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Apple cancels NBC shows on iTunes with near-immediate effect
Apple has announced that it is to stop selling NBC's TV shows on the iTunes Store, effective from the start of the new TV season this September (read: tomorrow). The New York Times was on the money when it said the reason for the cancellation revolved around NBC charging more for its shows: it turns out NBC wanted twice as much, with Apple saying it "would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $4.99 per episode from the current $1.99." The press release from Apple almost sounds bitter, with the company stating that it decided to end the contract early, since NBC was happy enough with withdrawing "their shows in the middle of the television season." Boo hiss NBC and Apple, don't you see that the only people that get hurt in all this are the consumers?
NY Post: Apple to begin selling iPhone ringtones
The New York Post is reporting that Apple will shortly begin selling iPhone ringtones through the iTunes Store by allowing users to convert any iTunes song into a ringtone for an additional fee. Perhaps even more interesting is the claim that "Apple will also allow users to convert songs they have previously purchased through iTunes into a ringtone" and that users will be able to use any part of the song. From Apple's perspective this seems like an absolute no-brainer, with ringtones being a multi-billion dollar business worldwide. From a user perspective, however, the prospect of paying even more to turn I song I already bought into a ringtone is asinine, especially considering that there are free methods for getting ringtones on your iPhone. What do you think? What (if anything) would you be willing to pay to convert your iTunes purchases into iPhone ringtones? (The image shows a Ringtone tab in iTunes that engadget captured back in January at the iPhone's debut).
Rumors unleashed: Wireless iTunes Store to debut Wednesday?
Wild rumoring is of course inevitable with an Apple event on the horizon, and MacDailyNews is doing its part with this latest wireless iTunes doozy. Apparently alongside the oft-rumored wireless iPods, Wednesday will also bring "wireless iTunes Store sales" to the iPhone and said iPods. MacDaily's source also claims that the iPods will indeed be Mac OS X-based, and that we should "Prepare to be stunned [with] iPod's new capabilities." Of course, a wireless iPod is perfectly plausible, and a wireless iTunes store seems like something Apple's going to have to break down and build sooner or later, but there's really no telling that the cited source has any inside line on such a thing, so we're going to remain firmly skeptical on this one until we get a few hard facts -- like a wireless iTunes Store, for instance.
Apple introduces My iTunes Widgets
Everyone is going bonkers about social networking sites, the kids they like 'em. Apple, not being foolish, hopes to cash in on that trend with My iTunes Widgets. My iTunes Widgets are 3 widgets that you can embed into a website (Apple suggests your blog, or your social networking site profile) which will display either your most recent iTunes purchases, your favorite iTunes artists (based on how much of their stuff you have purchased), or your iTunes reviews.You have to enable My iTunes widgets via your profile in the iTunes Store. Once enabled you are whisked to a webpage to design your widget (within limits) and get the code which you then paste into your website. No muss, no fuss.[via Mac Rumors]Update: I forgot to add that the widgets use Flash, so they won't work on the iPhone (whoops!), and these seem like they were made with iWeb '08's new Web Widget feature.
Videos imminent for UK iTunes store
Ars Technia is reporting that Apple is about to add television and movie downloads to the UK iTunes Store, possibly within the next two weeks. Customers in the US have enjoyed this service for a couple of years now, while our friends overseas have heard this promise several times. If Ars' source is to be believed, the licensing issues have been worked out and the system is in place. All that's left to do is "...flip the switch." Keep your eyes peeled.[Via AppleInsider]
iTunes Store sells three billion songs, keeps on truckin'
After just over four years, the addition of movies and TV shows, and a name change, Apple today announced that the iTunes Store has sold over three billion songs. With a catalog of over five million songs, 550 TV shows and 500 movies, these sales numbers have also propelled the iTunes Store past Amazon and even Target to become the third largest music retailer in the US.While this is great news and all, I'm getting a bit bothered by the fact that music is gaining more and more of the bragging rights from Apple lately. TV shows seem to be selling pretty well, but just seeing '500 movies' printed in this press release makes the iTunes Store's selection sound like it's about on par with that crappy rental department at that run-down grocery store up the street. Hollywood typically seems happy to hop on any and every bandwagon that rolls into town, and with the reportedly unprecedented profits that record labels and TV show networks make from digital downloads, it still baffles me as to why the iTunes Store isn't able to give Blockbuster and Netflix a run for their money.Still, three billion songs sold over the world's most popular (and still most DRM-flexible) digital music store is good news, so I tip my hat to Apple on the success of the little jukebox application that could.
Bowling with The Sims game in iTunes Store
Get your iPods out and your gaming thumbs on boys and girls - the iTunes Store just added a new game: The Sims Bowling (iTunes link). From the preview trailer in the iTunes Store, it looks like a pretty decent bowling game; users are able to adjust their position and direction before throwing, and you can of course create your own Sim with which to hit the lanes. Reviews are also pouring in at the store, with an average rating of 4/5 stars.As with all other iPod games from the iTunes Store, The Sims Bowling costs $4.99 and only works on fifth-generation iPods with iPod Software 1.2 or later.Thanks, Gustaaf!
iTunes Store now 3rd largest US music retailer
iLounge is reporting on a NPD Group MusicWatch report that as of the first quarter of 2007 the iTunes Store is the third largest music retailer in the United States. The iTunes Store now accounts for 9.8% of music sold (both physical discs and downloadable), moving Apple ahead of fourth place Amazon (6.7%). As iLounge points out, this gain is particularly impressive given that Apple only gained fourth-place back in January. Next in Apple's sights are Best Buy (13.8%) and market leader Walmart (15.8%). With strong sales of EMI's DRM-free music, the iTunes Store looks to be building momentum. Personally, I hope Apple's increasing retail music marketshare will translate into more clout with the labels and thus more DRM-free music.
Apple passes Amazon to become the #3 US music retailer
Things must seem pretty rosy in Cupertino -- just a week before the mega-hyped launch of you-know-what, market research group NPD's quarterly survey shows Apple has passed Amazon to become the third biggest music retailer in the US. This isn't the biggest of surprises, since Steve himself predicted that the iTunes Store would overtake Amazon at the Showtime event back in September, but the leap to #3 is a little unexpected, since Apple also outpaced Target last quarter. iTunes is now rocking a 10% market share, just behind Wal-Mart at 16% and Best Buy at 14%, and while we don't expect to see it pass those two giants anytime soon, we'd bet that uptick in DRM-free sales has got the iTMS crew at Apple licking their chops.
Check out London's iTunes Festival
Now this is pretty cool. Sixty of the hottest and most respected names in popular music, like Travis, Amy Winehouse, Stereophonics and more, will play gigs at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. The only way to get tickets is to win a contest [iTunes Link], but those who don't win needn't worry, as all sixty shows will be made available in the iTunes Store.This is pretty cool, as you can catch the show for free (if you lucky enough), and then download the very performance you attended from iTunes as a professional recording (as opposed to those *other* live recordings you have). Thanks, Gary!
Star Trek Voyager back in iTunes
What is it with Star Trek and iTunes? Last week, Voyager was unceremoniously beamed out of the US store. Today, it's back with a revised price of $28.99US for the 15-episodes of Season one [iTunes link].This isn't the first time we've seen Trek disappear from the ITS, only to reappear a short time later. There's only one explanation, of course: a temporal anomaly. They're always experiencing temporal anomalies.Thanks, Nate!
Is the Apple TV a dud?
Of all the products Apple has been rolling out in the past few years, the Apple TV is easily one of the most debated. While I haven't seen any specific figures from Apple on how well or poorly the device is selling, Apple's first foray into the living room seems to be getting off to at least a decent start. Jobs made another uncharacteristic move in revealing upcoming plans to support YouTube next month. But could the Apple TV be a dud? CNN Money's Brent Schlender sure thinks so. In fact, Mr. Schlender goes so far as to take a jab at the Apple TV's development: "Apple TV is so Zune-like, you'd think Jobs was so busy with the iPhone that he outsourced the Apple TV project to the folks up in Redmond." He then follows with a list of the largest complaints against the device, which includes: No DVD drive The perceived requirement of an HDTV (though we know that to be not-quite-true) even though you can't buy full HD content from the iTunes Store The fact that you can't shop the iTS right from the Apple TV despite its internet connection The annoying conundrum with only being able to use images from one computer's photo library, even though most people's pictures are probably the one batch of HD-ready media that isn't rights-managed in any way and completely sharable over a network and amongst friends or even strangers Schlender is quick to point out, however, that the one other device everyone expected to be able to shop online via its wireless connection - Microsoft's Zune - can't do that either.
iTunes Store Sale: classic albums for $7.99
The Apple 2.0 blog from Business 2.0 is reporting iTunes' First Album Sale. Apple has placed more than 100 albums on sale for $7.99 each. They are arranged chronologically, in four categories. There are some absolute classics like Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme, Pet Sounds, Dark Side of the Moon, Nevermind, and many more. I'll certainly be picking up a few of these. Check it out (iTunes link) on the front page of the iTunes Store; it's not clear how long the sale will last.
Adobe announces possible iTunes competitor
Adobe just announced its own media player at NAB. The player should operate along the same lines of iTunes and Windows Media Player allowing media library management and playback. Its Flash playback support sets it apart from the crowd--although as we've posted in the past, installing Perian adds Flash video playback support to QuickTime (and, with a bit of sneakiness, iTunes) if not full Flash interaction. The Adobe press release says the new media player will allow content providers to "distribute and monetize media" hinting that, like iTunes, the player will offer storefront functionality.
MGM movies hit iTunes
It's a little late to the party, but MGM has finally joined Paramount, Lionsgate, and others in offering a selection of its films for download in the iTunes Store. It's not the first time MGM has served up some of its movies in digital form though, with the studio already having inked a deal with Amazon's competing Unbox service. Those that prefer not to stray too far from iTunes, however, can now snag titles such as Ronin, Dances With Wolves, Mad Max, Rocky, Foxy Brown and, yes, Robocop at the usual "near-DVD quality" resolution for about ten bucks a pop.
Will iTunes truly support interoperability?
Earlier this week, Apple and EMI broke some serious ground in the digital music industry by announcing DRM-free music across the entirety of EMI's catalog, beginning with the iTunes Store. In the conference call, Steve Jobs cited interoperability as a key reason for the move; songs downloaded from the iTunes Store can only be played on iTunes, the iPod and other Apple products, and the record labels EMI decided to do something about this handicap. Everyone, from consumers to the EU, have been asking for the abolishment of DRM, and reactions to Steve Jobs' Thoughts on Music essay (which more or less agreed with us) ran the gamut, from Cory Doctorow's shoot-from-the-hip-and-not-from-the-head call-out to general intrigue and interest in what could actually happen to an industry when one of its front-runners calls for change. Regardless of what was said, EMI has taken the first step into a world of selling legitimate digital music sans-DRM through the iTunes Store. The big question, however, is how truly interoperable iTunes will allow these new downloads will be.iTunes Store songs are in the AAC file format, not MP3. While this arguably standard/non-standard file type is considered by some to be proprietary to Apple and/or the iTunes Store, this is entirely not the case. Plenty of other software and DAPs (Digital Audio Players) support the AAC format, even including, as John Gruber points out, Microsoft's own iPod competitor, the Zune. If these non-Apple products don't support AAC, they easily could with a software plugin or firmware upgrade.More important, however, is the fact that the iTunes Store is still the world's most popular legitimate digital download store, and that popularity could skyrocket even farther once they unleash these much, much higher quality downloads (higher than any digital store I know of) in a legitimate, affordable and DRM-free download. The newfound interoperability that Apple is boasting for its present and soon-to-be customers could meet a roadblock, however, if the company doesn't build compatibility for non-iPod devices into the iTunes software itself. While customers can buy DRM-free AAC files through the iTS, iTunes is still the gateway for easily moving those files from one's computer to a DAP, and the claims of interoperability and unparalleled experience could crumble quickly as consumers plug in their Creative Zens, Microsoft Zunes and [insert non-iPod here], only to find out that iTunes scoffs at their non-Apple-branded device.Will Apple support other DAPs in iTunes? Could we see a 'sync with TiVo' option in the preferences of a forthcoming iTunes 7.5? Time will only tell, but Apple and EMI just opened the doors on the issues of DRM and interoperability - we'll just have to see whether consumers who own something other than an iPod are actually invited to the party.
It's official: DRM-free music from EMI
Beatles fans, it looks like the wait is still on. Engadet is live blogging the Steve Jobs/EMI press event in London today, and they've just mentioned the official press release from EMI which reads, in part:"EMI Music launches DRM-free superior sound quality downloads across its entire digital repertoire."We'll have more details after the jump, so stay tuned!
EMI/Apple press event on Monday
Could this be the introduction of Beatles music in the iTunes Store?According to the BBC, Apple sent a notice to certain members of the press on Sunday (except TUAW, for some strange reason) inviting them to a press event in London for this Monday. Expected to attend are Steve Jobs, EMI representatives and a special artist or band who will offer a live performance. Plus, the invite teases an "...exciting new digital offering." Hmmm.Apple, Inc. and Apple Corps settled their dispute back in February, and several months ago Steve issued this invitation:"..We have always loved the Beatles, and hopefully we can now work together to get them on the iTunes Music Store...We are glad to put this disagreement behind us."Thanks, Fraser!Update: Before we get too excited, let's remember today's date. Though that would be a mean trick.
MLB highlights coming to iTunes Store
With opening day right around the corner, Major League Baseball and Apple have announced a deal for game highlights to appear on the iTunes Store. Each day there will be a 25 minutes "MLB.com Daily Rewind" highlight show and each week two "'Games of the Week,' featuring full versions of the best games from the National and American Leagues." Each of these games will be $1.99 (compared to $3.95 per game through MLB's Digital Download Service) though there will also be a Season Pass of the "Game of the Week" for $19.99 and a Multi-Pass of the "Daily Rewind" for $7.99 per month.MLB.TV is probably the best online sports offering, so real baseball fans will probably want to go there instead as it allows you to stream "every 2007 regular season out-of-market game" live plus a lot more. However, this iTunes deal looks interesting, and with MLB under fire for the exclusive DirecTV deal, more media choice is a good thing. We can hope this will be a success and cause MLB to expand their iTunes offering with more games, etc.To whet your appetite for the season the iTunes Store is now offering a 2007 Season Preview for free download (iTunes Store link).
iTunes Complete My Album feature: No, thanks
Earlier today, Apple introduced a new "feature" to the US iTunes Store* called "Complete My Album." If you've got incomplete albums in your collection that you purchased from iTunes, you can buy the neglected tracks at a reduced price. This offer is good for up to six months from the time you initially download an album.Nice try, Apple, but I neglected the songs I did because I don't want them. Just because they're cheaper or available for a limited time only doesn't make them more appealing. I'm going to guess that the record companies are behind this "feature" and not Apple, as the latter have always promoted single-track purchases, and the former have not.*If you're seeing this outside the US, let us know.[Via Infinite Loop]UPDATE: Thanks for all your comments, everyone!I won't be using the service, but if you will, great! I interpreted it as Apple prompting me to purchase music that I don't want.I see how it can be convenient for many users, and a money saver to boot. Tow-MAY-toh, tow-MAH-tow. If "Complete My Album" lets you supplement your collection at a discount, than you can't argue with that.
