Hasta La Gadget!

Well, that $10,000 “production fee” Apple was said to be charging labels for iTunes LPs certainly seemed a little over the top in more ways than one, and it looks like the company has now come out and denied that it’s the case at all, saying flat out that “there is no production fee charged by Apple.” What’s more, it also says that iTunes LPs will in fact be available to indie labels, noting that it’s “releasing the open specs for iTunes LP soon, allowing both major and indie labels to create their own.” Of course, that premium price for the iTunes LPs themselves is still totally in place, although the open specs could potentially at least lead to some more interesting options if the labels decide to really run with ’em.

[Via Macworld]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Apple says iTunes LPs don’t cost labels $10,000, will be available to indies originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on August 21, 2007 by CyberNet.

While Wal-Mart may have entered the digital music scene a little late and didn’t really come in with a bang, they’re proving that they can compete with the competition, namely iTunes. Their recent announcement that they will be selling DRM-free music at $0.94 per song is proof of this. The music will be from labels like Universal Music Group as well as EMI group and will be compatible with nearly every digital media player including the Zune and the iPod. Starting today, Wal-Mart’s catalogue includes these songs – thousands of them.

Music labels that have agreed to offer DRM-free songs are hoping that it will boost the sales of digital music. At the same time, some labels are concerned over whether or not the lack of DRM protection will hurt sales and increase/encourage piracy. While there are people who flat-out won’t pay for music, DRM-free or not because it’s available for free via torrents, there are others who regularly purchase music. The lack of DRM will certainly be an incentive for these people to purchase more music.

The price that Wal-Mart is offering these songs at is amazing to say the least, and I wonder if they’ll be able to keep this introductory price. You’ll probably recall back in May when Apple’s iTunes started selling sans-DRM music for $1.29 per song – $0.30 more than what songs with DRM sell for. This means that iTunes is selling songs with DRM for more than what Wal-Mart is offering DRM-free songs for. Hmm… does this mean a price-cut is in store over at iTunes soon?

Source: Reuters

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The game’s back on. Palm just announced the availability of its 1.2.1 update to WebOS for the Palm Pre and, well, that’s it for the time being. It fixes Exchange mail syncing issues experienced by some users, which is nice, but for everyone else it re-enables media sync with iTunes 9.0.1, with or without the USB-IF‘s support. In fact, Palm has signaled its commitment to its rogue approach by improving synchronization with the Photos app to keep the album structure in tact while allowing lower-resolution images to be synced to the Pre. Oh happy day — enjoy it while it lasts Pre owners.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Palm WebOS 1.2.1 now available, ‘fixes’ iTunes media sync originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm Pre owners, get ready to kiss your iTunes music goodbye.

The most recent turn in the Apple vs. Palm debate makes it even less likely that the Palm will again be able to sync with iTunes.

On Wednesday, Palm received a letter from the USB Implementers Forum, a group overseeing standards for USB connections, in reply to their complaint that Apple is constricting trade by not allowing Palm and other devices to sync to iTunes. The letter from USB-IF not only dismissed any violation by Apple, but also stated that Palm was actually the one in violation of the group’s membership agreement. That’s because Palm was misrepresenting the Pre as an iPod in order to access iTunes — a violation of the rules USB member companies have agreed to.

Palm and Apple have been in contention over iTunes syncing since the launch of the Palm Pre. One of the Pre’s selling points was that it could sync with iTunes music, a convenient feature for users of the popular music application. Apple soon struck back, disabling Pre syncing with a series of iTunes updates.

But there are other ways Palm could get around this decision for their customers. Research in Motion, the mobile OS for the Blackberry, has developed software to allow the transfer of music from iTunes to selected Blackberry devices. Users can transfer music from their computer to the Blackberry’s media player. However, only songs without digital rights management apply to this alternative to syncing. If you haven’t upgraded your iTunes purchases to be DRM-free, then only music purchased after January of earlier this year will work.

Unfortunately for Palm, the ability to sync to iTunes was a key feature for consumers who use iTunes to manage their music. Without a solution to the iTunes block, Pre owners will have to find other ways to keep their mobile music alive.

Apple Gets Green Light to Block Palm From iTunes [New York Times]

The very public fight between Palm and Apple to allow the Pre to sync directly to iTunes (without just… you know, doing it the same way as everyone else) is showing no signs of slowing down, with Palm continuing to pursue every angle it can to rile up Cupertino — most recently taking the battle up to the USB Implementers’ Forum in an effort to stop Apple from restricting iTunes usage by the hardware’s Vendor ID. Hard to say what ended up going down behind closed doors, but on an official level, the USB-IF is issuing a terse statement that it “communicated its position on the matter to both companies” and won’t be speaking further on the issue “at this time.” We’ll see if anything ends up changing on the software side from the conversation, but separately, the Forum has mentioned to us that it considers this a member-to-member concern — so in all likelihood, they’re taking a hands-off approach.

Update: Digital Daily has come away with a very, very different story from the actual leaked communication, and it turns out that the USB-IF has actually sided against Palm on two different fronts. First, the Forum has told Palm that it doesn’t see how blocking Palm’s Vendor ID from accessing iTunes violates its policies; and second — this might be the big one — Palm’s actually riled up the Forum by saying that it’ll be using Apple’s Vendor ID on the Pre going forward. It wants a clarification of Palm’s “intent” within a week, saying such a move would be contrary to the rules and regs set out for the proper use of USB. At this point the question becomes, how many companies and industry bodies is Palm willing to piss off to keep iTunes working exactly the way it wants?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Apple, Palm hear privately from USB-IF on iTunes spat, involvement unlikely (update: the Forum’s not pleased) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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