Jason Ball's TechBytes

My friend CK has written an article on Apple’s opportunity to become *the* digital hub over on Applematters . Forrester also has a similar article regarding the new iMac.

With its new iMac G5, Apple has once again come up with a unique package of design, power, and ease of use. But will it be enough? No. Apple has missed the opportunity to stay way ahead of its PC manufacturing competitors by not including Wi-Fi as standard and failing to catch the early adopter PVR wave by including a TV tuner card.

Filed under: Apple, Technology

My friend CK has written an article on Apple’s opportunity to become *the* digital hub over on Applematters . Forrester also has a similar article regarding the new iMac.

With its new iMac G5, Apple has once again come up with a unique package of design, power, and ease of use. But will it be enough? No. Apple has missed the opportunity to stay way ahead of its PC manufacturing competitors by not including Wi-Fi as standard and failing to catch the early adopter PVR wave by including a TV tuner card.

Filed under: Apple, Technology

I added Maroon 5′s album to my shopping cart in the iTunes music store and was shown the alert to the right saying that I had already purchased one song from the album and asking if I was sure I wanted to purchase two copies of the song.

Well, yes. I do want to purchase two copies. It’s cheaper to buy the album for $9.99 than buying the rest of it piece-meal at $0.99.

After all, once I leagally own two copies, I can give one away, right? It is mine, bought and paid for in a totally legal way.

WRONG.

Apple’s DRM does not allow for title transfer on songs. This is why DRM is a bad idea. It prevents honest customers from using products in very natural ways.

My situation isn’t that uncommon, and will happen much more frequently as I use the iTunes music store more. I buy a song, listen to for a while, and then go back to buy the rest of the album. In some cases perhaps I will only cherry-pick those songs I think I like…or maybe I’ll just buy the whole album.

Now imagine that those hit singles that I buy I pass on to friends who in turn decide to buy the entire album and pass along that original file from me…

The current limitations are subtracting value from the music industry. Both Apple and the Labels need to change this policy to something that makes a bit more business sense.

Filed under: Apple, Technology

I added Maroon 5′s album to my shopping cart in the iTunes music store and was shown the alert to the right saying that I had already purchased one song from the album and asking if I was sure I wanted to purchase two copies of the song.

Well, yes. I do want to purchase two copies. It’s cheaper to buy the album for $9.99 than buying the rest of it piece-meal at $0.99.

After all, once I leagally own two copies, I can give one away, right? It is mine, bought and paid for in a totally legal way.

WRONG.

Apple’s DRM does not allow for title transfer on songs. This is why DRM is a bad idea. It prevents honest customers from using products in very natural ways.

My situation isn’t that uncommon, and will happen much more frequently as I use the iTunes music store more. I buy a song, listen to for a while, and then go back to buy the rest of the album. In some cases perhaps I will only cherry-pick those songs I think I like…or maybe I’ll just buy the whole album.

Now imagine that those hit singles that I buy I pass on to friends who in turn decide to buy the entire album and pass along that original file from me…

The current limitations are subtracting value from the music industry. Both Apple and the Labels need to change this policy to something that makes a bit more business sense.

Filed under: Apple, Technology