They've figured it out! With rampant file-sharing and a listening public increasingly skeptical of record labels promoting cookie-cutter acts pushing feeble product, to say that the record industry is in a doomed freefall would be putting it kindly. But Apple's got it all figured out, apparently. The iTunes giant has teamed up with several major record labels for a project currently going by the code name "Cocktail" - a virtual, interactive CD experience that will be packaged with every full-album download.
In other words, the plan entails bundling together digital extras with the downloads to replicate the unique experience of browsing through all the little extras that make physical CDs worthwhile in the first place: liner notes, booklets, lyric sheets, photos, etc. You know, stuff that you can actually hold with your hands. Anonymous Apple executives said that downloaders could play songs straight from the interactive books, which are "not just a bunch of PDFs," and users can click through whatever additions they find interesting.
Will all the little extras provided by the iTunes virtual CD booklets persuade consumers to stop downloading illegally? Apple hopes so, and so does Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music and EMI (who have all partnered up for the venture), but unfortunately, it's not going to work. It may be an attractive novelty (especially if promoted well), but the reason people download is for the ease and convenience - unless there's a very easy-to-use, engaging interface for the plan, many will be driven even further away from the traditional market. Getting rid of DRM was a good start, and this is a logical next step in attempting to drum up sales, but ultimately it's not going to help matters much.
Here's an idea that steps outside the argument over whether or not major labels even have a right to exist anymore: why don't you (the labels) raise the bar a little bit? Amputate the thousand or so horrible, one-dimensional Buckcherry bands you guys keep shuffling & re-stuffing the same press release to promote, and realize that the public doesn't trust you anymore. Rather than pushing those bands down the throats of music fans, give us something with fucking heart. By filling the racks with crap, you're inevitably signing your own death warrant by inspiring legions of detailed, ass-ripping editorials on exactly what's wrong with the supposed wizards behind the curtain, and why bullshit like Adelita's Way is exactly why nobody's buying music anymore.
In more Apple news, the company is also racing to offer a portable tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season,which they hope will spawn a new revolution in digital media.
The device is a touch-sensitive computer with a screen that may be up to 10 inches diagonally. It will connect to the internet like the iPod Touch, without phone capability but with access to the web. Of course,
Apple is gambling heavy on the concept that it can succeed where everyone else has epically failed, including Microsoft, which pushed a tablet-ready version of its Windows operating system to lackluster interest.
Book publishers have been in talks with Apple about being included in the computer, which could provide an alternative to Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader and a forthcoming device from Plastic Logic, recently allied with Barnes & Noble.
