Apple’s Keynotes Under Lock and Key?

The morning of Tuesday, Feb. 21, Apple Legal served AppleKeynotes.com with a notice to shut down, or else.  Well, maybe not “or else,” but the group of Mac fans who started the site closed it down without a moment’s hesitation. 

The Unofficial Apple Weblog www.tuaw.com posted about the closure: “Presumably, republishing the Keynotes was violating Apple’s copyright on them, but it’s not clear from the notice.” The exact language of which has not been released at this time, and typing www.applekeynotes.cominto a web browser reveals this message:

“We’ve been served! We’ve received a notice from Apple Legal, therefore we must close AppleKeynotes.com although we would like to thank all those who donated and contributed by downloading or uploading. Maybe we can come back someday—maybe not, but for now we’re closed…”

The notice concludes, “We would also like to mention, that all donations went to the National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association.”  Clicking on the provided link for CASA leads to the website. “The mission of the National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association, together with its state and local members, is to support and promote court-appointed volunteer advocacy for abused and neglected children so that they can thrive in safe, permanent homes.” 

In terms of how CASA donations are spent, 90 cents of every dollar goes to the program services, while the other 10 cents goes toward fundraising and administration.  Apparently the applekeynotes.com website was supported by community donations in order to view the extensive collection of past Keynote addresses, but it is unclear how many donations were garnered. What is clear is that the site will be sorely missed. 

According to the tuaw.com post, “It was developing into an interesting community site…Were I a marketing or speech instructor, I’d have been pointing my students there to see fine examples of the art of the sale and exemplary delivery style…Perhaps we can hope Apple will make the Keynotes available themselves.”

Even with the demise of AppleKeynotes.com, there are other sources for downloading Apple key note speeches:

From www.apple.com/quicktime/guide/appleevents, five past Keynote addresses can be accessed. Unfortunately, the site only covers 2004 to 2006 (MacWorld San Francisco 2006, California Theatre Apple Special Event, Apple September Special Event, WWDC San Francisco 2005, and Apple Expo 2004). Any address not showcased on this site is unavailable to the general public. Also included in the QuickTime Entertainment section on the http://www.apple.com website is the CTIA Wireless and I.T. Entertainment 2004 feature presentation by Frank Casanova (who is Apple’s Senior Director of Product Marketing, QuickTime and Graphics) and Steve Jobs launching the Apple iTunes Music Store in the UK, France, and Germany from the Old Billingsgate Market in London, UK. All addresses require QuickTime to view.

The expansiveness of the Internet divulges even more opportunity to view past Keynote addresses not found on Apple’s website. Strange that Apple Legal has not yet discovered that the MacRumors forum page has instructions on how to access their Keynote uploads for free. Past Keynotes include 15 files, including: the 1984 Mac Introduction, the most-downloaded iPod Introduction 2001, and the WWDC 2003 and 2006. The Macrumors Forum (http://forums.macrumors.com) Keynote thread, begun Jan. 25, 2006 and continuuing through Jan. 28, 2006, provides detailed links and instructions for uploaders and downloaders.

User steve_hill4  on the MacRumors Forum thread commented, “I was starting to upload MACWorld Boston 1997…It’s a brilliant Keynote, as the first, (I believe), keynote by Steve since returning to Apple.” steve_hill4 continues, “Just listen to the booing when he [Jobs] talks of working with Microsoft, and cheers when he talks about how you change the default browser from IE and that the stock bought by Microsoft is non-voting. Also, check out Bill Gates’ reaction as he live links to the stage and there is some clapping and a lot of booing and hissing. A must for all fans of Apple.”

As a vital part of Apple’s history, the keynotes are a living record of history. Hopefully, either MacRumors will continue to be able to share their files publicly through FileFront (http://hosted.filefront.com/MacRumors) , or Apple’s Entertainment Department will push for a more complete availability of past Apple Keynote Addresses for apple.com.