Break-ins at retail stores and Mystery Grab Bags? Still more Jobs-vs.-Eisner Disney hijinks? And now we're about to dredge up that completely worn-into-the-ground "silence for sale" iTunes thing. Slowly, the horror of what you're witnessing dawns on you: it's an all-Macless AtAT episode! It's like some nightmarish sweeps stunt gone terribly awry! AIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!

Oh, calm down; a day without any Mac coverage isn't going to kill you. We just wanted to see if it could be done, okay? And if Apple is going to spend all its time repricing silent tracks at the iTMS instead of shipping new Macs of some sort, well, we just go where the drama takes us, folks.

That's right, we said "repricing silent tracks." As you may have noticed, last week we used up at least thirteen of our fifteen minutes of fame when, for some reason, the mainstream press decided that our fluff scene on 99-cent downloadable silent tracks was "real news" of some sort, and the story wound up at MacMinute, CNET, several outlets like the San Francisco Chronicle that syndicate CNET, and even the New York Times (yes, including the dead tree edition-- we're getting it framed). In fact, CNN even called to talk to us, but it appears that the world regained its senses before that organization ever published an article. Still, the whole silence thing really made the rounds.

What's interesting is that the track that kicked off the media brouhaha, Ciccone Youth's minute-long "(Silence)," quietly dropped its 99-cent price tag a while after we broadcast that scene, and became "ALBUM ONLY." So instead of paying 99 cents to hear nothing, you'd have to shell out ten clams to hear nothing alongside a bunch of something-- which may defeat the whole purpose of the nothing, depending on the effect you were going for. When questioned about the change, Apple told the New York Times that the band had requested it; however, that came as news to the band itself.

See, according to his follow-up article (yes, this story is spawning follow-ups, heaven help us all), David Gallagher at the Times managed to get a copy of email to Apple from Lee Ranaldo of Ciccone/Sonic Youth, who was puzzled by the sudden album-only status of "(Silence)": "We are very happy for the track to be sold to anyone who wants it as an individual download." Far from being an unusually long "spacer track" on the album, "(Silence)" was "a very intentional 'piece' on [the band's] part" and its sale shouldn't be restricted to album-only, since that was "against [the band's] ideas and sensibility." Apple acknowledged that it thought it had simply been correcting a mistake, and had gotten the go-ahead from the band's label; the label admitted that the approval had come from an employee who hadn't actually checked with the band first.

But in any of you were all geared up to download "(Silence)" last week and found yourself stymied by the sudden ALBUM ONLYness of the track, you'll be pleased to hear that Apple has put things back the way they were. Download away. And get this: "(Silence)" is currently listed on the iTMS as the top download among all Ciccone Youth tracks. See? There really is a market for 99-cent silence. Who knew?

And lookee here: you made through an entire AtAT episode completely Mac-free! Not a Mac-related plot point in sight! Wasn't that bracing? Don't you feel refreshed and revitalized and not at all like there are bugs crawling all over your skin?

No, no, and no again. Huh.

Oh, all right, here: Think Secret claims that revised Power Mac G5s won't surface until March. Happy now?