Apple Offers iTunes LP and iTunes Extras Documentation for Developers

[MacRumors]

TUAW notes that Apple has posted a set of documents providing developers with information for creating and distributing iTunes LPs and iTunes Extras, bonus interactive material for music and video content available through the company's iTunes Store.

According to Apple, an automated, electronic system for submitting iTunes LPs and Extras will be rolled out early next year, but until that time, developers will have to manually submit their content to Apple under a limited program.

Automatic, electronic submission of your iTunes LP or Extra is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010. Until then, the submission process is manual and limited. Please contact your label or studio rep for details and consideration. An existing iTunes contract is required. Your iTunes LP or iTunes Extras will be reviewed by the iTunes team for appropriateness of content and for technical quality.

Apple stated last month after some confusion arose regarding financial requirements for record labels looking to release iTunes LP content that it would be releasing tools to assist developers in creating their own content "soon", but no additional information was made available until now.

Article Link: Apple Offers iTunes LP and iTunes Extras Documentation for Developers

 

[wrldwzrd89]

This is a good thing, at least for those interested in making extra content available on iTunes (which isn't a particularly large group). Still, anything that makes their job easier is a good deal in my book. 🙂

 

[opera57]

Awesome, can't wait to see the new extras that result!

 

[slcoss]

why does this get sent to page 2 and other times some boring articles make it to page 1?

 

[pdjudd]

why does this get sent to page 2 and other times some boring articles make it to page 1?

Because Arn or one of the editors thought it warranted less attention.... Most likely because the only affect this is going to have on consumers is limited to the itunes store..

And simply because you find an article to be boring is meaningless... What makes page one or page two is based on the moderators perspective of relevance.

 

[kirbyrun]

Does this mean that end-users can now create their own iTunes Extras to play on AppleTV? For example, if I use Handbrake to rip the extras on a DVD to a separate file, can I now re-assemble everything and run it all on my AppleTV?

 

[TMWinand]

I've been fooling around with this trying to make my own iTunes LP for my own music, and I am having trouble getting an XID tag on my music files. In the guides it talks about developing a UUID XID tag, and I can get the UUID number, but I don't know how to assign it to the music file. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[MacFly123]

Does this mean that end-users can now create their own iTunes Extras to play on AppleTV? For example, if I use Handbrake to rip the extras on a DVD to a separate file, can I now re-assemble everything and run it all on my AppleTV?

No. This just means that people who sell content on iTunes now have tools to create iTunes Extras and LPs.

I believe you could do that on your own though. Do some searching online and you can find the specs of how to make the file using the web standards for Extras and LPs and you could then sync those to your Apple TV, but that would be a LOT of work for each DVD!

 

[zombitronic]

Does this mean that end-users can now create their own iTunes Extras to play on AppleTV? For example, if I use Handbrake to rip the extras on a DVD to a separate file, can I now re-assemble everything and run it all on my AppleTV?

I believe you could do that on your own though. Do some searching online and you can find the specs of how to make the file using the web standards for Extras and LPs and you could then sync those to your Apple TV, but that would be a LOT of work for each DVD!

I've been considering the same thing.

iTunes Extras just seems like a DVD with menus and special features. I'd love to figure out how to turn my DVDs into iTunes Extras files so that I can keep the menus and special features and launch them from iTunes. I used to hope for disk image support in iTunes but user created iTunes Extras could be a more elegant solution.

After glancing through the developers PDF, this seems like a bit more work than I understand but I'd love to figure it out.

I would assume that if you could disassemble the files on a DVD you could patch it back together as an iTunes Extras file.

The first of us to figure out, package and sell a one-click solution to turn DVDs into iTunes Extras is gonna be rich.

 

[MacFly123]

I've been considering the same thing.

iTunes Extras just seems like a DVD with menus and special features. I'd love to figure out how to turn my DVDs into iTunes Extras files so that I can keep the menus and special features and launch them from iTunes. I used to hope for disk image support in iTunes but user created iTunes Extras could be a more elegant solution.

After glancing through the developers PDF, this seems like a bit more work than I understand but I'd love to figure it out.

I would assume that if you could disassemble the files on a DVD you could patch it back together as an iTunes Extras file.

The first of us to figure out, package and sell a one-click solution to turn DVDs into iTunes Extras is gonna be rich.

I have wanted that as well, but with over 200 DVDs it would take an ETERNITY lol. There is no way I would invest that much time to do that. Apple will make an iLife or FCS WISIWIG app in place of iDVD or DVD Studio Pro that will let people easily author iTunes Extras and LPs. I predicted it a while ago, mark my words again people! 😀

 

[zombitronic]

I have wanted that as well, but with over 200 DVDs it would take an ETERNITY lol. There is no way I would invest that much time to do that. Apple will make an iLife or FCS WISIWIG app in place of iDVD or DVD Studio Pro that will let people easily author iTunes Extras and LPs. I predicted it a while ago, mark my words again people! 😀

I hope so. Who better to make a profit off of Apple's software than Apple. I like the iLife idea. Still, the particulars of this idea have two identical flaws that I can think of. One, being that if Apple allows you to turn your DVDs into iTunes Extras they won't need to sell you their iTunes Extras version of the movie. Still, it's widely known that Apple sells content to sell hardware, and if this feature were bundled into iLife it would be a great incentive to sell Macs.

Two, if Apple allows you to turn your DVDs into iTunes Extras the Studios won't need to sell you their iTunes Extras version of the movie. I assume they would be more sour about this than Apple and would pressure them against it.

 

[MacFly123]

I hope so. Who better to make a profit off of Apple's software than Apple. I like the iLife idea. Still, the particulars of this idea have two identical flaws that I can think of. One, being that if Apple allows you to turn your DVDs into iTunes Extras they won't need to sell you their iTunes Extras version of the movie. Still, it's widely known that Apple sells content to sell hardware, and if this feature were bundled into iLife it would be a great incentive to sell Macs.

Two, if Apple allows you to turn your DVDs into iTunes Extras the Studios won't need to sell you their iTunes Extras version of the movie. I assume they would be more sour about this than Apple and would pressure them against it.

I don't think either problem is an issue. It will be a WYSIWYG that allows you to author iTunes Extras and LPs. That does NOT mean people would be able to press a magic button and convert a DVD into an iTunes Extra. They would have to dissect and rip the DVD assets then recreate everything in the app. Nobody would do that except for nerds lol.

 

[zombitronic]

I have wanted that as well, but with over 200 DVDs it would take an ETERNITY lol. There is no way I would invest that much time to do that. Apple will make an iLife or FCS WISIWIG app in place of iDVD or DVD Studio Pro that will let people easily author iTunes Extras and LPs. I predicted it a while ago, mark my words again people! 😀

It looks like you may be right.

 

[mrgreen4242]

I have wanted that as well, but with over 200 DVDs it would take an ETERNITY lol. There is no way I would invest that much time to do that. Apple will make an iLife or FCS WISIWIG app in place of iDVD or DVD Studio Pro that will let people easily author iTunes Extras and LPs. I predicted it a while ago, mark my words again people! 😀

The thing I'd like to see here is an add-on for an OSS project like Handbrake where you can select which titles from a DVD to rip and while queuing it up you can give them names and select a screen cap from the disc or something to at least create a decent menu and have it just build the files up for you based on that info... it shouldn't be too hard to do something like that and if you did it at time of rip/encode you wouldn't add too much time/effort to the process either. I don't think most people want to replicate the whole DVD but just want a nice way to organize the extra content.

On the other hand, I've found that on the ATV (3.0 at least) you can assign a "show name" to a video which is tagged as a movie and it will show up in the movie section of the ATV as a sub menu, so you can organize your extras that way pretty easily, so it may make the whole thing moot (for people like me anyways).

 

[MacFly123]

The thing I'd like to see here is an add-on for an OSS project like Handbrake where you can select which titles from a DVD to rip and while queuing it up you can give them names and select a screen cap from the disc or something to at least create a decent menu and have it just build the files up for you based on that info... it shouldn't be too hard to do something like that and if you did it at time of rip/encode you wouldn't add too much time/effort to the process either. I don't think most people want to replicate the whole DVD but just want a nice way to organize the extra content.

Ya that would be pretty sweet. I would do that. But Apple's app will be a simple WYSIWYG for creating ORIGINAL Extras and LPs, not converting DVDs to that. But ya that would be very nice if someone made that for those that want their DVDs moved over to the new format! Otherwise you will be ripping all assets and recreating the whole thing yourself.

On the other hand, I've found that on the ATV (3.0 at least) you can assign a "show name" to a video which is tagged as a movie and it will show up in the movie section of the ATV as a sub menu, so you can organize your extras that way pretty easily, so it may make the whole thing moot (for people like me anyways).

Huh, give me some more instructions on how to do that exactly. Any screens shots?