While not exactly gadget related, this one did leave me scratching my head. AC/DC have announced that their music will be offered online exclusively through Verizon. It only gets weirder from here. Only You Shook Me All Night Long will be available as a single track download. For everything else, you will need to buy the entire album. And the albums will sell for US$11.99 – Compare that to Amazon where you can get the CD for US$9.97.
The record labels have long expressed their concern that iTunes was becoming the dominant player in the online music business. But restricting customer access to music (just how many buy music from Verizon?) or forcing higher prices on them will not help the labels improve earning reports or stop sagging CD sales. It may instead push more customers to illegal downlaods (if they haven’t already done so).