Apple, record labels working on ‘Cocktail’ album bundles

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Apple, record labels working on ‘Cocktail’ album bundles

Apple is working with the four major music labels—EMI, Sony, Warner Bros., and UMG—on a new type of album bundle aimed at boosting sales of complete albums on the iTunes Store. The Financial Times reports that the project, code-named “Cocktail,” will include interactive liner notes, videos, lyrics, and other interactive content with albums, expanding on the current bundles already available. The report states that the initiative is being developed alongside a new tablet-style portable computer from Apple, which is said to be in talks with book publishers about offering their content for sale on the new device.

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Comments

1

I love the concept of interactive booklets, and possibly an Apple tablet to act as a media controller (among other things), but I only buy CDs, not lossy digital downloads.

Posted by Galley in Greenville, SC on July 27, 2009 at 10:20 AM (PDT)

2

Great Idea as long a the stuff they bundle is worth it and that they keep the $9.99 album price I’m all for it!

Posted by bagpipes on July 27, 2009 at 10:21 AM (PDT)

3

I agree with Galley. The labels can try to lure me with all the “extras”, but unless the music (which, after all, is the primary reason for the purchase) is lossless or hi-rez, I’m not interested.

Posted by NewMexiPod on July 28, 2009 at 7:35 AM (PDT)

4

Whachu talking about, Willis? For your information, even music on CD isn’t “lossless”. Not all of the frequencies and clarity of the music can be stored on an audio CD, and more importantly, when it’s blaring through your speakers/headphones they most likely won’t output you all the frequencies that there are; hell, at the very least your ears won’t catch all there is to the recording! So in any case, you’re missing out, and there’s nothing you can do about it. This problem won’t be resolved even if you decide against buying “lossy” music, sorry. The headphones/speakers on your part and your own ears are a bigger issue, than the compression!

Posted by TJ on August 22, 2009 at 7:05 AM (PDT)

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