Peeve Farm

g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.

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Friday, April 11, 2003

10:54 - So that's their little game...
http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/A/APPLE_UNIVERSAL?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=

(top)

Okay, so: last month we heard about Apple's plans to create a new digital-music service that reportedly had won the hearts and minds of the whole record industry, scheduled to bow in late April. A couple of days ago we heard about the new iPod models with separate control buttons, 15 or 30GB drives, USB2, and a docking station-- said to be slated for the end of April.

And today, this news breaks (via Mike Hendrix):

Apple Computer Inc. is in discussions about buying Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, for as much as $6 billion, according to a published report Friday.

Talks between Apple and Vivendi Universal, Universal Music Group's parent company, have been held secretly for months, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Apple may offer $5 billion to $6 billion for the music company before Vivendi's April 29 board meeting, the newspaper said, citing sources it did not identify.

Those who see Apple as being a company that's perpetually on the edge of bankruptcy might do well to recall that they're actually doing quite well, thank you, with billions of cash in the bank and a healthy record of managed profit margins in recent quarters; but Vivendi, one of the record labels having to cope with the sudden digital revolution as well as the present sad state of the music industry, is actually on the verge of bankruptcy. Enough so that they apparently represent a good acquisition target to Apple.

Presumably what all this means is that Apple's getting into the music business in a big way. (Theme song for the upcoming ad campaign: Sosumi.) Presumably all the artists owned by Universal would then become part of Apple's marketing machine, hawking iPods in malls and running giant Keynote-created presentations on the giant screens behind them at live concerts.

Seriously, I'd love to know what form this will all take. Word has been that the online music service Apple plans to unveil will offer free 30-second clips and $1-a-song downloads, based on AAC (which has no built-in DRM technology, unlike Windows Media); they've also been reported to have signed up five of the biggest labels as participants, enthusiastic about the interface of the new system and its foolproof profitability and usefulness to the point where they're willing to jump on board and finally start endorsing the digital generation rather than fighting it. It'll be Mac-only, but so was the iPod at first. (Now, according to the Think Secret article, 58% of all iPods sold are Windows models.)

On an unrelated note, I've been hearing that the PPC 970 chips are on an accelerated production ramp, already being seeded to development machines, possibly for demonstration at WWDC. We might have them on shelves later this year after all-- soon to be followed by the 9800, if yar rumors be true. And OS X 10.3-- "Panther"-- will be unveiled then as well, with full 64-bit support and God knows what else.

It's an interesting time to be a Mac user, yes sirree.

UPDATE: CapLion has some comments on these developments.

Incidentally, here's some self-effacing Mac humor, in response to Den Beste's suggestion that Apple hire al-Sahhaf as their new spokesman.