If it's not a feud, it's a very strange friendship. News Corp. president Peter Chernin says, "We're the ones who should determine what the fair price for our product is, not Apple." He's speaking, of course, of the massive Fox library of TV shows and movies his company controls, and Apple's penchant for uniform pricing for video downloads. A translation of Chernin's comments: "We're staying put for now, but watch your a**, Steve Jobs." While Apple has sold 1 million iPhones and over 100 million iPods, its storefront is replaceable (Amazon Unbox, Microsoft's Xbox 360 Marketplace, Joost, etc.). Content partners like NBC are not. Apple best do what it can to quell this proletariat uprising before things get out of hand. What exactly would Apple do for its video iPods and iPhones if studios went on "strike?" Probably let users contentedly fill their devices with pirated BitTorrent downloads.

We have a great idea for a new drama to fill NBC's faltering fall lineup: "iTunes," the TV show. The public soap opera over negotiations to keep NBC's TV episodes in the iTunes Store catalog is sparking more drama than a season of "ER" — and more comedy than "Scrubs." Sure, NBC is looking for creative ways to gouge consumers. But Apple is equally to blame. Apparently it wants to chop the price of TV episodes in half to 99 cents a download. The way it sees it, studios will make money on volume than on keeping margins high. NBC and other studios worry that a 99-cent price point, though, would anger important DVD distributors like Wal-Mart and Target. So many partners to please! The threat of pirates looming in t he background! Will NBC be able to woo Apple into tiered pricing with a flutter of its eyelids? Will Apple slash prices to bolster its video store? Find out as the world downloads.

NBC is hurt, stunned and confused by Apple's recent bitchslap. Apparently the broadcaster didn't think Apple would call its bluff, and refuse to sell its new fall season on the iTunes Store. Initially balking at iTunes's rigid pricing structure — NBC executives have deluded themselves into thinking consumers will pay up to $5 per episode — and allowing its contract to expire, NBC is now "hopeful that we can reach a resolution before the existing contract expires," says spokesperson Cory Shields. Is that like trying to make up with your girlfriend before she moves out?

Maybe New York magazine had it right: Could Apple CEO Steve Jobs be getting too cocky for his own good? In an interview with USA Today, Jobs tells people who shelled out $599 for an iPhone that's now selling for $200 less, "That's technology." In other words, tough titty. It's a heck of a marketing strategy, if you can call it that. Never mind that we basically agree with Jobs, and think smug iPhone buyers got what they deserved — Jobs could certainly have delivered the message with more tact. Another sign of how out of touch Jobs has become. In the interview, he reveals that he buys songs through the iTunes Store, even when he already owns the CD, out of sheer laziness. Life is rough when you're the billionaire CEO of Apple.

Apple is not content to let NBC hog all the drama after NBC's TV shows dropped off iTunes. In a "I broke up with you" move, Apple's iTunes store will not host NBC's upcoming fall season, even though the companies' contract runs through December. Why? Because after December, shows would be withdrawn from the store midseason. According to Apple, NBC was trying to rip consumers off by jacking episode prices from $1.99 to $4.99. Hopefully that's not the price NBC's hoping to charge on its Hulu online-video site. Who would be silly enough to pay the cost of a full DVD box set for just half a season? If so, expect rampant piracy.

Money makes people crazy. When it comes to media conglomerates, the lust is insatiable. NBC Universal plans to pull its television catalog off iTunes by the end of the year. The marriage, initially, was lovestruck, with NBC crediting iTunes sales for boosting ratings of "The Office." But now, the grounds for divorce ostensibly include disagreements over piracy controls and pricing; Apple now says NBC wanted to charge $4.99 an episode. Some may speculate, rather, that the decision is fueled by NBC's desire to stock its own online-video site, Hulu, with shows. But the real reason for NBC's withdrawal is probably much less sinister.

Sony is closing its Connect digital music store early next year. Why? Apparently no one was interested in a proprietary audio format that only plays on the manufacturer's devices. Apple, it seems, is the only merchant that can get away with that. [Gizmodo]

Wal-Mart cut a deal with Universal Music Group and EMI to sell digital songs without digital rights management software, or DRM. They're also rolling back prices to 94 cents a track. The end result for Apple? Increased iPod sales, we bet, since the MP3-format tracks are compatible with its music player. [PaidContent]

Granted, I have no taste in music, either. But at least I have the good sense to hang my head in shame and not trumpet this fact, as Arrington's just done on TechCrunch, the tech blog he edits, in the course of writing about Apple's new My iTunes feature, which lets you broadcast your iTunes purchases on the Web. For the record, Arrington is into Gnarls Barkley, OutKast, Green Day, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers ... and the Pussycat Dolls. (I always wondered about Arrington.) I mean, for me, one of the best things about ripping my music library to iTunes was no longer having a rack of CDs on the wall for houseguests to peruse and mock. This new iTunes widget essentially restores that previous state of affairs, letting even perfect strangers lambaste your musical taste. Speaking of, after the jump, a detailed analysis of Arrington's musical misdeeds from Idolator editor Maura Johnston.

With a secretive company like Apple, sometimes you have to read between the lines. And what I'm reading is that Steve Jobs & Co. think that sales of iTunes movies and TV shows are nothing to brag about. Apple's latest press release touts how the company has sold 3 billion songs to date. But unlike its last milestone press release from January, no mention is made of how many videos Apple's online store has sold. No wonder Jobs refers to the company's Apple TV set-top box — a potential market for the iTunes videos Apple is selling — as "a hobby."

Glossy music magazine Blender has named Apple CEO Steve Jobs to the top of the Powergeek 25, its list of the top 25 people who influence online music. We don't object to the content of the list, but we do object to the title. His Steveness is no geek! And neither are flashy MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson nor suave Youtubers Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. The only recognizable geek on there is Bram Cohen of BitTorrent, at number 19. The rest are either techies, hipsters, or businesspeople. Someone at Blender should read up on their definitions.

Universal Music confirms it will not renew its contract with Apple's iTunes division, jeopardizing the likelihood of another U2-endorsed iPod. [MacWorld]

Apple, frequent protector of its brand and copyrights, is requesting that shops remove posters with this image, an advertisement for Ann Summers' iGasm, a sex toy for women which vibrates to the beat of your music player's tunes. According to the British tabloid News of the World, CEO of Ann Summers, Jacqueline Gold, is taking it in stride: "Perhaps I can send them an iGasm to put a smile back on their faces!" Perhaps Ms. Gold hopes to reach an agreement with Steve Jobs similar to the one he reached with Cisco over the use of the name iPhone.

Is there a clinical psychiatrist with flexible ethics in the house? Mark Cuban needs a diagnosis. Today the billionaire blogger published a stream-of-consciousness monologue about Google, YouTube, and iTunes. A selection reads:

Disney CEO Robert Iger told investors that the company already earned $1 million from iTunes movie downloads in under a week. "Clearly customers are saying to us they want content in multiple ways," he said. Good spin, Iger. Because if you think about it, customers didn't say a thing.

A reader sends in a purported e-mail exchange between Tony Brummel, head of indie label Victory Records, and Steve Jobs, God of iTunes. In these mails from last week, Tony (who a month back ripped iTunes apart) wants Steve to give Victory special treatment.

Paypal president Jeff Jordan is worried. He tells the Wall Street Journal that when Eric Schmidt says Google won't launch a payment system, Google will definitely launch a payment system. "We took [the comments Mr. Schmidt made] as 'Thou doth protest too much,'" he says. And rumors of a service called GBuy may vindicate Jordan.