Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• Is Apple about to launch a subscription service?

  Rumors of an iTunes subscription service have resurfaced . At first I thought that the DRM-free announcement meant a subscription service was less likely , but perhaps the opposite is true. First of all, album purchases will already be the DRM-free "premium" versions. As for individual tracks, the new "premium" tracks are competing directly with the DRM-protected tracks. That is, no one is going to buy both - and I fully expect the majority to choose DRM-free even with a 30% premium. Furthermore, if everything is encumbered with DRM, a subscription service undermines the very profitable individual track purchases. After all, if you're just renting your music anyway, you might as well get it from an all-you-can-eat service at, say, $10 a month instead of paying $1 for each song. On the other hand, a subscription service with DRM can in fact be complementary to purchasing DRM-free tracks. You rent it and, if you really like it, pay for it and keep it forever. No DRM, no activation, no limitation... Posted Apr 12 2007, 03:27 PM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Music, Business, Apple, Audio, DRM

• The Day DRM Died

  As Mike Arrington put it, April 2nd was "the day DRM died". The big news yesterday was that EMI will begin selling its entire catalog without DRM . Starting in May, EMI will start offering a new "premium" option - for $1.29 (30% more than the base $0.99), you get higher audio quality (encoded at 256kbps vs. 128 kbps) and no DRM. ($0.99 individual song downloads will still be available with DRM and lower bitrate). Perhaps more importantly, entire albums will still cost $9.99 but will be the higher quality, DRM-free versions, and users can "upgrade" their past purchases by paying the 30 cent differential. Perhaps Steve Jobs wasn't lying after all . It is unlikely (perhaps moreso) that we'll get a subscription-based service for the iPod, but this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. A high quality, DRM-free album for $10 is an enticing proposition for most people who otherwise turn to piracy . Apple is working on similar deals with other labels and Jobs expects that "50% of all their... Posted Apr 03 2007, 01:51 PM by Tim with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Music, Apple, DRM

• Steve Jobs and Apple telling half-truths about DRM

  This has already been covered ad nasuem , but I thought I should mention Apple's denouncement of DRM last week. Steve Jobs summarily dismissed Apple's DRM as a result of demands from the record labels. Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the “big four” music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70% of the world’s music. When Apple approached these companies to license their music to distribute legally over the Internet, they were extremely cautious and required Apple to protect their music from being illegally copied. The solution was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes store in special and secret software so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices. I have no doubt that the record labels are concerned with putting unprotected music out there, but Apple is also in no rush to do away with DRM... Posted Feb 13 2007, 04:20 AM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Intellectual Property, Rants, Music, Copyright, Business, Apple, Law

• A look at Apple and Microsoft strategies

  I've been thinking about some of the interesting strategic decisions that Microsoft has made lately. I already discussed their curious IP licensing strategy , and their choices with Zune and Windows Media Player have me similarly baffled. In many ways, these moves have been something I expect more from Apple than Microsoft. Apple has always been known for delivering closed systems, controlling the experience from end to end. Apple software runs on an Apple OS on Apple hardware. Conversely, Microsoft has thrived largely because it has recognized the value in delivering not just products, but platforms. Office and Windows are both successful not just because of what they do as a product, but because they leave room for third party developers. It is those developers, not just Microsoft itself, that really enable a true ecosystem. Even the Xbox 360 has been a platform, not just for the media content providers, but now for the independent game developers. Given their history, it should come... Posted Jan 01 2007, 02:42 PM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Rants, Gadgets, Things that amuse me, Music, Innovation, Business, Microsoft, Apple, Audio

• Podcast support in Windows Media Player 11

  There is one other issue I need to deal with before I can totally switch to Windows Media Player 11 - podcast support. Microsoft made the head-scratching decision not to include native podcast support - one area where iTunes really excelled. Someone wrote a plugin over the summer , but it doesn't work in WMP 11 and Vista and he's not maintaining it right now . There are countless other third party aggregators (Doppler is an old favorite), but I need to spend some time figuring it all out. My key requirements are: Automatic downloads (no manual intervention) Synchronization to the device (at most 1 click, preferably none) Removal of old podcasts (preferably removed from the device after they've been listened to, but I'll accept support for the last, say, 3 episodes - as long as Steve Gillmor doesn't break CalacanisCast into 17 parts). For those of you not using iTunes, how are you managing your subscriptions? Note: I'll update this post over time as I refine the strategy. Posted Dec 28 2006, 02:56 PM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Software Development, Rants, Gadgets, Music, Blogging, Apple, Audio, Podcast

• dopisp adds iPod support in WMP 11

  Like most people, I would prefer to use a single media player to manage my library. I like Windows Media Player 11 more than iTunes 7 , and this is especially true since I've subscribed to the Urge subscription service . (I really wish Apple would provide a subscription-based service for the iPod). The problem, of course, is that Windows Media Player still doesn't support the iPod - something I complained about in 2004 with WMP10 . As it turns out, someone finally wrote a plug-in to support the iPod in WMP ( via LifeHacker ). I downloaded the trial last night and will give it more time, but so far it seems to work very well. Assuming I can figure out a good way to handle podcasts, it is well worth the $15. Posted Dec 28 2006, 11:33 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Music, Microsoft, Apple, Audio

• Is Apple working on an 8GB nano?

  Oh man. Apparently Apple has been buying up flash memory and some are speculating they will launch an 8GB nano soon. While I miss those extra GB dropping down from a hard-drive based iPod, I've been in love with my nano since it first arrived last September. It's an amazing little device, and I prefer 4GB wherever I go than 15GB that I may or may not be carrying with me. That said, 4GB is a bit tight... I have to rotate music a lot and I don't carry around as much music that I listen to every once in awhile. Of course, higher-capacity flash players are inevitable, but the jump to 8GB would mean a lot more for me than the jump to 6GB. Tags: Apple iPod nano , Music , mp3 , gadgets Posted Jun 08 2006, 07:13 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Music, Apple

• Apple to launch new content distribution system

  The Digitial Music weblog passes along this tidbit from ThinkSecret . Apparently, in addition to offering feature length content and expanded TV offerings, Apple will be announcing a new content delivery system in January at the annual MacWorld conference. In an effort to appease media companies wary of the security of digital rights management technology, Apple's new technology will deliver content such that it never actually resides on the user's hard drive. Content purchased will be automatically made available on a user's iDisk, which Front Row 2.0 will tap into. When the user wishes to play the content, robust caching technology -- for which Apple previously received a patent -- will serve it to the user's computer as fast as their Internet connection can handle. The system will also likely support downloading the video content to supported iPods but at no time will it ever actually be stored on a computer's hard drive. I'm not sure why this should appease the media companies. Unless... Posted Dec 05 2005, 07:48 AM by Tim with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Music, Copyright, Apple

• Stealing Music?

  Just thought I'd chime in on the music thread going on. Yes, downloading MP3 files is wrong, because you're consuming copyrighted material without properly compensating the owner of the copyright. We use our understanding of real property to help understand property rights and ownership of (digital) information, but in my opinion it's a weak analogy. The primary difference is that multiple parties can technically possess (and use) information without infringing on the value to or rights of others to consume the same information. Let's consider the case of George Hotelling , who bought a song on Apple's ITunes and then proceeded to resell it on EBay . No one would argue that this is fair use if he were selling a CD he bought somewhere. The bundle of rights you get by purchasing a CD includes the right to sell or gift the CD.. But, as discussed in an excerpt from the article: Under the "first sale" doctrine, the owner of a lawful copy of a work is allowed to sell it without the permission... Posted Sep 18 2003, 08:00 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Intellectual Property, Music, Copyright, Apple