And I'm not talking about the iPad. The iPad is so cool I still haven't had the opportunity to play with one yet, but from a hundred miles up it's still just one of the bazillion devices that fall into the terrifically broad and jam-packed category of "gadgets to read stuff on the internet". "Consume content" is the hipster way of saying it. It's an obviously lucrative market, which is why it gets the attention of so many innovators.

I was just thinking about iTunes this morning as I was downloading the new Big Boi record. iTunes is the only option to download music on my iPhone. I'd rather download music from Amazon mostly because they offer their catalog in mp3 rather than AAC format, because their albums tend to be a dollar cheaper, but mostly I think Apple could use some competition.

I knew they were out there somewhere. Their twist is that they're writing all the tools themselves. They don't have all their cards down on the table, but it seems like they're ultimately after some kind of easy hosted thing.

http://cashmusic.org/

I still think that Drupal is a better way to go. In fact, I think any open source movement that can piggyback on the conventions and success of another is already that much further up the ladder. These guys appear to have a track record, though. Who knows. Maybe some of their tools can be adapted.