This is one of those items I find so hard to get behind, rather like the infrequent (boring) updates to MobileMe. But here goes; Apple has ever-so-quietly launched a new web-based front-end to their iTunes music library titled “iTunes Preview.” It allows a visitor to view lists of music available on the iTunes Store via their web browser. There you go. That’s kinda it.

I’m going to assume 99.999 percent of our readers already use iTunes, and are probably intimately familiar with the drill by now; you’re reading a web page and you’re presented with a link to some music, tv show or maybe an app inside the iTunes store. You click the link and, after your browser does a brief Redirection Dance, iTunes pops-up, opens the iTunes store and, as you’d expect, dumps you out on the correct product page. Which is nice.

Except, this isn’t the case if you don’t have iTunes installed. If you’re one of the few people left in this crazy world who doesn’t have iTunes installed, clicking on one of those links previously dumped you (again, after the spastic redirection dance) on a web page commanding you to download and install iTunes. Which is not nice.

Well, all that has (sort of) changed. iTunes Preview exists as something of an interim step designed to partially improve the overall user experience, and partially to get the last remaining holdouts among us to install iTunes. See, despite the “Preview” part of its name, iTunes Preview doesn’t let you actually preview anything beyond Music. And then it’s not actually a preview. It’s just track-listings and user reviews.

If you want to listen to a bit of music before you part with your cash, you’ll still need to install iTunes. And, in case that wasn’t totally obvious already, the webpage provides ample linkage to get you downloading Apple’s venerable media software.

As it stands today, the value and usefulness of iTunes Preview is limited. I guess it’s sort-of useful if all you want is a user-friendly link you can stuff into an email to your significant other (To: Other Half, Subject: Buy me this for xmas). But I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel here in search of really worthwhile functionality. Right now, iTunes Preview verges on being almost entirely pointless. Sure, browse music by artist or album, view metadata like track duration or artist bios, and even find related artists… but anything more than that is reserved for the real iTunes.

However, it’s early days. Who knows what Apple might do in the months and years to come? Is this, for instance, the first step toward freeing users from iTunes, in anticipation of a day when that bloated, lumbering beast will be replaced by a suite of modern, slimline, specialized apps?

Nah, probably not. The music in iTunes might have been liberated from its DRM-shackles, but everyone forgets that iTunes itself is, for most people, one giant walled garden. With one hundred million active credit card accounts tied to the iTunes ecosystem, it’s unlikely Apple will want to break it apart any day soon without a proven, easy and established migration route to its successor(s).

iTunes Preview might be the start of something interesting, but it just as easily might be nothing more than the result of a user-experience “tidy-up” by the iTunes dev team, an idea that languished at the bottom of their “might be nice” wish-list for the last few years and just got executed by their newest interns.

If you’re keen to try it out, you’ll be pleased to learn it works on all the major browsers and is available right now. I’ll get you started with this link to the Michael Jackson artist page so you can see for yourself how it works. You can also access more content from the iTunes Charts page. But don’t get excited — there’s really nothing to see here, folks.

Once upon a time, iTunes did exactly what it sounded like it should do: play music. It was the digital jukebox for your mac, Rip, Mix, Burn, remember that?

Looking at the sidebar in iTunes now, I’ve got Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, iTunes U, Audiobooks, Applications, and Radio, and that’s just the main library. Next is the iTunes Store and a “Purchased” smart list, the Genius feature, iTunes DJ and (finally) my custom Smart Playlists. That’s a lot to pack into one application, especially considering that many of the features have nothing to do with each other. There are very few times when I’m wanting to watch a movie that I care to look through my music collection. Music and video are two different functions, and in my opinion, deserve two different apps.

Actually, I’d like to see Apple release an entire “iApps Suite,” separating out audio, video, and applications. Strip Movies and TV Shows out of iTunes and integrate them into a new “iVideo” app, or something similarly named. Hide the video content from the iTunes store in iTunes and create a link for an iVideo store inside the new video app.

Similarly, I’d like to see Apple break out the App Store into it’s own dedicated application. Leave the functionality exactly as it is now and simply move it into its own app. There are many times that I’ve got iTunes open, most of the time just to listen to music, and have no interest whatsoever in my collection of apps.

Maybe my desire for Apple to break apart iTunes is because of my background in Unix, and the Unix philosophy for writing applications that “do one thing, and do it very well.” Or, maybe it’s because the direction iTunes has taken doesn’t seem very “Mac like.” Take the bundled applications for example. Mail, iCal, and Address Book are very often lumped together in the same app. Thunderbird (with the lightning extension) does this, as do Outlook and Lotus Notes. Apple sees sending and receiving mail, calendaring, and storing information about contacts as three separate functions, and wrote three separate apps to handle it. The iLife suite is another great example of separating applications that do different things. iPhoto ties into iWeb, Garageband, iMovie, and iDVD, but they are still separate apps for separate purposes.

I thought for a while that audio, video, and apps were all lumped together in iTunes to make it easier to sync to iPods and iPhones. But, iCal, Address Book, and iPhoto have no problem syncing their data. iPhoto will, by default, open when you plug-in an iPod touch or an iPhone, but Address Book and iCal sync silently, if configured to do so in iTunes. If iTunes were to be separated into different apps, perhaps the iSync utilities role could be expanded to handle what is synced where. That almost sounds like the job of a system preference to me.

Now I think that the three functions of iTunes are tied together because of the iTunes store. Since Apple used the same distribution model that had been successful with music for movies and TV shows, adding the functionality to iTunes and the iTunes Store offered the path of least resistance. Similarly, when it needed to build another store for applications, Apple built it on top of what was already successful.

I don’t see Apple changing directions with iTunes any time soon. If it were to create three apps out of the one iTunes, it would have to create them for Windows as well. I don’t have access to the source code, but knowing what I do about programming and development, I can’t imagine that would be an easy task. Perhaps this is a third-party opportunity for some ambitious indie devs out there? Or, maybe, just maybe, if we get the right people’s attention, a conversation might start that leads to some real change.

Big Cable has just been given a lot more to worry about in a landscape that is already rapidly changing under its feet. All Things D is saying that Apple has been shopping around a subscription-based model for video content to TV networks recently, and it looks to be a fairly attractive deal from a consumer standpoint. It probably doesn’t look too shabby to networks, either, since it will help them stay relevant as more users turn away from their cable and satellite boxes and towards their computers.

According to “multiple sources” speaking to All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka, Apple is trying to gather support for a monthly subscription service that would see TV programs made available via iTunes in an on-demand basis. Luckily for most, Apple is keeping the proposed service open to all platforms, instead of trying to use it to bolster lackluster Apple TV sales figures, as one might reasonable expect.

Interestingly enough, Gene Munster actually predicted Apple might do something like this, though he predicted 2011 as the launch year. Apple’s proposed launch timeframe for the new service is early 2010, but that’ll be a tall order given the current state of buy-in from content providers. Networks are happy to provide shows for purchase on the iTunes service, but a move to a subscription model would represent a complete change in the relationship between Apple and the programmers.

Giving that much power over distribution to Cupertino could result in a relationship similar to the one that exists between Apple and record labels, in which the computer maker holds an uneven balance of power because of its ability to reach the consumer. Networks are probably also not very eager to damage the existing arrangements between themselves and cable/satellite providers, which still represents significant revenue from subscription fees, despite the recent consumer turn towards web-based content.

Apple’s proposal comes close on the heals of Hulu’s announced plans to begin charging for some of its service, and I don’t think the timing is coincidental. The time is coming when digital distribution becomes the default method for content provision, and Apple clearly means to spearhead the movement.

Success now will depend on offering a good enough revenue sharing deal to the networks to make it worth their while to sign on. It’s a question of finding the right tipping point to convince programmers that the potential gain outweighs the considerable risks. The key will be convincing multiple big name networks to join in, since this will only succeed if we as consumers think Apple is providing enough variety to justify ditching our cable subscription.

Following a presumably unintentional disclosure in the terms of service for the iTunes Store, Apple has released Apple TV 3.0, as well as a corresponding update for iTunes.

As previously reported, Apple TV 3.0 supports iTunes LP and iTunes Extras, and does so with a new look. According to Eddy Cue, Apple VP of Internet Services, the new interface “gives you instant access to your favorite content.” The new interface continues an evolution away from Apple’s other media software, Front Row.

In addition to the “widescreen” interface, Apple TV 3.0 also includes Genius Mixes, Internet radio, and photo enhancements. For the latter, users can now flip through photos grouped by event, while face recognition software similar to iPhoto puts “snapshots” of each person named on a corkboard background. It’s sort of like wanted ads at the Post Office.

As for iTunes, besides supporting Apple TV 3.0, the 90 MB update adds “an option for a dark background for Grid View, and improves support for accessibility.” What’s not mentioned in the support note is that iTunes has once again been fixed to keep Palm from leeching off Apple via the Pre syncing with iTunes. Get a life, Palm.

That would probably be good advice for the Apple TV, too. While additional features are always good, features people really want are even better. Is the Apple TV really going to be the last one in the living room to support Netflix without hacks like XBMC?

The competition is really heating up in the e-reader market. Hot on the heels of Barnes & Noble’s newly-released Nook reader, Amazon last week announced its Kindle branded e-book reader software for the PC. With it, users will be able to read their electronic books on their Kindle and on their desktop PC, too. And, before we started feeling like we’d been left out of the party, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed the company is also developing a version of the software for the Mac.

Actually, a beta version of the PC software is already available, but the Mac version is still very much under wraps. Writing in the Fast Company blog, Chris Dannen reports, “An Amazon spokesperson told me late Thursday: ‘Yes, we are working on a Kindle app for Mac.’”

The software will work in a similar fashion to the existing Kindle iPhone app (which is currently available only in America). A Kindle owner will be able to read and automatically sync their books across devices. So for example, a user can read a few chapters on their computer screen before heading out of the house. In their doctor’s waiting room they reach for their Kindle, the Whispersync network would have automatically synced the Kindle with their desktop computer, allowing them to pick up reading right where they left off that morning.

Will customers be excited about reading on their desktop? I don’t think so. The form factor of most desktop machines doesn’t make for a very comfortable book-reading experience. But the upcoming touch-enabled netbooks that take advantage of the touch functionality in Windows 7 offer a far more compelling form factor. A Mac-compatible version of the software is more exciting, however, if we imagine it running on Apple’s impending Tablet.

The tablet will most likely offer e-books and other “print” content via the iTunes store, but it’s also just as likely Apple’s e-books won’t use the same file format as Amazon’s proprietary AZW, which is the default format used by the Kindle today. Being able to run the Kindle software on the tablet means Kindle customers will potentially enjoy the best of both worlds on a single device. And even if they ultimately stop using their Kindle and the Kindle online store, their investment in Amazon’s platform will not be wasted… that’s assuming Apple will allow the Kindle software to be installed on its Tablet.

Sure, a Kindle reader app is already available on the iPhone, complete with the ability to purchase new titles. But the iPhone (well, more specifically, iTunes) doesn’t yet offer a serious selection of e-books and electronic publications like magazines, periodicals or comic books. But once Apple has taken its first significant steps in the e-book market, will it forbid third-party apps from offering similar functionality on the same device?

I’d like to say Apple wouldn’t be so silly or shortsighted. But then I think about the high drama surrounding the ill-fated Google Voice app for the iPhone …and suddenly I’m a lot less certain.

Right now, as you read this, there are five iTunes-flavored profiles over on Twitter, providing their followers with SMS-length dispatches on music, podcasts, TV shows and other content on offer in Apple’s titan digital media platform.

They are, it must be said, almost entirely pointless. For some reason this week they’ve received a fair bit of coverage from the Mac tech press, but there was (and remains) both little good to say about them and little incentive to actually follow them.

Here’s a quick rundown of the accounts (stats as they stood at time of writing) plus one random example tweet from each.

@itunestrailers
Joined March 12, 2009
466 tweets
1,164,348 followers
“10 new trailers now live: http://www.apple.com/trailers/ #indie #comedy #drama #family #doc #action“

@itunespodcasts
Joined June 18, 2009
43 tweets
4,119 followers
“Grab the season four premiere of “Dexter” for free: http://tinyurl.com/ycwvnhs“

@itunesmusic
Joined September 15, 2009
8 tweets
6,362 followers
“Pre-order Norah Jones’ newest album, “The Fall”, out 11/17. http://tw.itunes.com/BXB #iTunes“

@itunesmovies
Joined October 15, 2009
2 tweets
2,164 followers
“See Where the Wild Things Are this weekend? Check out the first movie written by co-writer Dave Eggers,Away We Go:http://tinyurl.com/yjoocqe“

@itunestv
Joined October 16, 2009
1 tweet
1,810 followers
“Watching Act 2 of I Kissed A Vampire. http://bit.ly/Eynfm“

Riveting, no?

Little Value

These accounts serve as little more than adverts for iTunes content. But that’s what you’d expect, right? Me too, and that’s not really the problem I have with them.

The problem is that, with perhaps the exception of one, they read exactly like those trashy, URL-packed, soulless memos from users claiming to be “Media Marketing Evangelists” but whose spamtastic Tweets contribute nothing of real value to the Twitterverse. A stream of endless bit.ly’d links to content you might (but probably don’t) care about is of value to no one.

It wouldn’t be so bad if the tweets were sometimes infused with some personality. If we got to know a little about the person tweeting them, we might start to connect and, y’know, care. After all, connecting with people by discovering what they’re doing or thinking is the founding purpose of Twitter. Sure, there are no hard rules and people are free to use Twitter however they wish, but the best Twitter personalities have in common at least this one salient property: they don’t simply advertise their wares. They actually share their real lives with the Twitterverse.

The Twitter profile dedicated to Podcasts is by far the least pedestrian of the lot, and manages to occasionally sound like its author actually cares about the content, is enthusiastic about the content, and is driven to share their love of the content. But I’m being very generous here. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s consistently interesting, but then, “interesting” is such a subjective term on Twitter. After all, knowing that Bob in Wyoming is now brushing his dog, or Barbara in Essex just did a double-sneeze is hardly the stuff of journalistic excellence. But then, it’s not supposed to be, is it?

And yet, the authors of these iTunes Twitter accounts remain anonymous. The bit.ly’d ads keep on flowing. This isn’t marketing brilliance on Apple’s part. It’s turgid, mechanical, conveyer belt link-posting.

Apple is a famously tight-lipped company. Beyond its meticulously rehearsed official events and sporadic press releases, it usually has nothing to say. And with these five Twitter accounts, Apple proves it’s possible to continue saying nothing… 140 characters at a time.

A storm sprang up this week around reports that, due to disagreements between Apple and Sony BMG, the upcoming Michael Jackson album “This Is It” — a tie-in to the movie of the same name and bound to be a sales success — would not be available on iTunes, the world’s biggest digital music provider.

When Michael Jackson tragically died in late June, sales of his music on iTunes sky-rocketed. A day after he died, eight of the 10 top-selling albums were from Michael Jackson. Eight of the 10 top-selling music videos, too. Five of the 10 top-selling singles were also from Jackson. It was a trend that would continue for weeks. With interest in (and thirst for) Michael Jackson music and video at an all-time high, online music vendors have a vested interest in the new album.

So it came as something of a surprise when, two days ago, news broke that iTunes was to be denied the chance to sell the upcoming album. Paul Reskinoff reported that, according to confidential information leaked to Digital Music News, Sony BMG and the Jackson Estate were insisting downloads could only occur within the constraints of a bundled, full album. So, if a customer wanted just one song from “This Is It,” they’d be forced to buy and download the entire album to get it. Apple’s policy, on the other hand, is well established in these matters; it insists on making individual tracks available for purchase and download. Hence the current standoff.

In his MediaMemo column on All Things Digital, Peter Kafka writes:

…the story is a familiar one, because it’s a longstanding dispute between Apple (AAPL) and the music business. The industry, for both financial and artistic reasons, has tried to keep music bundled together, while Apple insists on selling it a la carte.

Apple usually wins these disputes: Even the stubborn iconoclasts in Radiohead eventually bowed to Steve Jobs’s will and turned their precious albums into individual songs.

Lois Najarian, Sony’s Senior Vice President of Publicity yesterday told Wired.com:

I’m happy to report that… Michael Jackson’s This Is It album will indeed be for sale on iTunes Oct. 27. I don’t have much more information to impart other than that right now, but suffice [it] to say fans will be able to purchase it there.

It was always unlikely Apple would have been blocked from selling the new album — the contract Apple has with Sony BMG to distribute its catalogue of music would see to that. So the question now is not if the album will be sold on iTunes, but how? Najarian doesn’t say, adding only that Apple and Sony BMG are “working on that now.”

Will Sony acquiesce to Apple’s rules, or, controversially, could we see Apple agree to the album-bundling method? It’s not impossible, given how well this release is expected to sell; Apple might be prepared to make an exception to its own (usually immutable) rules in favor of meeting the guaranteed demand of its iTunes customers. Plus, I’m sure the sales revenue it generates will not be unwelcome, either.

Whether temporarily or otherwise, if Apple does indeed make an exception and bow to Sony’s wishes, it’s a decision sure to cause frustration and anger amongst iTunes customers. And you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll be hearing from some pretty miffed artists unhappy they weren’t afforded the same special treatment as the late, great, King of Pop.

Just days after the head of an independent label claimed Apple was charging as much as $10,000 in production fees associated with the new media format, Apple has denied that there are any production charges at all. Even better, the iTunes LP format will soon be available to all content creators.

Introduced at the Apple Music Event last month, the attempt to create an interactive album for the digital age has thus far generated more controversy than content. As of today, there are currently 13 iTunes LPs available, which is why the claims of exorbitant production costs and exclusion of independent labels seemed curious, but not necessarily out of character, for a controlling company like Apple.

However, Electricpig reports that Apple is “releasing the open specs for iTunes LP soon, allowing both major and indie labels to create their own. There is no production fee charged by Apple.” While some will think this clears Apple, keep in mind that “no production fee” does not necessarily mean Apple was not charging content creators money, or acting as a gatekeeper for the major record labels. This is Apple, after all.

Such policies do contrast with the technology itself, though, which is based on WebKit, the open-source browser engine. In fact, iTunesLP.net already allows for anyone to create  iTunesLPs without Apple or the iTunes Store. Still, the success of iTunes LP will require both, and it’s welcoming news to see the company affirming its commitment to iTunes LPs for all.

It just wouldn’t feel right getting through a month without another lawsuit. Apple is in the firing line this time from Online News Link, which claims Apple infringed on patent No. 7,508,789. Ah yes, good old 7,508,789: “the transmission of digital information through a broadcast channel and bi-directional channel.” Or something.

The complaint from California-based Online News Link specifically targets iTunes. The complaint, filed Oct. 8 in the Texas Eastern District Court, claims:

Defendant Apple infringes, either directly or indirectly, through its operation of iTunes and the email and Web-based products, systems, and services offered via iTunes.

Patent No. 7,508,789 describes a system that allows quick search and retrieval of broadcast information via the Internet. It was awarded to Online News Link as recently as March 24.

It’s sometimes hard to know for sure what these complaints are really about, particularly since the descriptions in patents can often be so cumbersome and, too often, frustratingly generic. Here’s an excerpt, courtesy of AppleInsider, of the patent description:

The amount of information delivered is preferably sufficient to satisfy the needs of a large number of subscribers so they do not have to obtain additional information using the bi-directional channel. The broadcast information is stored on fast storage media located at subscriber sites.

Well, to me, that sounds like every commercial online media service that’s ever existed since the late ’90s. But what do I know?

Apple isn’t alone, though, and enjoys some big-brand company in this new lawsuit. Online News Link’s complaint claims some other very big players have committed the same egregious infringement. Dow Jones, Forbes, Morningstar and several others are listed defendants.

ONL adds in its complaint, ”Each Defendant has purposefully and voluntarily placed one or more of its infringing products, services, and systems into the stream of commerce,” while MacNN reports that ONL “is asking for a jury trial, with the aim of recouping costs and damages. Many such cases are settled out of court.”

ONL’s complaint adds:

Each Defendant has committed and continues to commit acts of patent infringement, directly and/or through agents and intermediaries, by offering for sale, selling, and distributing certain infringing products, services, and systems in Texas and, particularly, the Eastern District of Texas.

AppleInsider’s Neil Hughes suggests the decision to file the suit in the Eastern District of Texas is of particular relevance, since “complainants often file [there] in hopes of a favorable outcome.”

So, clever legal acumen? Or just very sneaky? I guess it depends on your point of view. I tried to find some information on Online News Link and found no official web site, no business description, just the company registry on the California Business Portal, and endless references to this complaint filing. But I won’t say patent troll if you won’t.

Introduced by none other than Steve Jobs at the Apple Music Event last month, the iTunes LP adds content like lyrics, liner notes, animation, and video interviews to the traditional album for a little more money, at least for the consumer. It turns out Apple is charging artists $10,000 in production costs for creating an iTunes LP.

That’s what Brian McKinney of indie label Chocolate Lab Records told Gizmodo. McKinney sought information on how one went about making an iTunes LP, and it was relayed to him from an iTunes Store representative that “LPs aren’t being offered to indies and that there are only about 12 LPs being offered right now.” And that Apple is charging $10,000 in production fees.

If that sounds a tad high for your average indie band practically living out of the back of a van, perhaps that’s why there are so few iTunes LPs available a month after format was introduced. To contrast that with another Apple initiative, the App Store, it opened with 500 apps, and less than a week later had nearly a thousand.

If you are looking for a rationale as to why it’s impossible to put together some songs, videos, and lyrics for less than $10,000, don’t look at me. AppleInsider has some steroidal-strength apologia on the topic, though, something about “quality assurance” and that Apple doesn’t “want the new format associated with music the mainstream market doesn’t care about.” It will be great later, though, “open standards” and all that. Let’s hope so, because right now it looks like Apple is channeling the ghost of Sony’s proprietary standards past.

When Steve Jobs introduced the iTunes LP, he remarked that “some of us here are old enough that we actually bought LPs.” Some of us also remember sifting through boxes of LPs in record stores for hours and the joy of finding new music unlike anything we’d heard before. Unless Apple changes its policy, you’ll never have to worry about losing yourself among the virtual LPs at the iTunes Store.

Mary Jo Foley reports on her ZDnet blog that Microsoft is seriously considering making Zune services, such as the subscription-based Zune Pass, available to other platforms — and that includes Apple’s very own Mac OS X.

It’s early days though, as Foley admits, “There’s no guarantee that the Redmondians will end up doing this — or timetable as to when this could happen — but it’s one of many strategies under active consideration.”

She adds, “I’ve been thinking that there might be a number of Apple iPod/iPhone users who might prefer a music subscription service over a pay-per-song one. (And one that’s better than Rhapsody.)”

Jose Pinero, Director of Communications for Microsoft’s TV, Video and Music Business told Foley that:

“…with the addition of the ability to stream music from a browser that is part of the new Zune 4.0 experience, Mac and Linux users already can stream music to their systems if they have a Zune Pass subscription. The streaming capability isn’t limited to Internet Explorer; it works with any browser.”

So does this mean we may see a Mac OS version of Microsoft Zune Player software appearing one day soon? The latest version,  Zune 4.0, is described in a recent review by Paul Thurrott as “…vastly superior to its only real competition, Apple’s iTunes.” Ouch.  

But as Pinero explained, Zune Pass wielding Mac owners can already use their web browser to listen to their music. What they can’t do on the Mac OS is purchase and manage their music. And that’s where a native version of the Zune software comes in.

This raises the sticky-sweet issue of the Subscription Model, and whether Apple ought to adopt it. It’s a model proven supremely successful by the likes of Rhapsody in the U.S. and Spotify in Europe. Let’s take a quick look at those services.

Spotify

Spotify is, at its most basic level, completely free (through the unpredictable insertion of thankfully-occasional unskippable ads). An optional monthly fee of £9.99 (around USD$15) buys the user a Premium Account, banishing the ads and allowing the user to store streamed songs locally on their desktop computer (and now iPhone) for listening offline.

Rhapsody

Rhapsody doesn’t offer a free service, and at $12.99 its cheapest membership level is relatively expensive when compared to Spotify. For two dollars more, Rhapsody users can store music for offline listening.

Zune Pass

Zune Pass comes in at one price only — a hefty $14.99 — and offers both unlimited streamed music and a selection of 10 downloadable tracks each month that are yours to keep. That’s 120 songs per year. If you have a PC and a Zune player, you can store songs for offline playing.

Now consider how Apple could dominate this market. At its September 9 Press Event Steve Jobs said Apple manages over one hundred million active iTunes accounts with credit cards. That’s a staggeringly huge number, and even if we make some pretty conservative estimates, we still arrive at impressive results. Try this on for size; if Apple launched a monthly subscription service, priced at just $9.99 per month (cheaper than Zune Pass, Rhapsody and Spotify) and if only one percent of its credit-card-toting iTunes customers signed-up… that’s still almost a billion dollars in the bank, per year.

There’s more. While Rhapsody, Spotify and Zune Pass all cater to our (strictly) musical needs, a subscription service from Apple could potentially draw on the vast repository of content found throughout iTunes. So, to Music we can add TV shows, movies, maybe even custom-made “premium” podcasts from high profile celebrities and artists. And in a post-Tablet 2010, it’s conceivable subscription-based magazines, newspapers, journals and books could be added in to the mix.

Others might have been first to the Subscription Model party, but it’s easy to imagine the Apple pitch: “Today, Apple reinvents the Subscription model…” only, y’know, they’d say something way more funky than that.

I can’t believe I’m excited at the prospect of yet another reason to give Apple my money. But I do believe this is a service Apple would do well to consider. The Rhapsody’s and Spotify’s of this world prove there’s a growing, lucrative market demand for streaming content. That Microsoft is seriously considering expanding its Zune Pass service to other platforms tells me, beyond a shadow of doubt, there’s gold in them thar hills. I wonder if Apple has noticed?

Palm is clearly very determined to encourage Apple to release updates for iTunes, because it keeps updating its own software for the Palm Pre to re-enable iTunes syncing. The latest update, 1.2.1, does indeed restore the device to the honored “Source List” in Apple media management software — this despite receiving a slap on the wrist from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) only recently.

That appears to be the sole purpose of the incremental update, too, besides a few standard maintenance and bug fixes. Maybe Palm is hoping this is the time Apple will just roll over and acquiesce to having another manufacturer’s device take advantage of its proprietary software. Not likely.

So who’s the villain here? Is it Apple for being the big bully and not letting Palm play along with its iPod and iPhone devices? Or is it Palm, which isn’t satisfied with its own solution and has to go leeching off the better software design of its rival, despite the repeated objections of both that company and organizations governing its devices’ use?

Here’s an excerpt from the USB-IF’s letter (via Softpedia) back to Palm in response to the smartphone maker’s complaint against Apple:

Your letter also states that:
“Palm will shortly issue an update of its WebOS operating system that uses Apple’s Vendor ID number for the sole purpose of restoring the Palm media sync functionality.”
I attach for your information the USB-IF’s adopted and published policy regarding Vendor Identification Numbers (VIDs). Under the Policy, Palm may only use the single Vendor ID issued to Palm for Palm’s usage. Usage of any other company’s Vendor ID is specifically precluded. Palm’s expressed intent to use Apple’s VID appears to violate the attached policy.
Please clarify Palm’s intent and respond to this potential violation within seven days.

So, according to the Forum at least, Palm is in the wrong here. And why wouldn’t it be? We can lament all we want the fact that iTunes doesn’t provide an API to hardware manufacturers so that we could use our Sansa, Zune, BlackBerry, and whatever other devices with it, but the fact remains that it doesn’t, and because of that no company really has the right to commandeer the use of the software for its own purposes. What if the DSi started doing that with Sony’s Media Go PC software for the PSP? Obviously, it wouldn’t fly.

And it’s not like iTunes media is inaccessible for devices other than iPods and iPhones. BlackBerry’s recently released Desktop Manager for Mac allows for syncing with iTunes playlists. It does so by reading the iTunes library .XML file, which is readily available to all programs, and it handles the actual syncing process on its own. It’s something Palm could easily mimic.

I was rooting for the little guy, but as this drags on, I’m beginning more and more to take Apple’s side. Palm is looking increasingly like it’s unwilling to try to stand on its own. No doubt the update war will continue, but to what end? Apple will eventually win, and Palm’s time would be better spent trying to design an equally elegant solution of its own.

After months of software updates by the respective companies to disable and enable the Pre syncing with iTunes, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has ruled on the issue.

Palm loses.

The standards group has not only rejected Palm’s claim of anti-competitive behavior by Apple, but says that it is Palm that’s violating the USB-IF Membership Agreement, John Paczkowski at Digital Daily reports. The Pre’s touted “feature” of
media syncing with iTunes is accomplished by spoofing Apple’s USB vendor ID, in effect making the Pre appear to be an iPod.

In its letter to Palm and Apple, the USB-IF noted that “Palm may only use the single Vendor ID issued to Palm for Palm’s usage. Usage of any other company’s Vendor ID is specifically precluded.” Further, the USB-IF has asked Palm to clarify its “intent and respond to this potential violation within seven days.” Palm’s immediate response was to pontificate, asserting that the company believes “consumers should have freedom and choice in how and where they use the non-rights managed media they already own.”

And they do. The Pre is perfectly capable of managing media by drag-and-drop all by itself, and if Palm is all about “freedom and choice,” then where is the support for Zune software? Clearly, this has never been about consumer choice, but rather a beleaguered Palm maximizing its potential customer base with minimal development effort on its own part.

Two weeks after introducing iTunes 9 at the “It’s Only Rock and Roll” music event, Apple has released the first update to the software.

Version 9.0.1 of iTunes cryptically addresses performance and stability, as well as resolving unnamed issues when browsing the iTunes Store. Syncing issues related to applications and Podcast playlists have been addressed. The Genius now automatically updates to show Genius Mixes, and the issue of sorting albums with multiple discs has been fixed — finally. Lastly, there is the matter of the zoom button behavior.

Through iTunes 8, clicking the zoom — green — button brought up the mini-player. This contradicted Apple Human Interface Guidelines, which states that the zoom button “toggles a window between its standard state and its user state.” With iTunes 9, the decision was made to make the behavior of the zoom button consistent with other applications. Accessing the mini-player window was done by holding the Option key while clicking zoom.

Were Ralph Waldo Emerson alive today, he might have said something about foolish consistency and iTunes 9, and it’s highly likely a lot of people did because Apple has restored the previous behavior. Clicking the zoom button toggles between a normal window and the mini-player window. Holding down the Option key and clicking zoom toggles between normal window states.

Available for both the Mac and Windows, including a 64-bit version for Vista, iTunes 9 can be had through Software Update or downloaded directly.

iTunes U (iTunes Link), part of the iTunes Store, is an amazing venue for top-notch educational content from the world’s greatest universities, institutions, museums and other public educational foundations. From language lessons to audiobooks to lectures and more, iTunes U is a great place for those who love to learn. With the release of iTunes 9, Apple has put an even bigger spotlight on this great content by featuring it prominently inside the application.

When iTunes U first launched, many of the top universities, such as Stanford, Cambridge and Carnegie Mellon, jumped onboard to provide engaging content. As the original institutions first began producing content for the free service, some implemented their content as podcasts that would download into the “Podcasts” section of iTunes whereas others would implement their content so it would download in the “Music” section. Furthermore, as more engaging content was added to the service, it became problematic to keep this content organized. Some universities would automatically create playlists for their content, and others would just create multiple podcasts.

iTunes 9 attempts to solve this disarray by providing a specific iTunes U section inside the application and a specific iTunes U tab for iPods and iPhones to sync the content. This allows users to specifically choose which content they wish to sync, by a particular topic from an iTunes U content provider, or a specific “episode” within that topic. The iTunes Store redesign itself also prominently features iTunes U content accessible via a button across the top navigation bar. Though this section of iTunes still physically resembles the iTunes Store pre-version 9, Apple is in the process of updating it to match the look and feel of the rest of the redesigned store.

The 3.0 Software Update for the iPhone and iPod touch also brings about a specific section for iTunes U in the mobile iTunes store. Much like traditional podcasts, users can browse this section to view top downloaded content or content organized by category. Due to the flexibility that Apple gives institutions in organizing and presenting their content, navigating all of this directly from an iPod or iPhone can be a bit daunting, though.

As mentioned earlier, iTunes U content is completely free and currently features over 200,000 educational audio and video titles available for download, even including content on how to get started creating your own iPhone applications. It’s a great resource to further your learning whether you’re at home or on the go.

iTunes 9 brings about a much more flexible setup for syncing. It’s definitely an improvement, in some senses, but still far from perfect. In fact, many might be quick to term some of the options as “feature creep.” Check out some of our thoughts on the new options and look at the side by side screenshots of the syncing options to get an idea.

Syncing in general has been improved in the sense that users can now drill down and sync more specific content. Music can now be synced by a combination of playlists, specific artists or genres. Podcasts can be synced by specific episodes and TV shows can be synced by specific episodes or seasons.

New altogether is the ability to sync iTunes U content which also has its own category, instead of being mixed in randomly between podcasts and music. Photo syncing has also been greatly enhanced, allowing support for specific albums, events or faces. Searching has also been enabled in many of these areas to allow you to quickly narrow down your choices. While these are all great features, they have really intensified the syncing interface. Hopefully it’s not too much for some users.

Still No Love for Audiobooks?

As mentioned in my wish list, I was really hoping for an improved way to sync audiobooks. Apple answered my hopes in an odd way. In the Music section, you can now search through your artists and, upon searching for a particular author, I was able to sync up those specific audiobooks. This isn’t a perfect solution though as a user may have multiple audiobooks from the same author. Why not just add another tab across the top? Apple added one for iTunes U. (I’m completely kidding. Remember, the interface is getting too complicated. iTunes 8 had eight tabs for syncing options while iTunes 9 brings the number to 10.) I personally feel the number of tabs across the top is too many, but I do feel audiobooks are important enough to warrant a more selective approach for syncing instead of just creating playlists for them.

Home Screens, Sweet Home Screens

Of course, the part most of you will really care about is the ability to organize your iPhone and iPod touch home screens via iTunes. This is simply amazing and is surprisingly quite functional. You simply navigate amongst the home screens, deleting or adding as needed and dragging applications between them. If you want to drag an item from the first screen to the fifth, just click and drag the app and hover over the fifth screen. It’ll pop up in the main view and you can place your app.

You can also select multiple apps by holding down the Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) keys. Moving complete screens around is also a snap, just by clicking and dragging them. All in all, this feature works quite well and should give users no excuse for messy randomly placed apps on their iPhones (or at least quell frustrations of people who attempt to switch between pages while editing apps only to grab and app and move it instead).

Generally speaking, these new syncing options do give users more flexible options to manage content on their devices, but I’m curious to see if any of you feel the interface itself has become a little overblown?

The one thing many people did not expect with a new version of iTunes was that Apple would use the opportunity to cause dissent among its fanbase by introducing another new user interface. Some classify the new styling as “needed” and “elegant and refined” while others have resorted to a variety of hacks to return to the UI of yesteryear.

We’ve gone through every corner of iTunes we could find and dug up all of the major changes in the interface. Here’s what we found.

Welcome to iTunes 9

The first thing many noticed is that iTunes 9 now launches with a Welcome to iTunes screen, offering quick links to videos showcasing some of iTunes features. Similar to apps like iPhoto and iWeb, users can disable this by ticking a checkbox.

iTunes Preferences

iTunes Preferences also featured a few notable changes, specifically adding support for grouping iTunes U content.

iTunes 9 General Preferences

iTunes 8 General Preferences

Parental Control also received a new icon (matching the icon in Snow Leopard) as well as some slight rewording.

iTunes 9 Parental Controls

iTunes 8 Parental Controls

Removed from iTunes 9 are references in the Store section to “adding to shopping cart” versus buying with Amazon’s licensed 1-Click technology. Added is an option to use the full window when browsing the iTunes Store.

iTunes 9 Store Preferences

iTunes 8 Store Preferences

Browsing Content

Browsing content within iTunes has also received a refresh. While browsing music in List Mode, the artists have been grouped along the left, making it easier to narrow down your selection rather quickly.

iTunes 9 Music List Mode

When browsing in Grid View, the first thing you will notice is that the dark black background is gone and now albums are scattered amongst an off white background. Badged content, such as Podcasts, TV Shows, iTunes U and Movies feature blue badges instead of the original red. Gone from this view are the tabs to sort content within an area (such as Music) by Albums, Artists, Genres and Composers. This can be re-enabled via the View menu.

ITunes 9 Podcasts

Cover Flow view is pretty much the same, with the refining of the “full screen” icon.

iTunes 9 CoverFlow

The iTunes 9 Equalizer also received a refresh, styling the control knobs with blue accents.

iTunes 9 Equalizer

iTunes 8 Equalizer

Icons & Buttons

Buttons and displays in iTunes 9 have been overhauled to give them a more glossy, shiny three dimensional look. The toolbar has also been realigned, removing the ‘View’ label and moving the ‘Search’ label instead the Search field. The information area has also been updated, providing more useful information during syncing and downloading of content from the iTunes Store (such as time remaining).

iTunes 9 also brings about many refreshed icons, including many of the icons in the sidebar. Specifically, playlist icons have gotten the most attention, while TVs, Movies, Audiobooks, and Applications have seen slight refreshes as well.

Syncing

Syncing is by far the area that received the most attention in this revision. Specifically, users now have the ability to sync content more selectively. When choosing a TV show, for instance, they can sync specific seasons or specific episodes. When syncing a podcast, they can choose to sync specific episodes. When syncing photos, users can take advantage of the iPhoto ‘09 Faces and Places aspect to sync photos of particular people or a particular place. Many of these areas also provide a search field, making it easier to quickly narrow down and select the specific content you’re looking for.

Syncing TV Shows

Syncing Ringtones

Syncing iTunes U

Syncing Music

Syncing Photos

The biggest feature in the redesigned sync options is the ability to organize your iPhone and iPod touch apps directly within iTunes. Check the ones you wish to add, highlight to select them and drag them to whichever home screen you desire. Selecting multiple apps is a cinch and moving them between home screens is equally easy.

Syncing Apps

Everything Else

Upon a user’s first visit to a section, such as creating a new Playlist, or visiting the Podcast area, they are greeted with a new UI that discusses how that particular concept works.

iTunes 9 New Playlist

While this overview is fairly exhaustive, there are likely many other features that users will continue to discover. If there’s one we’ve missed, please use the comments to let us know!

]]> http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/16/itunes-ui-deconstructing-8-to-9/feed/ 45 limeology iTunes Icon Welcome to iTunes 9 iTunes 9 General Preferences iTunes 8 General Preferences iTunes 9 Parental Controls iTunes 8 Parental Controls iTunes 9 Store Preferences iTunes 8 Store Preferences iTunes 9 Music List Mode ITunes 9 Podcasts iTunes 9 CoverFlow iTunes 9 Equalizer iTunes 8 Equalizer iTunes 9 vs iTunes 8 Sidebar Icons TV Shows Syncing Ringtones Sync iTunes U Syncing Music Syncing Photos Syncing Apps iTunes 9 New Playlist http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/14/itunes-9-deconstructing-lps-extras/ http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/14/itunes-9-deconstructing-lps-extras/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:00:41 +0000 Chris Ryan http://theappleblog.com/?p=32363 ]]>

Leading up to Apple’s music event last week, rumor sites had been circling about a new format from Apple that would provide additional content, like lyrics, liner notes, video interviews and more. The rumors came true as Apple announced yet one more way to spend more money inside iTunes: iTunes LPs for music and iTunes Extras for video. Here’s what they look like up close.

Deconstructing the LP

When you purchase an iTunes LP (for this example, I’m using Tyrese Gibson’s MAYHEM!), you actually end up downloading the songs included and the animated content in a new format, called .itlp. This new format is (in this example) a very big file, a little over 400MB. Not only does it take a while to download that content, but if you start to fill your library with several of these, you’ll run out of room very quickly.

For diehard fans, iTunes LPs are simply amazing. In MAYHEM!, the additional content is an animated comic book that comes to life with spoken dialog. As more and more artists sign onto creating iTunes LPs, these will become big time components of true music enthusiasts. Let’s just hope new iTunes LPs are released more frequently than the GarageBand Artist Lessons.

And Now for Video

Apple also announced iTunes Extras for video content, allowing quick scene selection and other animated “behind the scenes” content available in these exclusive packages. For many, this could be the real deciding factor between opting to purchase a new movie on DVD or Blu-ray versus purchasing it within iTunes. The end result, while perhaps not equal in terms of additional content, is a complete movie experience, with a substantial amount of supplemental content. Unfortunately, iTunes Extras are only available when purchasing content from iTunes; they are not available with movie rentals.

If you purchase content from iTunes on your iPhone and that content supports iTunes LP or iTunes Extra, the base content (songs or movie) will download immediately to your device. The LP and Extras content will download to your computer the next time you sync your iPhone or iPod touch. Upon doing so, be sure to go to “Store” and click “Check For Available Downloads” to download the additional content.

A Good Start

The iTunes Store currently has 12 iTunes LPs available (and even some of those are pre-orders) and 15 movies featuring iTunes Extras. Though Steve likes to attribute Apple’s new iTunes LP concept to a desire to pay homage to classic LPs that included bonus content, one can’t help but think that these extra features are offered to persuade users to purchase complete albums instead of a la carte downloads. The concept is very trendy and will definitely turn heads, but will the majority of our music collection feature iTunes LPs? Probably not. Will we have them for some of the big time major artists? Maybe.

What about iTunes Extras for movies? Will this stop some people from ripping their own DVDs and purchasing the content from iTunes? Perhaps. It’s unlikely that anybody (or perhaps this is a challenge to the Handbrake team) will be able to reverse engineer the .itlp format to allow users to have their own ripped DVDs with all special features play natively within iTunes.

At the moment, iTunes LPs and iTunes Extras are only playable within, you guessed it, iTunes 9. Others have already noticed, however, that the interface for these could definitely support interaction through touch, so perhaps eventually we’ll see the ability to sync these content types with our iPhones, iPod touches or even Apple TVs.

Now the question is passed to you. What do you think? Is it worth it? Have you pre-ordered Pearl Jam or downloaded The Doors yet?

This week’s arrival of Spotify in the App Store (right now limited to UK, Sweden, France, Spain, Norway and Finland stores) could be the ideal opportunity for us all to throw iTunes in the trash and experience the freedom that Spotify has to offer.

Speculation was rife as to whether Spotify would even make it into the App Store. However, Apple’s somewhat unexpected approval of the all-you-can-eat music service means that iPhone and iPod touch users can now listen to anything and (almost) everything, wherever they may be.

For the moment, Spotify is available exclusively in Europe. Released initially for both Mac and PC, the desktop version of Spotify looks and functions quite similarly to iTunes, except with one major difference: everything in the store is free.

Users of Spotify are granted the freedom to cherry pick their favorite tracks, nibbling on morsels of music and sampling the latest flavors, and the tools to legally share them too. You’re able to select any song and instantly generate a URL linking back to the full track, making sharing music a breeze.

The Spotify iPhone app has changed everything. I’m no longer tied to its desktop application. With the iPhone app, I’m able to download and listen to thousands of tracks on the go, which gets me to thinking, is it time I threw iTunes in the trash?

Playlists Versus Libraries

Shifting over from iTunes to Spotify has been a more difficult transition than I expected. Making use of the iTunes “keep my music folder organized” option, my own iTunes library is stored on an external HD where each track is properly named, tagged, numbered and even dated. If I could, I’d wear a top hat and monocle while showing guests around my immaculately maintained iTunes library.

When I’m at home, it’s all about the album experience. I prefer to consume music as the artist originally intended, whether it be the epic tones of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and Sigur Rós’s Ágætis Byrjun, or the bloops and glitches of Kraftwerk’s Computer World and Aphex Twin’s Chosen Lords.

Out and about however I don’t even tend to listen to music anymore. Over the past couple of years I’ve succumbed to the joys of podcasts via iTunes, subscribing to The Bugle, Answer Me This and Totally Rad Show amongst many others. As a result of this, I’ve increasingly felt as though I’m losing touch with my music collection.

The Album Is Dead

Listening with Spotify is an entirely different experience, though. Like many Europeans who are lucky enough to have a Spotify invite, or affluent enough to pay for a €9.99 premium account, I’ve begun to focus on consuming and sharing music exclusively via playlists.

It’s been a tough transition over to Spotify for me, specifically because there’s no iTunes-style music library. With Spotify, the album is dead, felled by his younger and more agile counterpart, the playlist.

Without the personal music library, the heart of iTunes, there’s none of the satisfaction of flicking through your collection in Cover Flow. And with Spotify managing its vast selection of tracks, never again will you glow with pride after correctly tagging, naming and selecting cover art for your latest procurement.

The App Effect

The Spotify iPhone app doesn’t attempt to ape iTunes or the iPod, rather it plays to its own strengths. In effect, the app further establishes Spotify as an entirely new platform for discovering new music. Although the app is available for free, the service can only be accessed on iPhone by premium subscribers.

The €9.99 monthly subscription fee (equating to roughly $14.50) is worth it though. You’re granted unlimited access to Spotify’s growing library, consisting of almost 4 million tracks. And while there are occasional disappointments in both the mainstream and esoteric departments (there’s currently no Immaculate Collection and very little Boards of Canada), more frequently you’ll find yourself overwhelmed at the breadth and depth of what’s on offer.

Imagine having a free-pass to access everything in the iTunes Music Store. It’s just like that. In the past day I’ve tried a little bit of The Breeders, delved into some classic Radiohead, sampled the delight’s of Jason Schwartzman’s Coconut Records, and, via Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour collection, discovered the joys of Gene Harris, Roy Brown and J.B. Lenoir. It feels liberating and exciting.

Using the desktop app, you’re able to design elaborate and lengthy mixes or, as I do, build playlists out of individual albums. You can then wirelessly sync your playlists to the iPhone app. And here’s the best bit: all of the tracks that are synced to the iPhone are actually downloaded to the device, you can take them with you wherever you go and listen offline.

Life Without iTunes?

The freedom that Spotify offers encourages you to spend more time digging deep, inevitably discovering mountains of new music. No longer can I derive pleasure from pruning my tracks and tending to my albums, but then who cares? With Spotify, I spend more time actually listening to music.

It’s not quite time for me to throw iTunes in the trash though. While I imagine Spotify will have podcasts covered in due course, until they do, iTunes is all but essential. Plus there’s all the albums and artists in my collection that just aren’t available in Spotify, meaning I won’t be wiping my iTunes library just yet.

Until Spotify integrates seriously expands its library and integrates podcast subscriptions, iTunes will be afforded a stay of execution. In the meantime, I’ll be leading a dual life, enjoying podcasts and a few select albums via iTunes, while exploring the vastness that is everything else with Spotify.

While Spotify is currently only available in Europe, stateside readers should be able to try the service soon as Spotify is pegged to arrive in the U.S. before the end of 2009.

Across the pond, our European neighbors have been enjoying Spotify for some time now. It’s only fair that Apple should continue on in that vein and approve Rhapsody for the American masses. Sure Rhapsody costs money and Spotify doesn’t, but it does present a very competitive subscription-based alternative to iTunes.

For just $15.99 a month, Rhapsody subscribers have unlimited access to the site’s entire database of tracks, which numbers somewhere around eight million, and features most of today’s popular artists. While users of Last.fm and Pandora have been able to stream customized radio feeds directly to their devices since early on in the history of the App Store, Rhapsody is the first to bring on-demand tracks and albums to U.S. iPhone owners.

It may seem like direct competition for Apple’s own iTunes service, but is it really? Subscribers can stream music to their devices over either Wi-Fi or 3G network connections, but if you want to listen to music outside of Wi-Fi or cellular coverage areas, you’re out of luck, because the app has no offline access at all. Even if you are connected, constant streaming will significantly reduce your device’s battery life.

There’s also the issue of quality. Regardless of the type or quality of data connection you have, Rhapsody content streamed to the iPhone is only 64kbps — which, to someone like myself who tries to find FLAC recordings when possible, is absolutely unacceptable. I won’t even listen to internet radio streams if they don’t broadcast at at least 128kbps, and I don’t touch AM radio.

If you’re willing to put up with sub-par sound quality, and complete silence anytime you have to use the subway or take a trip to the remote wilderness or do anything that lasts more than a few hours away from a power supply, then maybe Rhapsody seems like a true iTunes competitor. I think Apple is gambling on the fact that most users will be willing to make one of those concessions, but definitely not all three.

Rhapsody is the product of a partnership between RealNetworks and MTV, which means they know a fair bit about sound, digital audio and music appreciation. This early version of its iPhone app probably doesn’t tell the full story of what it has planned in the future. Better to have a foot in the door with less than ideal functionality than to be left out in the cold like Google was with its Voice app.

Rhapsody is available now as a free download in the App Store.