Apple is planning to give away free iTunes downloads over the 12 days of Christmas — that is, from Boxing Day to January the 6th. The downloads are said to include rare singles, live tracks, music videos and classic TV show episodes. They’re billed as ‘little stocking fillers for your new iPod’, but as yet we see no evidence that they’ll be restricting who can download them. So fingers crossed, eh?

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• iTunes’ 12 Days of Christmas
• via Pocket Lint
• and Electric Pig

Noel Gallagher has picked an iTunes playlist of 10 tracks, not including The Beatles — which is only ’surprising’ if you ignore the presence of the word ‘iTunes.’ Click through if you’ve got time to waste on reading them. Also, bear in mind that it wasn’t so long ago that a certain Oasis front man was hating on iTunes because it meant fans didn’t have to buy their filler tracks.

I link to this mainly because it took me a few minutes to realise that ‘Angry Ape’ is the name of the web site, and not a stunningly accurate description of Gallagher.

• Angry Ape
• Picture from The Telegraph

Okay, so I’ve finally found confirmation of the iTunes VAT issue, which I’m certain wasn’t anywhere to been seen before this morning. The following small print can be found at the foot of Apple UK’s iTune Gift Card page:

“Prices are inclusive of VAT (15%) but exclusive of delivery charges unless otherwise indicated. The VAT rate for Electronic Software Downloads or other Apple products classified as services under EU VAT law will be (21.5%) as VAT is charged at the rate payable in the country where Apple Sales International supplies such products, which is the Republic of Ireland. The order form shows you the VAT payable on the Products you select.”

This neatly answers the question of why iTunes prices haven’t fallen today. It also confirms what I had suspected. But as I mentioned at the end of that article, it posses another difficult question for Apple. For years they’ve been charging consumers a higher rate of sales tax. Almost two years ago there were concerns raised that tracks in the UK cost more than elsewhere in Europe. Earlier this year, Apple announced that it would not be taking any action to reduce these prices.

My back-of-an-envelope calculations suggest that basic iTunes tracks cost 65p before VAT, rising to the 79p price point when Ireland’s 21.5% is added. Assuming that this price remains constant no matter where content is served from, UK consumers should have been paying just 76p per track up to now, and 75p from today. (My calculations in today’s news roundup were incorrectly based on Apple currently paying VAT at the UK rate. Sorry.) Yes, we’re only talking pennies here, but iTunes UK has sold millions of tracks, with some purchasers buying hundreds, and all those pennies begin to add up. (And I should also note that while VAT is shown broken-out on on-line Apple Store invoices, it is not shown on iTunes and App Store purchase invoices.) How long is it before someone asks whether this tax surcharge to UK consumers was fair?

What the f— is your problem? I mean that as a genuine, non-rhetorical question. I’ve read your post through a couple of times, I’ve run it back and forth through Google Translate… I’ve even tried staring at it until my eyes un-focus in the hope that maybe your point will suddenly pop into view.

“Dear Apple and iTunes”

That’s Mr. Apple and Mr. iTunes to you, sonny.

“You suck. Ever heard of social media? Web 2.0? Listening to your customers? Informing your customers when there is a problem? Apparently not. For several days now I have been trying to give you money. You know that stuff that is in very short supply these days? You guys taken a look at your stock price lately? Are you aware that the holiday season is coming? So, why should people actually buy your product when they could buy a Zune instead and for cheaper and not have a hassle with their downloads?”

And so on. But I think I know what the problem is. Sean, stop trying to shove dollar bills into the CD-ROM slot and instead go ask your parents whether you can borrow one of their credit cards. OK? Sorted.

• The A[nta]gonist

We’re receiving reports — by which I mean ‘reading in our RSS feed’ — that DRM-free iTunes Plus tracks from record labels Universal, Sony BMG and Warner have silently appeared in iTunes. As you’ll doubtless recall, these three companies have been holding out on allowing Apple to sell DRM-free songs, while making them available through other retailers like Amazon, in an act better fitting a sulky teenager than a major business. Who am I trying to kid? It’s typical big record business modus operandi. We’ve yet to have this move confirmed by Apple, but this is blogging, where we don’t need no stinking confirmation.

So what are you waiting for? Oh, yeah, the fact that no-one apart from absolute music spods know which artist is on which label. Well, just go browsing for songs as usual and if you find what you’re looking for in iTunes Plus, count it as a, erm, plus. Or wait for Apple to offer you an album update.

Now, any sign of The Beatles yet? I’d like to listen to something of theirs to see what all the fuss is about.

• Our Secret Apple Contacts Distorted Loop
• via Many Bothans Mac Daily News

There are several groups of people with whom I instinctively feel sympathy. They include among their number the homeless and refugees. Absent from this list, however, are people who have nothing better to do with their pointless lives than whine about DRM. They, as far as I’m concerned, can go f— themselves. So your new aluminium MacBook refuses to play iTunes downloads on non-DisplayPort displays? Boo. F—ing. Hoo. I thought we had this problem solved years ago: buy the DVD. Play it on anything with a DVD drive. Rip it to all your other devices. Stop your f—ing moaning. And learn a little patience. Because until iTunes starts stocking emergency medical how-tos, there isn’t a film out there you need so urgently that you have to suffer the disadvantages of digital downloads.

Almost two months ago I posted my thoughts about what was wrong with the way the iPhone handled podcasts. Now iPhone OS 2.2 is here, and while a few of those complaints have been resolved, Apple’s solution is still far from the perfect which we expect from Apple. The road from there to here has been a little rocky, and has seen Apple’s notorious banning of the Podcaster app for preempting their own solution. Was it worth the bad publicity? Can we now declare their actions justified? We shall see.

But first, a quick rant. We all expect a certain level of quality and polish from Apple, so much so that when even the smallest flaw sneaks into one of their products it hits us full in the face. Take the screenshot to the right — from the ‘English (Proper)’ localisation of the new iTunes app — for example. Do you see it? Top righthand corner. Yep. Appalling, isn’t it. Apple, when I’m using one of your programs, I don’t expect to be confronted by images of Jamie frickin’ Oliver. Sort it out, okay? Now back to our originally scheduled quick look.

The screenshots below show you the basic ‘workflow’ when trying to get more episodes of a podcast. You select the podcast in the iPod (or Music) app, then tap the ‘Get More Episodes…’ link at the bottom of the list. This takes you to the page for that podcast in iTunes (which you can browse around at your leisure), where you are presented with a list of episodes. Tap an entry to start it streaming live, or click the ‘FREE’ button to have it turn into a ‘DOWNLOAD’ button, which will add the file to your library on the iPhone, and ultimately sync it with your desktop iTunes. It’s all very simple, easy to understand, and great as far as it goes. But it’s still far from a complete solution.

There are two shortcomings immediately apparent. Firstly, iTunes doesn’t indicate which of the available episodes you’ve already consumed, meaning you’ll have to juggle dates and episode numbers in your head as you switch between apps. This is a pain, but it’s also a symptom of the second, bigger problem, which is that the iPhone podcasting software appears to have no concept of subscriptions. Given that this is one of the major features — if not the whole point — of podcasting, it seems a bizarre omission. I can’t be alone in wanting my iPhone as my single source of podcasting, can I? And yet you’re faced with the choice of manually checking each feed for new episodes, or continuing to rely on desktop iTunes to do it for you. A system where iTunes on the iPhone can check for new episodes and badge itself to alert you to their presence — as the App Store app does when updates are available for your applications — would have been ideal.

(BONUS RANT: Thinking about it some more, after originally posting this, it struck me — and I’ve just checked to confirm it — that there’s another glaring error. What do you do if you subscribe to a podcast but don’t currently have any episodes of it on your iPhone? This is the situation I’m in as I type this. The new ChannelFlip Tech is out, but since I don’t have any of the past episodes to hand, I’m going to have to wade through iTunes to find its feed before I can get the new one. It’s this kind of inconvenience which podcasting as a distribution model was supposed to alleviate. [And, yes, before any of you smartarses point it out, I can see that ChannelFlip is sitting atop Moyles on the podcasting main page in the above screenshot. The point still stands.])

There are other small points which could be considered — putting the 10Mb 3G download cap in the ‘cons’ column and the ability to delete audio podcasts directly from the device in the ‘pros’ — but these really are tiny compared to the bigger problems described above. It feels like Apple has heard users complaining about the absence of podcasting and then put in the minimum amount of thought and effort necessary to tick the box and no more. Sure, they’ve got an entire OS to maintain, but given that they chose to exclude developers who had independently come up with complete, well thought out solution, making this half-baked effort our only available options, this is rather galling.

Still, I guess there’s always 2.3…

Oh, Norway, frozen pimple on Scandinavia’s backside, why do you continue to hate Apple so? Yes, that’s right, everyone’s favourite Consumer Ombudsman, Bjørn Erik Thon, is at it again. We’ve reported before on his one-man crusade against the Cupertino computer maker. Last we heard, the ball was in Apple’s court. And now? Take it away, B.E.:

“We have received an answer from iTunes, but it was an answer that didn’t add anything of substance. We will now continue what we have done so far, prepare to bring the case before the Market Council.”

From iTunes, eh? Glad to hear Thon’s got a firm grasp on who he’s dealing with. So it looks like things are going to get legal. I think I can hear Apple’s lawyers donning their Arctic camo as I type this. With Mac-lovers in the governments of both neighbouring Sweden and Russia, I’d watch my step if I were you, Norway.

Now, it can’t be a coincidence that this week also saw Advantageous MP3 surface. This cunning little Applescript installs itself in iTunes. Browse the store for the song you’re after, then give it a poke and it’ll scurry off to the Amazon MP3 store and find you the same track only DRM-free. Doubtlessly invaluable if Amazon sell digital downloads in your country, but am I alone in seeing the hand of the Norwegians at work here?

• MacWorld
• Advantageous MP3
• via MacBreak Weekly

Ah, yes, another of the perennial classic Apple rumours. I was forgetting the exact sequence. After “the Mac Mini is dead” comes “The Beatles on iTunes soon.” But as I’ve written elsewhere, I would be very surprised if this ever happens.

For a start, whatever legal truce currently holds between Apple, Inc. and Apple Corp., it’s an uneasy one. The surviving Beatles, the families of the deceased, and the management of Apple Corp., are at least a match for Steve Jobs in terms of arrogance, and I’m sure they view gracing iTunes with their presence — exclusively or otherwise — as a humiliation too far. Which doesn’t matter, because the Beatles don’t need iTunes.

Among the many accolades you can assign to the Beatles is that of really good business men. They played the record industry’s game for as long as they needed to, then took control of their own affairs. They haven’t entered the digital download game yet because they’ve been waiting until the time is right for them. And I’m sure they’ve watched the exploits of bands like Radiohead with interest. My prediction is that when they come to the web, they’ll do so independent of any existing on-line music store. The band that’s bigger than god is surely bigger than iTunes.

When Apple Corp. announces The Beatles’ on-line debut it will make headlines around the world, so publicity isn’t going to be a problem. Software for running the store and serving downloads is available off the shelf. Plus, there shouldn’t be any shortage of trained web monkeys for hire these days. It’s all a little more work on Apple Corp.’s part, but the extra profits they get to keep for themselves should make it more than worth their time. It will be interesting to see what stand they take on DRM. I wouldn’t like to guess one way or the other.

The Beatles rhythm game from the makers of Rock Band, announced yesterday, should be seen as a completely isolated event, and not Apple Corp. dipping its toe in the digital waters — although introducing their music to a whole new generation of listeners cannot hurt the prospects of any future venture. Whatever The Beatles’ record company has planned for their back catalogue, they have yet to reveal their hand. But when they do, it’s going to be big.

• Mac Daily News

When databases go wrong they can be really funny. The Beeb is reporting that iTunes appears to have blown a gasket and started randomly censoring song titles. Among the incidents which they cite is that of asylum popsters The Cheeky Girls’ biggest hit, which has become Cheeky Song (Touch My B*m). Yeah, I didn’t realise they let stuff like that into iTunes, either. Maybe in that case some proper removal-style censoring is in order.

As of one-ish this lunch time the problem still persisted, with Katy Perry’s H*t ‘n’ Cold listed at no. 4 in the top ten. “Hot,” eh? The potty mouth. In an attempt to be clever we went trawling for other funny asterixings. Unfortunately they were a but thin on the ground. We’d love to report finding Cliff Richard’s Mistletoe and W*** or anything from the “F**k and Acoustic” section, but they simply weren’t there.

Censored words apparently include “killer,” “teen,” “pussy,” and “Johnny.” Wow. It’s like being back in the playground. However, the mishap has let a few naughties slip through. For instance, Sacred Arias by opera MILF Katherine Jenkins escaped untouched. “Arias” is dirty, right?

• BBC News