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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.
Starbucks Entertainment now in iTunes Store
We interrupt your late day latte to bring you the news that Starbucks and Apple have brewed a deal that brings the soothing sounds of the Starbucks Hear Music catalog direct to your desktop and/or iPod via iTunes. They're serious too... there's an entire Starbucks Entertainment area within the iTunes Store now. Starbucks knows prime real estate when they see it! I just checked it out [iTS link] and it's off to a good start. You'll find most of the collections and releases that you'd typically find in CD form next to the cash register at Starbucks, along with a handful of suggested playlists, including several "Artist's Choice" collections (Mick Jagger digs Sade.. who knew?). There will also be exclusive content that even XM Radio subscribers like me probably won't get on the Hear Music channel.Any time there's a convergence of two of my favorite things from two of my favorite companies, I wish it well.
New Jersey begins taxing iTS downloads like CDs and armored cars
The state of New Jersey is suffering from a slight $4.5 billion debt problem. Macenstein is reporting that amidst a recent sales tax increase and a frantic session of checking the sofa for change, Governor Jon Corzine has expanded the list of items which can be taxed to include, amongst other things, iTunes Store purchases. This means that all iTS downloads will be taxed at the same recently raised 7% rate of other newly taxable items such as storage space, tanning, health club memberships and security alarms.Interestingly, Dr. Macenstein also reports that he'll be trying to work around the new charges by changing his virtual iTS address to another state. C'mon Dr. M, you need to pay up for your tanning and limousine luxuries just like everybody else.
Apple and Wal-Mart to bury the hatchet over movie downloads?
According to a recent article in Variety, Apple is in early talks with Wal-Mart over a way to get iTunes downloads to finally play nice with the commercial giant. Apple wants to team up with Wal-Mart to get access to the retailer's massive title selection, while Wal-Mart is attempting to gain a foothold (or at least a revenue stream) in the downloadable movie sector; at this point, though, it's unclear how these tense negotiations will affect Wal-Mart's plans to roll its own digital video options. The Hollywood publication also reported that 40 percent of studio DVD sales go through Wal-Mart, which means that both movie studios and the gargantuan retailer need to quickly figure out how to adapt to this whole internet thing (we hear it's getting big nowadays).
125,000 movies sold in iTunes Store first week
It looks like a few people, other than me, are buying movies from the iTunes Store. Disney's Bob Iger (which I think is a great last name) says that Disney made $1 million in revenue during the first week that their movies were available in the iTunes Store. This translates to about 125,000 movies being downloaded, and keep in mind that there are no free movies, unlike TV shows. Each of those movies was bought and paid. Iger went on to say that he expects Disney will make $50 million during the first year of availability in the iTunes Store.I imagine this will get other studios interested in getting their archives up on the iTunes Store sooner rather than later.
What's with the retro iTunes icon?
Now that iTunes has had a full version update, and the commercial side of iTunes is officially called "The iTunes Store," one would expect to see a new application icon. I sure was surprised to see the blue 8th notes over a CD...haven't we seen this before? Oh yeah, it was essentially the icon for iTunes 2.0. Odd.I was wondering if Apple would abandon the musical notes all together and come up with something completely new, but they went the retro route instead. I guess I like it.
The "iTunes Store" is down
As of approximately 8:30 AM Eastern in the US, the "iTunes Store" (note that the word "music" has been omitted) is unavailable. Like many of you, I got the message pictured at right when I went from the main page to the TV Shows page and back again. Is anyone outside the US experiencing the same outage and/or message? Ooh, the anticipation builds. And now we wait.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.Update: We're getting reports that the iTunes Store is unavailable in the UK, Norway, Italy, Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Portugal, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Spain...whew! Could this mean movies for all?
