NY Introduces "iPod Tax"

Proving yet again the problems with trusting un-elected officials in office, NY Governor David Patterson has introduced a huge set of new taxes in his 2009 budget, including a so-called iPod tax.

Trying to close a $15.4 billion budget gap, Paterson called for 88 new fees and a host of other taxes, including an "iPod tax" that taxes the sale of downloaded music and other "digitally delivered entertainment services."

One can only assume the Governor has not been paying attention to Apple's stance on such taxation in the past. If the governor expects Apple to collect this tax, he may be surprised and simply see Apple stop doing business with all IP addresses in the State. We'll see if New Yorkers stand for this first-of-its-kind special tax on their music.

NBC and Apple at War over iTunes

This is insane. NBC - the most successful and profitable of the iTunes Music Store's TV show suppliers - has cancelled their contract with Apple. This means NBC would no longer sell their shows thru the iTMS as of December 31. Their side intimated that Apple was unreasonable in their pricing policies and refused to allow NBC to bundle shows (The Office) with movies (Evan Almighty). Then Apple came back and claimed that the reason for the impasse was that NBC wanted to charge $4.99 per episode for TV shows. Then Apple announced they would not be carrying any of NBC's new shows in the Fall. Thus NBC loses out on the profits from 6 months of selling The Office and Heroes.

Let me be very clear. I am quite perturbed about this. I want the ability to download Heroes this season, but also have an EyeTV device and am NOT afraid to simply record the show, edit out commercials, and transfer them to my AppleTV, iPod, and iPhone at will. NBC, Please do what is necesary to get Heroes back onto the iTMS. And "what is necesary" can NOT be $4.99 per episode. I won't buy ONE episode at that price, especially when I know I can get it on DVD for about $1 per episode in the end.

Sigh. Such foolishness