May 31
Apple has launched iTunes Plus, which features digital rights management (DRM) free music. EMI, the first major label in partnership with Apple will release its catalog of music through iTunes. In theory this is giant leap for users, who want to be able to move their files freely around for their own use. There is, of course, a price to pay for that.
The purchased DRM files from iTunes will have not just your name, but all of your account information from iTunes. What’s more, all of the songs in iTunes has your information on them including the encoded M4A files.
So now, in theory, Apple can trace your tracks wherever they go. Share it with a friend, they know. What about on another computer or device of yours? They know. Apple doesn’t want to get into the copyright enforcement business. That would hurt their image of being a “cool” company and paint them with the brush of “evil” that the labels have on them.
If someone may be looking at you, would you be less willing to share your files? This casual enforcement is something the labels are attracted to. This doesn’t mean the information is being stored for later use. A close look at the terms of service of the current iTunes shore does not have any information on this, but look out for it with your updates.
written by tom
May 31
Anyone else miss the Muppet Show?
written by tom
May 30
Tom Waits has announced he’ll team up with the Kronos Quartet for “Healing The Divide: A Concert for Peace and Reconciliation”. The live CD will be out in stores on July 10th. The music was captured at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in September of 2003. All proceeds will be donated to Healing The Divide’s Tibetan Health Initiative, a program dedicated to providing medical care to impoverished Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns living in refugee camps.
written by tom
May 30
Apple survives to some extent on rumors. With that said the iPhone needs a boost, with its $500 price tag and slow-to-role-out product line. With that said, a Taiwanese company has mentioned that they are working on a redesigned iPhone…a second generation.
Quanta, maker of computers and cell phones, has seen a rise in the stock price after Engadget mistakenly said they won the bid for the iPhone. Quanta builds MacBooks and iPods for Apple already.
By the end of the month the iPhone, built by Foxconn, will arrive in the US. Where does that leave Quanta with their rising stock price? They are set to make 5 million iPhones by September with a redesigned case, possibly with other markets.
This 2nd gen iPhone could have a larger, or smaller flash drive. That could make the iPhone more attractive to people who don’t want to spend $500 on a cell phone.
written by tom
May 30
Remember the glory days of your Nintendo 64? Now you can resurrect your tired console and play GoldenEye till the crack of dawn…again.
written by tom