Today Apple launched “iTunes Plus” – iTunes Store music that’s not protected by DRM. About a month ago, Apple and EMI announced that they were going to do this, and today it’s finally arrived and we can now see what form it takes.

I think this is a particularly bold experiment by Apple and EMI. It may not seem that way to the average user, but this is EMI taking a chance on consumers not pirating the hell out of their music, and this is Apple taking a chance on selling music that will play on devices other than iPods. Both are risky. Of course there’s been a lot of unprotected music sold already, but this is the first time one of the major labels has been willing to try it. And they’re not just releasing a bunch of dusty old music that no one wants to listen to. Music by Coldplay, Gorillaz, Air, Goldfrapp, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra is available – staples of EMI’s catalog – so I have to conclude that they’re sincere and they’re really putting themselves out there.

Here’s how it works:
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Amazon is offering Tivo’s 80-hour Series 2 recorder for $170 – with a $170 rebate, it’s free, with free shipping. You still have to sign up for Tivo’s service, of course, with a year-long commitment (but without Tivo service turned on, it’s a free door-stop).

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Spring’s publishing schedule is full of science fiction books I’m anxious to read. Here’s the first batch of them… click on the cover or title to check them out on Amazon.com; click on the author’s name to see the author on Amazon.

Robert J. Sawyer’s “Rollback” (3 April 2007)

A few years ago it seemed that many of my favorite writers were suddenly dead – and if they weren’t dead, they were at least not publishing enough to keep me busy. I started picking up more books because the covers looked good or because Amazon told me that I should consume – I mean read – books that it recommended. Robert J. Sawyer was one of the new authors I tried, and I went through quite a few of his books rapidly once I started reading him. Possibly my favorite was “Calculating God”, a story about an alien landing in Toronto whose first words are “Take me to a paleontologist”.

Sawyer’s a decent writer, smart, rational and (as a Canadian) never above taking a few digs at the US. His latest book looks to be a story about the second received message from aliens, with a focus on the woman who decoded the first message, her failed attempt at rejuvenation and her husband’s successful attempt.

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I recently hit level 40 with my Blood Elf character in World of Warcraft, and let me tell you, now that I have a mount, it is such a pleasure riding around the World of Warcraft on a giant purple chicken and having 14 year old Alliance players make clucking noises at you!

Until now, the only character I’d had reach level 40 was my Paladin. As a Paladin, I had my mount given to me as the reward for a quest, so I’d never gone the normal route and purchased and trained for a mount and I realized I didn’t know what I needed to do. Being a Blood Elf doubled that confusion as most of the mount guides you’ll find by Googling don’t cover the Burning Crusade expansion pack.
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Here are some shortcuts into Amazon to help you set up your Tivo to work with Unbox video downloads, find videos, and find some useful Tivo accessories.

• Register your Tivo(s) with Amazon Unbox
• Find rentals
• Find science fiction & fantasy movies
• Find horror movies
• Find TV shows
• Tivo Series 2 – 80 hour and 180 hour
• Tivo Series 3 – the HDTV Tivo with CableCard support and HDMI and component video out
• Tivo ethernet adapter – not needed for Tivo Series 3 and dual-tuner Series 2 units, which have built-in ethernet ports – requires Tivo 7.3 software or later
• Tivo Wireless adapter – Plugs into the USB port of your Tivo and lets it connect to your wireless network

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Tivo’s been looking for a movie download partner for some time now. There was a day when Tivo and Netflix were in bed together, but their dalliance bore no fruit. A couple of months back, Amazon replaced Netflix as Tivo’s bed-mate, announcing that Amazon’s “Unbox” video service would allow you to view movies on your Series 2 or Series 3 Tivo.

This is the kind of thing that gets announced and months later people are scratching their heads saying “Hey… do you remember something about Amazon downloading movies to Tivo? Did that ever happen?”… imagine my shock when Amazon and Tivo announced last week that you the service was now working.

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Apple is now shipping their new, long-awaited Apple TV. Like many Apple products, they’re shipping individually via Fedex from China. Ours is supposed to arrive on Friday. With any luck I’ll write it up by early next week.

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Speck ToughSkin for iPod Nano

Speck ToughSkin for iPod with Video

Amazon has a rebate on Speck’s ToughSkin case for the iPod Nano (2nd generation – the ones with the metal case) or iPod with Video. The rebate makes the case free before shipping. If you don’t have Amazon Prime, ordering a book or CD or something else to bring the total to $25 or more will get you free shipping. Click on one of the two above to check it out on Amazon

The ToughSkin is a ruggedized case for your iPod that doesn’t just protect it from casual scratches when you throw it in your pocket or bag that’s full of coins and keys and bottle caps; it also protects it from being dropped or knocked to the floor. The case allows access to all the functions of the iPod, and includes a screen protector.

I’ve never yet met a case that would work in my iPod dock, unfortunately. I’ve read about a company doing a “dock extender”, which would lift the iPod slightly up from the dock so that you can dock it in its case. I don’t believe they’re shipping yet. In the meantime, I find it’s worth more to me to protect my iPod by keeping it in its case than it is to have it sit pretty in its dock.
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I’m sitting around still sniffling with a cold, reading PD James’ “The Children of Men” and listening to Thomas Dolby’s new album, “The Sole Inhabitant” (which led to me listening to “The Golden Age of Wireless” and “The Flat Earth”.

I’ll get to “The Children of Men” another time. It’s rather different from the film, but I’m only 60 pages in so I can’t tell you precisely how different. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the film and I’m enjoying the book. Thomas Dolby is a good accompaniment to it… moody, a bit futuristic.

It’s a bit of a tease to call “The Sole Inhabitant” a new album. It’s a live recording from his 2006 tour. The track list runs like this:

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My copy of The Burning Crusade showed up today, thanks to Amazon. The expansion went live last night at midnight, with some people in more… urban… areas being able to find their local game stores open at midnight dispensing Burning Crusade goodness. When I quit World of Warcraft just shy of 1AM, a grand total of 12 people on the Gilneas server had made it through to Hellfire Peninsula, the new continent.

The normal package includes four CDROM’s, a manual, two guest keys and the user’s key printed on the first CDROM sleeve.

Beyond the Dark Portal	Fel Soldiers marching to the Dark Portal
View of the Dark Portal from the other side

Some facts about it:
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