Catching up on news the past week – pricing for battery replacement on the 17-inch MacBook Pro, new Google Quick Search application and 3rd party browser appearing in the App Store.
As the One last thing at PhilNote, three changes to the iTunes Store were announced before Tony Bennett slide out from the back to sing Macworld goodbye. These changes were not surprising as news leaked out days days before Macworld of deals that were agreed with the four major music labels.
Almost two years after Steve Jobs posted his Thoughts on Music where he discussed about DRM and the iTunes, Apple finally announced the removal of Digital Rights Management (DRM) from all the music available in iTunes, starting with 8 million songs immediately and the remaining 2 million tunes by April 2009.
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.
What prevented Apple from sealing the deal earlier, like Amazon did in September 2007, was Apple’s reluctance to allow variable pricing for the music as the labels will prefer to mark-up prices for new hits.
Along with removing DRM from all tunes, there will be three tiered pricing of all tunes. Although not specified by Apple, most speculated that the pricing will be as follows: 69 cents for back-catalogs, 99 cents for standard songs and US$1.29 for new or popular releases. This tiered pricing structure will begin from April.
Those tunes that are DRM-free, will be available with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding that is comparable to what Amazon is offering. For existing tunes, you can update them to the DRM-free format via iTunes for just 30 cents per song or 30 percent of the album price.
However, with the current setup of iTunes, Apple doesn’t allow you to upgrade selectively – its either you upgrade ALL of your old tunes or not, which can be an expensive affair at 30 cents per tune.
Lastly, for iPhone users, they can purchase the music over the air via Edge or 3G network, in addition to WIFI.
With iTunes going DRM-free by April, will it mean Apple fans in Singapore hoping to access the world’s biggest online music store will get their chance? Though there are music stores available (like SoundBuzz, Nokia Music store), they have almost always tagged their music with Windows Media DRM, even their websites don’t welcome Mac users. Should Apple launches iTunes Music store in Singapore, I won’t be surprised should it become the main source for legal online music within the shortest time.
Apple updated their iLife and iWork application suits to give affordable but robust tools for consumers to use. Are they worth the money? Here’s a quick look at the new features of iWork’09.
Apple updated their iLife and iWork application suits to give affordable but robust tools for consumers to use. Are they worth the money? Here’s a quick look at the new features of iLife’09.
So the last Apple keynote address, or Philnote, ended with improvements in iLife and iWork, a new 17-inch MacBook Pro and a DRM-free iTunes Music store. Nothing earth shattering. So what’s next?
Just gonna make one – no new Mac mini, but a MacTV – putting the Mac into the AppleTV.
It will have at least 1 TB harddisk, with an option for an optical drive or a second harddisk, with mini Display Port, HDMI port, component video port and a mini DVI port. There will also be Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 support and 802.11n WIFI and BlueTooth built-in.
There will be a new Media Server software that will replace Front Row that can manage and edit media – a part iLife, part Front Row hybrid application.
There will also be an update to the Remote software for the iPhone that can control the new Media Server software, but also comes with a remote Touch Pad to serve as a mouse, and a full-screen keyboard so that you don’t need to BYOKAM.
Lastly, when you press Comd+Ctrl+SpaceBar+Z, a rainbow will form just on top of the Mac TV to give it a nice glow.
That’s my last minute Macworld 2009 prediction.
Macworld 2009 has started and here are some of the first day news that are interesting – Google Picassa, BusyCal and Roxio Toast 10. More to come as we look forward to the keynote address tomorrow.
Two more days before the start of Macworld 2009 and for us living on the other side of the world means that things only start getting interesting on late Tuesday night. Phil Schiller’s keynote address is scheduled to start at 9am (Pacific Standard Time) which is 1am on Wednesday morning (Singapore Time). Here are some of the sites and tools to set you up, besides your coffee and snacks
We know that Jobs won’t be there (to give the keynote), but there is still a Macworld in January to look forward to. Here are some news and rumors about Macworld 2009 that I’m keeping track.
TechCrunch posted an article saying that Apple might release a large form iPod Touch for 2009.
We’ve got this from three independent sources close to Apple: expect a large screen iPod touch device to be released in the Fall of `09, with a 7 or 9 inch screen. Prototypes have been seen and handled by one of our sources, and Apple is talking to OEMs in Asia now about mass production.
Many were speculating that Apple will come up with a small size MacBook like those NetBooks available out in the market, but don’t you think the iPod Touch is just like one, sans the keyboard.
With Apple having such success with the iPhone, iPod Touch, paired with the iTunes and App Store, having a large form iPod Touch will satisfy fans’ craving for 1) a Tablet and 2) a NetBook.
If priced attractively between the MacBooks and iPod Touch, it might carve out a niche like how the iPods did back when it was launched. Schools will be a good target market for such a device.
As it is, these rumors of a tablet/netbook/big-ass-Touch almost always surface before a MacWorld, so take it with a Touch-ful of salt. I wonder whether that Tech Crunch source that held it was a friend of Big Foot.
Steve Jobs’ non-appearance at next year’s Macworld might signify a change that Apple’s taking for the future – according to Kermadec at the Oreilly Blog
Steve Jobs not doing Macworld 2009 keynote and Apple not doing Macword after 2009 – two bombshells in one press release.
