March ITunes List

[narkspud]

English:

For a little extra money, you will be able to buy some songs on iTunes in better sound quality than they have now ("indistinguishable from the original" they say, which is exaggerating a bit IMHO), and with no restrictions on how many CDs you can make from them, or how many computers you can put them on.

The first batch of these will be from EMI's catalog. EMI is one of the major record labels, and apparently the only one that's been convinced to lift the copy restrictions.

 

[Robert Hollowood]

Hey Randy, is there another surprise in store for all of us Disney music fans? Look here for what I'm talking about: http://news.yahoo.com/s/macworld/20070402/...QedYPHftXgxVrIF

BJ

I doubt there will be a surprise for us just yet. Disney is not an EMI affiliate and there is no indication that any of the other remaining majors are going to follow in EMI's footsteps of removing DRM and improving the bit rate of the files. I could be wrong about this since. Disney's deal with Universal COULD be for distribution of physical product only and that would allow Disney to choose to distribute digitally in any manner they wish. I certainly do hope that Disney Records can take advantage of the increased bit-rate soon. It certainly would increase my willingness to purchase music as downloads rather than longing for a CD.

 

[Zarpman]

Randy DID mention that all of the restoration work he was doing for iTunes was at bitrates even higher than standard audio CDs. I'm certain that we will see higher-quality tracks available in the future. Here's hoping Uni, Sony and Warner hop onboard. I'm ready for some unrestricted access to my music!

 

[BJWanlund]

Randy DID mention that all of the restoration work he was doing for iTunes was at bitrates even higher than standard audio CDs. I'm certain that we will see higher-quality tracks available in the future. Here's hoping Uni, Sony and Warner hop onboard. I'm ready for some unrestricted access to my music!

Yeah, could Randy enlighten us on this?

BJ

 

[Kurt]

I'm still dying to see the list of albums that will be available this month.


When will the official Disney Records site actually be something usable?

 

[BJWanlund]

Yeah, what kurt said.

BJ

 

[Dirk]

I doubt there will be a surprise for us just yet. Disney is not an EMI affiliate and there is no indication that any of the other remaining majors are going to follow in EMI's footsteps of removing DRM and improving the bit rate of the files.

HI Robert,

the interesting thing is that there is a connection between EMI and Walt Disney Records. WDR several years ago decided that Europe just was of no interest to them regarding maintaining their own label here. So they decided to license all material out to another company. For several years now all WDR releases in Europe are actually released by EMI (complete with EMI logo on the CDs and covers). While this will have no influence directly on the US-customers of iTunes here in Europe there is some hope we will soon get the WDR-releases on iTunes in a better quality and with DRM (so I might actually buy my first digital download from iTunes). BUT nothing is for sure as it certainly also depends on the licensing contract between WDR and EMI and whether it includes any restrictions preventing EMI from releasing the material on the European iTunes stores without DRM. Also if EMI would be able to release the material DRM-free this would only affect material licensed to EMI ... and we don't know whether really everything is covered by the licensing agreement or only material that is released on CD.


Yours

Dirk

 

[BJWanlund]

Randy! Yoo-hoo! Are we going to see a list soon? It's already midway through April! Are you delaying till May or something?

BJ

 

[almandot]

The site was down for a couple weeks and is just getting back together, if Randy's busy he's busy

 

[BJWanlund]

I'm just wondering if Randy's radio silence on this subject is due to the fact that he probably CAN'T say anything until Apple and WDR announces something huge.

BJ

 

[Titanfreak46]

And we keep waiting.......

 

[BJWanlund]

TOTALLY.

I agree with that sentiment.

BJ

 

[Kurt]

I still can't stand it.

 

[Kurt]

Well, nothing today, as far as I could tell.

 

[BJWanlund]

Aaand it's only 9:15...

I hope this full radio silence on Randy's part ends soonest...

BJ

 

[Kurt]

In case I wasn't clear, there appear to be no new albums on iTunes today, only one April Tuesday left!

 

[BJWanlund]

I have this feeling we're waiting till May...

Maybe WDR is joining EMI in offering DRM-free tracks for $1.29 or so.

BJ

 

[Kurt]

Yep, looks like we're waiting for May. I did some prying around iTunes today, couldn't find anything new.

 

[BJWanlund]

Yep, we are.

Maybe Randy's radio silence is supposed to mean something for Disney music fans... :-X

BJ

 

[will]

The silence is deafening...