Inside iTunes LP: No DRM, Lots of WebKit
At Apple’s annual special music event, this year dubbed “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it” they announced a new, old-style album-centric offering called iTunes LP. The image painted was of a young Steve Jobs, grabbing his bike, riding to the music store, buying the latest Dylan on vinyl, racing home, putting it on his turn table, and then lying back and listening, while pouring over the album art, liner material, lyrics, and other extras.
Fast forward to the era of CDs, and ultimately iTunes and digital downloads, and extras became less common, as did buying entire albums. For lazy artists who made one or two good songs and loaded the rest with filler, well deserved. For true artists who wrote albums like epics, like symphonies in multiple parts, well… the listener was the one missing out.
Admittedly, when we first heard about iTunes LP, code-named Cocktail, we worried that Big Music was trying to force Apple to force us to buy those lazy, filler-filled albums, and maybe even sneak DRM (Digital Rights Management) back into our freshly-liberated iTunes.
Turns out that young Steve Jobs and his Dylan album was closer to what we get with iTunes LP than a Big Music lock down scheme. And thank goodness for that.
Web developer Jay Robinson (via Daring Fireball) has taken a closer look at iTunes LP, and provided lots of great details for those interested in the format. Like what?
- The iTunes LP files are ITLP format and rather large (~500MB)
- They’re in 720p, (which is confusing for smaller display sizes like on some laptops, but might make sense on Apple TV, or dare we say, an iTablet“>iTablet?)
- iTunes LP visualizer
- Internal structure uses WebKit (the foundation of Safari) for rendering, HTML 4.01, CSS, and Javascript.
- And best of all — DRM-free! (YES!)
Check out Robinson’s full write up for a lot more on the new iTunes LP format, and if you try it out, tell us what you get and how you like it!
September 12th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Cool. Can you upgade an album you already on to LP? (first!)
September 12th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
it should be able to go on my ipod touch right? or just the songs at least
September 12th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
@smchrist2
Unfortunately no:/ But iTunes LP is bananas. I bought Blueprint 3 (the same as seen on this screenshot). It’s beautiful.
September 12th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Fail, why the heck would anybody want to pay extra for a bloated file with 8 songs in it and content you’ll watch once. Apple needs to work on things that create value for their customers not just value for Apple.
Wouldn’t buy music from iTunes anyway (Amazon is cheaper). Wouldn’t buy apps either if I had a choice.
September 12th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I also found this bit in Robinson’s write up:
So it’s not at all like the album inserts of even the CD inserts. Its more like MTV. You watch the presentation from beginning to end, you can’t browse it UNLESS the developers happened to build in such browsing.
I suspect that when this is played with a little bit by the more creative types, it will become more of a user driven experience, so you can not only see still images from the concert, but actually PLAY the video in sync with the audio in a window while you read concert reviews, press coverage of the event, still shots, and pictures of the trashed hotel rooms. (ok, maybe not that last bit).
Even tho there was no DRM, Robinson stated that the lyrics were static images, not text files. So they aren’t exactly making it easy to copy lyrics to text files here.
Because its largely html (and assorted pieces and parts) the sky is the limit when it comes to capabilities.
Odd he went to all this trouble to review it and never once mentioned the iPhone or the Touch.
Does it work at all on small devices?
September 12th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
@shollowmon didn’t you ever buy records or at least a collectors cd of your favorite artist? You pay extra cause you get more of what you love, and you hardly consider it a large price to pay. Sometimes you get ripped when you buy a collectors cd for an artist like eminem because his production company just throws together some cheap art. These LPs on the other hand are going to pick select artist that can tell a vivid story. Jack Johnson, or Paul Simon, or Regina spektor. Maybe someday the beatles. Just saying if they threw up your favorite artist with animated lyrics. Artist made art and secret stuff just for the fans it might be worth it to you.
September 12th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
You don’t have to pay more. It’s the same as booklet in deluxe edition. Look at Jay-Z’s BP3. It’s deluxe cause it has got two additional videos. iTunes LP is free!
September 12th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
collectors cd of your favorite artist?
Are you kidding? Of course not. All I want is the music as cheap is possible with some trade off for sound quality/price. I want individual tracks, not albums. Liner notes and background on the band are on the band website for, wait for it, free. Lyrics are on the internet for, once again, free.
I don’t sit around watching music videos. I listen to music while I’m doing other things, like driving, video is worthless.
September 12th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I have to admit that I am very excited about this. I definitely miss the “album experience”, and I usually buy my music as complete albums anyway to retain some of that experience. I like what I’ve seen so far, but I have yet to buy one because there aren’t any albums in the iTunes LP format that I want. I have preordered the new Muse and Alice in Chains albums, so I should be finding out soon enough.
@shollomon “Apple needs to work on things that create value for their customers not just value for Apple.” I see this as value for me. For artist that I love, this is a much more immersive experience, and I like that. Also, I don’t think I’ll be paying more. The Muse album is $11.99, and Alice in Chains is $9.99, not much of a premium, especially considering that “Deluxe” albums often come in at $12.99 or more.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
@shollowmon – I guess if you feel that way you won’t be convinced in it’s worth no matter what we say. That fine, to each his own. Enjoy your music anyway you like it. I don’t really watch videos very often either but if the right band came along I would try. You probly have other things your passionate about.
September 13th, 2009 at 6:04 am
So, will LPs work on iPhone/iPod? That would be nice.
September 13th, 2009 at 10:45 am
I’m fully down with people liking the albums. If you like them more power to you. I’m just frustrated that Apple is spending time on frivolous stuff like this when iTunes cannot watch user selected folders and update my music library based on changes or when my iPhone can’t open excel spreadsheets directly in Quickoffice but instead I have to forward the attachment to a Quickoffice server and then open it from there.
September 13th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
@shollomon
not trying to offend, but:
cheers