Why Apple is more expensive than Amazon: “Buy what you like, where you like. But remember why things are the way they are. Apple is more expensive than Amazon because the labels want you listening to music on a Zune.”
Excellent analysis of the current state of the music industry.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Floyd inflatable pig is recovered: “Floyd inflatable pig is recovered”
Seems Roger’s pig got the urge to fly off, but it’s been returned. Not quite intact, however.
At last: a chance to re-use my photo of Roger’s inflatable pig from Calgary in June…
Get out of the road if you want to grow old.
iTunes Store Top Music Retailer in the US: “iTunes Store Top Music Retailer”
Of course, this might be partly due to the fact that nobody buys CDs any more… But still…
(Via ArsTechnica.)
Took in a showing of U23D at Bayer’s Lake yesterday.
I’ve got U2’s last three concert videos, “Elevation Tour 2001 — Live from Boston”, “U2 Go Home” and “Vertigo//2005″, and frankly they’re all underwhelming. Sure, the production values are excellent, but the performances aren’t up to snuff. Not awful, either, just not up to U2’s abilities. Tantalizingly, the 2001 show was apparently shot the night after one of their best shows ever. So it goes. None of them come close to what I’ve long considered their best live video, the ZooTV Outside Broadcast from Sydney, Australia, in 1993.
U23D, however, wasn’t just a put-you-onstage-with-the-band film, it was a fully-engaging, immersive experience that documented a first-rate performance by one of the best bands on the planet. They were excellent.
I’ve been underwhelmed by IMAX in the past (bigger may be better, but that’s not enough to rescue a poor film like Titanica), but the 3D aspect was very well done. Of course there were some gratuitous guitar-necks-into-the-camera shots, but mostly it was about placing the viewer in the audience, on the stage. It wasn’t distracting; it added greatly to the film.
Something that seems obvious now that I hadn’t expected was 3D transitions. We’re all very used to seeing one shot dissolved into another, but having the first shot occupy space “close” to you, and the second “further” from you is surprisingly different. There’s a whole new cinematic language waiting to be discovered here.
Kill to Get Crimson by Mark Knopfler is available today on iTunes. I know this because Apple sends me email messages letting me know what’s new on iTunes. But they’re just taunting me. It’s not in iTunes’ Canadian store.
Apple knows I’m Canadian. They have my shipping address, my billing address, my ip address and, in all probability, fairly recent DNA samples.
They’re even able to send me “artist alerts”, notifying me that one of my favourite performers has released something new. Which I love.
The iTunes Store is aware of what it can sell to Americans, what it can sell to Canadians, and what it can sell to Britons (including, as of yesterday, iPhones, but I digress). But tailoring the store’s weekly announcements to the subscribers’ countries of origin is just too hard.
So they taunt us. As with the iPhone and the availability of TV shows and movies in iTunes. I wonder if Edward Burns’ new feature (link via DaringFireball.net) will be available in Canada? I’m guessing ‘no’.
Led Zeppelin mega-releases set for the fall —cbc.ca
Despite being a long-time fan of Led Zeppelin, I don’t have any clear memories of having seen The Song Remains The Same. I do have a vague recollection of finding it quite absurd. I do know that it’s the one album of theirs that I don’t own. The Live at the BBC recordings are much better. Still, the CBC.ca write-up offers some hope…
See the search results for “iPhone” on Apple Canada’s Store:
Not only does the Canadian store still have the ca. 2002 web design (quite unlike Apple.com’s nice, new look), it has a conspicuous lack of iPhone. How quaint. How reminiscent of the Canadian iTunes Store’s lack of TV shows and movies…
Hey, Steve? We have electricity up here, and everything!
I took in Roger Waters’ performance at the Skydome in Calgary Saturday night.There was a notice posted to the effect that the show was being recorded for television, and that entering amounted to consenting to be filmed. I don’t know if this has been the case elsewhere. Perhaps a live DVD is in the works?The 2 and-a-half-hour show consisted of three sets; the first was a variety of favourites from the Pink Floyd canon and a few of his solo tunes. The second set was a complete run-through of Dark Side of the Moon, and there was a four-song encore.The set list was identical to what was printed in the official programme, so I’m sure it’s been listed elsewhere. One of the surprises was how much Leaving Beirut changed since it was recorded (in September, 2004)… I wondered how a 12-minute song that few audience members would be likely to know, which consists largely of Roger speaking in French, would go over, but the French gave way to English and there was some nice, aggressive Andy Fairweather-Low guitar book-ending the piece. In fact, while some audience members predictably took advantage of Roger’s Final Cut pieces (The Final Cut and The Fletcher Memorial Home) to relieve themselves or get more beer, people were paying full attention to Leaving Beirut. For me, it was the clear high-point of the evening.
I think this may be the first Tuesday since Apple launched the iTunes Music Store in Canada that there are no new releases… The day isn’t over yet, but they’re typically updated by mid-morning at the latest.
Could this be related to the release of DRM-free tunes?
May 30 update: Apple has released iTunes 7.2:
With iTunes 7.2, preview and purchase iTunes Plus music?
