Veerle's blog

Belgium is well-known for techno in the rest of the world but since last year we have upcoming talents Junior Jack and Kid Créme to change all that. Both DJ’s played in El Divino last summer (Ibiza) for Defected records. Junior Jacks real name is Vito Lucente and as you may have guessed has Italian roots but is living in Brussels since he was a teenager.

Apple’s mini iPod isn’t available yet here in Europe (in April) but in the States the little toy is an instant smash hit. When Apple announced the devices were shipping in February, the company said they already had 100,000 iPods on pre-order and now retailers are having trouble keeping the devices in stock.

According to the rumor mill Apple is still facing some heavy red tape in bringing the Music Store over to Europe. The original target was to get it in place in the first half of 2004. The European Union wants us to believe that Europe is one unity but this proves them more then wrong. So what’s the hold up? Well, Apple wants a European-wide deal to provide a consistent and uniform Music Store. However, regional licensing fees and distribution of those fees remain to be an obstacle. In other words everybody wants to fill their pockets and nobody sees the greater good.

In the mean time they’re still losing money. A few months ago Apple past the 30 Million mark in the US alone, so are those decision makers really that blind? It should be clear that regional stores are not the answer here. A lot of songs in the US store are interesting for me, like all those great songs from the 80’s. I love the 80’s btw. A direct result of all this is that the launch-goal may fall as far back as August 2004… but this remains a moving target. I am ready to buy and I think a lot of others too but this is becoming a joke isn’t it? 

Coca-Cola has heralded [url=http://www.mycokemusic.com]http://www.mycokemusic.com[/url] as ”the first consumer branded, legitimate downloadable music site”, but for most of yesterday the website - aimed at British internet users - was offline, causing red faces at Coke and probably some laughs at Pepsi headquarters.

Today at MacWorld Steve Jobs revealed a little mini iPod. iPod mini lets you bring along enough music for a three-day weekend getaway in a package so small you’ll forget you’re carrying it. It is the world’s smallest 1000 song player. The iPod mini is available in five colors.

Personally I have a bid of mixed reaction on this tiny player, most of that has to do with the price. Still a few months away from being available in Europe I wonder how much difference their will be in price when being compared to the US. If it would cost 240 Euro I would give it some thought. How about you?