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New iTunes is DRM Free but It's Still Restricted

Source: HypeBot
January 7, 2009

As Ben Drury of UK download provider 7Digital said in statement today: “Downloads from iTunes are still in the AAC file format regardless of whether they are DRM-free."

7digital, Amazon, Napster, Zune, Rhapsody and all other DRM free retialers sell all downloads in the universal MP3 format which means they work on any iPod, any brand of MP3 player or mobile phone. “The AAC file format is only compatible with iPods/iPhones and a limited number of other devices. So consumers ...

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Analysis: Apple Finally Kills DRM

Source: PC Magazine
January 7, 2009

At Apple's final keynote address to the Macworld faithful today, the company made an announcement that should change the way music is purchased from now on—roll it back to the old, better way, I mean. Apple will no longer put DRM code on its iTunes music files. DRM, shorthand for Digital Rights Management, is the “protection" that is encoded into purchased digital audio files, such as songs from iTunes or the Zune Marketplace. The “rights' being managed and “protected" have ...

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Technology

Apple Cuts Copy Protection and Prices on iTunes

Source: JamBase
January 7, 2009

From http://tech.yahoo.com/news:

Apple cuts copy protection and prices on iTunes (AP) Posted on Tue Jan 6, 2009 2:25PM EST

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. closed its final appearance at the Macworld trade show Tuesday by cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and disclosing that soon every track will be available without copy protection.

Apple's top marketing executive, Philip Schiller, said iTunes songs would come in three ...

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When Labels Fought the Digital, and the Digital Won

Source: Michael Ricci
January 7, 2009

“You can’t roll a joint on an iPod,” the singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne told The New York Times Magazine early last year. And, O.K., I suppose that’s among the iPod’s drawbacks. But it’s hard to think of an electronic device released in recent decades that’s brought more pleasure to more people. Should anyone care that in the process, the iPod has all but killed the music industry as we’ve known it? Maybe not, Steve Knopper writes in “Appetite for Self-Destruction,” his ...

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Liveblog: Macworld Expo 2009 Tony Bennett and New 17 Inch MacBook Pro Cool or What

Source: All About Jazz
January 6, 2009

The last Apple keynote at Macworld also was the first in many years not to feature a now-ailing Steve Jobs. Stand-in Phil Schiller took over emcee duties and offered up these tidbits in an informative but slightly clunky presentation. (We miss you already, big Steve!)

First off the huge news

Starting immediately

iTunes: will be DRM-free. In April, iTunes will have a three-tiered pricing structure. Songs will be either be 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29. ...

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iTunes Goes DRM-Free, Alters Pricing

Source: All About Jazz
January 6, 2009

At the Macworld Expo today, Apple Inc. confirmed reports that all four majors were now onboard to deliver DRM-free music through iTunes.

Apple has offered DRM-free music from EMI since May 2007; the new deals unveiled today are with Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The company also revealed plans for a new variable pricing model, starting in April; the price points for tracks are listed as 69 cents for older catalog titles, 99 cents for current ...

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10 Music Industry Stories from the Holiday Break

Source: HypeBot
January 6, 2009

WHILE YOU WERE OUT: There was a surprising amount of action in the music industry over the two week holiday break. Here is a quick compendium of top stories that you might have missed.

Year end sales figures showed that: CD & ringtone sales fell and digital growth slowed Digital sales had their best week ever in late December YouTube is negotiating lower payments to labels WMG pulled all content from YouTube Project Playlist was banned from MySpace, Facebook and ...

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Could 2009 Be Music's Year of the Garage?

Source: HypeBot
January 6, 2009

John C Abell at Epicenter resurrected the Rules Of The Garage  a kind of 12 commandments of tech written by Bill Hewlett and David Packard that grounded the founding of Hewlett-Packard in their garage  back in 1939 - to inspire tech startups battered by the economic downturn. 

In reading them, I realized that the rules could just as easily be a call to arms for the music industry in all its forms whether a music tech startup, a label struggling ...

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