Apple to preload iPods with music?
updated 04:35 pm EST, Tue February 6, 2007
Preloaded iPods inbound?
Following the resolution of the dispute between Apple Inc. and record label Apple Corps, users may soon be able to buy many iPods preloaded with music, according to blog posts by some commentators. Wired's Leander Kahney notes that with the end of the conflict, Apple Inc. is no longer subject to a clause which prevented it from selling "physical media delivering prerecorded content." The effect of this was most clearly seen with the debut of the U2 Special Edition iPod, which only offered a voucher for U2's music through the iTunes Store. Not only will the U2 iPod have preloaded music, Kahney says, we will soon bear witness to products like a rumored "Yellow Submarine" iPod, preloaded with the Beatles catalogue and shipping on Valentine's Day.
Further speculation posits iPods with preloaded sample songs, like the Microsoft Zune, or many more specialized players, such as a Motown iPod, or iPod shuffles tied to an artist's new album. Tie-ins could prove to be an extremely lucrative concept for Apple, Kahney suggests. Record labels may be willing to pay high amounts to have their music featured, and inexpensive iPods could be sold at various venues, ready to be used without even touching iTunes or a computer. Concerts, for instance, might sell shuffles containing the performance visitors just saw.
DRM Would Restrict It
02/06, 04:47pm reply
Being that songs have DRM and are encoded with your "Apple ID", there seem to be an easy way to do this as it stands. One never knows.
ronjamin
Baninated
Joined: May 2002
no prerecorded content?
02/06, 05:12pm reply
My 2G iPod did come with preloaded music, though I can't remember the song titles.
hitoro
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2005
re: no prerecorded...
02/06, 05:46pm reply
I think that when i got my iPod a while back it came with a free "itunes sampler" that I downloaded, but it hadn't come with music on it already. The biggest issue with preloading is keeping iTunes from nuking the iPod when I first put it in. but, maybe, with the new 'syncing' feature in iTunes 7 the software would copy the music from the preloaded ipod into my library... hm...
Hobeaux
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2002
ibook
02/06, 10:09pm reply
The original White iBook came with music already loaded in iTunes. Of course, this was before the iTunes Store and the advent of FairPlay.
If they started pre-loading music onto iPods, that music would be uploaded and DRM encoded by the first system you connected it to.
mjtomlin
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 1999
iPod iDeas
02/07, 12:36am reply
why can't I buy an album cover skin for my iPod? Like, say, AC/DC's "Back in Black" or Sgt Peppers?
why can't I buy an iPod with the Swan Song label or Atlantic label or yes the Motown label screened onto it?
black or white doesn't cut it anymore.
climacs
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2001
re: ipod ideas
02/07, 08:40am reply
You can buy an actual vinyl 45 record that has been turned into an ipod case:
http://www.45ipodcases.com/home.php
I wish I could afford one!
addisonx
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2002
rumors
02/07, 10:25am reply
The "yellow submarine" story originated on MacBreak Weekly's podcast. The person who started it immediately stated that his source was "my butt"!
It's amazing now how even MacNN will print garbage without fact checking.
Paulrm
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Re: rumors
02/07, 11:44am reply
Who needs fact checking, speculations is a much more entertaining and enjoyable way to spend ones time, if you don't know what I mean, tune into Fox News some time, they know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!
Tins
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2007
Yellow Subpod
02/07, 02:19pm reply
Well, my butt tells me that I'd pay a little extra for a Yellow Submarine iPod, so I hope that Apple does pick up on the concept and run with it. Themed, pre-loaded iPods seem like a great way to diversify the brand.
notehead
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001