Apple's New LP Files Come with Free Fonts!
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Apple’s new LP format –which is designed to enhance the purchase of digital albums – is created using Web standards (and some not so standard-standards) that then use WebKit (built into iTunes) to render the content. As I expected, the LP file format (.itlp) is really just a package. For those who are unfamiliar with Mac packages, they are files that are actually folders. Inside the folders are all of the supporting files – usually XML documents, images and executable code.
One of the things that the LP format utilizes from WebKit is the support of SVG and OpenType fonts. For example, one of the screens from The Doors LP uses the font LHF Antique Half Block.
You might think that they’re using images, but they aren’t. When you open up the package, there’s a fonts folder, which has the LHF Antique Half Block font right there, along with all of the other fonts that are used in the LP presentation.
My guess is that Apple is going to get some criticism for this, and it may even open them up to font licensing legal issues. Of course, this isn’t a problem just for Apple. Internet standards that allow the use of fonts is going become a big issue for everyone.
One company, Typekit, has already launched a clever font management system that’s intended to protect licensed fonts from being copied and used by anyone. I’ve tested the service, and it works decently well (it’s still in a private beta), but the fonts have to be delivered from their server. That’s hardly ideal and it’s functionality will depend on the availability and speed of their servers.
It will be interesting to see if LP files/packages get encrypted or obfuscated in the future. I’m also interested in seeing where the CSS font and the delivery of licensed fonts over the Web ends up. Will the Typekit model rule the land or will there be another solution that provides protection, while also allowing webmasters to serve fonts directly from their own server.
