iTunes 4
Streaming iTunes over Rendezvous is like breathing again. No more NFS mounted MP3 servers, no more weird iTunes library shortcuts, no more throwing burned CDs of MP3s across the office, or hacked modules that barely worked. It is perfect and seamless - I'm ecstatic.
As for the music store, what's really exciting is the delivery engine, not necessarily the music itself. It uses Safari's XHTML/Web Core display engine - in less than a month, someone will have hacked a way to plug a new store front into any install of iTunes. Sniff the packets to figure out the XML protocols, implement it and then an HTTP redirect should do the trick. Even though it's far from trivial, Apple should anticipate this and allow people to list their own works easily.
Users who register for Creative Commons licenses should be able to have their music distributed automatically, for free. What about a special store front for music.metafilter.com? Will this work for filmmakers as well as musicians? What about software?
Rob Glaser is wrong, 10$ a month is too much. If I use this four times a month this year ($24), that's probably $12 in Apple's pocket, and a great value for me. There is a chance I could use it much more. Next time an Eric B & Rakim song is in my head but not in my iTunes, it's always a buck away. This is extremely dangerous.
As for the music store, what's really exciting is the delivery engine, not necessarily the music itself. It uses Safari's XHTML/Web Core display engine - in less than a month, someone will have hacked a way to plug a new store front into any install of iTunes. Sniff the packets to figure out the XML protocols, implement it and then an HTTP redirect should do the trick. Even though it's far from trivial, Apple should anticipate this and allow people to list their own works easily.
Users who register for Creative Commons licenses should be able to have their music distributed automatically, for free. What about a special store front for music.metafilter.com? Will this work for filmmakers as well as musicians? What about software?
However, some people think that the Apple service is too expensive, though songs are 99 cents each. "If you make a really cool playlist of 200 songs on Rhapsody, you pay only $9.95 a month," RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser tells Fortune. "If you use Apple, it's $200. Maybe guys like Steve and me can afford that, but I'm trying to run a service for everyone else too."
Rob Glaser is wrong, 10$ a month is too much. If I use this four times a month this year ($24), that's probably $12 in Apple's pocket, and a great value for me. There is a chance I could use it much more. Next time an Eric B & Rakim song is in my head but not in my iTunes, it's always a buck away. This is extremely dangerous.
Comments
Ever since Erik at NSLog(); started pointing out the many many Mac OS X UI consistencies, they've been driving me a little batty. I notice iTunes 4 has the new "Safari style" buttons.
Posted by: david | April 28, 2003 7:09 PM
*love*
Posted by: sudama | April 29, 2003 12:39 AM
on using iTunes4:
already wishing iTunes Music Store had tabs.
'listening station' of lightweight streams? perhaps with a recurring 'brought to you by iTunes' v/o
These 30-second previews are like crack, but I'm most excited about iTunes 4.1: collaborative filtering/reccommendations, a true listening station, perhaps even radio.
But iTunes 4.1? The beautiful thing is that the store is just a website: easy to open up to Window$, easy to update w/out pushing software updates.
how about jumping to reviews on amazon? amazon api? applescript?
predicts: Artists will want to be included.
hopes: Apple will make deals with smaller labels, allow cheaper tracks to be sold. History menu needed!
missing: zwan, rob swift (I wouldhave purchased) smashing pumpkins
present: hum!
dirty words are censored, but searching on them works just fine:
Do That S**t 3:51 Ruff Ryders Ruff Ryders: Ryde or Die, Vol. 1 $0.99
Erotix S**t 5:03 The D.O.C. Helter Skelter $0.99
Bad S**t 2:59 Porno for Pyros Porno for Pyros $0.99
Dat's Dat S**t (LP Version) 4:19 Method Man & Redman Blackout! $0.99
Da Hot S**t (Aight) 3:40 Bell Biv DeVoe BBD $0.99
Da Hot S**t (Aight) 3:40 Bell Biv DeVoe BBD $0.99
Deep S**t, Pts. 1 & 2 6:17 Dorfmeister & Kruder G-Stoned (EP) $0.99
Da Night B4 My S**t Drop 4:43 Rampage Scouts Honor...By Way of Blood $0.99
Chossing My Own Way of Life 3:05 Suicidal Tendencies Feel Like S**t/Deja Vu - Controlled By Hatred $0.99
Controlled by Hatred 5:38 Suicidal Tendencies Feel Like S**t/Deja Vu - Controlled By Hatred $0.99
I have bought some stuff:
The Obvious Child Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 4:38
The Boy in the Bubble Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 5:59
She Moves On Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 6:26
Kodachrome Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 4:13
Born at the Right Time Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 5:12
Train in the Distance Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 4:45
Me an Julio Down by the School Yard Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 3:13
I Know What I Know Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 4:44
The Cool, Cool River Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 5:41
Bridge Over Troubled Water Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 5:16
Proof Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 5:39
The Coast Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 7:04
Graceland Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 5:31
You Can Call Me Al Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 5:10
Still Crazy After All These Years Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 3:42
Loves Me Like a Rock Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 2:53
Hearts and Bones Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 6:18
Late in the Evening Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 4:44
America Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 3:23
The Boxer Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 4:18
The Sound of Silence Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 5:44
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Pt.1) [AOL Sessions] The Flaming Lips Exclusive 3:31
Cecilia Paul Simon Paul Simon's Concert in the Park 3:24
The real story is: Apple's doing micropayments! %And it's fun!% I would buy comics this way, and porno. It feels good not to pay 'S&H'.
Posted by: sudama | April 29, 2003 12:40 AM
i just found a copy of "la ventanita," one of my favorite cumbias. i love this song. i would buy the entire album just for this one song. not any more!!!
Posted by: adriana | April 29, 2003 1:26 AM
This style of button is described as 'plastic' by the filenames inside the Safari bundle.
Posted by: sudama | April 29, 2003 2:17 AM
adriana: who performs this favorite cumbia?
Posted by: nedlog | April 29, 2003 10:11 AM
Macintouch: iTunes sharing works outside your subnet!
Posted by: sudama | April 29, 2003 11:12 AM
Here's the XML breakdown of the store backend.
Posted by: david | April 29, 2003 6:39 PM
Jon Tompson of the re:macs list notes:
I'm sure we'll see an update shortly. All I have to do is crash your iTunes is figure out your IP, telnet to 3689, and send you some garbage?
Posted by: david | April 30, 2003 2:51 PM
Dave Winer thinks that Artists get zero profits from the Apple music service. Does anyone know the truth about this?
Posted by: david | April 30, 2003 3:07 PM
nedlog: The version I like is by Sergio Vargas.
Posted by: adriana | April 30, 2003 9:58 PM
How to copy an iTunes stream to MP3 (via TheBrad)
Posted by: david | May 1, 2003 8:54 AM
Jobs: Indie labels will come into the fold
Posted by: david | May 1, 2003 12:43 PM
Does anyone else think it's weird that you can't share/stream AAC's, only mp3's? When someone tries to stream my purchased music it asks if they want to authorize the computer.
Also, I was about to go willy nilly and post the URL to my shared music on my web page... Are people saying that it's a bad idea?
Posted by: Wiley Wiggins | May 1, 2003 3:15 PM
Yeah, I was surprised when I discovered that you can't stream purchased music.
But check out ServerStore, a teeny app which connects you to a database of public iTunes libraries. (!)
Posted by: sudama | May 1, 2003 4:22 PM
Also of note:
Speculation on how Apple is handling credit card processing overhead on all these microtransactions:
here
iTunes Music Store Digital Rights Summary:
here
Posted by: sudama | May 1, 2003 4:33 PM
Wiley, thanks for commenting :)
I played around with the port crashing a little bit, and only some malformed addresses crashed iTunes (not just typing in streams of garbage). I'm afraid of an army of bots that are expressly build for taking down iTunes servers. It's possible that even search engine bots, climbing your blog, could do this incidentally.
It's also extremely bandwidth greedy.
Posted by: david | May 1, 2003 5:32 PM
John Gruber of Darling Fireball has more on the Safari/iTunes interface nuances.
Posted by: david | May 1, 2003 7:10 PM
More:
ongoing: iTunes Music Store and the WWW
0xDECAFBAD: iTunes Does Indeed Do DRM
Posted by: nedlog | May 2, 2003 11:03 AM
nedlog, was that link supposed to be iTunes does DRM?
Posted by: sudama | May 2, 2003 7:35 PM
iPoding: How to record with the new iPod ('an adapter for line-in recording will be available in a few months')!
Posted by: sudama | May 3, 2003 9:14 AM
This points to what I'm most looking forward to: Apple could learn a lot from Amazon.com by Jeremy Zawodny.
Posted by: sudama | May 3, 2003 9:33 AM
MacFixIt:
Posted by: sudama | May 5, 2003 12:13 PM
HubLog says: "A web-based download interface, an app-based download interface, a web-based list of servers (and another), and an app-based list of servers."
Posted by: sudama | May 7, 2003 9:26 PM
Apple: iTunes 4 Tips & Tricks.
Posted by: david | May 19, 2003 5:46 PM
iTunes 4.01 disables file sharing over the Internet.
Posted by: david | May 27, 2003 5:40 PM