us, but hopefully not before we can buy the White Album at the ITunes store.Thanks, Eric!
Other companies and Apple's iTunes price war
NBC has gotten all the press in their big fight with Apple, but a few other companies are currently considering their options about what to do with iTunes pricing.News Corp is apparently ready to draw a line in the sand. Their COO Peter Chernin says "negotiations will be prickly and dicey and contentious, like all negotiation are and like all negotiations should be." Interesting point of view there. He earlier promised that they wouldn't be pulling content from iTunes like NBC is (or at least says they are-- the content is still there for now, but on the way out soon), but says that they should be the ones determining prices for their products, not Apple. Which is true-- unless Apple believes otherwise. If Apple offers you $1 per song or nothing, Chernin, which one are you going to take?And CBS, on the other hand, is asking everyone to just chill, OK? CEO Les Moonves is the only one that actually sounds like he knows what's going on at the iTunes store: "We look at iTunes as much as a promotional vehicle for our shows as a financial vehicle." That's exactly how everyone should see it-- we can watch these shows for free (with advertising) on television, or pay a nominal fee to watch them later on iTunes.This doesn't help with NBC of course-- they're going to do what they want (including go to Amazon) no matter what CBS says. They are competitors, after all, but whether NBC pulls out or not, the Store isn't going anywhere-- there are lots of content providers still interested in it.[via MacBytes]
Is the iTunes Music Store scratching and skipping?
Over the past couple of days, we've received reports here at the TUAW home office (located in the seaside town of Ocean City, MD; excellent taffy) of multiple download problems in purchasing music at the iTunes store. While the transaction completes as far as billing is concerned, the actual file downloads... don't. Users are getting connection errors and the file never seems to arrive. In addition to the reader reports, a couple of us have seen the problem firsthand.There are several threads on Apple's discussion boards covering the issue, and most seem to converge on the suggestion that a large download queue may be behind the problem, or a single corrupt song that blocks further downloads. If doing a manual check for purchased and undownloaded music doesn't solve the problem, Apple's download support page for iTunes recommends submitting a problem ticket within your iTunes purchase history; this should allow the customer service agent to clean your queue and improve your download experience. For worldwide customers, the main directory for iTunes support is here.For what it's worth, late Wednesday night I bought an album that downloaded cleanly and quickly, but obviously people's mileage is varying. With the level of attention brought to the iTunes store by the NBC withdrawal and the iPod product announcements, this is not the time for Apple's technical execution to falter; the iTunes Store didn't get to be the #3 music retailer in the USA by stalling customers in the checkout lines. We'll keep an eye on the trouble reports and see how things progress.P.S. One year ago, the iTunes store was down for a good reason...Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
iTunes Store slip-up reveals future rental movie options?
Movie rentals could be coming to the iTunes Store, if an apparent slip-up by Apple is any indication. Mac developer David Watanabe uploaded a screenshot depicting an iTunes problem reporting system which has options for requesting a refund due to non-delivery of rental movies. The other options for reporting issues with the as yet unannounced -- but rumored -- rental movie options on the iTunes Store include accidental purchase, poor content quality, duplicate purchase, wrong version, bad metadata, and "other." The same possible complaints are available for every other content type on iTunes. We verified that these options are still viewable on a US iTunes Store account: see for yourself by viewing your account purchase history, clicking report problem, and then clicking on an individual purchase. [Thanks, Josh]
Ringo Starr joins iTunes
You may not be able to buy the Beatles' music as a group from iTunes, but you can buy most of the member's solo stuff. Lennon, McCartney, and now Starr. That's right, Mr. Conductor's music is available on iTunes including Photograph: The Digital Greatest Hits (which is an iTunes Plus album). One more thing to note about Ringo, other than he has the best name our of anyone in the Beatles, is that he is a Mac user. I was poking around his personal website, and stumbled across his photography section. Those certainly look like Photo Booth pictures to me. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
John Lennon on iTunes
Imagine all the people... downloading John Lennon's songs. It isn't hard to do-- John Lennon's music is now available on the iTunes store as of last night. Right around 3AM, reader Ricky (thanks!) saw the graphic above pop onto the store, and noticed that Working Class Hero, among other albums, had arrived, and then disappeared about half an hour later. He speculated that they were working on a full release today.And he was exactly right-- Apple has announced that sixteen of Lennon's solo works are now for sale on the iTS, including the "digital debuts" of the Lennon Legend and Acoustic collections. Additionally, for the next 30 days, six of the albums will include exclusive video content-- Working Class Hero looks like it has a "Give Peace a Chance" video on it, and Imagine includes a video for the classic title track. And all of the albums are available not only regular price ($.99 a song), but also at iTunes Plus prices, which means $1.29 a song, but completely DRM free.First Paul McCartney, now Lennon, and the Beatles has to be just around the corner. Power to the people, right on!Thanks, Ricky and Zack!
Games coming to iPhone?
In response to the rumor of videos in to the iTunes UK store, our friends at Download Squad did a little poking around and found something else that might be imminent: games for the iPhone. (Official ones, that is-- there are already quite a few for the iPhone)Inside the iTunes localisation strings, is the following sequence:/* ===== iPhone Game Item Strings ===== */"4329.001" = "Are you sure you want to remove the selected game from your iPhone?";"4329.002" = "Are you sure you want to remove the selected games from your iPhone?";This basically confirms that Apple is bringing games to the iPhone. The only question, however, is: Which games? Are we going to get more Sims Bowling (ugh), or will Apple's new friends at id actually hook them up with something cool?I'll leave it at this: if Apple can get Doom on the iPhone faster than the hackers can, I'll finally cave in and pick one up. Of course, that's a win-win proposition-- no matter what happens, iPhone-owners will be playing Doom. But if Apple wants my money, I want some games worth playing in return.
Apple passes Amazon to become the #3 US music retailer
Things must seem pretty rosy in Cupertino -- just a week before the mega-hyped launch of you-know-what, market research group NPD's quarterly survey shows Apple has passed Amazon to become the third biggest music retailer in the US. This isn't the biggest of surprises, since Steve himself predicted that the iTunes Store would overtake Amazon at the Showtime event back in September, but the leap to #3 is a little unexpected, since Apple also outpaced Target last quarter. iTunes is now rocking a 10% market share, just behind Wal-Mart at 16% and Best Buy at 14%, and while we don't expect to see it pass those two giants anytime soon, we'd bet that uptick in DRM-free sales has got the iTMS crew at Apple licking their chops.
Beatles settle with EMI -- is iTunes next?
Another hurdle on the way to an eventual Beatles-on-iTunes debut has been cleared. Today, ContactMusic reported that Apple Corps has settled with EMI over unpaid royalties. Apparently, this ongoing dispute has been one of the issues that has blocked online digital distribution of Beatles tracks. This settlement may allow EMI to distribute Beatles songs online in the near future. If so, you may soon see the Beatles showing up in iTunes. It's been a long and winding road and we're still not near the end.Thanks Jeff Kirk & everyone who sent this in.
Apple patents iTMS transaction service for iPhone
Joining Sony Ericsson in the growing list of cellphone-related patents unearthed today, it appears that Apple is doing a good bit of work behind the scenes to ensure that future iPhone users will be able to access and purchase tunes (and video?) from the iTunes Store. Apple's recently filed "Configuration of a computing device in a secure manner" patent lays out in a good bit of detail how users of a mobile device (wireless iPod?) could access the iTMS and perform "transactions." It goes on to speak of "digital signatures" that would presumably have to be validated before any unexpected downloads took place, and it also pictures a handset (props to Nokia candybars of days past) communicating with an actual PC, which then contacts the "content and commerce" servers on the other side of the wire. In other details, there's photo evidence that some sort of downloadable upgrades / expansions could be available, probably referring to future firmware updates that could be initiated through the iTunes application. Granted, the whole mess of legal jargon is a bit hard for the layman to truly grasp, and it seems that Apple was simply throwing out as many vague words and possibilities to encompass anything that actually gets decided, but be sure to hit the read link anyway for more textual confusion and pictorial delight.
DRM + iPhone = eeEEEeee-vil says NYT
I spent some of my lazy holiday Monday pondering an appropriate response to Randall Stross's article (not clearly billed as either news or opinion) in Sunday's New York Times entitled Want an iPhone? Beware the iHandcuffs, a fairly... odd interweaving of gripes about the 'lock-in' factor of the iTunes Store, starting with his contention that FairPlay is 'crippleware.' He's taking that term from the delightful Tucker vs. Apple lawsuit, which should give you a hint where he's coming from on this one.Stross (who also wrote a fine item in 2005 about why Sony didn't build the iPod) has some basic points: DRM bad; iTunes Store has DRM; look at Plays for Sure and all the Microsoft customers that got rogered; iPhone bad; eMusic and other unencumbered music sales online, good.While I have no real love for FairPlay, and I do worry that my iTunes purchases might not survive future device changes, I couldn't quite put my finger on the core bogosity of his thesis. As is often the case in the Mac-blogosphere, John Gruber got his opinion out of his brain with more speed and pith than I could muster: You can "pledge a lifetime commitment to the iPod" and never once come into contact with a FairPlay-protected song or video. If you don't like FairPlay's restrictions - and there are plenty of good reasons not to - then don't buy any, and rip your music from regular CDs.iTunes Store music and video locks you in. iPods and iPhones do not. Gruber is right, but I would say (after the needed pondering) that he doesn't go far enough. More after the break...
Shopping at iTunes Japan--from America
Web vendor jbox offers iTunes Japan Music Cards from its online site. With one of these cards you can make purchases at the Japan iTS. The cards obviously come at a slight premium. A 1500 yen card, which is worth just under $13 in real US money costs $18 at the site. A 3000 card, worth closer to $25, costs $35. That means that individual tracks, which would normally cost between $1.25 and $1.30 based on the Yen/US $ conversion rate, will set you back about $1.75 to $1.80. For the convenience and access to the foreign store, that's not too horrible a deal.
iTunes sales "collapsing," blanket licensing to succeed?
It wasn't too long ago that ole Steve opened a few of his famed keynotes boasting about just how much money was flowing into the iTunes Music Store, and now we've even got the option to snag feature films and TV shows if our wallet so desires, but it appears that even the streamlined, previously trendy iTMS may be on the decline. It's no secret that folks looking to pick up some new tunes would like to avoid DRM at all costs, but instead of seeing CD sales skyrocket, there's simply been a general decrease across the board in the whole "music buying scene." While digital downloads initially looked to fill the void, that theory seems to have been short lived; since January, the monthly revenue going into Apple's iTMS has fallen by "65-percent," with the average transaction size falling "17-percent." Notably, it's not just Apple suffering the cashflow drought, as Nielsen Soundscan reports that the digital download "industry as a whole" is steadily declining. Additionally, research has shown that the "median household" spent just "three dollars" about six times per year, showing that digital downloads aren't exactly "replacing the CD," but rather complimenting hardcopy sales at best. Interestingly, analysts are theorizing that the DRM-era may actually be winding down in favor of "blanket licensing," which was cast aside just years ago in favor of the "per purchase" approach. Discussions are already taking place in the UK to test the waters of such a bundle package, but we don't realistically expect the business model here to change overnight -- but considering the duties the RIAA wants to toss on anything digital, we wonder just how attractive a new plan will be.UPDATE: Based on Forrester's reports, the data cited was from the first six months from the previous year, which leaves open the possibility of seasonal swings skewing sales.
Universal Music looking to extract royalties on every iPod sold?
We aren't exactly sure who's getting the shorter end of the stick in Universal Music's "deal" with Microsoft to extract a set fee from every Zune sold, but now its oh-so-mettlesome CEO is thinking of putting the same pressure on ole Steve. While Jobs has certainly had a rather sour relationship with the labels over the years, and has flat our refused to boost music prices (twice) at the iTMS, this predicament could be a fair bit stickier. Doug Morris is reportedly considering asking demanding a royalty fee from every iPod sold now that he's already won the war over at Microsoft, touting Universal's massive music collection on iTMS as something fairly essential to the program's continued success. But things aren't as clear cut as the previous deal, as the Zune Marketplace was (and still is) in a position trying to grab any sliver of market share it possibly can, while Apple's rendition basically owns the digital download realm already. While it's easy to assume that both companies will agree on a ridiculously small fee just to save face, it begs the question of other labels trying to cash in at Jobs' expense if this deal goes down -- but hey, what goes around, comes around, right?
How iTunes saved NBC's 'The Office'
Our old friend Dave pointed us to a Newsday article discussing how iTunes essentially took NBC's The Office off the chopping block, where it was headed last year after disappointing Nielsen ratings, and catapulted it to "the Seinfeld of iTunes." If you're not a Seinfeld fan that might be meaningless to you, but trust me when I say It's the BEST, Jerry! The BEST!* Only recently did The Office cede the top spot to Lost as the single most downloaded program weekly, not to mention nabbing an Emmy (well-deserved, IMO) for Best Comedy. Angela Bromstead, president of NBC Universal, which owns and produces The Office had this to say: "I'm not sure that we'd still have the show on the air." The network had only ordered so many episodes, but when it went on iTunes and really started taking off, that gave us another way to see the true potential other than just Nielsen. It just kind of happened at a great time." Of course Nielsen is getting hip to the power of iTunes + iPod itself these days.Newer shows like 30 Rock and Jericho are also expected to be a big iTunes sellers when/if they hit the iTS, despite their currently poor Nielsen showings and may save their respective fates as well.The article goes on to talk about what doesn't sell well on iTunes. "Nielsen hits such as CSI: Miami or NCIS are no-shows in the top 50. The Simpsons? Nada (which is not on iTunes at all... even though Prison Break is a stalwart). What does any of this mean? Who knows - except, perhaps that serials and guy-oriented shows are the biggest beneficiaries of the iTunes effect." Personally I think iTunes is only part of this revolution. The networks themselves are getting smarter about putting their shows online, on their own websites, which may not be as convenient or trendy as iTunes, but it's certainly a start. With all the timeshifting and placeshifting going on these days anyway, Prime Time Television as we have known it for many years is going away sooner rather than later. iTunes is really only the beginning of the revolution. It's not the be all and end all.Thanks, Dave! *It's purely coincidence that I had not one, but two opportunities to reference Seinfeld today. Life is good.
Best Buy Digital Music Store is latest to take on iTunes
Have you heard the big news? Best Buy, RealNetworks and SanDisk have teamed up to launch a new digital music store, powered by Real's Rhapsody 4.0 - doing their part to save digital music everywhere from extinction. To help kick things off, Puff Daddy Sean Combs Sean Puffy Combs Fuzzy Wuzzy P. Diddy Diddy will be releasing an exclusive track from his new album for the launch, which is slated for October 15, 2006. Since you can't launch a digital music store without your own digital music player to play those freshly downloaded tracks on, the SanDisk Sansa e200R Rhapsody MP3 player (boy, that just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) is optimized to work "seamlessly" with the Best Buy Digital Music Store.Before you go thinking all this glorious music is free, let me fill you in on the pricing. You get a free 2-month subscription to the music store when you buy a SanDisk Sansa, which will set you back $139 for the 2gig model and $249 for the 8gig model. The subscription is for unlimited tunes. The catch? If you don't sign up for a not-free subscription after 2 months, you won't be able to listen to those songs anymore. The basic subscription service will normally be priced at $14.99/month but you can also just "buy" individual tracks for 99 cents each, just like iTunes. I don't know about you, but I prefer my digital music services and devices to have names I can pronounce and easy acronyms for when I'm feeling particularly lazy, so BBDMS + Rhapsody 4.0 + SDSe200RRMP3(p) = headache, whereas Apple + iTS + iPod = the true Best Buy.
First impressions: buying a game from the iTunes Store
Scott beat me to buying a movie from the store and posted his first impressions, so I thought I would move on to the new games section (iTS link) of the store. The games work with 5G iPods (of which I am an owner) as well as the newly announced 5.5G iPods. I can't decide whether I'm surprised you can't play the games right inside iTunes, but this post isn't about my indecision, for I dropped some cash and bought my first game: Cubis 2 (iTS link). The way iTunes handles games is interesting, largely in part because you can't really do anything with them in iTunes - you can't even rate them or modify any of their metadata; they're only usable and playable on an iPod. Read on for all the details!
