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Sony TV shows added to the iTunes Store
Macworld reports that some Sony shows have just been added to the iTunes store. Amongst the new offerings are: Charlie's Angels NewsRadio Starsky and Hutch Till Death Spiderman All the more content for that brand new Apple TV you just bought (you knew I had to work that in somehow).
Gear Media Tech podcast from the Pixel Corps
Leo and his growing band of merry podcasters can *not* stop generating media, and one of their latest efforts just might give the rest of us a smoother ride while hopping on the bandwagon. Gear Media Tech (iTS podcast link) is a new podcast headlined by Leo Laporte, Scott Bourne and Alex Lindsay (whom you may also know from such stellar podcasts as This Week in Media and MacBreak Weekly), delving into the tools, tips and techniques of producing media for the web. I haven't gotten around to listening to an episode yet; I just stumbled across this and subscribed to download their first two episodes (it's brand-spanking new). Judging from the quality of the other TWiT empire shows, however, I'm sure this one will be a valuable resource to any aspiring pod and vidcasters, yours truly included.
Apple announces Lionsgate Movies now in the iTunes Store
Apple today announced the availability of movies from the Lionsgate studio in the iTunes Store. Blockbusters like Terminator 2, LA Story and Basic Instinct are available today, with more than 150 titles on their way by the end of the month. Unfortunately, this looks like another Paramount score - unless those movies still en route are new releases, it feels a lot more like Lionsgate is still wearing the bright orange floaties while dabbling their toes on the kiddie side of the pool, instead of waking up and actually embracing the future.
Questioning the security of a closed FairPlay
Ken Fisher at Ars Technica thinks something smells fishy about Steve Jobs's claims that licensing a DRM system will lead to its defeat. By comparing the security track records of iTunes's FairPlay and Microsoft's rival and heavily-licensed PlaysForSure, Ken might also have a good point. As history goes, FairPlay has been cracked four times (including Real's own hack for their store), while PlaysForSure has suffered only one true crack in its time. Perhaps more significant than either of these numbers, however, is that none of these DRM breaches were the result of secrets being shared from the inside; they apparently were all spearheaded by creatives from the community who might not hold digital rights management in the highest of regards. Of course, the issue isn't nearly this cut and dry. The iTunes Store's 800-pound gorilla-like popularity can help explain its greater number of breaches (however: wouldn't one be more interested in cracking the store that offers unlimited music via subscription?). In the end, Ken settles on revisiting the possibility of licensing DRM. Since Jobs already let the 'get rid of DRM' cat out of the bag, however, I'm thinking the public isn't going to put the idea to rest anytime soon.
Apple Inc. and Apple Corps Ltd. finally settle trademark dispute, still no major iTunes release from Beatles
Apple Inc. and the Beatles' record label Apple Corps Ltd. have finally buried the hatchet and settled their very, very on-going dispute over 'Apple' related trademarks. After more than a decade of fighting over Apple's use of the name in selling music-related products, as well as music itself with the iTunes Store, the two companies are calling it a day. From the press release: "Under this new agreement, Apple Inc. will own all of the trademarks related to "Apple" and will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use." In other words: it seems as though Apple Inc. has won the trademarks, but we don't really know how or why. In fact, both parties are eating their own legal fees. A quote from Steve Jobs doesn't help much either: "We love the Beatles, and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks. It feels great to resolve this in a positive manner, and in a way that should remove the potential of further disagreements in the future." Unfortunately, this hasn't heralded the much rumored debut of the Beatles' catalog in the iTunes Store, despite Mr. Jobs' open invitation - yet.
WWDC sessions available to all ADC members on iTunes
Back in October, Apple dropped DVDs as their distribution system of choice for WWDC sessions and presentation slides. The company moved all this content to iTunes - but only for Select and Premiere members of the ADC (Apple Developer Connection). Today I just received an ADC email titled "Watch Mac OS X State of the Union," re-announcing the availability of this content, but seemingly for all ADC members. This time around there is no talk of access only for specific members, so it sounds like anyone with a valid ADC account of one level or another can access this library of Mac OS X development goodness. We would post the URL, but it seems as though it is only accessible by logging into one's ADC account online.[Update: According to readers, it sounds like only the general State of the Union sessions are offered, while access to "the juicy stuff" still requires a Leopard Early Starter Kit.]
iTunes now 4th largest music retailer
In case your synapses are still blown with iPhone, a quick trip back to the beginning of the keynote today: the iTunes Music Store has sold over two billion songs, and is now the fourth largest music retailer in the US, ahead of Amazon.com and sneaking up on #3 Target. So much for the faux slowdown...
iTunes: Free Tuesday
Welcome to another free TUAW iTunes Tuesday. Each week, we set off to find the latest free deals from the iTunes stores around the world. Here is this week's collection of freebies. It went live a little late today but it's full of fresh free goodies for your collection. US Music US: Le Disko (Radio Edit) by Shiny Toy Guns"Le Disko" is a track filled with so many selling points, it could very well have been concocted in a laboratory. Not to say that there's a clinical air to this tune from Shiny Toy Guns, but any track that can fuse together old school hip-hop phrasing, a pouty girl singer, post-punk rhythms, electro blips and beats, and rock 'n' roll crunch could not have been made by human hands. Could science be behind this free Single of the Week? Listen for yourself. US: Mister Sister by The Tender BoxThe Tender Box is a Mexican-American quartet based out of East L.A. who grew up on a strict diet of '80s post-punk and '90s Brit-pop. The hiccuping delivery and buzzing immediacy of those sounds can be heard all over "Mister Sister," the group's breakout tune. Picture a dance floor flooded with the songs of New Order and Franz Ferdinand, drop this tune in the middle, and watch the kids go nuts. Get it free this week on iTunes.
The iTunes Bowl - College Football games coming to the iTS
As an big college football fan, this got my attention. Playlist is reporting that Fox Sports will bring entire bowl games to the iTunes Store. Erica previously noted that iTunes is changing the way people watch sports. As a commenter on that thread pointed out, this is a godsend for sports addicts in far away places. The games will include the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the FedEx Orange Bowl, the Allstate Sugar Bowl and the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game and will generally be up within 24 hours after the final play. In addition to the full-length games there will be highlight shows available at reduced prices (presumably similar to what they had last year from ABC; I still occasionally enjoy my Longhorn's rousing National Championship in iTunes).
On declining iTunes Store sales
The Register rang the town bell this week, pouncing on a report from Forrester Research which declared that iTunes Store sales are on the decline. Forrester analyzed 27 months of credit card transactions to conclude that revenue has fallen 65 percent since January 2006, and the size of the average transaction has dropped 17 percent. These numbers, however, don't take into account transactions like gift cards and gifted music, and I have a sneaking suspicion they might also have omitted other popular services like PayPal, which can be tied directly to a customer's banking account, bypassing credit cards altogether.Apple is notoriously tight-lipped about the performance of their 800 lb gorilla iTS, but MacNN notes that Apple reported 'above-break-even' profits for the store during last September's earnings conference call. Considering the iTS has long been known as a paper-thin profit loss-leader to sell iPods, as well as the possibility that the neglected portions of iTS transactions could shift Forrester's findings, I'm a bit skeptical of these reports. Of course, The Macalope asks 'who cares?' to all this worry of how the iTS is doing, but Geoff Duncan at Digital Trends reminds us of some interesting potential shifts in the digital distribution model that could depend directly on how well present offerings fair. Microsoft opened a Pandora's box by agreeing to pay the labels $1 for each Zune sold, and there are rumors that the jackass labels might be using this to pressure Apple into a similar deal. On an even broader scale though, Geoff also mentions something called 'blanket licensing' where said jackass labels could apply a tax to broadband subscriptions, allowing users to continue to freely download content over any network or service they use.We will undoubtedly receive an updated performance report on the iTunes Store from Stevie at next month's Macworld. If anything, Forrester's report and the resulting discussion might signify a new wave of interestingness in the sea of DRM and digital distribution. Stay tuned.
iWoz on iTunes
iWoz - From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It has made its way into the audiobook section of the iTunes Music Store (iTs link). All 9 hours and 14 minutes of it. Patrick Lawlor does a fine job of narrating it, but he sounds nothing like Woz. And he's no Joey Slotnick, either. That always bothers me when I listen to autobiographies and memoirs. I keep expecting to hear the words straight from the horse's mouth. It's distracting to have it be someone who sounds completely different than what you know the author sounds like. Am I alone in that thinking?I wonder if iWoz' presence in iTunes is Steve-o's way of making up for that $3,150 he cheated Woz out of?Anyway, for $15.95, it can be yours - and as the iTunes store blurb reminds us, it also makes a great gift!Thanks, Steve!
New iTunes Gift Card designs from Apple
iTunes Gift Cards are great gifts for music, movie and/or TV-loving friends and family on your Christmas list. And now you have a wider variety of designs to choose from when you pick one up at your local Apple Store.ITunes Gift Cards are $10 and up and are no longer Music Store-centric. Now there are Movie and TV gift cards and additional genre-specific designs to fit the bill. There's even a spiffy new iTunes Premium card, which comes in "beautiful gift packaging," for $100.You can still order Gift Certificates worth up to $500 from the Apple Store online and have them sent via email for instant gratification, or have Gift Cards sent via postal mail, but the best selection of card designs is available in Apple Retail stores.
Man runs up 8k tab in iTunes Store, fiance dumps him
In response to a call for readers' most embarrassing DVD purchases on Entertainment Weekly's website, Dalton Ross got an interesting comment from a woman named Susan who thought it might be fun to share with the world why her engagement was called off.I used to wonder how my husband-to-be had more than 700 music CDs and more than 300 movie DVDs and hundreds and hundreds of record albums until I discovered that he had $43,000 in credit-card debt. In looking at his last bill (for one month) he had charged more than 8,000 iTunes at 99 cents each and had charges at places that sell music and movies, too. This guy made $45,000 a year. Called off the wedding.If true - and since it's on the Interwebs it must be true - Susan made the right choice! And she saved both of them from even more debt.8000 songs from the iTunes music store? $7920Average cost of a wedding in the US?$27,490Posting about your failed relationship and shattered dreams on the Internet?Priceless.Perhaps someone should introduce this guy to Free Tuesdays? Is there an iTunes Anonymous chapter for guys like this? There's a reason why 1-Click purchasing should be off by default.[via TheAppleBlog]
Rumor: iTunes Store could get flexible album pricing
Certainly one of the drawbacks to buying music on the iTS is the single vs. album purchase: sure you can buy a song or two from an album, or maybe the hot pre-release single, but what happens if you want the rest of the album later, or when it's completely released? This has been a catch with traditional music distribution methds as well - you can either buy that $3-5 CD single release, or pony up the ridiculous price of $15-20 (and more) for the entire album. I've been hoping someone would devise a digital solution to this conundrum since I bought my first album off the store the day it launched, and Ina Fried CNET has a rumor stating that a solution could see the light of day soon. The idea is that if you've bought a track or two from an album, you can receive credit for those purchased tracks in the form of a lower total album price, should you decide you want the entire thing at a later date.If this is true, I would hope it could debut as early as January's Macworld '07 event. Ina's right - they're leaving a ton of money on the table without something like this in place, and they have the opportunity of solving an age-old conundrum in offering an appealing and fundamental advantage over the traditional brick-and-mortar method of buying music.
Disney/Pixar's Cars movie now in iTunes, special pricing
Although I'm getting older and grayer by the day, I'm still really a kid at heart. That's probably why I love the movie Cars. I love it so much that it's about to become the very first full-length movie that I personally purchase on iTunes. Cars was released today in the iTunes Store [iTS link] and Apple has made it even more appealing with their special pricing of $12.99 for new releases. That makes me, as Mater would say, happier 'n a tornado in a trailer park! Boogity Boogity Boogity! Let's go racin'!
Sundance Channel making several programs available in the iTunes Store
The Sundance Channel just announced the immediate availability of several of its programs in the iTunes Store [iTS link]. Programs include "The Hill," "The First Amendment Project," and "The Staircase," and they are priced at $1.99 each. Sundance is also giving iTunes Store users a free sneak peek of Episode 1 of their upcoming six-part documentary series called "One Punk Under God," about Christian punk rockers, which will be downloadable from December 5-12, while the television debut is scheduled for December 13. Subsequent episodes will be for sale on iTunes the day after they air on television.[via iLounge]
Studios steering clear of iTunes Store for now
If you think the iTunes Store could use a bigger push from movie studios, you'll be just as disappointed as I am to hear that most of the big players have no interest in signing on before the holidays.According to this story at the Mac Observer, analyst group Piper Jaffray met with four of the six top Hollywood studios to talk about their plans to put their flicks onto the iTunes Store, but they've all decided to wait out the holidays for fear of "retailiation" [sic] - a great word to describe how big retailers like Wal-Mart could pull back on their support of DVDs if they become unprofitable because the movies are available cheaper online.There's more. Apparently, studios aren't too thrilled about Apple's "rigid pricing strategy" either, and that other popular bugaboo, the looming threat of piracy, comes up too.It's not all bleak, though. Piper Jaffray says more studios will have movies on the iTunes Store within the next six months. I'm just looking forward to downloading Adaptation at some point.[Via Digg]
ABC pushing broadcast, their own site, vs. iTS purchases
Mac Zone has a post concerning ABC's insertion of 30 seconds of network-pimping ads in the Lost season 3 premiere (iTS link) purchased from the iTS. While the first 8 second spot is just a harmless network ID badge, the second spot (at the end of the vid) advertises watching Lost on a full-fledged TV - you know, the thing you're directly avoiding by buying shows digitally through the iTS? Going even one step further, however, is this advertisement to 'watch more video at abc.com.' Somehow methinks this doesn't exactly jive with trying to sell videos through the iTS, which, if you remember, only helps Apple make money off all this by selling an iPod or two.Mac Zone wonders if this is a hint that networks, or at least ABC, prefer broadcast viewers instead of iTS purchases. For right now, due to the relatively small overall market share the iTS has (digital and real world combined), I wouldn't be surprised. Let's face it: even though the iTS has overtaken Tower Records, a brick and mortar store, it still claims a very thin margin of overall music and video sales. The networks are surely making more money right now via their traditional broadcast + advertising revenue model vs. the pay-to-play digital download method. And since we're pretty sure the 3rd parties, not Apple, prepare their own content for the store (meaning: ABC, not Apple, inserted those ads), I think the bigger question is whether networks like ABC are getting cold feet in the kiddie pool during this budding phase of digital distribution and considering any rash decisions, like pulling their content.
The case of the missing shows in the iTunes Store
If you think that Mac geeks are a a vocal group, you haven't met any SciFi geeks (a group of which I easily fall into). This Friday was the highly anticipated season premiere of Battlestar Galactica's 3rd season. As you know, BSG is available on the iTunes Store, however, 3 days after the premier there is no sign of the 3rd season opener on iTunes.This isn't the first we have heard of major lag time between a show airing on TV and then becoming available on the iTunes Store. Apple, if you want people to buy these shows you really need to post them in a timely fashion (a few hours after the show is on TV would be great, immediately after the airing would be even better though harder to do thanks to time zones).Anyone else noticing that their favorite shows are taking awhile to become available for download?Oh, and the BSG episode in question was awesome.Thanks, Quix.
Widget Watch: OnTour - know when your favorite iTunes artists are in town
OnTour is a Dashboard widget that scans your iTunes library and offers concert notifications when the artists you actually listen to are coming to a venue near you. The widget uses OnTour.net to collaborate all this information, and links are provided to buy tickets, as well as to the iTS in case you need to brush up on your choruses. To top things off, the OnTour.net site itself provides even more links to discographies and Google maps for directions. Nice.[via Lifehacker]
