Apple's proprietary iTunes LP has completely failed to raise the bar for digital music. The LP format, which includes plus-sized cover art, lyrics and liner notes, music videos, behind-the-scenes features and more, is meant to be a cross between a tricked-out special-edition DVD and a beautiful physical LP. But as of this writing, only 35 albums on iTunes been given the LP treatment, and interest in the relatively expensive—as high as $16.99—digital format is low. It's hard to tell how exactly the lucky (?) albums are being chosen for the spotlight, and what their LP versions are supposed to offer that we can't get elsewhere.
But the combination of iPad and iTunes LP brings digital music one small step closer to the physicality of records—and one slightly bigger leap beyond their physical limitations. So here are some records that, in my opinion, are begging for a digital revamp.
Turn It Up! Records We Wish Would Come to the iPad
Eleven records that would look, sound, and feel like new on Apple's tablet.
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April 20, 2010
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Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures
Here's the first obvious choice. The stark lines of the cover have graced many black T-shirts. But they're perfect jutting out of the flat, featureless iPad screen. Perhaps it's heresy, but I'd love to see an interactive animated version of that design, which is a visualization of a pulsar—a neutron star emitting radiation. Link it up to a radio app and let the album cycle through the pulsars of the 21st century in realtime.
The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico
The original album's banana was a sticker that could be peeled off to reveal a surprise underneath. Now, copies with the unpeeled sticker are hunted on eBay. Do you see where this is going? An LP version on the iPad could let you peel off the banana and then stick it back on, restoring the fruit to its original pristine condition. You could do this hundreds of times. You could even stick the banana on other pages of the liner notes, or on a virtual recreation of the disc itself. Or you could cut the banana into slices. Or you could mash it up with your finger. Or you could plant it and grow a virtual banana tree! Sorry.
Kraftwerk, Computer World
The iconic computer on Kraftwerk's pop classic offers some food for thought. Can you truly love a computer that has the profile of a supermodel and no buttons to push? Ideally, on a new digital LP of Computer World, you could rotate that ancient device and type out your responses on its bulky keyboard as the Germans perform on your couch. "I'm the operator of my pocket calculator" indeed.
Big Black, Songs About F**king
I'll leave interactive extras for this record to the imagination. But it's a classic cover whose garish colors and content suggest less-utopian ways of thinking about the genteel, fey iPad. Picture a family-unfriendly version of the Marvel Comics app, soundtracked by moving, mean-spirited noise that definitely resents being trapped on the bulls**t device.
