The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg and Katherine Boehret have penned an informative digital music primer. “Many folks—even some who own iPods and other players—are still confused over how legal digital music works,” they write. “So here’s a quick-and-dirty guide to the digital music world, in question-and-answer form. We’ve included the questions we are asked most frequently, plus a few other topics.”
Universal Music says it plans to price back-catalog CDs in line with their digital versions. The Guardian reports: “Universal is to split its CDs into three price and product ranges in Europe to revitalise a format that accounts for more than 90% of record sales. The most significant change is the introduction of a ‘basic’ CD for older recordings, such as the Killers’ Hot Fuss, that will wrap the album in a card case with no sleeve notes.”
Macsimum News has posted some new illustrations of iPod designs found in Apple patent filings. “The official European Trademarks and Designs office has revealed some very interesting new iPod designs filed by Apple in January 2006,” the site reports. “All of the designs that were found, list Andre K. Bartley as the official designer. All of the designs were officially published on March 14, 2006 and carry a priority date of August 24, 2005.”
Cool Gorilla has released two new iPod translator phrasebooks—a French Language pack and a Greek Language pack. “Lastminute.com has teamed up with coolgorilla to bring you interactive pocket ipod phrase books that will help you when you are away for the weekend and you need it most. No more flicking though pages or making a fool of yourself on pronunciation.”