Macgirl's Media Pick of the Week (6/13/09)

Time for a throwback- to one of my favorite songs, by one of my favorite artists, with one of my favorite videos, by one of my favorite directors.  Whew!  Any guesses??

So the picture on the left gives it away.  My pick this week is an oldy but a goody- Let Forever Be, by the Chemical Brothers. 

It is simply a great song, on one of their best albums, Surrender.  But, equally genius, is the music video by Michel Gondry. 

Check it out:

Macgirl's Media Pick of the Week (6/11/09)

I've got a live one this week.  Well actually, it's more like a dead one. An undead one.

I have been obsessing over the DVD release of True Blood - Season 1 . How can you not get sucked in?  Great acting, great writing, lots of sexy scenes, and a nice sprinkle of humor and fun throughout. 

It's based in a world where vampires are coming out into the mainstream, and fighting for equal rights.  They are supposedly "safe" to society now, as there is a new product on the market:  Tru Blood...a synthetic blood substitute. 

If you have any interest in vampires you will love this series, I promise.  If you haven't joined on the bandwagon yet, order the first season now, so you can catch up before season 2 starts on June 14 at 9pm on HBO.

 Order it from iTunes, and help TDL too:True Blood Season 1

The Palm Pre: Your Thoughts

At the D: All Things Digital conference (a conference which always seems to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about old media) more details of the Palm Pre were announced. Most tantalizingly, the Pre will sync your music through iTunes. Well done, Mr. Rubinstein! In one fell swoop, Palm avoided one of the biggest hurdles: people simply are not going to leave iTunes. If you can't beat em...

But the question is, what do you think of the Pre as we slowly approach launch date? Has Palm one-upped Apple? Is the Pre a viable iPhone competitor? Does the iTunes syncing make you more likely to give this phone a second look? Let us know in the comments.

What's the Harm In An iTunes Subscription Plan?

Microsoft recently went after the iPod, by saying it would cost $30,000 to fill the iPod with music, but the magical Zune is only $15 / month for as much music as you want. This isn't the first time someone has used that $30k number before.

It all leads us to ask the same question we asked last June: What's the harm in an iTunes subscription plan? From our numbers at that time:

Today there are roughly 175 million iPods and iPhones sold. Let's say 150 million are still in use. Now let's assume 40% of those iPod/iPhone owners would be interested in a $15/mo rental program. $15/mo x 90 million would give Apple revenue of $1.25 billion per month.

There are a lot of unknowns here, so let's take a look at far more conservative numbers. Perhaps as few as 5%, or 7.5 million ipods/users would subscribe to the service. That would still mean more than $112 million in revenue each month, or $1.34billion per year. It would take less than four years to match the per song revenue.

It's still a valid question: What's the harm in adding a subscription? Give people the choice, and see what the market does. The only possible concern would be the royalties to the labels outpacing the rental income. If you don't like the rental plan, you simply don't use it. what are we missing?

Macgirl's Media Pick of the Week 4/25/09

Spring is finally here and I'm spending this weekend re-living my youth, mostly through music. (some kite-flying may also have taken place.) 

I am in love with the latest Depeche Mode single, Wrong, and its fabulous video.  Even better that the song, is the album option through iTunes- they are offering an iTunes pass for the album "Sounds of the Universe" from now until June 16.  Along with the album, the pass includes extended singles, remixes, videos and more.  At $18.99 for the iTunes plus version of an album, it's a little steep, but I think its well worth it for the best music to come from Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher in a long time.  Roll down the windows and blast yourself back to the early 90's...