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Apple's Beats-based music service may come with an iOS 8 update
You might not have to wait that long to try Apple's rumored Beats-based streaming music service. Tipsters tell 9to5Mac that the folks in Cupertino are "currently considering" a launch for the all-you-can-hear offering in tandem with iOS 8.4, rather than holding off for iOS 9 or later. This new software would supposedly arrive some time after the Apple Watch release in April. That may still sound distant, but Apple just gave developers its first iOS 8.3 beta (yes, even before 8.2 has shipped) -- if 8.4 happens at all, it's on a fast track.
Apple's Beats-based music service is reportedly headed to Android
There have been a few hints that Apple wants to integrate Beats Music into its existing software, but there are now signs that the tie-in will go especially deep -- and that Android users won't be left behind. Sources for 9to5Mac claim that Apple not only plans to weave Beats-based streaming into Apple TV, iOS and iTunes, but that it's writing its own Android app from scratch (sorry, no Windows Phone version). The move wouldn't be completely shocking given that Tim Cook said he was cool with Android apps when they made sense, but it'd still represent an important milestone for a company that frequently tries to get away from Google.
Amazon's Echo lets you control iTunes, Pandora and Spotify with your voice
If you accepted an invitation to buy Amazon's Echo speaker, you've noticed that the device didn't have a vast musical vocabulary at first -- you could tell it to play iHeartRadio or Prime Music tunes, and that's about it. You'll have a better time of things from now on, though. Amazon is rolling out an update that lets you use your voice to steer iTunes, Pandora radio or Spotify on your mobile device. It's not super-sophisticated, but you no longer have to reach for your phone just to skip tracks. And in case millions more songs won't keep you entertained, there's also a "Simon says" command that you can use to prank people (or simply tell them something) from across the home. We'd argue that the biggest upgrade to the Echo would be getting to buy one, but these new features will do in a pinch.
Apple releases iTunes 12.1
Apple has released the iTunes 12.1 for OS X Yosemite, which introduces a new iTunes control widget for Notification Center. Using the widget, users can see which song is currently playing and pause, skip, or favorite a track. If you regularly use the Mini Player you'll already be familiar with the controls. When listening to iTunes Radio, users will also be able to purchase songs that come up directly from Notification Center. The update also improves performance when syncing between your iOS devices and computer. You can find iTunes 12.1 right now in the App Store.
iTunes for Mac gets its own Notification Center widget
The latest iTunes is now available for download, and while it won't clothe your old application in a newer, fancier interface, it does come with a convenient new feature. To be exact, it adds an iTunes widget right within the notification center that lets you play, pause and skip songs without accessing the program itself. You can even buy tracks from within the widget if you're jamming to songs on iTunes Radio. To get this new feature, fire up your Mac App Store and find iTunes 12.1 from among all your outdated applications in the Updates tab -- just take note that you need to have OS X Yosemite installed to see the download and enjoy the widget's features.
Apple giving away TV shows and music with 'Free on iTunes'
Free stuff is always great, especially if people actually want what's on offer. Apple now has a special section called "Free on iTunes" where you can find TV shows and music freebies if you've already blown through your monthly entertainment budget. It features TV episodes from 12 Monkeys, Eye Candy and others, as well as music from bands like Purity Ring and Houndmouth. As 9to5 Mac points out, Apple offered a similar service before, but this time, the focus seems to be less on hits and more on material that's still looking for an audience.
Apple's two-factor authentication still leaves some of your data exposed
Apple took a big step forward when it expanded the scope of its two-step authentication last year, since it's now relatively hard to peek at someone's sensitive content unless you also have their device. However, this extra security measure still isn't the all-encompassing safety net you might expect it to be. Need proof? Just ask Dani Grant: she recently gave a friendly reminder that two-factor doesn't even enter the picture with a number of Apple's services. You only need an Apple ID's email address and password to get into FaceTime, iMessage, iTunes and the company's website. You'll need verification if you change account details, sign in to iCloud or try to buy an app, but that basic login is enough to see people's contact information, view their app download history or impersonate them on iMessage. You don't always get email alerts (they typically appear when signing into FaceTime, iCloud or iMessage for the first time on a new device), so it's possible for someone to misuse your account without your knowledge.
Apple clamps down on its App Store refund loophole in Europe
Apple probably thought it was doing everyone a favour when it introduced a two-week refund policy for iTunes and App Store purchases in Europe. But of course, as is always the way with technology, if there's an unintended flaw hidden away you can guarantee someone will find it. On this occasion it was 9to5Mac, who discovered that anyone can keep a recently purchased app on their device, even after Apple has processed the refund for it. The apps aren't removed and the user isn't locked out, so there was nothing to stop savvy iPhone and iPad owners from abusing the system. Well, it appears Apple has already taken note. If you refund too many items, you'll now be greeted with a warning message that effectively locks you out of the refund policy. It won't stop determined users from claiming a few free apps, but it should mean Apple can keep a lid on a potentially dubious practice.
After 11 years, iTunes "Single Of The Week" is no more
BusinessInsider is reporting that Apple is ending its longstanding "Single Of The Week" promotion after 11 years. As the name implies, Apple, for 11 years on end, promoted a new song every week that iTunes users could download for free. No free songs have appeared on iTunes in 2015, making people wonder whether Apple has killed off the promotion for good. "Bob Foss" writing on the official Apple support forum, says an Apple employee confirmed to him that the promotion has been discontinued. The discussion post in question reads, "I contacted iTunes Support and they told me the decision was made to drop the free Single of the Week. Seems they don't want people browsing the Store anymore. I told them that the free single each week got me to the Store and I usually bought a few songs. Now, there's less reason to go. They've stopped the free single in other countries too."
New App Store Kids categories target specific age groups
What a time to be a kid! Apple now has a much revised "Games for Kids" section in the App Store, split into sub-categories by age. The little tykes have their own "Ages 5 & Under" section, while those special flowers in the "Ages 6-8" demographic get apps more appropriate to their schoolgoing sensibilities. And "Ages 9-11" pre-teens even get get their more impressive category. It makes a lot of sense for Apple to pay special attention to the youngest consumers. A 2014 survey by youth and family research firm Smarty Pants showed that iPad is the top brand recognized by kids aged 6-12. Of course, it's still very important to parents to keep in mind that in-app purchases by their precious spawn can run up bills, and Apple definitely wants to avoid lawsuits from childrens purchases run amok. The "Parents' Guide to iTunes," "About In-App Purchases," and "About Kids Apps and Games" pages are perfect for parents who want to know what they're getting into when they toss the iPad to the kids.
Music streaming expands in 2014, digital sales drop
Thanks to a new report from Nielsen SoundScan we now know that 2014 proved to be yet another chaotic year for the music industry. Total sales of albums fell 11 percent to just 257 million albums sold in the US, while digital sales dropped 9 percent to 117.6 million. Vinyl sales grew 52 percent, but that only accounted for 9.2 million albums sold. People keep buying less music, but that doesn't mean they're not paying for it. Online streaming grew 54 percent this year, with 164 billion songs streamed. Given the sheer number of ways people can stream music right now, and how cheap even the most expensive options are when compared to buying individual records, these numbers should come as no surprise. Still, it shows the wisdom of Apple looking to expand its reach in the music market beyond iTunes sales with the 2014 purchase of Beats. Has the ability to stream anything you want for a flat rate changed how you consume music? Let us know in the comments.
Apple offers two-week window for iTunes refunds... in Europe
In case you needed another reason to be jealous of Europe (aside from access to the Autobahn and Yotaphone 2, naturally), Apple has one. Now you can return pretty much any iTunes purchase for a full refund within two weeks. Don't go thinking this will allow you to beat Infinity Blade 3 in one sitting and get your money back, though. If you open the app (or book, or what have you), Apple has the right to refuse a refund. Cupertino promises that return payments will be made within 14 days of the order-cancellation request and they'll be credited to the original form of payment.
Better late than never, iTunes is offering 'The Interview'
iTunes was conspicuously absent from the list of internet services defying hacker threats by offering The Interview, but Apple is remedying that situation today. As of 1PM Eastern, Americans and Canadians can buy or rent the movie from iTunes; you won't have to bend over backwards (or at least, download an app) to watch the hyped-up comedy on your Apple TV or iPad. Netflix still isn't an option, but it won't be surprising if Sony wants to wring out as much profit as it can from purchases and rentals before going the subscription route.
NYT reports that Apple declined Sony offer to host "The Interview" on iTunes
Photo Credit: Korean Central News Agency The New York Times reported yesterday that the Sony Pictures comedy film "The Interview" would be released in a limited run at theaters throughout the country. Locked away in a single paragraph of a much-too-lengthy article about the movie, the controversy surrounding it, and the release was a statement that "Sony had in recent days asked the White House for help in lining up a single technology partner -- Apple, which operates iTunes -- but the tech company was not interested, at least on a speedy time table." The Times followed that statement with the standard "An Apple spokesman declined to comment" disclaimer. In case you've been stuck in a cave somewhere recently, or if you live in North Korea and haven't had access to the Internet, the Seth Rogen/James Franco film was allegedly the impetus behind the huge Sony hack that exposed almost all of the company's records to the public. The small Communist nation led by "Respected Comrade" Kim Jong-un -- that handsome fellow in the black suit in the photo above -- was also threatening to rain down terror and destruction on the rest of the Earth if the movie was put into general release. Whether or not the North Korean military was behind the Sony Hack, or the entire thing is just an elaborate public relations ruse designed to gain publicity for a movie that audiences love but critics hate, it's very possible that "The Interview" will appear on iTunes someday. Just don't expect the film to be appearing on your Apple TV for your New Year's Eve viewing pleasure.
Best last minute holiday deals on Apple gear
It's the last weekend before the Christmas holiday, which means it is crunch time for shoppers who still have people left on their list. If you have an Apple fan or two among your friends or family, here are the best remaining deals on Apple gear that you can still get now in time for Christmas. iPad mini 2 - starting at $249 . Target, Best Buy and Walmart are taking $50 off the 16GB WiFi model of the iPad mini 2, bringing the price down to $249 for the 2013 tablet. Best Buy and Target sweeten the deal by extending the $50 discount to all iPad mini 2 WiFi models. iPad mini 2 WiFi + Cellular - Starting at $379 - Best Buy is taking $100 off the WiFi + Cellular models, while Target is offering the cellular-enabled tablet with a $50 discount. iPad Air - starting at $249 - Best Buy is taking $50 off the iPad Air WiFi models and $100 off WiFi + Cellular versions. Target also is discounting the iPad Air, taking $50 off the price of the tablet and offering an additional $25 gift card with the purchase of select versions. MacBook Air - $855 - Best Buy is taking up to $200 off select MacBook Air models. The best deal is on the 11.6-inch MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM and 256GB of flash storage, which is available for $899. MacBook Pro with Retina Display - $855 - Best Buy is taking up to $200 off select Retina MacBook Pro models. The best deal is on the 13.3-inch MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of flash storage, which is available for $1,599. MacBook Pro - $855 - Best Buy is taking $100 off the non-retina 13.3-inch MacBook Pro with Intel Core i5, 4GB Memory and 500GB Hard Drive Mac mini - $459 - Best Buy is taking up to $50 off its Mac mini models with the entry level model discounted by $40 to $459 and the higher-spec model down $50 to $649. iMac - Prices starting at $1019 - Best Buy is taking up to $140 off its iMac models with the mid-level model (21.5" iMac - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 1 TB Hard Drive) discounted by $120 to $1179. Mac Pro - Prices starting at $2839 - Best Buy is taking up to $260 off its Mac Pro models with the 6-core model (6-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor - 16GB Memory - 256GB Flash Storage - Black) discounted by $260 to $3739. Apple iPod Touch 32GB MP3 Player (5th Generation) - $20 gift card with purchase - Target is offering a $20 gift card with the purchase of a 5th generation iPod Touch 32GB. Apple TV - $89 - Best Buy is taking $10 off the Apple TV iTunes Gift Card (email delivery) - $85 for a $100 gift card - PayPal through its Digital Gifts on eBay channel is offering a $100 iTunes gift card for $85, a 15 percent discount. The gift card is delivered via email as a code. Deal ends in just a few hours at 10:59AM EST on December 19. iTunes Gift Card - $85 for a $100 gift card - Both Sam's Club and Costco are selling a $100 iTunes gift card multipack for $85. That is $10 off the $95 member price. Requires a membership to each retailer. iTunes Gift Card - $5 off any gift card purchase of $50 or more - Target is offering a $5 discount on a $50 purchase of select iTunes prepaid digital download code (email delivery) items.
Apple removes white power bands from iTunes
The iTunes music store is a great way for small independent artists to give people access to their music, but it's no longer a good place for white power bands. Following a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center on the large number of albums from white power bands available for purchase on iTunes, Apple has made the choice to pull those albums from the store. These included titles from hate bands like Skrewdriver, Max Resist, the Bully Boys and Brutal Attack. In all 30 bands have had their music removed from the U.S. store out of the 54 that the SPLC identified in its original report. In a statement, the SPLC praised iTunes for removing the albums, while criticizing Amazon and other retailers for still offering them. "Apple is doing the right thing by preventing iTunes from being used as a recruitment tool for white supremacists," said Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project. "Amazon and other online retailers that continue to sell this music need to realize that they are providing a powerful platform for extremists to reach young people with messages that advocate hate and violence against African Americans, Jews and others." Interestingly, these albums are still available in the U.K. store. When you have the iTunes web link for one of the albums, say Brutal Attack's "Anthems with Attitude", the store gives you this message. Still the albums aren't easily searchable in the U.S. store via the main iTunes store. While it''s easy enough for people actively looking for these records on iTunes to find them via services like Google, it means no one will accidentally stumble upon a white power record while searching around the iTunes store. You can read the original report, titled "Music & Money & Hate" here. And in case you're wondering, there was no way we were going to link directly to one of the albums in question. You're welcome.
Apple's iPod antitrust lawsuit hinges on iTunes 7
Apple's iPod antitrust lawsuit wrapped up on Monday afternoon, capping off a week-long trial that has been close to 10 years in the making. Now, the case has been handed off to a jury that will deliberate whether or not Apple chose to keep its iTunes/iPod ecosystem closed off for anti-competitive reasons or if it was done for security reasons. If there's been one recurring theme from Apple throughout the entirety of the trial, it's that keeping competing music services off of the iPod was more about security than anything else. In fact, Steve Jobs, during a videotaped deposition conducted in 2011, said that record companies reserved the right to immediately remove all of their music from iTunes if someone figured out a way to circumvent Apple's FairPlay DRM. Ars Technica adds: The jury will make an unusual split decision, deliberating first over the narrow issue of whether iTunes 7.0 was a true product improvement or an anti-competitive scheme to kick out Apple competitor RealNetworks. If the jury sees the "software and firmware updates" in iTunes 7.0 as a real improvement, the case will be over-a win for Apple. If it doesn't see it that way, the jurors will still have to decide if Apple broke competition laws and, if so, how much the company should pay in damages. Plaintiffs are asking for $351 million, and any award will be tripled under antitrust law. It's an interesting case for the jury to decide because the "damage" Apple was so fearful of is purely theoretical. Because Apple was so vigilant about locking down the iPod, Apple can't really point to any examples which illustrate how a wide open iPod would adversely affect the user experience. As for iTunes 7, the software update at the heart of this legal battle, well, we covered all of its improvements all the way back in 2006. Album & Cover Flow views - you can now view your library by album art covers, or use a snazzy 3D 'cover flow' (you mean, like CoverFlow?) to really show off New Source organization - each media type gets its own library and source, offering much easier access and organization Gapless playback - MP3, AAC and Apple Lossless files that are one cohesive album can now sound like one 640 x 480 video resolution for TV and - as everyone predicted - movie downloads from the likes of Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, Miramax. Movies adopt the same usage rights as TV shows (i.e. - no burning) Integrated iPod management - you can adjust what media is synced to your iPod from within iTunes, instead of having to clunk around in the preferences. We haven't seen what this looks like yet, but it sounds like a much better idea for obvious reasons Transfer purchases via iPod Those seem like rather substantive upgrades to me.
Apple worked to block '100 percent' of iTunes competitors from iPods
The federal antitrust case Apple's fighting isn't looking any more favorable for the hardware giant since we last reported on it. Former iTunes engineer Rod Schultz testified on Friday that he'd worked on a project to block "100 percent of non-iTunes clients" in addition to keeping any third-party software from interfering with iTunes, according to The Wall Street Journal. This, the plaintiffs claim, was part of an anti-competitive way to boost the prices of iPods from 2006 to 2009. Despite the plaintiff's best efforts, however, they weren't able to submit a 2012 academic paper (PDF) Schultz had written detailing Apple's blocking operating systems that didn't support iTunes (namely Linux) as evidence.
Lawyer: Apple secretly deleted rival's music files from consumer iPods
Arguing for consumers in a class action iPod lawsuit against Apple, Attorney Patrick Coughlin accused the Cupertino company of deliberately deleting music files downloaded from competing music services. These files were removed from customer's iPods without their knowledge or consent between 2007 and 2009, reports the Wall Street Journal. When a user who had downloaded music from a rival service tried to sync an iPod to the user's iTunes library, Apple would display an error message and instruct the user to restore the factory settings, Coughlin said. When the user restored the settings, the music from rival services would disappear, he said. Apple directed the system "not to tell users the problem," Coughlin said. Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case argue this behavior supports their claim that Apple deliberately stifled competition in the then exploding music player and download market. The class-action suit seeks more than US$350 million in damages for this and other anti-competitive practices. In its rebuttal, Apple claims the removals were legitimate security measures to prevent hacking that required no explanation. "We don't need to give users too much information," testified Apple security director Augustin Farrugia. "We don't want to confuse users." Filed on behalf of iPod owners in the early 2000s, the decade-old class action lawsuit finally began this week in a Northern California court. Both Apple VP of Internet Services Eddy Cue and Marketing head Phil Schiller are expected to testify sometime this week. A deposition from Steve Jobs recorded in 2011 also is being aired as part of the proceedings.
Apple deleted users' non-iTunes music and didn't tell them about it
Long before Apple was shoehorning the latest from U2 into your iTunes account, it was deleting songs originating from rival services. Tell us if this sounds familiar: You grabbed Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster from Amazon MP3 in 2009, threw it in your iTunes library, went to sync your 160GB iPod classic and got an error message saying you needed to restore the device's factory settings. According to The Wall Street Journal, upon restoring, non-iTunes music would disappear. In the courtroom for the anti-trust case, prosecuting attorney Patrick Coughlin said that Apple directed the software to not tell users about their now-missing songs, too. Cupertino countered by saying that its actions were to thwart any attempts at hacking into iTunes and that users were kept in the dark for a reason. As security director Augustin Farrugia testified: "We don't need to give users too much information... We don't want to confuse users."
