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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
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iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
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  • The Dresden Dolls

    • 10 out of 10
    • The Dresden Dolls
    • The energetic duet of Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione that make up the Dresden Dolls have created a wonderfully haunting sound in their self-titled album. They have been able to construct an imme

  • Spanks for the Memories

    • 8 out of 10
    • Asylum Street Spankers
    • The Asylum Street Spankers are...well...The Spankers. Hailing from Austin, where I saw them live dozens of times, the band played entirely acousti

  • Odyssey Number Five

    • 10 out of 10
    • Powderfinger
    • Guitar-driven rock out of Australia, Powderfinger has not seen much exposure in the States, but should get a nod for their toe-tapping songs. Building off their previous release, "Internationalist" (
  • 2112

    • 10 out of 10
    • Rush
    • We all know it, right? Well, ya just gotta have it. 2112 finally showed Rush out on their own, doing their own thing, and doing it well, IMHO.
  • The Last 5 Years (2002 Off-Broadway Cast)

    • 10 out of 10
    • Jason Robert Brown
    • The soundtrack to this moving off-broadway musical is heart moving. The lyrics follow a couple in a relationship for five years, one point of view going forward in time, and the other tracing time fr

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News

Engst: Apple Punished for iTunes Success

Steve Jobs once claimed that by the end of 2007, half of all the song on iTunes would be free of DRM. That hasn’t happened, according to Adam Engst at TidBITS on Wednesday because the labels are using Amazon as leverage against the success of iTunes.

The music labels have had mixed feelings about iTunes. Despite the financial success of iTunes that has saved the music industry from the dramatic decline in CD revenues, they still want to have it their way, especially with pricing.

"...the labels are unhappy that the iTunes Store has become the dominant player in the online music world, and they’re desperately trying to help Amazon MP3 become a viable competitor," Mr. Engst explained. "To that end, all four major labels have signed deals with Amazon for DRM-free tracks, whereas Apple hasn’t been able to negotiate similar terms from the Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, or Sony BMG."

It’s true that the labels negotiated terms that were agreeable to them in the past, and they benefitted. However, now they want more in terms of control and pricing, and they only way to get that is a carrot: if Apple wants DRM-free music, like that now being offered at Amazon, Apple will have to change its tune.

"The question is what Apple will have to do to get DRM-free tracks: return a higher percentage of the profits to the labels, abandon flat-rate pricing, or offer a subscription service," Mr. Engst wrote. "Or perhaps Apple will come up with another solution along the lines of using movie rentals in the iTunes Store to make up for disappointing movie sales and a limited selection - if life hands you lemons, rent a lemonade stand."

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