At Steve Jobs’s insistence, the iTunes music store proposition to customers has always been simple: You pay us 99 cents, you get a song. But that’s starting to change. Today’s new wrinkle: Pay us a premium, and we’ll give you a bunch of songs and some other stuff.
Think of how much time you spend on the Web when you’re gainfully employed. How much would that increase if you weren’t? Something to think about as you ponder data from a variety of sites reporting increased traffic in January–the same month that 600,000 Americans lost their jobs.
Can’t wait for the debut of Kindle 2.0, which should arrive around 10 a.m. this morning in New York? Here’s a splash of cold water, courtesy of Jeffrey Lindsay: The Bernstein Research analyst says Amazon’s much hyped e-book reader is merely a “niche product”–and that the e-commerce giant wants to keep it that way.
Also, look for MediaMemo’s liveblog of the Kindle event soon.
The Apple CEO shares something “very personal”: The explanation of his weight loss. He says a “simple and straightforward” treatment will resolve it. And he will remain CEO throughout his recovery.
Amazon has been selling digital music from all the big music labels for nearly a year now. It hasn’t changed Apple’s grip on that business in any way, and it hasn’t made any money for Amazon. But don’t write it off as a failure just yet.
Want to watch nerd-favorite “The Fifth Element” via Netflix’s awesome streaming service? OK, but hurry up–the movie will disappear from the service on New Year’s Day. Want to rent the excellent George Clooney corporate thriller “Michael Clayton” via iTunes? Too late! The movie was there, but now it’s not. Wait a minute: Hadn’t big media finally gotten religion and agreed to give us, the demanding consumers, everything we want, whenever we want it? Nope.
Did you miss The Simpsons’ Apple parody on Fox last night? No problem: Hulu is happy to show you the entire episode. The fact that this is no big deal shows just how far the networks have come in the past few years–they’re more than happy to show people their best programming on the Web, just a few hours after it airs.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
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