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Apple Store app offers free downloads
Apple has added a nice treat to the free Apple Store app -- the app that lets you buy Apple products, pay for items in-store and make Genius Bar and One to One appointments. When you launch the app and bring up a store page, you'll find a link to download a paid app for free. The app currently sharing the spotlight with your nearby store is Color Zen (normally US$0.99), and word on the street says that Apple will provide a new freebie each week. Sometimes it will be an app, other times an iBook and sometimes the company will give you a piece of iTunes media content. 9to5Mac reports that Apple Store employees install the app on any new iOS device during Personal Setup post-purchase. This is part of Tim Cook's master plan to use the app to boost iPhone sales at Apple Stores, and should certainly make the Apple Store app a "must launch" for many more people.
Google Magnifier curates Music Beta tracks, has nothing to do with burning ants
At school, Tim Quirk's friend had an English cousin who sent over new records from the motherland. Now he's paying the favor forward as head of Magnifier, a blog informing Google Music Beta members about new, interesting bands with free, exclusive tracks. One click adds the exclusive content to your Music Beta library. Google is calling Magnifier a "music discovery" site, making a big deal that only artists the editorial team thinks are "pretty great" will be featured. Sadly if your taste is more esoteric than My Morning Jacket, it may not be for you. Somehow we doubt Magnifier will get around to releasing exclusive Adriano Celentano tracks any time soon.
Angry Birds officially lands on Android, made free for all
This game needs no introduction -- if you're using iOS, webOS or Symbian, chances are you would've already come across the endless hours of puzzle entertainment that is Angry Birds. Where's the Android version, you ask? Well, today's the day: not only has it now come out of beta, but it's also made free for all! The only small catch is that it's ad-supported, although we're pretty sure this isn't gonna stop you from grabbing it -- at the time of writing this, GetJar's website's taking a serious hit from avian fanatics around the world, so we suggest you go put on the kettle and try later. Enjoy! [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Apple has 12 gifts of Christmas for people who live in the UK
For the second year in a row, Apple is running their 12 Days of Christmas promotion for UK residents. From December 26 to January 6 anyone with a UK iTunes account can download a free song, music video, app, television show, or film from 'some of the biggest star performers' on iTunes. Each free download is only available for 24 hours, so be sure to sign up for their email alerts to be notified of the new daily download. As for our US readers: it's not exactly Bah, humbug! for you. UPDATE: France, Germany, and Italy! Apple has love for you too! UPDATEx2: Austria! UPDATEx3: Netherlands, welcome to the party! UPDATEx4: And practically all of Europe and Scandinavia!
Download Railroad Tycoon for free
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Download_Railroad_Tycoon_for_free'; 2K Games recently posted the original Railroad Tycoon as a free download, as part of a promotion for Sid Meier's Railroads! We had problems with the original link, so we didn't mention it right away. 2K has just helped us get the download working, and we're passing the savings to you.The game's Flash site -- boo -- with auto-loading sound -- boo -- doesn't have an easy, direct link to the game; find in the center of the page. Users with puny 1,024x768 displays, like us, will have to scroll down.This 15MB PC classic includes the manual and documentation in case you get stuck. Play a little bit of gaming history and see how far we've progressed -- and stayed the same.
Universal Music Group going to free downloads with SpiralFrog
Alright everybody, witness the latest trend to sweep the out of touch music industry: free ad-supported music downloads. And one company planning to offer such a gig, SpiralFrog, has found itself a pretty big taker in the Universal Music Group, whose catalogue of artists (some of which include Eminem, U2, Kanye, Bon Jovi, etc.) will be online and freely downloadable to those willing to sit through "non-intrusive, contextually-relevant, targeted advertising," according to SpiralFrog. It's a step in the right direction, but what do you think the odds are that Universal is still going to require DRM even on free downloads? Now, DRM-free costless downloads with ads, that's fine, but when is someone just going to offer what we really want: straight up DRM-free media downloads? We're willing to freaking pay for it, you know? And we're sure a lot of other people out there are willing to, as well.[Via Reuters, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
