Smells Like Rotten Apples

I’m sure most of you have heard the news about Apple (or AT&T, or a combination of the two) rejecting the official Google Voice application and removing all applications from the iTunes Store that utilized Google Voice.  It’s gathered so much attention that the FCC has launched an investigation.  They’re not only asking about the Google Voice application, but they also want to know what the approval/rejection process is for iPhone apps.

The latest news is from a developer that was forced to censor their dictionary application and remove “illicit” words (including “ass”).  While that in itself is bad enough, the censored dictionary application, according to Apple, still necessitated a 17+ rating.  I’ll be the first one to say that I’m a fan of Apple and of the Mac brand, but this is just craziness.  Can you imagine what would happen if Microsoft would have pulled such a stunt?  I think the EU might have imploded.

It’s bad enough they censored the dictionary, but what about their own dictionary built right into OS X?  Well, as it turns out, you can find all of those illicit words there – just as they should be.  Maybe Apple should look-up some words of their own, in any dictionary.  I’d love to see how the idiots jokers over at MacDailyNews put a positive spin on these two issues, but they’ve been oddly silent.

I admit it, I’m a Mac fan.  I own a new MacBook Pro and quite a few iPods (Touch, Shuffle, and Nano).  If it weren’t for AT&T, I’d own an iPhone as well.  However, this lunacy with the iTunes App Store just has to stop.  I thought the whole point of building ratings and enhanced parental controls into the iPhone OS 3.0 was to enable mature (and I use that term loosely, since Apple and I have different definitions of the term) content in the Store.  I never thought I would hear myself champion the FCC, but I have to say that I hope someone lays some serious smack-down on Apple (and probably AT&T as well) in response to these Orwellian developments.  Isn’t this the same type of thing everyone always complains about with Microsoft?  I guess what they say is true – power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Update [August 6, 2009 - 5:30 pm]: It looks like Apple’s Phil Schiller has responded to the dictionary debacle.  Apparently, the developers did originally submit their application to Apple before the iPhone 3.0 OS was available.  Instead of waiting, they went ahead and censored the application.  After the updated OS was released, the application was then assigned the 17+ (mature) rating.  While this somewhat absolves Apple, it continues to highlight the point that interest everyone – what is the process Apple uses to approve/reject applications from the iTunes Store?

New iTunes Variable Pricing

Some of us thought it was just a rumor, but the promised variable pricing structure of the iTunes Store is now live.  I did some cursory searching around the store, and I have a few observations about the new prices.  All links in the list below refer to the iTunes Store.

• Out of the Top 100 songs, 28 of them have an increased price ($1.29).  The remaining 72 songs have remained at $0.99.
• The higher price is not solely applied to new songs and/or artists.  For example, many popular Bon Jovi songs are now $1.29.
• I have yet to find any songs that are $0.69.  If you run across any, please post them in the comments section.  (Edit: Thanks to the Ars Technica article, here are two albums that offer $0.69 tracks.)
• Music is now 100% DRM-free (iTunes Plus).
• Complete CD prices seem to be unaffected.  Most CDs are still $9.99, and the occasional CD sells for $12.99 or higher (usually for special/deluxe editions).
• It’s too early to say if price increases are linked to music label.  My initial browsing of the store yielded inconsistent results for pricing when looking strictly at music label.

I’m not sure how I feel about the price changes.  Living in a state that charges tax on downloads from the iTunes Store, I was already paying $1.05 for a $0.99 download.  If you factor in the 30% price increase (from $0.99 to $1.29), I’d now be paying, at most, $1.37 per song from the iTunes Store.  This represents a 38% increase since I first started using the iTunes Store (in a different state without the tax and before the recent price increase).  I feel that $0.99 was the “sweet spot” for digital download pricing.  While the additional $0.20 is hardly anything to complain about, it’s a large mental leap to go from less than a dollar per song to over a dollar per song.

From what I’ve read, it seems that this latest pricing structure is the result of the recording industry and labels and is not an Apple brain child.  I can believe this, as Apple has a history of standing up to the recording industry.  Still, it seems like a step in the wrong direction.  While record labels and the recording industry are constantly complaining about illegal downloading, does it really make sense to raise prices on legal downloads?  The old rules of supply and demand don’t apply with digital distribution; the supply is completely elastic.  While Amazon is still selling tracks for $0.89 and $0.99 each, I expect them to be pushed into a similar agreement by the record labels in the near future.

Will I still buy music from the iTunes Store?  Yeah.  As much as I’d like to take a stand and boycott the new prices, it’s simply too convenient to relinquish.  I guess that’s what happens when you get hooked on something.  So I’ll say hello to $1.29 downloads (plus tax) and hope for change – someday.

Sandisk Cruzer Micro Custom Icon

I took some time yesterday and created a custom icon for my current flash drive, a SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive.  I used the Xcode Development Suite (specifically Icon Composer) to create the icon.  It includes specific sizes for 512, 256, 128, 32, and 16 pixels, and the icon file scales very smoothly. For right now, the icon is only available as an RSRC file for Mac OS X 10.4 or higher.  Feel free to download the file and use it on your own computer. Included in the file is the RSRC file (necessary to use the icon) and the original ICNS file (in case you want to edit it yourself in Icon Composer).

Sample of Cruzer icon at 128 pixels

MacHeist 3 Bundle

If you’re an Apple user, you probably already know about MacHeist.  For those that don’t, it’s a bundle of software (some useful, some not) that can be had at a ridiculous discount ($39 instead of over $600).  There’s only seven days left to download the bundle of applications.  If for no other reason, the bundle includes the addictive World of Goo game.