iTunes Store will sell ENTIRE EMI CATALOG DRM-free!!11!1ONE!

Cory Doctorow:
Hallelujah! Apple and EMI just announced that they will be selling DRM-free Apple songs through the iTunes Music Store. The songs will cost 130 percent of the price of the existing crippled songs, and you'll get to choose. Weirdly, Apple seems to have sold this move to EMI by saying that the DRM-free version will be a "premium" offering for audiophiles who want higher-quality music. I think that audiophiles are probably the people who have the least trouble keeping up with the latest tips for efficiently ripping the DRM off of their music -- the people who really need DRM-free music are the punters who can't even spell DRM.

This is some of the best news I've heard all year. DefectiveByDesign is soliciting ideas for a thank-you gift to Steve Jobs. This may just be a sneaky way of hiking music prices, but hell, it's a whole lot more than I thought we'd get. What's more, Apple pricing DRM-free music at $1.29 means that the $0.79-0.99 DRM-free MP3s from competing indie music stores will get a huge price advantage.

I could not be happier right now. I really hope Apple decides to make a web-based version of the iTunes store so that I can buy iTunes tracks in the future using Ubuntu Linux (I know, it's been ages and I still haven't written my "switching to Linux" article, it's in the pipe, but here's the story: I switched, it's awesome, I love it).

Jobs, who stressed the need for higher-quality music with the rise of high-fidelity home speaker systems, called EMI's move "the next big step forward in the digital-music revolution--the movement to completely interoperable DRM-free music." He added that "Apple will reach out to all the major and independent labels to give them the same opportunity" and suggested that half of iTunes' music tracks will be available in both DRM-loaded and DRM-free form by the end of 2007.

"EMI is pioneering something that I think is going to become very popular," Jobs said when asked if other music labels would likely add DRM-free music to their iTunes catalog.

"What we're adding is a choice--a new choice--and people can choose whichever one they want," Jobs said regarding Apple's decision to make available two levels of sound quality and DRM restriction. Nicoli cited internal EMI tests in which higher-quality, DRM-free songs outsold its lower-quality, copy-protected counterparts 10 to 1.

Link

Update: Damien sez, "It gets better! You can upgrade existing DRMed 128kbit tracks to the new DRM-free
256kbit ones for the price difference - i.e. $0.30/€0.30/£0.20 (no
sneaky tactic to make you buy the whole track again) DRM is being removed from the music videos with no price change. Albums will be DRM-free 256kbit as default at current DRMed prices
according to EMI's press release."

(Image ganked from Engadget)

Update 2: Engadget's Ryan Block has a great, skeptical editorial about this announcement, "Apple and EMI ditching DRM is good, but it's not good enough"

But we don't believe having free, usable, uncrippled media is a feature -- it's a right. You don't pay a premium for higher quality DRM-free physical media -- DVD Audio and SACD discs costs the same as CDs (in fact, often times they come as hybrids on the same media). Asking customers to pay 30% more for no DRM and a higher bitrate is a distraction, a parlor trick to take our attention away from the philosophical issue: EMI is still selling DRMed music. EMI CEO Eric Nicoli said, "Not everybody cares about interoperability or sound quality." Since when did the two become so intrinsically linked? Sure, not everyone cares to vote either, that doesn't mean it's a premium privilege. Nicoli also stated EMI has taken the view that it must "trust consumers." It's true, today's announcement shows more trust than they ever displayed before -- but it's still conditional trust.

See also:

Steve Jobs blogs about DRM

Will Steve Jobs drop iTunes DRM in a heartbeat?

What Steve Jobs's DRM announcement means

Open letter to Steve Jobs: put your DRM where your mouth is

Macrovision sends pretty lies to Steve Jobs

Apple drops Trusted Computing

EMI changes tune on DRM-free music

EMI releases Brazilian DRM CDs that totally hose their customers

EMI abandons CD DRM

EMI wants millions and your IP address in revenge for Beachles

EMI threatens cricket fans over parody songs

US Justice Dept to Europe: Apple's DRM is off-limits

Norwegian ombudsman says Apple's iTunes DRM is illegal

Euro-RIAA justifies breaking iTunes, endorses fairy-tale of "open DRM"

Why Apple is to blame for iTunes DRM

Apple's hypocritical slam against French DRM-interop law

French DRM law gets ugly - protest May 7/2PM Place de la Bastille

Apple sued for iTunes/iPod monopoly tying

Apple and Sony sued for non-interoperable DRM

Germany and France challenge iTunes DRM

France will let MSFT play iTunes - but what about open source players?

Former Apple exec: No more DRM for me, ever

Hillary "RIAA" Rosen: iPod DRM is cruel and unfriendly!

Ballmer: iPod users are thieves

Friday: call RIAA execs and tell them "No DRM!"

Right-wing think-tank hates DRM

Music labels: DRM makes you into iTunes' love-slave

Sony: DRM cost us the Walkman

Apple's new DRM reneges on your purchase conditions, picks your pocket

Freely copy iTunes Music Store files

Real ships guerrilla DRM for the iPod

New iPod firmware shuts out Real

Anti-iTunes DRM demonstrations across the USA tomorrow

Apple steals iTunes customers' paid-for rights to stream

iPhone - the roach motel business model

DRM company vows to hack iTunes DRM

DVD Jon selling Apple DRM to Apple's competitors

Jon Lech Johansen's PyMusique re-opens iTunes Store access

How Apple's DRM works

Details on cracking Apple's iTunes DRM

Apple selling DRM'ed silence at $0.99 a pop

Silent iTunes song stripped of DRM and given away

Sony rootkit ripped off anti-DRM code to break into iTunes

Protect your investment: buy open

(Via Boing Boing.)

Web 2.0 Under Siege

Robert writes "Security researchers have found what they say is an entirely new kind of web-based attack, and it only targets the Ajax applications so beloved of the 'Web 2.0' movement. Fortify Software, which said it discovered the new class of vulnerability and has named it 'JavaScript hijacking', said that almost all the major Ajax toolkits have been found vulnerable. 'JavaScript Hijacking allows an unauthorized attacker to read sensitive data from a vulnerable application using a technique similar to the one commonly used to create mashups'"

(Via Slashdot.)

Iminlikewithyou, a new Web 2.0 flirting service for the facebook crowd

Like a lot of Web2.0 start-ups that simply automate all the fun out of dating, Iminlikewithyou has stepped back, rethought the whole courtship process. Instead, it uses technology to amplify the most organic form of human interaction: flirting. It is a web service that can be described as luscious, simple and and elegant. Did I say, addictive?

read more | digg story

List of Notable April Fools jokes for 2007: Updated throughout the day

Gmail Paper: In depth info here. The premise: A new button has been added to Gmail that says "Paper Archive" in which you can choose to select a number of emails, Google will print them for you and then fedex the stack of papers to you. Check out the links as its quite humorous.

Google TiSP: Free in-home wireless internet through your toilet. More info here. The premise is that you flush some type of device down your toilet. A chord remains hanging out of your toilet in which you plug your router into. By flushing it down the toilet, it somehow becomes "hooked up" to the rest of the TiSP network. Very funny diagram if you check out the link.

Blizzard has introduced the tinfoil hat item. Check out the link for a very funny item description. Notable item benefits are:

Equip: Hides the wearer's profile from the Armory.
Equip: Allows the wearer to see "the truth." May lead to an incontrollable urge to share "the truth" with others.
Use: Grants the wearer immunity to all forms of mind control for the next 10 sec...or does it?

Slashdot.org has added a voting mechanism to their site for the day thats called Slashdottit which is an obvious jab at Reddit & Digg. Also found on Slashdot are articles claiming Mozilla is suing Microsoft over tabbed browsing, and that nVidia is recalling ALL of their Geforce 8800 graphics cards.

Thinkgeek.com has put up a banner on their site announcing that they now have the iPhone in stock and are shipping orders. Other notable products for sale on their site today are: The WiiHelmet, a hat designed to give your arms a rest by allowing you to put your Wiimote on your head. The SnūzNLūz - Wifi Donation Alarm Clock, an alarm clock that donates 1$ to the organization you most hate from your paypal account every time you hit the snooze button. Piranhaz - R/C Battle Fish, a remote controlled submersible piranna that has, and I quote, "friggin laser beams attached to their heads". The Vilcus Plug Dactyloadapter , "The Vilcus Plug Dactyloadapter allows anyone to quickly and easily test the working condition of any wall socket. Simply insert the Vilcus into the socket in question... insert two fingers and the use becomes apparent instantly." Finally, The Lonely Guy Dream Vacation Digital Photo Frame, which is pretty self explanatory but if you must, go check it out.

Techcrunch has announced they've acquired fuckedcompany.com. A few people aren't sure if this is a joke or not, but I'm leaning towards yes. We'll find out tomorrow I guess.

Lastly, The Pirate Bay has announced that they've finally found a permanent solution for their hosting to avoid legal hassles. They're moving their headquarters to inside the North Korean embassy in Stockholm. As they put it..."For make benefit glorious nation of North Korea". Cute guys, cute.

Washington DC area job posting on Craigslist for "Office Jester" I wouldn't have came across this unless I was currently in the process of acquiring a job.

Leo Laporte has announced that TWiT has been aquired by G4TechTV.

Facebook is having some pretty funny messages appear in everyone's news feed.

Harry and Voldemort have set their relationship status to "Mortal Enemies." 12:19pm
Two of your oxen drowned when you tried to ford the river. 1:52pm
Bracket Buster: Ohio State and Florida have mutually agreed on a tie and will not play the championship game.
Introducing LivePoke™! 11:48am
Facebook will dispatch a real live person today to poke a friend of your choice.*
*offer good for only the first 100 pokers in each network.

Otters holding hands

Flight of the Conchords: Business Time

Pundit Says Apple Should Cancel the iPhone

Disclaimer: As a regular TWIT listener, I'm a Dvorak fan. However, I think that, like a lot of people, this time he has -gone- -too- -far-!

As long as I've been reading about technology and Apple, John Dvorak has served as my reference point for the views of reactionary technocrats everywhere. He doesn't get Apple, he's never gotten Apple, and he tries really hard to convince other people that there's nothing about Apple to get. All he cares about are specifications and explicit features -- the idea that devices with better interfaces are better than cheaper ones has never occured to him.

But even by his own standards, his latest column is well past the deep end. You know that moment in Warner Bros. cartoons where Wile E. Coyote chases after a cloud of dust that he thinks leads to the Road Runner, but he eventually instead runs clear off of a cliff, but it's OK for a little while, he just floats, but then he makes the mistake of looking down and crashes to the cliff floor? Dvorak's only still in mid-air because he hasn't looked down.

Here's his advice to Apple regarding the iPhone: Pull the plug. BEFORE IT EVEN LAUNCHES. I know, I didn't believe it, either. Keep reading for the top 5 reasons Dvorak has such a bizarre perspective.

Technorati Tags: apple, humor, iphone, dvorak

There are plenty of reasons why the iPod stood out from its competitors: The overall form is attractive. The interface is simple and powerful. The overall ecosystem with iTunes is simpler than competing solutions. I have to say that a lack of advertising never struck me as a critical missing element that was holding Mp3 players back from mainstream success. But that's how Dvorak reads it:

First the MP3 player business was segmented and unfocused with numerous players making a lot of cheap junk and not doing much to market any of it.



Apple does what? Advertise. Gosh, what a concept.

Oh, so that's it! The secret to winning in emerging markets is by spending ad dollars! It's so obvious! That's why the Zune has been able to come in and...oh, never mind. How many years had the iPod been on the market before Apple started doing serious TV advertising for the product? I don't remember TV ads before 2003, by which point the early generations already had a strong foothold.

And besides, you couldn't possibly give credit for the success of the iTunes Music Store to advertising, could you?

Then there was the online music distribution business, again unfocused and out-of-control with little marketing and a lot of incompatible technologies. So Apple comes in with a reasonable solution, links it to the heavily promoted iPod and bingo. A winner.



It advertises on TV, on billboards and on the Internet. Within no time the company takes over the business that would probably still be languishing without Apple.



Thus Apple does what it does best. It produces a jazzy product and promotes it like any good business should do. And in the process manages to get a high margin.

OK, maybe John can. There are so many delusional elements to this paragraph. First, iTMS music is incompatible with other Mp3 players. Clearly, "incompatibility" was not the missing element. While the overall success of iTMS was up in the air, Napster advertised like crazy and made no headway. And the iPod was more than "heavily promoted." It was the market leader. And Apple got there by selling iPods, not giving them away.

So how does all of this mean that the iPhone is doomed? Well, John is under the impression that the mobile phone market is too competitive for Apple. From the sound of it, there might even be players in the business who have tried this "advertising" thing. Even on billboards and the Internet!

Now compare that effort and overlay the mobile handset business. This is not an emerging business. In fact it's gone so far that it's in the process of consolidation with probably two players dominating everything, Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc.



During this phase of a market margins are incredibly thin so that the small fry cannot compete without losing a lot of money.



As for advertising and expensive marketing this is nothing like Apple has ever stepped into. It's a buzz saw waiting to chop up newbies.

Look out, Apple, it's the buzz saw! The buzz saw of phones that get bundled for free with a one-year service agreement and a small order of fries! This is all patently ridiculous. Apple is not going to compete with "phones." The iPhone is going to sell fewer copies than the cheapest phones on the market. Big deal. The way to make money in a commodity market is to put out a premium, differentiated product and target it to an emerging sector of that market. And that's what Apple has done with the iPhone. They want to own the multimedia phone market, which is unclaimed so far. When the best you're up against is Chocolate LG, it's pretty easy to stand out from the pack. Not to mention, both Motorola and Nokia are up against some real challenges right now.

What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it's smart it will call the iPhone a "reference design" and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else's marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures.

There's the way to succeed! Assume failure and let someone else take the blame! Sometimes, business shouldn't just be about mitigating risk, you know. Sometimes, you have to place big bets. It's idiotic to assume Apple took smaller risks when introducing any of its iconic products or that it got here by taking the easy way out. Sometimes, you do things the scary way. And if you do it well enough, you can win. That's what Dvorak doesn't get about Apple. And that's why his writing is so entertaining -- it's technology forecasting by a weatherman who only believes in hurricanes.

Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone - MarketWatch

Via Digg.

(Via Cult of Mac.)

Warning to new Tuzworld readers: Its Tornado Season

And being the weather geek/nut that I am, I love storms and extreme weather. If you are one of those people who have been reading Tuzworld for years, you already know this. If you've been reading Tuzworld since last July, you've seen my Hurricane obsession during Hurricane season. Well, its the end of March now and Tornado season kicked off sometime this month. From now until July you'll see a lot of weather related coverage here, in addition to my regular political and technology stuff. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the pretty pictures.

To kick this off, check out the excellent pictures that Mike Hollingshead took yesterday of a Tornado that touched down in Grant, NE.

If you live in the midwest and take any pictures this year, send them to me!!!! joel at tuzworld .com :)