Apple teams with Bob Dylan on new album, tix presale

[AppleInsider]

Columbia Records and Apple Computer on Tuesday announced that the new album "Modern Times" from Bob Dylan will be offered through an exclusive pre-order on the iTunes Music Store.

Beginning today, iTunes customers who pre-order "Modern Times" from iTunes for $13.99 will also be offered the opportunity to participate in an exclusive Ticketmaster pre-sale for concert tickets to select dates on Bob Dylan’s upcoming fall tour.

Apple has also created an exclusive Bob Dylan digital box set, entitled "The Collection," that includes all of Bob Dylan’s albums with nearly 800 tracks spanning his career. The Bob Dylan digital box set will be available for purchase and download with just one click for $199, exclusively from iTunes beginning August 29.

"Bob Dylan is one of the most respected poets and musicians of our time, and he is a personal hero of mine," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "Being able to offer his new album and the exclusive box set of his works on iTunes is a real thrill for us."

"Modern Times," set for release on August 29, has already been heralded by critics as, "Epic. Heartbreaking. Dynamic. Apocalyptic," and "Another classic from the revitalized master." The iTunes special edition of the release includes five Bob Dylan videos: "Cold Irons Bound" (shot live on the film soundstage during the making of "Masked & Anonymous"), "Blood In My Eyes," "Things Have Changed," "Love Sick" (from the 1998 Grammy Awards), and the iTunes exclusive "Jokerman." The iTunes exclusive Bob Dylan digital box set entitled "The Collection" includes every song from each of his studio albums and "The Bootleg Series" releases, plus 42 rarities. Also included with "The Collection" is a special digital booklet featuring liner notes from Grammy Award-winning writer, Tom Piazza.

Beginning today, customers can pre-order a copy of Bob Dylan’s new album "Modern Times" for $13.99 to be downloaded on August 29 when it is released. Customers who pre-order "Modern Times" on iTunes will receive an email with a code that they can use at Ticketmaster.com starting August 30 for an opportunity to participate in a pre-sale to purchase concert tickets before they go on sale to the general public on September 9.

Further information about the digital download concert ticket pre-sale is available on Bob Dylan’s official website, at Ticketmaster and at iTunes.com.

[Bageljoey]

Wowie zowie!

800 tracks for $200... I am going to need that 80 gig iPod!

If they could get other artists/bands to agree to huge discounts on their entire collection that would really be something...

[melgross]

Cool!

Maybe if icons like Dylan do this, it will prod the Beatles to give in as well.

[Porchland]

That sounds like a great date for that "August or September" iPod event!

It also falls during Fox's TV premiere week, so maybe we'll season some season pass/subsciption news around that time.

[JeffDM]

I'm not a concert goer but for their sake, I hope that the presale offer works this time. I remember the last one had some difficulties because the notification and pass code was sent out late and some didn't get them at all.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Bageljoey

Wowie zowie!

800 tracks for $200... I am going to need that 80 gig iPod!

If they could get other artists/bands to agree to huge discounts on their entire collection that would really be something...

How many of those songs are exact duplicates that were offered on different albums? The U2 collection had quite a number of duplicates (identical tracks, not remixes or alternate versions) because they pulled the songs from the numerous single releases and from the main album the tracks were sold on. The U2 "Complete Collection" didn't even have all the songs, I found several songs that weren't in it. It was still a good deal, I'm just saying that its promotional billing was overstated and the name was misleading.

[F1Turbo]

I wonder who the audience is for an offer like this box set. I have a lot of Dylan stuff already, so I'm not interested. Someone who doesn't have any Dylan, but wanted to buy some would most likely look at one of the many greatest hits collections, such as Biograph. As far as the new album, I might "preorder" it for the chance to buy concert tix early, except no shows listed in my area. Guess I'll just stick with the CD.

[user23]

no offense to anyone's taste....but:

that dusty old geezer is still going?


Maybe Apple should promo some bands that are, ahem, a little more contemporary.

[gregmightdothat]

Originally Posted by user23

no offense to anyone's taste....but:

that dusty old geezer is still going?


Maybe Apple should promo some bands that are, ahem, a little more contemporary.

Steve Jobs worships Bob Dylan.

[Porchland]

I'm still hoping for the Radiohead catalog (maybe the Thom Yorke CD was a teaser?) and the many, MANY live Dave Matthews Band albums.

[Ste]

Originally Posted by F1Turbo

I wonder who the audience is for an offer like this box set.

That would be me! I'm new here, btw; hello.

I lost my entire music collection in Hurricane Katrina, including a near-complete Dylan collection. (Music collections are never truly complete, but I had all the official albums, singles, and most of the odd tracks from compilations/soundtrack albums, etc.) I don't particularly want to spend the next 20 years replacing 2,000-plus CDs, so I've been considering buying my first iPod of late. This Dylan collection is perfect news.

[F1Turbo]

Ste,

Sorry to hear about your music collection, and everything else you went through with Katrina.

I highly recommend the iPod (60 GB--there may be a bigger one coming out soon, but you can always use more than one, especially someone like you rebuilding a large library). It'll change the way you listen to music.

One thing to be aware of with the iTunes store, though, is that you're buying compressed files with Digital Rights Management. It is convenient, though!

Best of luck rebuilding your collection.

Ray

[Ste]

Thanks for your kind words, Ray.

I'm thinking of getting the 60GB 5th-gen iPod, or possibly (if I can stand to wait a couple of months) whatever the 6th-gen may be.

I only found this message board a week ago, and, like I say, I am an iPod virgin. I understand compression, but can you tell me what exactly DRM involves, please, and what the cons of it are?

Cheers,

Steve

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Ste

Thanks for your kind words, Ray.

I'm thinking of getting the 60GB 5th-gen iPod, or possibly (if I can stand to wait a couple of months) whatever the 6th-gen may be.

I only found this message board a week ago, and, like I say, I am an iPod virgin. I understand compression, but can you tell me what exactly DRM involves, please, and what the cons of it are?

iTunes DRM (digital rights management) is a proprietary lock-in control system such that it means that for songs you buy through iTunes, only an Apple product (iPod, AirPort Express) or Apple software (iTunes on a computer or on some Motorola phones) can play the songs. It does allow you to burn iTunes tracks to audio CD though, so the easiest way around it is to burn to audio CD and import the CD, but that gets tedious to do for lots of tracks. Aside from the inability to just play the files on competing players, the iTunes DRM is the most flexible DRM that I am aware of.

[Ste]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

iTunes DRM (digital rights management) is a proprietary lock-in control system such that it means that for songs you buy through iTunes, only an Apple product (iPod, AirPort Express) or Apple software (iTunes on a computer or on some Motorola phones) can play the songs. It does allow you to burn iTunes tracks to audio CD though, so the easiest way around it is to burn to audio CD and import the CD, but that gets tedious to do for lots of tracks. Aside from the inability to just play the files on competing players, the iTunes DRM is the most flexible DRM that I am aware of.

Thanks for the explanation, Jeff.

DRM sounds like a minor pain in the arse, that's all. I can't see it affecting me too much. There may be the odd album I want to burn to CD-R, but with my expensive hi-fi separates and CD collection gone, I never intend going down that road again. The whole point of switching to iPod is, as Ray says, to make a drastic change in my collecting and listening habits.

I'm sure I'll have more questions once I actually purchase the machine.