Povert

I thought it was a cruel April Fool’s Joke when I first saw it, but it looks to be true — starting next month Apple will be offering DRM-free tracks from EMI at double the bit rate. Single tracks will cost $1.29 (as opposed to $0.99) and people can upgrade previous purchases for $0.30 per track.

From EMI’s press release: “Complete albums from EMI Music artists purchased on the iTunes Store will automatically be sold at the higher sound quality and DRM-free, with no change in the price.”

This makes me happy. DRM is annoying.

I’ve got a Coldplay album or two that I will upgrade, along with a few scattered songs from other EMI artists.

I wonder how this will interact with the new Complete My Album thing — will the tracks you download to complete the album be DRM-free and 256 kbps? If so, if the previously purchased tracks had DRM and were 128 kbps, will they be replaced?

If you haven’t downloaded Don’t Download This Song by Weird Al, do yourself a favor and get it.

What I like most about this is that my memory of Weird Al is that he just did silly stuff. I know I had “Fat” when I was a kid. And yeah, this song is kind of silly, but it’s not that silly. I mean, he isn’t joking when he talks about grandmas and 7 year old girls getting sued by the RIAA.

My point is that this is a great “Fuck You” to the RIAA, and I like it.

Also, the “We are the World” thing kills me.

Richard Pryor has died.

Stephen Colbert is going to do a spinoff of The Daily Show. The Colbert Report. It’s gonna make fun of all those personality shows on cable news. You know, Hannity, etc.

Awesome. And check this quote:

“We’re going to deal with truth on my program,” Mr. Colbert said. “We’re going to catch the world in the headlights of my justice.”

Heh heh.