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Filed under: iTunes, Apple

Apple and record labels to release competing enhanced album formats

by Casey Johnston (RSS feed) on Aug 11th, 2009


Remember when we said the four largest record companies were working together with Apple to add enhanced liner notes and extra media to full album purchases through the iTunes Store? Well, apparently Apple wasn't in on that cooperation. The Guardian is reporting that the four companies' plans for enhanced full albums were rebuffed by Apple, and they are planning to release their own format in competition with the one to be released in the iTunes Store.

The new file format, called CMX, was created by EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner. It will function quite a bit like a DVD, with a launch page allowing for navigation to the related artwork and video portions of the album. An unnamed label representative is quoted saying that the format was initially presented to an uninterested Apple; now, Apple is releasing a competing format under the code name Cocktail.

The format's tentative launch date is set for November, will be for a small number of titles, and only available in smaller music stores and non-Apple players. It is unclear how Cocktail and CMX will be different, if at all, save for the exclusivity of platforms. Apple is largely said to be following up on the format as a precautionary measure, in case it proves to be immensely popular; as they've said repeatedly, their interest still lies with supporting the more lucrative hardware, rather than trying to profit from full album sales. Still, Apple is stepping up to the format battle, and while not on the scale of Betamax vs. VHS or HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray, this promises to be a pretty decent fight.

[via Electronista]

Tags: album, albumart, apple, cmx, cocktail, emi, itunes, itunes store, ItunesStore, sony, universal, warner

Filed under: iTunes

iTunes Store to add enhanced liner notes, extra media to album purchases

by Casey Johnston (RSS feed) on Jul 27th, 2009


Digital music purchases have been dominating the market for some time now as physical CD purchases continue to fall. For Apple, a significant lead over the rest of the music proprietor world is not enough: according to the Financial Times, the company is now working together with the four largest record labels in the business to add new features to accompany digital music purchases through its iTunes Store in hopes of stimulating full album purchases.

[The FT also reports, without hedging, that Apple's "media pad" tablet device will ship in time for the holiday shopping season. According to the paper, the long-rumored iPad is intended as a full-featured portable computer and video & music player, like an oversized iPod touch, including wireless data connectivity but no built-in phone functions.]

Apple has formed an alliance with EMI, Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music to bundle whole albums with perks like interactive booklets, digital sleeve notes, and video clips. By doing so, Apple hopes to increase sales of the albums over single track purchases, a sales model that has been immensely popular in the advent of digital music.

The project, codenamed "Cocktail," is intended to recreate the former experience of album-purchasing, where you could browse the liner notes, follow lyrics, and look at the album artwork as the music played. Executives have said that users will even be able to play music straight from the proposed interactive booklets without having to use iTunes. Of course, the main motivation for increasing album sales is to increase profits, as albums have a higher margin than individual songs.

This change is one that should have taken place a long time ago- having to search for lyrics on shady, ad-ridden websites should already be a fading, shudder-inducing memory (though liner notes have been available on some albums, a change across the board has yet to take place). As items like liner notes and photos are possibly the last benefit that physical CDs can offer over digital purchases, this may turn out to be a very serious blow to the CD market. The iTunes Store album add-ons are set to roll out in September.

Tags: album, cocktail, emi, ipad, itunes, ItunesStore, lyrics, sony, sonymusic, tablet, umg, warnermusic, warnermusicgroup

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Software, Security, Universal Binary, Developer

Cocktail 4.3 Leopard edition released

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Feb 9th, 2009

It's Cocktail time yet again -- the intrepid folks at Maintain are updating the Leopard version to 4.3, and bringing more utility than ever to the already extremely popular and versatile Unix function and OS X tweaking app. The new version adds the ability to clear harmful files off the system (including some nasty trojans), lets you clear out the CrashReporter and HungReporter logs, and fixes a few QuickTime compatbility issues as well.

The update is highly recommended for all users of the Leopard Edition, and available right now from Maintain's website. If you haven't yet taken the plunge on getting access to all of the weird and wonderful Unix widgets running inside your computer -- everything from cron jobs and maintenance tasks to network optimization -- the app itself is available for a single-user license fee of $14.95. Considering all of the things this app does (not to mention how often they update), that's a bargain.

For those elite geeks who feel like going free of charge and foregoing the pleasant interface to the UNIX underpinnings of Mac OS X, you can accomplish some of the same maintenance and cleanup tasks with CLIX.

Tags: cocktail, cron-jobs, leopard, leopard-version, license-fee, maintain, quicktime-compatibility, software, unix, update

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends

Cocktail Tiger Edition shaken, not stirred, to version 4.2

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Nov 12th, 2008

Tiger users of the world, unite!

You've stayed with Mac OS X 10.4 for a reason, probably that you have a favorite piece of software that still suffers under Leopard. Well, that shouldn't keep you from maintaining your Mac so it's running at peak performance.

If you use Maintain's Cocktail Tiger Edition, zip on over to the website now and download version 4.2. The new version features a huge list of additions, including the ability to search and delete corrupted preference files, a searchable database of Mac OS system error codes, a list of commonly used network ports, and support for the Flock web browser.

New features include the ability to always use expanded Save dialogs, always show the tab bar or open new windows in new tabs in Safari, disabling the Genre column or iTunes Store arrow links in iTunes, and more. Maintain has optimized the application for faster and more reliable performance, and killed a few bugs that made it through testing in the last version.

Cocktail Tiger Edition 4.2 is a free upgrade for current owners. If you're not a Cocktail user, you can buy this utility directly from Maintain in Leopard, TIger, or Panther editions (US$14.95).

Tags: cocktail, mac, mac os x 10.4, MacOsX10.4, utilities

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Cool tools, UNIX / BSD

Maintenance utility Cocktail 4.1.4 released

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Sep 10th, 2008

All the way since back when I started using a Mac, the program that's been most recommended to new Mac users in my experience isn't Adium, Transmit, or Quicksilver (although those are certain all terrific apps/reasons to be a Mac owner) -- Cocktail is the one that I've seen on the Top 10 Mac apps most often. And there's no question that while Adium and those other apps might be flashier or more UI-driven, Cocktail is the nitro you toss in your car's fuel line to supercharge all of the stuff under the hood. From disk repairs and standard maintenance, to network optimization and cache and log file clearing, Cocktail is exactly the kind of program you buy a Mac for -- it gives you control over almost everything going on in your computer.

They've just updated to 4.1.4, with a whole slew of optimizations to show for it -- the application itself has shrunk in size by 50%, and there are lots of upgrades for faster and more reliable performance. Additionally, compatibility with FAT32 volumes have been addressed, and they've upgraded Automator actions, so they've given you even more ways to control everything you've got.

Great app, well worth the $14.95 for a single-user license. All the other signature Mac apps will let you do your daily tasks in style and with a little flair, but Cocktail is the one that will help you do them quickly and cleanly.

Tags: apple, cocktail, mac, maintenance, signature, software, unix

Filed under: Software

Cocktail for Leopard 4.1.3

by Robert Palmer (RSS feed) on Jul 2nd, 2008

Cocktail, the power-user's system housekeeping app, has been updated to version 4.1.3, and now features support for Leopard 10.5.4.

The utility lets you enable and disable Spotlight indexing, disk journaling, kiosk mode, and a host of other "undocumented" options for the Finder, Dock, Safari, Mail, and many other applications.

In addition to 10.5.4 support, this update fixes a Firefox 3 bookmark bug, a crash while clearing user caches, and an issue where the uninstaller may fail to reset some network settings.

Cocktail 4.1.3 requires Leopard, and is universal binary. The update is free to registered users, and a single user license is $14.95 (with other licensing options available). Earlier versions of the app for Tiger and Panther are also available for download.

Tags: cocktail

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, UNIX / BSD, Leopard

Cocktail Tiger edition goes to 4.0.1, Leopard edition 4.0.2

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 26th, 2008

Just in case you haven't yet upgraded to Leopard, but still love using Cocktail (that crazy mix of Unix functions for OS X), Maintain has released version 4.0.1 of their Tiger edition. They've fixed some compatibility problems with QuickTime, and added support for clearing font caches in Microsoft Office 2008. The update is now available from their website, and is, they say, "strongly recommended" for all Cocktail (Tiger edition) users.

Cocktail's Leopard edition is at version 4.0.2-- that update fixed these same problems last week, as well as fixing a network optimization bug for DSL (PPPoE) users.

[Via MacMinute]

Tags: cocktail, download, leopard, software, tiger, tools, unix, update, version

Filed under: Software, Leopard

Cocktail 4.0

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Nov 16th, 2007

Cocktail 4.0 is out and brings to this system utility a host of new features. The biggest item in Cocktail 4.0 is Leopard support. 4.0 also adds Sparkle updating, new Automator actions, better help, and lots of bug fixes.

Cocktail allows you to tweak a dizzying number of things about OS X. This is a must have tool for all you Mac geeks out there, and it is a steal at $14.95 for a single license.

Tags: cocktail, leopard

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Deals

MacUpdate rolls out a bundle-- $50 for 7 apps

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 9th, 2007

MacUpdate has another one of these bundle promotions going on-- is it just me, or is Mac software the only place (besides, say, pyramid schemes), where increasing bundles like this are sold? I don't show up at the grocery store to buy some oranges only to find that they're cheaper because 10,000 people bought them earlier that day.

Anyway, the bundle's not too bad, even without the extra promotional stuff. Right now, for $50, you get copies of:
  • SRS iWOW, an iTunes audio enhancement plugin
  • GarageSale, the eBay client
  • Cocktail, the utility that our own Scott McNulty calls "indispensible"
  • ProfCast, for lecture recording
  • Amadeus Pro, for multitrack sound editing
  • Fetch, an FTP client
  • Graphic Converter X, a useful little image editor
And then if the promo pans out, you can get more software out of the deal-- if a certain number of people (up to 10k) buy the bundle, then Little Snitch, Intaglio, and TechTool Pro get added to the bundle. With a week to go, they've only sold about 700 (for Little Snitch) today, so there's no guarantee you'll see any of the extra stuff, but the bundle might be worth it just for the apps above.

And MacHeist, always ready to jump on the hype train, is trying to add a little extra bonus onto all of this.

[ Thanks to everyone who sent this in! ]

Continue reading “MacUpdate rolls out a bundle-- $50 for 7 apps”

Tags: amadus pro, AmadusPro, bundle, cocktail, fetch, garagesale, graphicconverter, hype, macupdate, profcast, promotiona, software, srsiwow

Filed under: Software

Cocktail 3.8 brings over 100 new features

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Jun 19th, 2007



Cocktail 3.8, the Tiger Edition of the indispensable Mac utility, brings with it a host of new features. Not least amongst these new features is a gorgeous UI overhaul, which makes Cocktail not only useful but a pleasure to use. For the uninitiated Cocktail is a small app that lets you control a number of things about your Mac, which normally are beyond the powers of the everyday Mac user.

Beyond the new look, Cocktail 3.8 boasts over 100 new features, including:
  • Fine grained control of Spotlight (you can enable/disable Spotlight for disks)
  • Lots of new logging
  • New ways to tweak the UI of a variety of Apple apps (including Safari, Mail, and Finder)
A single user license costs $14.95, though there is a free trial available.

Thanks, nevrozel.

Tags: cocktail, tiger

Filed under: Software

Cocktail 3.7 adds Intel compatibility

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Jan 12th, 2006

The popular utility Cocktail has been updated to version 3.7 today. This version adds updated Automator support and improves compatibility with Intel-based Macs and Mac OS 10.4.4.

The rollout of all of these new universal binaries is giving me déjà vu. It feels like the transition from OS 9 to OS X all over again. This is a free update for registered users. A single user license is $14.95US. Cocktail 3.6.5 requires Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.4 (or later). Cocktail 3.5.4 (Panther Edition) requires Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.3 - 10.3.9, and Cocktail 3.5 (Jaguar Edition) requires Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.2 - 10.2.8.

Tags: automator, cocktail, intel, universal binary, UniversalBinary

Filed under: Software

Cocktail 3.6.5 (Tiger edition) available

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Aug 31st, 2005

cocktailToday Cocktail released version 3.6.5 of the Tiger edition of its OS X utility (is it me or are these folks fast and furious with their updates?). Cocktail puts a pretty face on all sorts of useful disk utilities, system tools, network tools and a lot more. Version 3.6.5 is built on a universal binary to run natively on PowerPCs and MacTels. It's a must-have for many Mac OS X geeks.

This is a free update for registered users. A single user license is $14.95US. Cocktail 3.6.5 requires Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.4 (or later). Cocktail 3.5.4 (Panther Edition) requires Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.3 - 10.3.9, and Cocktail 3.5 (Jaguar Edition) requires Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.2 - 10.2.8.

[Via Resexcellence]

Tags: cocktail, tiger, utilitiy

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