Posts Tagged ‘ apple ’
Apple clarified that the Universal music contract is now offerred to them on a per month basis instead of the previous 2-5 year contract.
The announcement comes after it was revealed that Universal Music was unwilling to sign the 2 year contract with iTunes.
Well it seems that this chapter is far from over. Just don’t expect me to pay some sort of “music tax” for buying digital music.
Highlighting ongoing tension between the music industry and Apple Inc., Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group is set to notify the Cupertino, Calif. company that it is not renewing a long term contract to sell digital music downloads through the increasingly powerful iTunes Store, according to people familiar with the situation.
I would like to back track on my previous post last year where each Microsoft Zune sold, a portion goes to Universal Music as part of their “piracy tax” or whatever compensation to make up for lost revenue due to music piracy. But if that’s their decision then go ahead. But why? Why would they pull out their product off the 3rd largest music retailer (online or otherwise)? If they are making their own music store, then it would be reasonable. But if they are being paid by Micro$oft to move to their Zune marketplace then it makes things a little more interesting. This makes the “piracy tax” very interesting indeed.
Currently, all of the songs (except for the higher quality and DRM-free ones) are pegged at $0.99. There have been reports of other music labels wanting to increase prices for some of their songs to which Apple refuses to do. But whatever the reason for their pullout. I say it’s a bad decision. Would they also pull out their CD’s from Wallmart? Or maybe Virgin?
Let’s look back when the iTunes Store was first launched. Music piracy was rampant. The industry was in a serious decline and other online schemes were offering to “rent” music for a fee. Basically if you stop paying, the music stops playing. Then here comes Steve Jobs and his iTunes Store. Apple talked to the music labels and asked them to license their music. Of course the music industry agreed, they assumed that Apple wasn’t going to make money off it since no one has. Apparently they weren’t ready for the boom that was to come.
Today, iTunes has sold over 2 Billion songs worldwide and has been credited for “saving” the music industry with TV shows and movies now available for download. Songs, videos, podcasts that can ben synced on your mac, iPod, Apple tv, and now the iPhone. And they pulled out? Oh well, maybe they’re getting a better deal somewhere else. Maybe from a Zune? Just so you know, anything you buy off the Xbox Marketplace cannot be transferred to your Zune.
Too bad there isn’t a book titled 2007 by George Orwell. If he did, it would be an Apple commercial today.
But today is 2007 and today the iPhone will be released.
Definitely there will be the lines outside AT&T stores as well as Apple stores to be one of the first with the miracle phone. As much as I didn’t want to be one of the millions of bloggers who will blog about the iPhone. But is it truly a remarkable device?
Last January in Macworld, Steve Jobs announced to the world that Apple will be making a phone. And like the Apple faithful people thought it was a great idea.
But this was entirely new territory. The iPhone enters a very mature market. A far different marketplace from when the iPod came out. This phone should be extra special for it to succeed.
The features and the concept behind the phone was totally revolutionary. One of the problems of all mobile phones to this date is that it was based on one form as Steve Jobs pointed this out in his keynote. Much like computers, the form and functions were jammed into the shape even if it was not the most efficient way of doing this. And this was the basis for the interface of the iPhone.
The mere announcement of the iPhone sent ripples through the mobile phone industry. We are now forced to look at things differently. But could the excitement to the phone live up to the hype? David Pogue’s article for the New York Times probably sums up this product.
Will now have an era like Before iPhone and After iPhone? Maybe? Because 2007 won’t be 2007 anymore.
Too bad there isn’t a book titled 2007 by George Orwell. If he did, it would be an Apple commercial today.
But today is 2007 and today the iPhone will be released.
Definitely there will be the lines outside AT&T stores as well as Apple stores to be one of the first with the miracle phone. As much as I didn’t want to be one of the millions of bloggers who will blog about the iPhone. But is it truly a remarkable device?
Last January in Macworld, Steve Jobs announced to the world that Apple will be making a phone. And like the Apple faithful people thought it was a great idea.
But this was entirely new territory. The iPhone enters a very mature market. A far different marketplace from when the iPod came out. This phone should be extra special for it to succeed.
The features and the concept behind the phone was totally revolutionary. One of the problems of all mobile phones to this date is that it was based on one form as Steve Jobs pointed this out in his keynote. Much like computers, the form and functions were jammed into the shape even if it was not the most efficient way of doing this. And this was the basis for the interface of the iPhone.
The mere announcement of the iPhone sent ripples through the mobile phone industry. We are now forced to look at things differently. But could the excitement to the phone live up to the hype? David Pogue’s article for the New York Times probably sums up this product.
Will now have an era like Before iPhone and After iPhone? Maybe? Because 2007 won’t be 2007 anymore.
And so it begins. Universal Music Group exec Doug Morris told the Reuters Media Summit that his company is interested in receiving a cut of the profits from each iPod sold.
I know it’s been a really long while since I blogged so here it goes. No content maker should charge the very medium of it’s products for a “cut” of the profits. I mean Why???
Do movie studios get a cut off each DVD player or TV sold? Do TV networks get a cut off each TV or VCR sold? This is ridiculous. The “tax” is based on the assumption that every iPod or portable media device is purchased for the sole purpose of pirating music. Microsoft seems to admit to that fact since they started the whole thing of giving Universal Music a cut off each Zune sold. Doesn’t that also imply that everyone who buys their products will pirate music. I would feel insulted that people already imply that I pirate music. Wait a minute, it’s not even implied, not even suggested, it’s a given fact. You can have your Zune. And your “cut”. I’m not going to be insulted by greedy music companies who don’t know what change is.
That is a sad thing. Where the music industry has gone. It’s one thing to go after pirates. It’s another to start taxing a product that has reinvigorated the entire music industry. I mean, where were they? I ditched my cassete tape since the quality was lousy. I went to CDs but the thing skipped when I played it in the car or when I go walking. The only place where I could listen to my music was at home or in my computer. Then the iPod came along. Now I carry all my tunes in my iPod and more. I am more inclined to buy albums online than in retail stores since it’s too far and the computer is right there.
Say no to this “tax”. Go ahead and pull out of the iTunes Store. Let’s see who’ll buy your music now. Probably pirates.
Dave Chartier was wondering if Apple would produce a 12″ MacBook Pro to replace the 12″ Powerbook, and was told on the phone by Apple that “a 12-inch MacBook Pro ain’t gonna happen.”
This definitely saddens me. I bought the very first 12″ powerbook that Apple released 3 years ago and this definitely saddens me. What about all the accesories I bought for my trusty 12″? My bag, the screen protector, sleeve, are all custom made for the 12″. It was just right. Couldn’t they make one that was similar to the black Macbook but with a heftier graphics card and the same aluminium casing for the 13″. But this time call it the 13″ Macbook Pro?
I would definitely like to buy the Macbook, but I find the 64 shared video card of Intel very limiting and it is still forcing me to get the bigger 15″. If the video card could be replaced by those found in the Macbooks, I would love to get one for myself.
I love that it’s much easier to access the HD now in the macbook that in it’s previous incarnation. Which is one of the main reasons I’m inclined to purchase a Macbook instead of a Macbook Pro. I don’t do much video editing now, nor do I do a lot of graphics editing. Which makes a macbook just right. But I do want to play games and that is something that the graphics of the macbook cannot handle. Which is why I am inclined to give the macbook pro another chance. I hate Apple for giving me these hard decisions.
I got an Intel Duo Core mac mini for myself last week. After months of agonizing on what computer to buy, I finally decided to get the mac mini.
It comes with Front Row, a nifty program from Apple which allows the user to control and access movies, music, podcasts, DVDs using a remote control.
I got a stock mac mini just days after Apple released a beta version of Boot Camp. What it simply does is that it allows the user to install Windows XP on the mini. No mirroring, no virtualization, you can boot it up like a regular windows box. But since you can boot it up llike a regular windows box, it is now open to all the attacks that windows users are exposed to.
I went in and installed Boot Camp and Windows XP without a hitch. I then went on to download and install anti-spyware and virus protection software. In went iTunes, AIM, Yahoo, Google Earth, the few PC software that I regularly need. There’s Firefox and an updated IE and Window Media Player.
Please be aware that it is beta software, so not everything is guaranteed to work. But if you’re just surfing and chatting and stuff, there shouldn’t be a problem. I just get so paranoid running it that I switch back to Mac OSX after a while. I can’t stand the pop ups telling me of applications trying to access the web.
On the Intel side, it feels like a regular mac, no one would be able to tell the difference between the PPC powered OS or the Intel. Universal Binary Applications run fast on the mini. I almost can’t tell that I’m using a mini. The only sad part about it is the video card. Only a meager 64MB. Not bad for just ordinary stuff, but a real pain for games.
Applications that run on Rosetta, a hidden translator that would allow applications built for PPC to run on Intel runs a bit sluggish. Surfing is a bit troublesome at times when it processes the sites. The result is the same whether it’s on Safari or Firefox. iTunes runs without a hitch. I still have to try Garageband and try to make my very own podcast.
Front row is great with the exception of the movie trailers. A bug that annoys a number of users now. More to come.
Macworld has come and gone and I have to make a decision.
Which blog am I going to keep?
With the release of the new iLife 06 suite and the new iWeb software by Apple it makes creating a website for your .mac account a lot easier. iLife 06 seamlessly integrates iPhoto, Garageband and iMovie into creating a website complete with blog, photocast, podcast and vidcast. And now, which one will I keep?
One thing I instantly discovered when I tried out iWeb, it will not clean up the clutter you previously left on your .mac. So all previous sites on your page will remain with all of the links and such. Which means you will have to re-upload all the pictures and movies and such all over again. Boo. I have four different sites now on my .mac which isn’t good. I will have to fix that on the next national holiday to consolidate the whole site and migrate to iWeb.
iWeb changes the URL now of your .mac homapage which was previously http://homepage.mac.com/ to http://web.mac.com//iweb. By the way, if you do nor put the iWeb at the URL, you will not be directed to the default welcome page. This is one thing I cannot get over with and gets my thumbs down. The long URLs that you have to type to get to a site that you pay $100 a year to have. At least throw in the URL something like http://.mac would be nice. I’m sure they can do that and it would be much easier to memorize and be more attractive to mac users.
The available templates in iWeb are not bad but very limited in the number of designs available. I think Rapid Weaver has the most number of templates available which also has .mac integration. Macromedia has Contribute 3 which isn’t that bad although it requires a live internet connection to be able to edit your site. When you think of how many people will start using iWeb as a web page maker, you’re going to see a lot of duplicate sites.
iWeb is made only for .mac. You won’t be able to use it for other web providers. So only holders of .mac accounts will be able to use this. Also don’t count on editing you site from another computer since it uses a file located on your hard drive to set the sources for your site.
In the meantime, I’ll try out iWeb a little longer and see how my migration is going take.
Just when I was ready to settle down here, this happens.
Last Tuesday, January 10, 2006, Apple Computer announced a slew of new products for the Mac community. Three of which has caught my eye (and my wallet). iWork 06, iLife 06 and the Macbook Pro.
I use iWork for my presentations and iLife for practically everything else. The great part about the new iLife is iWeb which allows me to update my dot mac account and blog, post a “photocast” and record a podcast all on my mac, fully integrated with just a few clicks. But still my main complaint abot the dot mac is the url. I hope they’ll fix this somehow. We’re already paying $100 for this, at least give us the domain name with it.
I must have the new Macbook Pro. Other than the fact that my powerbook warranty will expire sometime in April or March, I have to test this out (for personal reasons). I was hoping that they’d release this along with the rest of their pro apps such as Final Cut Studio at the same time. For those of you who didn’t know, the Macbook is the first portable mac with an Intel processor inside. Apple boasts a 4-5x speed boost from the previous G4 powerbooks. This will really help professionals in video and graphics in terms of performance. But now I have to make certain things work for the future.
More to come…
Mac mini and me
Last Monday while coming from a brunch meeting, I passed by a store which had mac minis in stock. I went inside and looked at their prices. Traditionally, prices in the mall tend to be more expensive than that of other retailers. But today was different. It was right there in front of me. A 1.42 Ghz G4 Processor, 80 GB HD, 512 RAM, 32 MB VRAM, Superdrive all for the low sticker price of 40,990 Philippine Pesos. For a mac here, that is cheap. The only thing that stopped me from buying it outright was that Macworld is coming on Monday with the very important Keynot of Steve Jobs.
As I stared at the box, I was running through my mind the pros and cons of getting such a machine. For one, it is significantly faster and has a much larger storage capacity than my current powerbook. But the thing with powerbooks is that once you own one, you never let go. You only get another powerbook. I’ve been trying for quite some time now to procure myself another powerbook but the prices never seen to match with my money in the bank. As the minutes tick by, the mac mini still remained on it’s glass shelf waiting to be adopted by a loving mac user. Or even better, a switcher.
One curious thing about Macworld is that all the new stuff for consumers come out on Macworld. It is expected that new software and hardware will be unveiled at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. One rumor site mentioned a radically different powerbook. A laptop that runs on flash memory. I’m not talking about RAM. I’m talking about hard drive space. But there’s no hard drive. Much like what powers the iPod Nano and the Video iPod. There is no commercially available hard drive as thin as the Video iPod so it’s safe to assume that the Video iPod runs all of it’s 60 GB off a flash drive. That would be very interesting to have a portable without any moving parts apart from the optical drive. I just hope the reliability of data storage is there. The one thing I don’t like about flash drives is that one can just lose all your data in a blink of an eye. We’ll wait a few months before diving into that.
So back to the mac mini. I forgot to say that it had built in wireless capability. Airport Extreme or 802.11g was included as well as Bluetooth 2.0. I mean, what’s not to like. Sadly, it’s the video card. I mean, most games for the mac nowadays run off 64 MB VRAM. Double on what’s currently available on the mac mini.
The iMac G5 on the other hand, for all it’s grace and power is unfortunately unreachable for me as I’m writing this entry. At more than double the price, it does have the power and the features that a power user such as myself would love.
I turn my back at the glass shelf and walk out of the store. Knowing that Macworld less than a week away. I leave with the feeling that something very nice is on it’s way.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | 31 | ||||
Procrastinating in the Heat 