iTunes and the Nokia N91

Posted by Scott Laird Thu, 18 Aug 2005 14:07:19 GMT

There’s a rumor going around that Apple and Nokia are going to partner and produce a mobile iTunes application for the Nokia N91. Nokia is denying it, but the phone’s still months away from its launch, so there’s plenty of time for things to change.

As I see it, there are sort of three levels of iTunes integration for portable devices:

  1. The device syncs with iTunes and can play encrypted iTunes Music Store .m4p files. Right now, this is pretty much just the iPod, although the long-rumored Motorola iTunes phone will join it once it’s released.
  2. The device syncs with iTunes and can play MP3s and maybe unencrypted AAC files. Before the iPod took off, most MP3 players fit into this category, but I don’t know if Apple has continued supporting their competition.
  3. The device and iTunes don’t know anything about each other, and the user is stuck looking for third-party tools.

I suspect that the N91 will fit into the second category–just plug it into your computer using a USB cable and iTunes will copy things over. It’s possible that we’ll need a bit of glue code, but that shouldn’t be too hard to write. Worst case, it should only take a few hours to write something that can read through iTune’s XML database and copy playlists to the N91.

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Apple's iTunes Affiliate Program

Posted by Scott Laird Wed, 01 Sep 2004 17:11:27 GMT

According to CNet, Apple is launching an iTunes affiliate program.

Essentially, you post iTunes Music Store links on your website and collect a 5% commission. I haven’t ran through all of the details yet, but I’m kind of fascinated. Since Apple themselves can’t be making much more then 5% per song, it’s entirely possible that an affiliate could set up a front end to Apple’s store and actually end up making more money off of it then Apple is. Admittedly, the total amount of money involved would be fairly small, and I doubt Apple is giving the affiliates a cut of the iPod sales (which is where Apple really makes their money on music), but it’s still an interesting concept. At the very least, blog-based music reviews and experimental music recommendation systems are going to get a boost.

Of course, knowing Apple, there’s something unpleasant hidden in the terms of the affiliate program. Either that, or they’ll change the program mid-stream and leave people screwed. Apple occasionally rivals Microsoft for the “world’s worst business partner” title.

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iTunes now listing tracks for more then $1?

Posted by Scott Laird Fri, 13 Feb 2004 00:35:45 GMT

Maybe I missed it, but it looks like Apple is listing some tracks now for over $1. Specifically, the page for this Russian National Orchestra recording shows up at two tracks, one for $7.49, and the other for $4.97. Each “track” has 3 additional tracks collapsed underneath it, outline-style. The outline thingy is new to me, too.

Admittedly, the $7.49 track is over 40 minutes long, so that’s not a bad price, but it’s surprising to see Apple going this way. They certainly don’t lower prices for short tracks. See the recording of Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends, for example–it’s full of short tracks (as short as 13 seconds) for $1 each. In fact, if you were to buy the whole album one track at a time, you’d pay over $46.

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