As for the format itself, it appears to be mostly vanilla HTML/CSS/JS, as a few people have disassembled it and even made their own iTunesLPs. Barring some TuneKit features yet to be seen (quite possible), It would seem that the $10k is as much for store placement as for any technical creation fee.

Link to crunchgear article (that contains links to some analysis of the format as well as an independently created LP)

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/10/12/dont-want-to-pay-10000-to-have-an-itunes-lp-version-of-your-album-make-your-own/

Depends enitrely on how indies are denied. The article does not suggest any sort of Greensboro sit-in situation, merely that indies will be priced out -- that even after the service rolls out past the initial test, that $10,000 will be simply too much for them to afford. There is nothing illegal about selling an individual product at a high price, as long as that same price is offered to all comers equally. As long as Apple were to accept an indie that managed to pony up that $10,000, the FTC (and all other government arms) would stay on the sidelines.

Once the service is firmed up, (and perhaps farmed out) I'm sure apple will make it available to all.

Then comes the issue of content censoring. That is NOT going to go over well. Apple will have to step away from that.

And denying Indies: Instant FAIL. Instant FTC investigation. Illegal Restraint of Trade.

Don't even start with the ol "Its their store they can do what they want with it" nonsense, unless 1) you have graduated from college, 2) have been a sentient being for more than 20 years.

It was Woolworth's store too, And they found out they COULD NOT do with it as they wanted. http://americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/history/6-legacy/freedom-struggle-2.html .

No need to apologize -- just wanted to point out that the film industry has not (yet) been as full-bore stupid as the RIAA. As bandwidth increases, they probably will be, unfortunately. I happen to agree with Cardfan (and you) about burning for home use. I cannot wait for the day when the music and film industries recognize:

A customer (should) have the absolute right to burn any purchased -- not rented -- movies to his/her home media server, or to place on a portable device, at whatever resolution he/she can technically achieve.

Producers should realize that is (IMHO) not theft, just personal use of a paid product. In return, I would think it only fair that customers recognize:

Producers should be able to unleash the legal hounds on somebody who copies/burns content they have not purchased, or if they distribute content outside a home network to the world at large.

Simply put -- buy it, you should be able to do whatever the **** you want with it for your own use, but for your own use only. No more, no less.

Minor quibble: As somebody who has worked in that industry, I have to point out that Hollywood != Recording industry. While motion picture studios are no angels, they have not shown nearly the level of boneheadedness that the RIAA et al have shown. The recent "digital copy" available on Blurays may not be as open as I would want, but it is a step in the right direction, and orders of magnitude better than anything the music industry has offered.

well i should be in prison then, just sayin...

They actually believe ripping a CD is theft. They really believe we should pay for every version/format of a song, for every place we want to listen to it.

I might also buy movies if they allowed a burn to dvd or blu-ray and they were 1080p.