With Tangerine Trees And Marmalade Skys

One of the downsides of an all-digital music world is the lack of album art, liner notes, lyrics, and more. I'm old enough to remember good ol' vinyl records and their wonderful packaging. When CDs came along, they at least had booklets that mostly recreated the experience.

Sure, iTunes throws in an occasional PDF of stuff, but it pales in comparison. According to the Financial Times (via ZDNet), Apple is working with the four major record labels to launch an enhanced offering in September.

Instead of just a bunch of PDFs, they will include photos, lyrics, liner notes and possibly even videos. You'll be able to click on items that interest you and play songs directly from the content without having to load iTunes. Reminds me of a handful of old interactive CDs I have laying around from Sarah Maclachlan and others.

I certainly am interested in what they come up with. I really do miss the days of sitting down listening to a new album and thumbing through the booklet, looking up lyrics I couldn't decipher, photos, etc. If they can somehow recreate that experience electronically, I'm all for it.