Happy birthday, Apple Retail! According to the company's latest press release, this week marks the second anniversary of Apple's very first store opening, and we couldn't be more proud; from those humble beginnings, the initiative has grown to 57 stores in 26 states which have sold $650 million worth of stuff to fifteen million visitors. (sniff) Forgive us; we're a little emotional right now. They just grow up so gosh-darned fast, you know?

But wait, there's more: in addition to revelling in an orgy of self-congratulation, this particular press release also imparts some actual information. Apparently Apple intends to open no fewer than twenty more stores within the next year, including one in San Francisco's Union Square, the Michigan Avenue store in Chicago (also known as "They Can't Possibly Still Be Working On That Place, Can They?"), and one in-- ready for this?-- the Ginza district in Tokyo. Not Tokyo Bay, AZ; not Tokyo Hill, TX; Tokyo. Yes, that Tokyo. Apple Retail just officially went global. Or, rather, it will, in "early 2004." Mac-starved foreigners rejoice, for your salvation is at hand.

On the local front, we crazy Americans can expect the Union Square store next spring, while the Chicago location will open on June 27th, 2003. (Most religious scholars are interpreting the fact that the Apple Store Chicago has set an opening date as a harbinger of the apocalypse, so if you're planning on going to the grand opening, be sure to bring along an umbrella.) On the local local front, faithful viewer Matthew Guerrieri stopped by the AtAT compound last night to borrow a tape of last week's Buffy before tonight's series finale, and mentioned that the Apple Store Chestnut Hill appears to be coming along nicely.

"The who what in the where, now?" we replied intelligently. And sure enough, one quick scrape through Apple's jobs database later, we were staring at a retail job posting for Chestnut Hill, MA. Was this news, we wondered? And it was-- at one time. A search through our 3500-message backlog of mail revealed that faithful viewer Dave Nagler actually tried to tell us about it way back in January. So that, at least, is the up side of being woefully out of touch: surprises abound.

In the final analysis, we're just glad that our once-controversial report that there would eventually be "no fewer than three such Mac havens sprouting up in the immediate Boston vicinity" has finally been vindicated. We're also looking forward to another local grand opening we can attend. Meanwhile, we're starting to wonder if one of us on the AtAT staff should go ahead and apply for the Chestnut Hill position of Keyholder, for which at least two of us are eminently qualified. (Holding keys? We can do that! Heck, we're doing that right now!)

Move over, iTunes Music Store; Napster's back in town. Or at least that's what Roxio wants you to think. Given the iTMS's resounding success in just its first couple of weeks out of the gate, it was only a matter of time before others started trying to horn in on Apple's accomplishment-- and apparently that time is now. Oh, the burdens of being a trailblazer...

According to CBS MarketWatch, Roxio (who bought the tattered and smoldering remnants of the court-closed Napster last year in a deal valued at a handful of twigs and two Jolly Ranchers) has now gone on to purchase PressPlay, Sony and Universal's joint venture that BusinessWeek once referred to as "the hands-down winner" among online music services-- of course, that was a week before the iTunes Music Store came out. Roxio plans to resurrect Napster as a respectable, legitimate service after grafting it on top of PressPlay's guts in a Frankensteinian bid for the online music market.

For the record, in its current form, PressPlay apparently costs $9.95 a month for "unlimited streaming and tethered downloads" (meaning downloads that will only play on the computer used to acquire it, one other computer, and nothing else); $17.95 a month gives you that and also grants you ten "portable downloads," meaning you actually get to burn those songs to a CD or stick 'em on an MP3 (er, we mean WMA-- it's all Windows Media format) player. Additional portable downloads cost a minimum of 95 cents per song-- but, of course, you still have to be a subscriber to buy them. None of that apparently matters much, though, since Roxio claims that "the new Napster will be unrecognizable from the current PressPlay."

So is Roxio concerned about the iTMS? Well, if you believe the company's CEO, he claims that he "doesn't even consider [Apple] a competitor right now," and even when iTunes for Windows ships later this year, he claims that Roxio has a "monster competitive advantage with the biggest brand in the online music business." Uhhhhh... yes, Napster sure is well-known, alright; why, it's practically synonymous with the words "theft" and "bankruptcy"! That's surely a "monster competitive advantage" if we've ever heard one. The way we figure it, 90% of the ears that prick up when they hear that Napster is back will prick right back down again the second they hear that it's no longer "free."

Reportedly Roxio plans to launch the legit version of Napster in March, but considering that the company hasn't even decided yet whether it's going to be a subscription service or a pay-per-download service, it may actually show up even later than that. Which means that Apple gets at least a three-month head start to reel in users with the Windows port of iTunes before Napster even becomes an issue. We're looking forward to a good fight, but frankly, at this point we're wondering how long Napster will be back before everyone who used it back in its "accessory to theft" days starts referring to it as "Crapster."

Okay, we're sure most of you probably consider Apple's choice in online content delivery partners about as interesting as white bread on toast, but if you want to get your U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of drama every day, sometimes you have to dig a little. What, exactly, is up with Apple hooking up with Speedera on occasion instead of Akamai? Something's rotten in the state of Denmark, and it ain't the baloney sandwich you dropped behind the fridge last week. (Although, you know, you really should clean that up.)

For the uninitiated, Akamai was one of the first services that allowed businesses to speed up downloads for their customers by replicating data onto redundant servers located all over the world, so that requests for data automatically get routed to a server close by. Some of you may remember that Apple partnered with Akamai back in '99 to improve the delivery of QuickTime TV, and Apple must have been impressed with the results, because a month later Steve and company invested $12.5 million in Akamai for a five percent stake. Thanks to Akamai's subsequent IPO prior to the dotcom collapse, that $12.5 million grew by an order of magnitude in a year, and Apple continued to use Akamai to speed its downloads.

But now Think Secret is reporting that at least some downloads from Apple are actually originating from Speedera, Akamai's bitter competitor. How bitter? Well, apparently Akamai sued Speedera for trade secret infringement, and Speedera sued right back, alleging "unfair competition, false advertising, and trade libel." Yeeks. So how, exactly, should Akamai interpret Apple's apparent deal with Speedera to provide its services to a company that used to be strictly Akamai territory? We can't help but wonder whether things aren't a little tense.

Speedera is reportedly slightly cheaper than Akamai in certain scenarios; suppose Apple enlisting Speedera was simply a cost-savings move during trying economic times? Maybe. But we just can't shake the feeling that there's more to it than that; after all, wouldn't Akamai cut Apple a good deal? No, we're wondering if there isn't a little spite behind Apple's decision, seeing as its investment in Akamai has long since plunged into the toilet-- Apple even took a $6 million charge at the end of last year to write down its pummeled Akamai shares.

Of course, only Steve knows for sure. MMMMWWAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!! Oh, and probably Fred Anderson. And maybe some of Fred's people, too. Actually, come to think of it, it's probably not that big a secret after all. But hey, it's still pretty juicy, huh? Huh?

Okay, you're right, it really isn't. How about this, then-- the whole Speedera thing started when Steve caught Akamai's CEO giving his wife a foot rub. There. All fixed.