• Financial Times, Monday, July 27, 2009 10:57 AM

Apple and the four largest record labels are working on a project to goose sales of digital albums by bundling an interactive booklet, liner notes and other interactive features with music downloads, Matthew Garrahan, Kenneth Li and Joseph Menn report. "It's all about re-creating the heyday of the album, when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music," said one executive familiar with the plans. Look for a September debut.

Apple is also feverishly working on a portable, touch-screen tablet-sized computer that will have a screen that may be up to 10 inches diagonally, Garrahan, Li and Menn report. It hopes to have it on the market for the Christmas shopping season. The larger screens will be good fits for the interactive booklets and will be "fabulous for watching movies," according to one entertainment executive.

Book publishers also are optimistic about their services being offered with the new computer, which could provide competitive with Amazon's Kindle.

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