iTunes

In case you missed it, Apple made three huge announcements at Macworld during CEO Steve Jobs's Keynote Address yesterday. In my opinion, much of the media has fallen in to the trap of covering the sexiest stories rather than the more important ones. From where I sit, here are the three pieces of news, in increasing order of importance:

* [The iPhone](http://www.apple.com/iphone/): Apple announced that, in June, they will ship a revolutionary cell phone, complete with touch screen, amazing software and the ability to make anyone holding it invisible to everyone except the Dark Lord Sauron. OK, I made that last part up but the truth is that, as usual, Apple produced something years ahead of the competition. Like the Mac and iPod before it, companies will be copying the iPhone for years.

* Apple re-demo'd the  tv (yes, that's how they write it), a TV set-top box that pulls content from within iTunes to your "widescreen TV" via wi-fi, allowing you to access your photos, music, videos, etc via your home entertainment center. Unlike the phone, it is an evolutionary product, not a revolutionary one, but it trumps Windows Media Center Edition with its simplicity and price. It is most notable because it marks Apple's official move into the living room.

* The biggest deal of the day, in my opinion, came very late in the Keynote, when Jobs announced that Apple Computer, Inc. has changed its name and is now to be known as Apple, Inc. I seem to be alone in believing that this is the "big news," as even Apple's [Press Release Page](http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/) doesn't mention the announcement. The only indication is the foot of every page on Apple's website which now reads "Copyright © 2007 Apple Inc. All rights reserved."

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not predicting [the death of the Mac](http://feeds.tuaw.com/~r/weblogsinc/tuaw/~3/73274761/) or anything, but it is noteworthy that Apple has publicly acknowledged that they are widening their scope to include consumer electronics as well as computers; it's as if they're saying that they want to compete with Sony and not Microsoft. Of course, here at MacMove, we've maintained for a long time that this is the case, because Apple is, above all else, a hardware company.

With yesterday's announcements, Apple is now offering three different devices that lots of people want that are *not* computers (iPod, iPhone,  tv)... but all three require iTunes to work. iTunes runs on Windows or the Mac OS, so lots and lots of people will now be free to enjoy Apple design without giving up their Windows computers.

Big announcements, indeed.

I've been catching up on podcasts lately (spending a lot of time in the car driving between jobs) and, last night, I caught part of the [latest episode](http://macnotables.com/archives/2006/674.html) of [MacNotables](http://macnotables.com/), which featured host Chuck Joiner, [MacObserver](http://www.macobserver.com/) editor, Bryan Chaffin and insufferable know-it-all [Andy Ihnatko](http://www.cwob.com/yellowtext/) all reacting to Apple's Showtime announcements of last week. They discuss many things, but what sticks out in my mind is a comment both Bryan and Andy made regarding the distribution of feature films through the new iTunes Store.

Basically, both Andy and Bryan said that they don't see why anyone would buy movies in this way, at this price. Andy feels that, for just a little more money, customers can get the extra content found on an DVD and that the chief benefit of the iTS, purchasing single tracks of music instead of entire albums, doesn't apply to movies. Bryan chimed in, saying that he thinks digital video is a good idea, but that Apple's prices are too high.

I wonder what the two of them think of Disney's [announcement](http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060919:MTFH56918_2006-09-19_16-45-09_N19399790&type=comktNews&rpc=44) today that they have:
>...sold 125,000 movie downloads worth $1 million in revenue through Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes online music store during the offering's first week.

That seems like a lot to me. I guess people *do* like it. Let me say this: I didn't buy a single one of those 125,000 movies.

My math says that 125,000 x 52 = 6,500,000, is a lot of movies. That's one movie for each resident of El Salvador, for example. Or, put another way, three movies for every Kuwati citizen. How about this: If you stacked that many DVDs up, the flat way, the pile would be a hair under 58 miles high.

Obviously, *someone* is buying them.

MacMove reader **Isaac** asks:

>My mother just inherited my brother's old iBook, with a new hard drive. How do we go about moving all of her music from her desktop PC to the iBook?

That's a good question - one that lots of people ask. So, we're going to tackle it right here on the site!

##Basic Outline##
The process is pretty simple. In basic terms, all you are going to do is copy the folder containing the music from the PC to the iBook. Now, there are some details to take care of, but the process itself is straight-forward.

Let's deal with the actual transfer first. A music library is nothing more than a folder containing sub-folders which hold music. Now, there are probably a lot of songs in your Mom's music library, so we're talking about *a lot* of data; probably gigabytes. So, we're not going to just email these files or put them on a CD. But, not to worry: there are two different methods to move this much data between computers, and both are pretty simple.

##Options##
One choice is to create a network between the two machines (if you don't have one already) then use file-sharing to move the music. Another is to use an external hard drive as a temporary home for the music files.

The first solution takes some doing. It's not hard, but it is complex. Luckily, Apple has a walk-through available [here](http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107083). So, that's that. The other option, an external hard drive (which Isaac ended up using) is much simpler. Just place all of the music onto the drive from the PC then copy it onto the Mac (remembering to then remove it from the external drive once you verify it's all working on the iBook). You see, Macs can use the same external hard drives that Windows PCs do, so that's a piece of cake.

##Get Organized##
Now, there is a setting in iTunes that will make this all easier: In the Advanced tab of the iTunes Preferences window, select the "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" checkbox. This is probably already checked, but make sure. This setting will automatically place all of the music files on your computer (Mac or PC) into a formal structure of folders and sub-folders for you. I can't think of any reason why this would be a bad thing, and it makes the migration of your music much easier.

##The Move##
Once you have verified that your music is all in once place, the transfer is a snap. Where is that "one place?" Well, your iTunes Music folder is a folder named "iTunes Music" in ~/Music/iTunes/ (where the tilde "~" represents your home directory). In Windows, the default location is: \Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes. Simply copy that folder ("iTunes Music") onto your external drive and then onto the second machine from there. Then, on the new computer, place it exactly where it used to be, so iTunes will know where to find it.

NOTE: if there is more than one folder with the name "iTunes Music" in that magic spot, your computer will balk. Like the Highlander, there can be only one... iTunes Music folder. So, before you blindly copy your music onto the second machine, make sure you have moved or renamed the folder that you're replacing. If you don't, it will be erased to make room for the new one.

Everything should be fine, as long as you haven't launched iTunes on the second machine anytime during the transfer. Once the files are in place, go ahead an launch the program; it should see the new iTunes Music folder at startup and –presto!– you've got your old music library on your new machine.

As always, if anything here is unclear or you run into problems, let us know, via email or in a comment. Good luck!

...Apple isn't any more pro-DRM than anyone else.

I really don't get the anti-DRM rhetoric.

Every song that Apple sells is protected from illegal distribution by [FairPlay](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay). But, you can burn those songs to CD, straight out of iTunes, as many times as you want, forever. And, once they are burned to CD, they can be re-imported, totally stripped of all DRM.

Now, I know that's a hassle, but here's the point: Apple has made the finest online music store ever, with the easiest-to-use interface and largest library. They offer DRM to protect their clients' interests and to make it "a hassle" to steal the music. Not impossible (like Microsoft and Sony try to do), because that makes the user experience a real pain in the rear.

So, they provide a great service, don't get in host users' way and, with a little sweat, you can still steal the music (if that's really what you're after).

What's the problem?

• One billion seconds = 31.6 years
• One billion inches = 15,782.8 miles
• One billion ounces = 7,812,500 gallons
• One billion iTunes Music Store downloads = a really big deal.

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this number. Apple [announced](http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/feb/23itms.html) today that Alex Ostrovsky's purchase of Coldplay's "Speed of Sound" was the official one billionth song downloaded via iTunes in the less-than-three years it's been open.

He got an iMac, 10 iPods and a $10,000 giftcard for the iTMS (which will only purchase 0.001% of the next billion). Cooler than that, Apple established a scholarship in his name at the [Julliard School](http://www.juilliard.edu/).

“I hope that every customer, artist and music company executive takes a moment today to reflect on what we’ve achieved together during the past three years,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Over one billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet.”

Back when the iTMS was launched, we here at MacMove talked about how, by giving users an easy, reasonably-priced way to download music, Apple enabled the public to do things the right way. Apple brought about the end of the era of Napster and, now they are the most popular site for the legal purchase of both music and video.

I should have bought stock then. :)