iTunes LP

The idea of more interactivity with digital music seems like an exciting step forward, especially since the whole physical non-existence of digital music is what, in my opinion, is creating the strongest threads of resistance to the inevitable digital movement. For many, liner notes and cases that line the bookshelf represent an important part of the media experience, and PDFs included with a download are just not cutting it. Digital music needs to offer something else besides nearly unlimited capacity and flexibility before it can truly replace physical music (that sounds extremely demanding, but that's the constant mind-set now).

The iTunes LP--Pearl Jam's Backspacer being one of the first albums released in this format--could be a first step towards a media experience that is properly (and desirably) contextualized in a dynamic and shifting online environment, but what it has brought to the table is basically the equivalent of DVD "extras" and "bonus material." What the iTunes LP needs is 1) to be available outside the constraints of iTunes, and 2) to have the ability to constantly update it's content. I'm not sure how it would work, but I have an unclear vision of a purchased album somehow synching to a band's live shows and other public appearances as the year rolls on. Could purchasing an album act as a direct link into the entire media experience of the group? It sounds far more interesting than sitting at my laptop and listening to Backspacer while watching a hairy cyclops hold a TV showing people's heads.