Music Moving in iCloud?

Making a rare appearance at the Worldwide Developers Conference Steve Job announced Apple’s latest product the iCloud. Must have been big news for Apple if he came back early from his medical leave and he doesn’t look that well from the sight of the pictures taken at the conference. Either way, he is an innovator. I can’t help but think this man and others behind him are geniuses in their field for wanting to connect other technology users to each other and make our lives simpler with technology. Steve Jobs is changing the the way we connect to each other and ourselves one software update at a time. With the launch of iCloud, it is focusing on syncing music automatically from different devices whether we used iTunes or not to iCloud. For $25 a year, iCloud would allow all users all access to their music on all forms of hard drives rather than constantly having to sync each device for updating music. Legal downloading or not, for $25 you can get all your music in sync on your drives (Guynn & Rodriguez, 2011). 

Unlike Google Docs which offers a true cloud effect on formatting documents, iCloud is specifically more for music having linked deals with four major record labels and taking a share of the $25 profit with Apple( Wireless Watch, 2011). I can’t help but think of the poor music industry and how they are actually making their revenues now. The Digital Age has completely made them rethink of how to make a profit. Steve Jobs seems to be more of the World’s Music Executive rather than Executives at Music Labels. Oh, well I’m sure they are satisfied with this new invention since they already backed it. And I have to say, that it is something I would use since I am tired of downloading and re-downloading the same song to a different device. I am glad Apple has thought of this!

Unfortunately, with the iCloud there are no other updates any other technology outlets such as iPhone as of yet. We have to wait until this fall when iOS 5 debuts . Until then, iCloud is the new Apple news for technology users and it focuses on demoting the PC to create a simpler method of syncing data (Aamoth, 2011).

Sources

Aamoth, D. (2011, June 6). Apple Debuts 'iTunes in the Cloud' (but No New iPhone). TIME. Retrieved from http://techland.time.com/2011/06/06/apple-debuts-itunes-in-the-cloud-but-no-new-iphone/

Guynn, J. and Rodriguez, S. (2011, June 7). Apple's iCloud aims to 'demote the PC'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-apple-cloud-20110607,0,3280141.story

Wireless Watch. (2011, June 12). iCloud: Big step for content management, but not for the cloud. The Register. Retrieved from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/12/icloud_content_management_analysis/

Amazon and iBookstore Making Publishing Waves

The latest news is that Amazon is wanting to be a major book publisher. My first reaction was “Really?” Then after thinking about Amazon and being a major online retailer and having the Amazon Kindle, the idea of Amazon wanting to be a major book publisher is not surprising to me at all. Amazon has come out with the Kindle so, the next step in wanting to be a publisher of books seems like a natural progression. I feel as though they can do very well being a publisher of not only hardcopy books but eBooks as well. Even though I am an iPad user, I am amazed Apple has not thought about being a major publisher like Amazon. Amazon being the second largest retailer of hard copy books besides Barnes and Noble, it makes sense for them to capitalize on this market (Veverka, 2011).

Apple has an iBookstore which now allows self-publishing of eBooks. A great way for anyone who has ever wanted to write a book can finally do so (Moren, 2010). Self-publishing for new writers is not a bad idea unless you want your book to be a New York Times Bestseller, then going through the main channels of finding a literary agent and a publishers can help you in that aspect.

Technology advancements such as Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad iBookstores has created more channels for book publishers to access their customers rather through the typical bookstore. Marc Parrish, Barnes and Noble Executive, spoke at the GigaOm Big Data conference about how technology is rapidly changing the way consumers read book in months now rather in years. He pointed out the books and book publishing is changing faster than music and film did with technology. He points out that eBooks sales will account for more of the book industry now (Mangalindan, 2010).

Basically, as a new writer it is best to explore all channels on how to get my book published. Today, there are many different options and I need to chose the best path to make my book the most success it can be. As I am sure other writers would do the same.

Sources

Mangalindan, JP. (2011, March 25). Barnes & Noble: eBooks will pass print --fast. CNN Money. Retrieved from http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/tag/ibooks/

Moren, D. (2010, May 27). iBookstores now allows individuals to submit their e-books. Network World. Retrieved from http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/052710-ibookstore-now-allows-individuals-to.html

Veverka, M. (2011, June 1). Amazon.com to Be a Major Book Publisher? Smart Money. Retrieved from http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/technology/amazoncom-to-be-a-major-book-publisher-1306952979507/