Apple’s Mac Store cuts the clutter
1000 apps might not seem like a lot compared to the 300,000 offered for Apple’s iPhone, but there’s enough on offer at Apple’s new Mac App Store to cover most software bases, some of it deeply discounted.
The Mac App Store interface is easy to navigate, much like the iPhone and iPad sections on iTunes, with app icons arranged in rows.
However, if you’re not running OSX Snow Leopard on your Mac, you won’t even get that far. The store isn’t offered on computers running older Mac operating systems. The solution is to upgrade your OS, but that will run you $29. And you can’t download it, so you’ll have to have it shipped to you or pick it up at one of Apple’s retail outlets.
The difference between apps and software is virtual vs material. You’re not getting hard copy versions of the programs you buy when you purchase them through the Mac App Store. For some Apple-branded titles, like the popular photo editor Aperture, the savings can be substantial compared to how much they cost at brick-and-mortar stores and the online Apple Store.
Even third party software titles like Autodesk’s SketchBook Pro are substantially cheaper through the Mac App Store.
But other titles, such as the personal finance suite iBank and the drawing and painting program Kid Pix Deluxe 3D, cost slightly more in their non-optical forms.
Much like buying songs from albums on iTunes, the Mac App Store allows you to download individual components of bundled software like the iLife suite, and doesn’t charge a premium for the privilege.
Spotify isn’t in talks to be bought by Apple or anyone – source
Music industry types must have had been reaching for their tranquilizers this afternoon, following a report that Apple is in early stage talks to buy Spotify. The report spread quickly, as these things do, and some thought it made a lot of sense. So Apple, maker of the world’s most popular music device, the iPod, which already owns the No.1 music download retailer iTunes, would be buying Spotify –the much-loved and critically acclaimed music streaming service, just as it’s finalizing deals to launch in the U.S.? This would be too much to handle for many music executives, who think Apple already holds way too much power.
They’ll probably be relieved to know that after an initial flurry of panicky phone calls we got a helpful call from one person close to Spotify, who shot down rumors of a potential sale to Apple or anyone else as “completely untrue”.
Founder Daniel Ek has often tried to position Spotify as a company working with the music industry for the long term, as he did here on his company blog.
So to make it very clear – we are in this for the long haul. We are committed to building a music service that works across different devices, enables you to share music socially and that gives you the ability to choose how you want to access music. We aren’t interested in just trying to hype the company and then “flipping it”. The media coverage that Spotify has received so far is because of the product. The product has been our core and our main marketing message, and perhaps now is the time to modify that message.
That was a year ago but that hasn’t changed we hear, though we wonder if his investors feel the same way?
Apple as usual declined to comment.
Here’s Ek doing a demo at South By Southwest:
eMusic gets Universal Music catalog, overhauls song pricing
Be careful what you wish for because you might just get another major label’s catalog.
eMusic, the independent music lovers’ independent digital music site, is well, no longer that independent. As of November, it will now have music from the world’s number one music company Universal Music, adding more than 250,000 tracks to eMusic’s catalog bringing it to 10 million.
But with the big dog joining the pound eMusic has had to adjust its monthly subscription model. It will no longer offer a fixed number of song credits and will instead switch to good-old fashioned dollar and cents pricing for individual songs. For example right now a starter package of $11.99 will get you 24 song credits a month but going forward $11.99 a month will get you as many songs as $11.99 will buy. eMusic argues that their price points are on average 20 percent to 50 percent cheaper than iTunes or Amazon MP3 store which means many of their songs are around the 50 cent-mark.
This is an excerpt from the notice eMusic US subscribers got when they logged in today:
“Under the new currency pricing system, eMusic members will enjoy savings of 20%-50% compared to iTunes a la carte prices. The majority of albums on eMusic will be priced from $5.19 – $8.99. Single track pricing for members will vary as follows:
○ $0.49 for most tracks currently in our catalog
○ $0.69 – $0.79 for more popular content
I’ve had an eMusic account since 2006 and have endured several changes of plan, in other words substantial price increases. My original plan gave me tracks at just over 22¢ a piece; the price jumped to nearly 40¢ each when they signed up Sony — this after email promising that “Your old plan will be guaranteed as long as you keep your account active and in good standing.” Now, the price per track increases to a minimum of 49¢ — and, more to the point, I will be able to download less tracks per month even with my rather pathetic monthly loyalty bonus. What I liked about eMusic was the ability to download a lot of tracks with the general idea that, because of the low price, I didn’t have to love ‘em all. That’s obviously no longer the operating principle.
I can only see this move by eMusic as a sign of desperation. Clearly, as admitted, the old business model is not working and it would appear that they’re not getting new subscribers with what they have on offer. Otherwise, why would it be necessary to risk alienating those of us who really should be grandfathered in with our original plans? There’s simply too many of us to support the expansionist plans without all-round price increases (for something we don’t really want, old mainstream music!)— and there are not enough new customers.
But, I’d argue, eMusic has analyzed the situation in a drastically wrong-headed radical way. Have they not heard of MOG and Rdio? We can stream any amount of music from Universal and every other major label plus many, many independents for a mere $5 a month. Why should we wish to pay considerably more just to own an mp3 copy? So many songs you only want to hear three or four times, if even that, and then that’s it, move on to something new. If, after streaming we still want to buy our own personal copy, we can get many mp3 albums from either Amazon or iTunes for only a dollar or two more than from eMusic. Why should we wish to be tethered to a subscription plan? Loyalty? I think not since eMusic has shown itself as fundamentally disloyal, not honoring promises of plans continuing and essentially deserting the original independent ethos.
Besides that one-two punch of MOG/Rdio and Amazon/iTunes, there are many other sources for digital music from podcasts to piracy to radio programming to SoundCloud plus iTunes is reportedly getting set with a streaming service and there’s one other 800-pound gorilla, Google, that you know isn’t going to sit quietly in the corner forever. A price increase from eMusic is moving counter to all the trends.
Ultimately, I think this move by eMusic is likely to prove to be the nail in its coffin because there is now no clear reason to pay a subscription every month whether one is looking for music or not, whether there’s anything you like that month, whether you’ve just lost your job and need to cut expenses — there are so many arguments against a higher priced subscription right now that you have to wonder just how desperate eMusic is. It is unlikely that I will continue my subscription and, until now, I’ve been pretty much the ideal customer, a ravenous music fanatic. I’m still a ravenous music fanatic, but eMusic is almost certainly no longer going to be where I look to satisfy my cravings.
Amie Street nabs Sony deal, works on new funding round
Amie Street, the digital music site which made its name with a dynamic pricing model for songs, has signed up Sony Music as its first major music label. It means songs from acts like Beyonce (pictured), Outkast, Kings of Leon and The Ting Tings are now available on the site as well as plenty of catalog albums.
But the songs will not be dynamically priced like the rest of the music on Amie Street which fluctuates based on demand. Sony’s songs will cost 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29, much like they are on sites like iTunes and Amazon.
In an open letter to the Amie Street community the site’s owners said:
We know this is a big change, and we’re confident that it will make Amie Street a better place for you to discover, download, and share new music. We spent hundreds of hours asking members of the Amie Street community whether this kind of catalog belonged on the site, and for most of you the answer was a definite Yes.
But co-founder Josh Boltuch added that the deal with Sony allows the option to experiment with dynamic pricing at its discretion if the music company wants to try it with an individual artist or album release.
In the meantime Amie Street, which was founded by Boltuch and his fellow Brown University graduates, is in middle of raising its Series B round of funding. You may recall that Amie Street closed a Series A round of financing led by Amazon.com in August 2007.
(Photo: Reuters)
Apple cuts off Palm Pre sync (again)
It should probably come as no surprise, but Apple has again cut off iTunes syncing privileges for Palm’s Pre, the latest dig in their tit-for-tat over Palm’s smartphone. Apple’s newest version of iTunes, launched yesterday, disables the sync.
In July, Palm updated its webOS software to allow Pre users to sync the handset with iTunes, Apple’s ubiquitous media management software, where millions of people store their music and videos–after Apple had disabled such functionality in an earlier iTunes update.
At the time, Palm also complained to the USB Implementers Forum — which helps support and promote the USB interface – about the sync cutoff.
Apple’s unveiled iTunes 9 yesterday in a splashy media gathering that featured the return of Steve Jobs. It boasts plenty of new features but won’t sync for Pre users, at least for now.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said, “As we’ve said before, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players.”
In an emailed statement, a Palm spokesman said: “Apple’s decision to disable Palm media sync again is yet another direct blow to its own iTunes customers who will be deprived of a seamless and familiar synchronization experience. That said, people have other options: They can always choose not to upgrade to iTunes 9 and continue to sync their music. The Pre has a second option for transferring music and other media content to the device and there are third-party applications that provide syncing functionality. Our view is that Palm media sync offers a great user experience and is an ideal way for customers who already use iTunes to manage music, photos and videos from their computer.”
from The Great Debate UK:
iPod Nano redesign challenges Flip
- Will Findlater is deputy editor of Stuff magazine. The opinions expressed are his own. -
Apple’s "It’s Only Rock and Roll" launch held a few surprises. Most were expecting major updates to the whole line of iPods, but it was only really the iPod Nano that got a thorough going-over.
Still amazingly slim, it now sports a tiny lens towards the bottom of its rear, allowing it to record video footage. This can then be synced to your computer and sent to YouTube with a single button click. Nifty, and bad news for the likes of Flip who make pocket video cameras for a living.
The Nano also received a bigger (2.2 inch) screen, a pedometer, a microphone and speaker and an FM radio. It also comes in a variety of shiny (as opposed to matte) finishes, which are all rather fetching.
Elsewhere, Apple upped the maximum capacity of its iPod Touch (iPhone-minus-the-phone-bit) to 64GB and increased its processing power, allowing for a variety of impressive-looking new 3D games to be played. Audiophile favourite the Classic got a storage boost to 160GB. The tiny, screenless Shuffle received a few new colourways and a special edition polished stainless steel finish.
Apple’s content distribution platform, iTunes, also had an aesthetic refresh and a few features added. The biggest news is iTunes LP, which bundles artwork, liner notes and extra features with special edition albums purchased from the iTunes store. Other changes include the ability to share iTunes content across five home computers, while iPhone and iPod Touch users get better application management tools.
There was no mention of the availability of The Beatles’ catalogue on iTunes as was rumoured, but many remain convinced it’ll become available soon. Apple was also keen to highlight the iPod’s dominance. It owns 73.8 percent of the MP3 player market; Microsoft has just 1.1 percent.
Added features is good thing in this case.
I cant see any fault, very good media player, more stuff added equals more sales.
Beatlemania re-surfaces on eve of Apple event
Britain’s Sky News caused a bit of a stir on the blogosphere on Tuesday after it cited John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, as saying the Beatles back catalog was finally going for sale on iTunes: seemingly confirming a longstanding rumor that had gained momentum ahead of a widely watched Sept 9 Apple music-entertainment event.
But the report by the 24-hour news service, spotted by 9to5Mac and TechCrunch, among others, was stricken off the Sky News Web site hours later and discredited by a numner of other media outlets including Cnet. In response to Reuters’ queries, EMI, which owns the master recordings, sent us this from Ernesto Schmitt, EMI’s global catalog president:
“Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it’s not tomorrow,” Schmitt said in comments first made to the Financial Times. Apple declined to comment.
Mind you, the arrival of the Fab Four on the world’s most popular online music sales portal will be no less than a seminal event. Hence the unrelenting speculation from Apple’s legions of rabid fans who stand rapt at the consumer electronics giant’s every move, and the intense interest from the band’s own not-unimpressive cohort of faithful followers.
On Sept 9, the same day Apple is expected to unveil a new line-up of iPods with digital cameras (with potentially master showman and CEO Steve Jobs set to make his first public appearance since taking leave in January to undergo a liver transplant), “The Beatles:Rock Band” video game will debut for sale from North America to Australia.
The game’s debut will mark the Fab Four’s first leap into the world of digiral music. And their launch on iTunes — currently held up by fears of digital piracy, among other issues — may indeed soon follow.
Just perhaps not on Wednesday.
Apple event next month not likely to feature tablet -blog
Tech bloggers love to write about Apple, for better or for worse. The secretive nature of the company means a lot of those blogs are speculative and light on sources, yet we still all love to read them because the house that Steve built is indeed both a fascinating and hugely successful company.
The latest round of speculation is around Apple’s planned September keynote event which sources have told AllThingsDigital is due to take place on Wednesday, Sept 9 in San Francisco. There has been a huge amount of speculation around whether Apple will unveil a new tablet device but sources tell the blogs there will be “no discussion whatsoever” of the such a device.
AllThingsDigital’s John Paczkowski isn’t giving up though saying: “Too bad. It’s looking more and more like we’ll have to wait until 2010 for that.”
It’s now expected that Apple will debut a new social version of its iTunes media player and unveil new versions of its iPod.
The other big question is whether Steve Jobs will make his first appearance since returning to work after his liver transplant.
Keep an eye on:
It now appears that Apple may have two tablets to show off on September 9th.
Viva Apple! I’m thrilled and can’t wait to see what they have. Steve Jobs and company will once again lead the world into a new technology that everyone is sure to emulate and once again will be playing catch Apple.
posted by John Gotts
from Commentaries:
The European browser elections and other tech news links
Microsoft says the best way to resolve its dispute with European Union competition regulators may be an election. The software giant spelled out late on Friday Brussels time plans for an election-style ballot to decide the question of which browser consumers use in Windows.
The forthcoming Windows 7 operating system would offer a "ballot screen" that lets consumers turn off Microsoft's own Internet Explorer (IE) and instead use rival browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari Google Chrome or Opera Software.
There are two obvious issues with this approach: 1. Most consumers rely on default settings and rarely change their browsers once they are installed. Will more than a small percentage of users elect to change browsers at the moment they are installing Windows?
2. But the big question is whether the majority of consumers who haven't had much choice of using Internet Explorer over the past decade will find that their favourite Web sites work with other browsers. Sure, all the major browser alternatives are designed to support Web standards. But the issue will be the degree to which Web site developers themselves have played along and supported alternatives to IE. Of course the latest modern Web sites will work. But what about the hundreds of thousands of sites built for lazy IE users?
EBAY COURTS BIG RETAIL eBay is set to announce on Monday plans to make the online auction site a more attractive place for large merchants to dispose of unsold or out-of-season inventory in another move away from its roots as an online flea market or garage sale, AuctionBytes says. EBay isn't commenting directly on the plan. But last week, Mercent, an indepenent developer of marketing systems for retailers, appears to have jumped the gun by saying it was offering a product listing platform for large merchants selling on eBay.
SOLD. AT ALMOST TWICE THE PRICE!!! Ericsson's last-minute US$1.13 billion bid for the wireless assets of bankrupt Nortel deprived Nokia Siemens and a third rival bidder of the prize. The bad news is that Ericsson ended up spending nearly twice as much as the $650 million Nokia Siemens originally bid for the assets a few weeks earlier.
Microsoft’s attempts to settle the EC case are understandable given the eye-watering fines the Commission has been imposing lately on anyone caught breaking the rules. Arguably these fines are now well out of control and are starting to resemble criminal penalties – but without the legal protections you’d expect. The Commission is judge and jury when it comes to anti-trust proceedings – and its the shareholders who are punished, even if they had nothing to do with the unlawful conduct. No doubt Microsoft will be anxious to acheive a settlement if it possibly can.
New Apple iPhone features get under your skin
Among all the limelight-hogging features and rock-bottom prices unveiled at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers’ conference on Monday, two underscored the potential for the consumer electronics giant to sidle up and get up-close and personal with users – whether they like it or not.******For the hundreds gathered in San Francisco for the company’s annual developers’ pow-wow, Apple previewed a new iPhone feature that will allow users to remotely locate their device if they ever get separated from it. Executives highlighted another application that, eerily, can directly monitor a person’s vital signs.******In this day and age, when millions advertise not just their location but what they had for dessert via social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it’s unclear how consumers will respond to functions that monitor their movements or their inner workings. Favorably, judging from the applause and hooting when those features were expounded upon.******Find My iPhone allows users to remotely locate their device via the Web. Logging onto Apple’s MobileMe, users can locate their phone on a map; send a text message to the phone, asking that it be returned; or play a strdient alert or alarm. The feature is intended to aid finding a phone left unattended at a restaurant or hidden under a couch cushion, developers said.******The new software also has a feature that allows users to remotely “wipe” the device of all data if it is truly lost or stolen – but allows users to reload the wiped data via Apple’s iTunes Web site — which usually offers music, applications and even video for sale — if the phone is then found, meaning data is periodically stored via a user’s iTunes account.******Besides additional uses of the phone’s GPS capability, Apple on Monday highlighted a third party app that allows doctors to monitor patients’ vital signs remotely - accessing real-time heart rate, temperature, blood pressure and other data collected by hospital devices on their iPhones – clearly helpful for on-call doctors but also very private information.******The app would allow doctors to zoom in and out, measure different parts of the data, and scroll through historical data.******The Critical Care app from AirStrip Technologies has yet to be approved by the FDA, but the company said it was in advanced testing and expects the app will soon be available.******(By Clare Baldwin)
To the genius Defilm who said “With android I can sync it with my $400 Netbook running Linux and not have to buy a 4GB limited scale Macbook Pro.(4GB, how 1995′ish! have to wonder if apple will support more than 4GB when they move to 64Bit linux platforms with Coco in another decade?”For your information, all Macbook Pros support up to 8GB of memory, and come standard with 4GB (except the cheapest one which come with 2, but still supports up to 8). Almost all PC laptops come with under 4. And Mac OS X is a 64 bit operating system. In fact, the MacPro, Apple’s desktop tower, supports up to 32GB of RAM. Your “how 1995′ish” is incorrect. In 1995, having 16 megabytes of RAM (not gigabytes, but megabytes) was considered above average.
