Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Be sure to register in our forums and post your comments - we want to hear from you!


Zune Thoughts

Loading feed...

Apple Thoughts

Loading feed...

Laptop Thoughts

Loading feed...





All posts tagged "Apple"


Tuesday, January 6, 2009

No More DRM for Apple

Posted by Timothy Huber in "Digital Home News" @ 06:30 PM

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,281...,2337929,00.asp

"The "Big Four"-Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, and EMI-all agreed that, effective today, they no longer need to encumber their artists' iTunes offerings with DRM. This means that you can give a friend a song you bought on iTunes-and it will actually play on his or her iPod!"

Well I have to give Apple credit. At today's Macworld keynote, Apple announced that DRM would be removed from iTunes music files; effective immediately for 8 million files, with the rest to be DRM-free within a few months. This is huge for the digital music marketplace. It takes away most of Amazon's competitive advantage and means other stores like Zune Marketplace and Rhapsody will need to scramble to get DRM removed from their music files as well.

Correction: Rhapsody's single-track download store is already all-MP3 and Microsoft signed agreements with Sony BMG and UMG last November. However, as of today, the Zune Marketplace still has a ways to go to get MP3s fully rolled out.

Tags: Apple, DRM, iTunes

The Onion Pokes Fun at Apple

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 02:27 PM

http://www.theonion.com/content/vid...s_revolutionary

With apologies to our sister site, Apple Thoughts, I just had to share this video because it sums up perfectly so much of what I think about Apple!


Saturday, November 22, 2008

Apple May Expand DRM-free Offeings

Posted by Chris Gohlke in "Digital Home News" @ 10:30 PM

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10102414-37.html

"A year after iTunes began offering music without copy protection software from EMI, Apple is in discussions with the other three top recording companies about acquiring DRM-free songs, according to two music industry sources. The talks are still preliminary and no deals have been finalized, but one source said one of the major labels is close to a final agreement. Rumors have been swirling on the Internet for a week that Sony would soon be offering music without the controversial digital rights management software. My sources could not confirm this. Spokespeople for Apple and the major labels declined to comment."

It is a beatiful thing when the consumer wins out over big business interest. Between the confusion that DRM presented for those not in the know and an outright refusal to buy by many in the know, DRM seems to be well on its way out the door. I sit proud in the thought that I never purchased any DRM laden music but have since purchased quite a bit of music since Amazon opened their DRM free MP3 store.

Tags: Apple, DRM, iTunes

Friday, October 24, 2008

Canada Now Dumping Ground for iPod-Nano-That-Never-Was

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Talk" @ 09:08 AM

I wrote about the issue of the 4 GB iPod Nano that Apple created, then never announced, last month - but what I didn't expect to see was these 4 GB Nanos show up in Canada. The screen capture above is from the Best Buy Canada Web site. I'd heard rumours of the 4 GB Nano showing up in smaller European markets, but for Apple to release them in Canada - when the Apple Canada Web site doesn't even list the 4 GB Nano as a product - is decidedly curious. Apple must have made a lot of these 4 GB Nanos for them to end up here. What's kind of crazy is the price point - they're only $20 less than the 8 GB Nano, while the 8 GB Nano is $40 less expensive than the 16 GB Nano. $20 to double your storage is a no-brainer - $40 to double your storage is a bigger jump. Has the 4 GB Nano shown up in your local market?


Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Apple Snubs Blu-Ray...Again

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 03:26 PM

http://www.edn.com/blog/400000040/p.../410035241.html

"Jobs may claim that 'Blu-ray is a bag of hurt', and I don't disagree (keep reading), but even if it wasn't, why would Apple incur additional system cost (versus red laser optical drives) that the format's miniscule market share suggests wouldn't translate to proportionally incremental revenue and profit...and that would detract from the company's primary revenue and profit mission going forward? For the content creation professionals and bleeding edge enthusiasts that demand Blu-ray capability, Apple can continue to rely on third-party hardware from companies like Amex Digital and LaCie, coupled with third-party software from folks like Adobe and Roxio."

I'm a bit surprised Apple doesn't offer Blu-ray drives on their higher-end Apple Pro computers, given that many of those people are the media-creating type, but seeing as Blu-ray is currently a disaster, I can't blame Apple for leaving it off of their consumer-grade products.

Tags: Apple, Blu-ray

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Apple Threatens iTunes Shutdown if Royalty Increase is Pushed Through

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 09:07 AM

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/10...days-copyr.html

"Apple has threatened to shut down the iTunes music store if an obscure three-person board appointed by the Librarian of Congress increase the royalties paid to publishers and songwriters by six cents per song. The Copyright Royalty Board is scheduled to hand down its decision on these rates Thursday. As part of their general muscle-flexing of late, music publishers asked the board to increase royalties paid to publishers and songwriters from 9 cents to 15 cents per track. Apple -- which has mightily resisted tampering in any way with its 99 cent price point for tracks -- said that if the rate hike goes through and the labels refuse to absorb the entire resulting increase, the iTunes music store will become unprofitable."

If you put music on your Windows Mobile phone, your MP3 player, or your Zune, and you ever purchase that music from iTunes, this is news you'll want to know about. I'm not personally a big fan of iTunes, but I certainly support their stance in resisting this move. They've sold several billion songs, largely because the 99 cent purchase price of an iTunes song is a reasonable alternative to piracy for most people. If you give people a chance to be honest, they will - iTunes proved that. According to this Wired article, Apple pays artists and labels 65 to 70 cents per song, 9 cents of which the artist or studio is paying to the publishers. It seems to me that if this law were to pass, the increased rates should come from the artist/label end - after all, without the songwriter that created the song in the first place, they'd have nothing in the first place.

It will be interesting to watch how this plays out - the music industry has been undermining Apple and iTunes lately, offering DRM-free MP3s to Amazon while denying them to Apple. Steve Jobs isn't known for compromising (what with that huge ego and all), so this will be interesting to watch. And if this law does pass, what will happen to Amazon's MP3 store? Or Rhapsody's MP3 store? Will we see $1.10 pricing there (you just know they'd round up), or will they too shut down? This could have some dire consequences for online music stores, who all operate at razor-thin profit margins as it is. Could this kill or cripple the entire industry? The music companies would prefer to have us all buying CDs anyway, right?


Monday, July 28, 2008

Apple's MobileMe Fails Users in a Big Way

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Talk" @ 12:19 PM

http://failmeismorelikeit.com/

It's not often that I speak with great enthusiasm about an Apple product, but when Apple announced their MobileMe service, I was quite impressed with it. The reality of the service is quite different then the concept - Apple is having some serious problems with it, so serious that it inspired this deliciously amusing mockery site. Worse than not synching properly, or mis-using the word "Push", MobileMe is now losing email. Apple usually brings products to market in an impressive manner, so why are they stumbling so badly with this service?

Tags: Apple, MobileMe

Friday, June 6, 2008

Apple Premieres Movies on the iTunes Store in Canada and UK

Posted by Suhit Gupta in "Digital Home News" @ 07:00 AM

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/200...4itunes_ca.html

"Apple today announced that movies from major film studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), Sony Pictures Television International and Lionsgate and Maple Pictures are now available on the iTunes® Store in Canada (www.itunes.ca). Movie purchases and rentals feature iTunes’ legendary ease of use, which makes discovering and enjoying movies as simple and easy as buying music on iTunes has always been. The iTunes Store in Canada features over 1,200 films available for rent or purchase, with titles available for purchase on the same day as their DVD release, including recent blockbusters such as..."

Well, I am sure you know that they will have the latest releases. If you are curious about their pricing - movies are available at CAN$9.99 for catalog title purchases, CAN$14.99 for recent releases and CAN$19.99 for new releases. iTunes Movie Rentals are CAN$3.99 for library titles and CAN$4.99 for new releases, with high definition rental versions priced one dollar more. Much like in Canada, there is a similar announcement for the UK as well, with a similar pricing structure.

Tags: Apple, movies, iTunes

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Apple, iPod, and the Non-Traditional Trademark

Posted by Suhit Gupta in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 05:00 AM

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121...2603674487.html

"On Jan. 8, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple Inc. a trademark for the three-dimensional shape of its iPod media player. This was more than a recognition of an innovative product design. It also was Apple's capping piece in a multiyear marketing and legal campaign that pushed intellectual-property rights to new competitive advantage for the company. In many ways, Apple is benefiting from an expansion of U.S. trademark rights, beyond the traditional names, images, logos and two-dimensional symbols trademarks usually secure. In recent years, trademarks have been granted for such things as product shapes, colors and scents that companies can claim are linked exclusively to the source company in consumers' minds. These nontraditional marks are difficult to obtain... The iPod shape trademark gives Apple a new weapon in the fiercely competitive market for media players. While competitors may eventually appropriate the iPod's inner workings, as utility patents expire, they will risk litigation if their products come too close to the trademarked shape of the iPod, including its popular circular-touchpad interface."

I understand that Apple has responsibilities to its shareholders and this trademark will certainly boost revenue in the future, but I find this to be an extremely competition-squashing move, almost more so than Microsoft and its use of Windows to spread other Microsoft software. When I first read that the shape had been trademarked, I figured that it is reasonable since the iPod does have a truly distinct shape and this move may promote some innovation in the space from competitors But I was then was slightly horrified when I read the following -- "In January, the Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple the nontraditional trademark it desired, along with the following more specific description of the approved mark: "[T]he design of a portable and handheld digital electronic media device comprised of a rectangular casing displaying circular and rectangular shapes therein arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner."" That is so incredibly broad that I feel like any personal music player fits into this sort of category. I guess competitors can claim that their devices are not aesthetic? Or maybe they can place all buttons at an angle and claim that they are in the shape of a rhombus than a rectangle. Honestly, I cannot believe the US Patent Office granted a trademark that is so broad.

Having said this, the WSJ article does do a pretty good job of explaining non-traditional trademarks in laymen terms as well as the entire process for Apple to trademark the shape.

Tags: iPod, Apple, trademark

Friday, May 9, 2008

iTunes - Pay More Get Less

Posted by Chris Gohlke in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 09:00 PM

http://weblog.raganwald.com/2008/05...han-amazon.html

"For example, Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 on 256-bit DRM-free MP3 is just $9.99 from Amazon. The same album is also $9.99 from Apple, but you get DRM. And there are tons of tracks on Amazon that are actually less expensive than on iTMS, so you get better music for less money without the DRM hassle. So is Apple screwing the customers? In a word, no. The reason you can find more music on Amazon at a lower price is that the Record Labels want it that way. Do you think they charge Apple and Amazon the same price for each track and Apple simply charges you more and pockets the difference as a higher markup? The labels would like you to think that, but they actually charge Amazon less for each track, and that’s how Amazon can charge you less."

There is some interesting logic to this article. There were no references, so I have no idea if the labels actually sell to Amazon for less than Apple. I certainly follow that the record companies want Amazon in the game to keep Apple in check. However, I disagree that this will let the record labels take back control AND allow them to keep DRM. I think at this point they have to choose either/or. If they want to keep DRM in place, then they are stuck with Apple calling the shots. If they are willing to go DRM free, then competition can at least keep Apple in check .

Tags: Apple, Amazon, MP3

Friday, March 14, 2008

Cringely on Apple, Blu-ray, and 1080p Downloads

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 12:25 PM

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/...314_004511.html

"Before we attempt to calculate what's at risk here for Apple, let's think about what the company has to gain -- or what they might THINK they have to gain – by delaying. Apple clearly sees a huge part of its future in content distribution including TV shows and movies. I can only guess that Jobs sees Blu-ray as a threat to that download business and this decision to delay Blu-ray deployment is an expensive stalling action, buying time for Apple to launch its own true HD alternative. Yes, you can download some movies from iTunes in 720p right now, but in the surging HD market 720p is no longer good enough. The obvious standard is 1080p and right now you need Blu-ray or BitTorrent to get that. Putting on my near-futurist hat, then, I'm guessing Apple is working madly to deploy its own 1080p download solution and is hoping the world will wait for it."

An insightful article by Robert X. Cringely about why Apple, a core supporter in the Blu-ray camp since 2005, hasn't equipped a single Mac with a Blu-ray drive. It makes a twisted kind of Jobsian sense when you ponder all the variables. Apple's new Apple TV is a big leap up from the first version, and the infrastructure is in place for Apple to do some impressive things in the downloadable HD video arena...but not without help moving those gigantic files around. Some big things are happening here.

Meanwhile, I'm still sitting here staring at my Xbox Live Marketplace TV shows section and wondering why there are only three items of content and one of them is a UFC event from two years ago. Sure, Microsoft has added some new HD movies, but overall I still perceive the effort as being rather feeble. Microsoft has the infrastructure in place (Vista + Xbox + Zune + Windows Mobile) to do some amazing things, yet year after year they only manage to inch forward. What gives?


Featured Product

The Canon PowerShot S100 - The incredibly fun and small camera that offers you 12.1 megapixels with a bright f/2.0 lens and full 1080p video recording . MORE INFO

News Tip or Feedback?

Contact us

Thoughts Media Sites

Windows Phone Thoughts

Digital Home Thoughts

Zune Thoughts

Apple Thoughts

Laptop Thoughts

Android Thoughts

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...