Custom minipublishing: While I doubt it will change the media landscape, I’m always happy to see someone innovate a new way to distribute a custom magazine. The website Gizmag.com is reporting a new idea called the “on-product magazine.”

Quote:

“The idea was to create a small…magazine which fits onto a fast moving consumer product and distribute via grocery rather than traditional magazine channels. Joanna’s idea is now patented and will launch in January as the first on-product magazine - a bottled water aimed at the female market with iLove magazine attached and will be joined in Q2 by a magazine for children and a magazine aimed at men on Iced Coffee. Distribution will be focused through convenience stores, supermarkets and gas stations, significantly differentiating the products that carry them and offering advertisers a circulation far in excess of magazines sold through traditional magazine distribution channels. By March, iLove magazine will be the largest circulation magazine in Australia and the company has global aspirations, holding patents for on-product magazines attached to all common food packaging formats.”

While the “patent” part of this sounds a bit far-reaching and the hype-factor a bit over-the-top, I like the concept.

(Sidenote: The first time I clicked onto the Gizmag story, it displayed a Hammock Publishing adsense ad, the first time I’ve seen one other than on a Google results page. Here’s a screen shot.)

Technorati Tags: magazines, publishing, custom publishing

The cult of Mac: Dave Winer has noticed that some some people don’t quite understand my earlier post.

Strange thing, we Mac users are. As I’ve said here before, I purchased my first Mac in April, 1984, and have purchased hundreds since then. Everyone who works at Hammock Publishing (except for one) has at least one Mac they use for work and all who have been there over a year own an iPod. (I am happy for people to have iTunes on their work computers, but our backup system does not include backing up their personal files.)

Mac people, listen up: Don’t blame the customer when something Apple does screws up. Apple has decided to go into the consumer electronics business with the iPod/iTunes line. The 27 million iPods out there aren’t all owned by people who know what the word “backup” means, so don’t call someone stupid because they don’t have a disaster recovery plan for their iPod. If they purchase music that must be played on one of five devices that Apple “authorizes,” then the relationship between Apple and the listener does not end at the time of purchase. As long as I can only play that music on a device Apple controls via authorization, Apple should be responsible for enabling me to continue enjoying it if a device they own “eats” it.

How hard is it to understand that Apple added DRM and the whole “authorization” gimmick to convince the record labels that it’s okay to distribute music through the iTunes distribution channel? My advice (and that’s all it is) was for those who choose to purchase music from the iTunes Store to do that thing which Apple makes it easy for you to do: Burn the music to a CD that will strip out both the DRM and the requirement to play the tune on an Apple-authorized device.

Technorati Tags: apple, ipod

Blogging advisory: I’ll be blogging — however, lightly and on random topics — for the next week. Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, Birthday, Anniversary or any other personal, religious or secular milestone you may observe over the coming week.

What was hot on the blogosphere in 2005? BlogPulse’s 2005 Year in Review. (Background)

Technorati Tags: blogging

What Jeff Jarvis said: Give the people control and they will use it. Don’t, and you will lose them.

Technorati Tags: blogging

Better late than never: NBC and the iTunes Store discovered that everyone on the Internet had already downloaded an illegal copy of it, so now they are giving away (ITMS link) the hilarious Saturday Night Live music video called “Lazy Sunday.”

Technorati Tags: apple, itunes

Pre-Christmas morning iTunes tip: Long time readers of the rexblog know I’m a big user of Apple’s iTunes service. However, my “power” usage and the length of time I’ve been using the iTunes store (since the day it was opened), means I know what I’m talking about when I say the following:

Burn a backup CD of tunes you purchase from the iTunes Store!

Okay. You’ve been advised and forewarned. You will thank me one day.

First, let me say it is ridiculous that you have to do this. You purchased the tune. It should be yours to use in any legal way you see fit. And I said legal, as in, legal in the ways that courts have already established are legal for you to use around your house and to shift what you purchase from one format to another for personal usage.

But because of the encyrption (or, DRM - “digital rights management”) of the iTunes store-purchased files, you are forced to go through an easy, but time-wasting and illogical few clicks to rip out the encryption. Again, Apple gives you the tools to convert the file into a non-encrypted file (they call it “Burn Disk,” but it might as well say “Get rid of our Ridiculous Encryption”).

Don’t just back up the encrypted (DRM) version of the tune. By burning a CD, you will get your tunes out of the iTunes store format and into a format you can use without it having to be “authorized” by the Apple store. I (and my testing panel) have learned this the hard way. For some unique reasons, I have had three different computers during the past year. Having children who share some musical tastes also means a couple of other devices use the tunes. I’ve had to de-authorize and re-authorize my Apple store account more than the allowable times.

Another person in my office lost all of her Apple iTunes store purchases when her PowerBook’s hard drive crashed (another rant for another day). Despite the obvioius fact that Apple knows she has purchased these tunes and that her problem was caused by an Apple hardware problem, their response is: You should have backed it up. Huh? To what?

Bottomline: A lot of hassle is saved if you get the music you purchase from the Apple iTunes store into a format you can use in any number of ways that are legal and appropriate without ever having to deal with Apple about that tune ever again.

I’ve come to believe the following: Purchase a physical CD and burn it to your computer. I know that sounds strange coming from someone who never purchases physical CDs. The second best solution is burn to a CD what you own. Third best solution: there are some solutions that will allow you to convert iTunes purchased tunes into MP3 files on your computer (without having to burn them to CD or DVD). I haven’t tried them, but I think I’ll be looking into that solution next week while I’m away from the office.

Technorati Tags: apple, itunes