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iTunes LP: A Pricey Business

Cory Bohon — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:55:53 -0500

At the latest Apple event, the company touted iTunes LP as being a really cool way to experience your music, but that cool experience is costing music labels.

According to a recent Gizmodo post, Apple is said to be charging $10,000 for the production of an iTunes LP. Not only that, but they are currently not offering this nice feature to indie labels, even if they could afford this hefty price tag.

In the end, the LPs generally cost iTunes users between $10 and $15 to get an interactive interface with photos, music, and videos of their favorite artist. It looks like we won't be seeing any lesser-known artists for a while though, thanks to Apple's production fee.

Via Engadget

AppsFire: iPhone Users Spend $80 on Apps

Cory Bohon — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:55:15 -0500

AppsFire conducted a survey to determine how much iPhone/iPod touch owners spend on applications for their device and got interesting results.

The survey included 1,200 AppsFire users, of which there had been 15,000+ applications downloaded among them with roughly 65 applications installed on each of the devices.

Now for the money part: iPhone/iPod touch owners had purchased rough $80 worth of apps per device. The median price of the paid apps was $0.99, with the average price of paid apps was $1.56. If you consider the number of iPhone OS users, Apple is pocketing over $400 million if you want to take these stats to the bank. You can view the AppsFire presentation above.

AppsFire via TechCrunch

Apple Enables Promo Codes for 17+ Apps Again

Christine Chan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:58:06 -0500

Source: TUAW.com

TUAW has reported that Apple in once again allowing developers of apps with a rating of 17+ to issue promo codes for up to 50 free downloads of their apps for giveaway or review purposes.

Last week, Apple had decided that those with 17+ ratings on their apps could not distribute these promo codes, which caused an uproar. According to Apple, any app that has an in-app web browser is automatically a 17+ rating due to the potentially offensive content that the Internet has to offer (think of Twitter apps, and remember the Tweetie incident regarding an update several months ago).

This move by Apple is only one week after the restriction began to gain attention, putting Apple in the spotlight and criticized by the masses. The reason Apple decided to disable promo codes for these apps was because the ratings do not apply with promo codes, meaning that anyone can download the 17+ app.

Luckily, it seems that Apple has been listening: over the past few days, we have received word from a number of developers stating that they are now able to request promo codes for their 17+ apps. While Apple has not made any official comment on the issue, it appears that they have quietly conceded this battle to the developers, once again enabling them to distribute promo codes as needed for all of their apps.

No word if there are any technical changes to the App Store to address this ratings issue or if it's just a policy change.

via MacRumors

Apple Going the Way of the Wiimote?

Arvind Srinivasan — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:34:03 -0500

Apple remotes are noted for their simplicity. After all, they have less buttons than TV remote. Now, they are about to become even simpler.

Apple has filed a patent that shows a 3D motion remote that you would be able to control by pointing at items on the screen. It would communicate with Apple TVs via IR, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi.

Furthermore, this magical remote-like device could include non-traditional input methods.This would most likely entail a touchscreen, given Apple's fetish for aluminum and glass, which would dramatically improve the utility of the remote. For example, searching for a movie in the iTunes store with the remote would no longer require a 20-minute excercise in frustration.

As always, there is no guarantee this will ever come to fruition. We think touchscreen remotes are too low-tech for Apple. A more likely candidate would be a remote CONTROLLED BY YOUR BRAIN.

Podcast #84: iTunes Plus with Variable Pricing and AT&T Gets Super Sneaky

Roberto Baldwin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:17:51 -0500

The iTunes Store finally gets variable pricing and we discover some songs no one should pay $1.29. AT&T tries to pull a fast one on all of us and more iPhone camera rumors and news.

A British band is chosen for our weekly, "Keep or Delete." Each week we download and review the free iTunes song of the week and decide whether we're going to keep or delete the file. This week's artist:

Band of Skulls - I Know What I Am

Don't forget, the Mac|Life staff would love to hear your thoughts, comments and ideas for the new podcast. Just leave a message on the Mac|Live question/comment line: (877) 404-1337, extension 622. Please limit the length of your messages to 1 minute max. We'll review these calls each week and feature our favorites, along with responses, on that week's podcast.

To subscribe to the Mac|Live podcast series through an RSS feed, click here; if you want to subscribe through the iTunes Store, click here.

Variable Pricing Hits iTunes

Roberto Baldwin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:24:10 -0500

When Apple announced that they would be introducing variable pricing to the iTunes store, while at the same time removing DRM from its music, most figured Apple had made a deal with the devil. The devil being the music industry. Apple had ventured to the crossroads and returned with DRM-free music, but had paid a heavy price.

Well that price turns out to be $1.29. All music in the iTunes store is now DRM-Free iTunes Plus.

The new pricing plan gives the record companies the chance to make an extra $.30 on popular songs. For example, today's top three singles are $1.29. Apple is showcasing Rock and Classic R&B songs for $.69 on the music store's main page. Probably as an antidote to people complaing about the new $1.29 price point.

We're hoping a bargain bin button appears on the store so we can find our favorite artists' songs at $.69. Fingers crossed.

iTunes Variable Pricing Begins on April 7

Roberto Baldwin — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:45:36 -0500

Hot singles on iTunes will begin to cost you $.30 more beginning April 7 according to the Los Angeles Times.

The variable pricing structure go date hasn't officially been disclosed by Apple, but industry executives have been notified by Apple of the date according to the newspaper. Apple resisted variable pricing for years and finally relented in order to get labels to agree to removing DRM from songs.

Beginning April 7, iTunes customers can purchase songs for $.69, $.99 and $1.29. Apple is expected to keep a majority of it's music library at $.99.

If your favorite artist released a song for $1.29 would you purchase it from iTunes, or find another digital music service to purchase it from? Drop your answer in the comments.

Bookmarking Audio File

Scott Rose — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:21:37 -0600

Select this option to add bookmarking capabilities to any of your iTunes tracks.

I’ve noticed that when I download an audiobook from the iTunes Store, that file is bookmarkable. How can I make one of my own MP3 files bookmarkable, such as a recorded lecture from my college class?

iTunes automatically “bookmarks” audiobooks, TV shows, movies, and podcasts that you download from the iTunes Store—meaning, iTunes will remember your position in those files, so you can pause them in the middle, play something else from your library, and when you come back to play the bookmarked file again, it picks up right where you left off. This incredibly convenient feature prevents you from having to fast-forward or rewind through extremely lengthy files, and when you transfer these files to your iPod, your last-remembered position will sync there as well.

But if you’re adding your own content to iTunes from outside the iTunes Store, you have to work a bit of your own bookmarking magic. To add this bookmarking feature to any file in your collection, simply select the track in iTunes, choose File > Get Info, and click the Options tab. Check the box that says Remember Playback Position, and you’re all set!

While you’re there, the Media Kind pop-up menu lets you choose whether you consider your track to be a Music file or an Audiobook file, which determines which section of your library will house that track. And the Skip When Shuffling option will prevent that boring lecture from interrupting your music when you’re listening to iTunes in shuffle mode.