أغر؟´«أ½

iTunes needs to get community minded

• Darren Waters
• 20 Mar 08, 12:23 GMT

There have been a lot of of late about the future of , most of them sparked by a FT story which said Apple was considering bundling free music with each iPod/iPhone sold.

By free, it means doing a deal with record companies so that in return for a share of the purchase price of an iPod consumers get unlimited access to music.

If true, and I have no knowledge either way, it would turn the iTunes business model on its head because Apple and Steve Jobs have always banged the drum for music you own, not music you rent.

Of course iTunes has recently moved to a rental movie model, alongside a download model, so the potential to mix and match is there.

But business models aside the missing ingredient here is community.

At the moment iTunes is an old fashioned application - a stand-alone download that organises your music and videos and syncs your iPod or iTunes.

But it's an isolated, unconnected experience. You can use plug ins like to bridge the user divide, creating community playlists etc, but I'm surprised that Apple has never evolved iTunes into a more connected piece of software.

One of the reasons for this, of course, is that a single user has a pretty limited license when it comes to sharing his or her music.

You can share music across a local area network, for example, but that sharing does not extend to iPods or iPhones, or even the wider internet.

But a rental music model, or one attached to a physical device, would allow Apple to open up iTunes.

Friends lists, recommended playlists etc would become perfectly possible - as could Apple widgets for use inside social networks like or .

For example, I could download and listen to a friend's playlist he or she had compiled for me, because we both share a rental license for all our music.

And the wi-fi connectivity of new iPods, plus the cellular connectivity of iPhones, means in theory this could happen whenever, wherever.

I could have music pushed to my iPhone just like e-mail, and in return I could comment, tag, build a new playlist and push it back to my friends.

All of this is beginning to happen already with offerings from and and with in the US, and if Apple doesn't move soon it might find itself overseeing a dinosaur - a digital jukebox offering music tethered to individuals and to specific devices.

I'd love to hear how you are enjoying your music; are you using a home server and accessing it via a mobile phone for example, or would you be interested in sharing your music widely?

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Remembering the أغر؟´«أ½ Micro

• Darren Waters
• 20 Mar 08, 08:48 GMT

Anyone over 30 is sure to feel a nostalgic glow whenever the أغر؟´«أ½ Micro is mentioned.

For almost the whole of the 1980s the Beeb, as it was known, was one of the main ways people in the UK accessed computer technology.

It seems incredible now that the أغر؟´«أ½, a broadcaster, partnered with a technology company and put its name on the machine at a time when computers were such an unknown entity.

I can't imagine that happening today - but then again, the أغر؟´«أ½'s involvement with , picking up the pieces from ITV Digital, has been arguably as forward thinking.

At the start of the 1980s the microchip revolution was beginning to crank into gear. But to most people a computer was something to be found in the office, in a factory, not in a home.

And an even greater number of people had no idea what to do with a computer.

But a handful of people in the أغر؟´«أ½, among them producers John Criwaczekm, David Allen, and John Radcliffe felt differently.

I've been speaking to Tilly Blyth, a curator at the , who isof the أغر؟´«أ½ Micro at the museum today.

She told me: "There was a doc that had been put together by Ed Goldwyn, who made Now the Chips are Down, and that caused quite major repercussions in government; questions were asked in parliament about what Britain was doing in the electronics industry."

The أغر؟´«أ½ drew up a set of specifications for a computer that could help introduce people to the power of the microchip and the corporation decided on Acorn after visiting companies like Dragon and Sinclair.

But the أغر؟´«أ½ Micro was more than just a piece of hardware, it was a network.

Dr Blyth explained: "It was about education and it ran through networks of people interested in programming - teachers in colleges, through training programmes on the أغر؟´«أ½.

"There were a lot of workshops set up to understand the أغر؟´«أ½ Micro."

It's an exaggeration to say the whole nation was programming in أغر؟´«أ½ Basic but thousands of people got their first experience of computer programming because of the Beeb.

My personal memories of the أغر؟´«أ½ Micro are strong

I can remember being taught to programme using Logo, and sending messages back and forth between machines because the أغر؟´«أ½ Micro was fully networkable.

In fact, it was simply to "take over" a أغر؟´«أ½ Micro by using the REMOTE command.

One of my abiding memories is playing Elite on the machine. Written by two university students, David Braben and Ian Bell, it re-wrote the rules for what was possible on a home computer.

A friend of mine was lucky enough to have a أغر؟´«أ½ Micro and we would spend days trying to improve our rank - Right On Commander! - climbing our way up from Harmless to Elite.

David Braben has kindly for us, in which he highlights the impact the أغر؟´«أ½ Micro had in its day.

He also issues a rallying cry: calling on the spirit of the أغر؟´«أ½ Micro to live on and entice more students into computer science, maths and physics.

And that's an interesting point. What can be done by the private sector, by IT, and perhaps even by the أغر؟´«أ½ to once again drive people's understanding of the computer revolution?

Is it laughable to suggest that the أغر؟´«أ½ once again partner with a computer company? Could more be done online, where the أغر؟´«أ½ enjoys a giant presence?

Suggestions welcome....

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