A year later, Apple stops encrypting artwork. Def.

A year ago, Apple began encrypting their iTMS artwork to prevent non-iTunes users from accessing it. It worked pretty darn well. A year later, they suddenly have stopped encrypting artwork. Maybe they caught wind of my secret project? (more below) In addition to removing encryption, they have upped the resolution of their artwork to up to the full 1500x1500 that the press gets access to, in a move I've predicted for some time now. Most albums I have checked are still much lower resolution than that, but that may change in time.

Example: 900x900 / The Go! Team - Proof of Youth (straight off of phobos)


And with that, I'd like to give a little gift to anyone who still checks a blog that hasn't been updated in almost a year.

Def

You may have noticed that my posts stopped when the quest for iTunes artwork came to a halt. Well, my quest for giant artwork never did.

Around the time I stopped posting, I began exploring the world of press assets. For about 10 months I explored every secret corner of the internet, in search of these press assets. Ultra high resolution album artwork. Through the use of some custom tools and del.icio.us, I compiled a large collection of insider/private/public sites that PR firms, labels, and members of the press use to distribute pre-print high def artwork.

Jump to July, I began molding this press collection into a web app to streamline my giant cover grabbing process. Now that it might be on the verge of becoming obsolete, I'd like to show you my creation that I've been keeping from the world. I have a way to access the same print quality high resolution artwork that is given to members of the press.

I call it Def.

Enjoy, but keep it to yourself. Do not post Def to digg/reddit etc, or it will be shut down. By me. Because otherwise, it will be by THEM.

[EDIT: Did I forget to stress how big of a deal it is that iTunes Store got high res artwork? I just got a 3709x3709 cover for Prefuse 73 - Extinguished: Outtakes from the UK iTunes Store, which seems to have much bigger art than the US Store. Warp Records press assets are generally hard to come by, this is huge. ]


17 Sep 07 | +Permalink+ | Comments (5)