We predicted it! Apple will be hosting an event surrounding its popular music player, iPod and the popular music download service, iTunes. The event will take place on September 1st at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10am PDT. It is a tradition for Apple to release a new iPod is September, but the next generation of iPods are expected to get Apple’s juicy retina display and front facing camera, of course along with Apple’s IOS4. There has also be speculation of Apple making changes to the Apple TV, including a scaled down device with the price tag of just $99 and access to the App Store. Get ready ladies and gentlemen, Jobs and his crew are ready to change the game once again… Are you ready!?
Also this month Kazaa popular for its download music service have released a player so you can stream all the latest tracks from Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and co. live into your homes.
If music downloads are your thing then you have most likely used iTunes before. Apple has announced today that the popular download service’s iTunes U has surpassed 300 million downloads and counting. iTunes U is Apple’s digital education catalog service. The feat took a little over three years to accomplish. Currently the catalog now includes more than 800 universities as it’s partners and about half of those participants make their content available to the public through Apple’s iTunes Store.
Some of the most elite universities make sure of the iTunes distribution; Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford and the University of Melbourne. Apple has also made it a point to not limit the catalog to just the English speaking demographic. Institutions in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico and Singapore were all recently added. In total, the catalog now holds more than 350,000 free audio and video files which can be played on a computer, iPhone, iPod or iPad.
Apple is currently holding down the top spot as far as mobile gaming is concerned, one would wonder what Microsoft is going to do to one up the competition. Well, why not put one of the most popular console gaming services onto a mobile device? Now you can take your Slash moves onto the street, which might get dangerous in the wrong part of town.That is just what Microsoft plans to do with their new Windows Phone 7 series platform. XBOX Live gaming is the largest appeal to those who are in the market for the new Windows Phone 7 and what better way to overcome the insurmountable competition than a build on of what is already a hands down successful product?!
Microsoft has announced 63 games that will be available at launch of the new Window Phone 7 and lovers of music related video games will be pleased to know that Guitar Hero will be ready to rock at launch. Microsoft admits that many of the titles will be a watered down versions of their console counterparts, they do promise that the premise is just the same.
Now you can download music, play a game, hold a meeting among thousands of other tasks while in the subway, street or car.
In a turn of disappointing news, the chart topping UK acts, Pink Floyd has been removed from the music download service iTunes library. Albums like Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall and Wish You Were Here have all been removed from the music download service as the group’s contract with EMI had come to an end.
Pink Floyd did make attempts to try and secure a fresh contract earlier this year but as of right now there is no contract set in place, which means their music cannot legally be sold online. This is a major upset in their business plan as since 1991 they have sold more than 36 million records in the United States alone. Recently, digital downloads have amounted to about 40 percent of the bands total records sales. Earlier work by the band can still be sold andfound online.
Ahhh giving away free music, such a novel idea. Independent music title, The Fader used a similar promotion four years ago and channeled magazine giveaways on iTunes as a new way to reach music fans in the social space. Four years later The Fader is ending it’s giveaway in light of wanting to live the American dream and yes, make real money. The Fader seeks to make money in an uncertain ad driven market.
The 95,000 circ. magazine will begin doing this in the fall and will switch its digital distribution to Zinio. Zinio creates editions for popular brands such as Cosmo and Men’s Health for consumption on the iPad, mobile phones and PCs.
The Fader, Zinio edition, will cost consumers $4.99 per single issue and $16.99 for a yearly subscription. That breaks down to a 15% savings over the print version, which should help to increase readership amongst consumers. The Fader is making other digital distribution plays revolving around it’s print magazines, which they publish six times a year. They also just launched a free mobile application for the iPhoneand Android handsets to let users customize their experience. They also will have an application ready for the iPad in about three months.
The ability to tag songs and send them for download within iTuneswas something that never really caught on like everyone anticipated. Some say that it was a lack of marketing, which is hard to believe for an Apple product, or simply a lack of available devices that supported the ability. Regardless users have other ways to go about finding the music they know and love instead of just by radio, tag’ em and download’ em later. Overseas in the UK a company called Purehas stepped up to the plate with a competitor called FlowSongs.
The technology offers select Pure Digital radios to connect with the 7Digital network in order to mark songs, purchase them for around $1.00 each and then stream them via the users Lounge account to as many Pure compatible radios as your little heart desires. The songs that are found via DAB, FM or internet stations can be tagged and all of your music downloads are 100% DRM free. It gets even better! A large amount of the music will be encoded to 320kbps! through you will have to put up with a tiny $4.00 yearly charge in order to pay for the Shazam end of the service. All this music-loving goodness is set to go live on Monday. Hooray for the internet!
Along with the long list of Apple rumors that surround us 365 days a year, this one is most likely 100% accurate, which is great news for all who love to download music. A report from a Brazilian news site, MacMagazine, claims that Apple’s yearly iPod refresh is just over a week away, it also ustates that their source comes from deep within the walls of Apple’s headquarters and that the next generation of iPods should drop between August 14th and 16th.
Given Apple’s past history of announcing new iPods, this August date is a bit out of the ordinary as Apple likes to announce the iPod refresh in September. Rumored details regarding the specs of the next generation iPod Touch have been all over the map. The latest reports peg the iPod Touch sporting a gyroscope, Retina display and both front and rear facing 5 mega-pixel camera. Also, and most notably, the next generation iPod Touch will feature Apple’s FaceTime.
Further rumors extend to the other mp3 players. The iPod Shuffle is expected to receive a touchscreen display and the iPod Nano is also expected to get a refresh as well. Sources also claim that there is a 7-inch iPadin the works for a late 2010 release. Expect the next Apple event to revolve around it’s mp3 bread winner and expect a shared iOS with multitasking to come to the iPad later this year.
Top iPhone, iPod and iPad application maker, Thuat Nguyen, has been banned from the Apple App Store. Thuat has reached the top 42 of the top 50 sales slots in the Book category of the App Store through a said series of “fraudulent purchase patterns.” The application maker has also managed to have gotten all of his applications removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement.
Apple warns users of the popular music and video players to contact their financial institution and inquire about canceling their credit cards that they’ve used on iTunes. Apple goes on to instruct users to issue a charge-back for any unauthorized charges. The app developer is estimated to have gotten into around 400 iTunes accounts. Apple states that their credit card information is not held on the servers that were hacked, but as a precaution they recommend to do the aforementioned steps. Other media outlets also recommend that iTunes users change their iTunes account password immediately. For further information on how to change your password for optimal security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.
What’s in a name? Well a lot apparently. The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, also known as the DECE, has finally chosen to move forward with a brand name and a beta program for its cloud-based “digital locker” system. The name that they have chosen? UltraViolet and the beta testing begins fall of this year. Don’t expect the specs or licensing to be ready anytime soon as those are expected to be announced at the end of this year.
DECE made it’s first public debut this year and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) but has been under development since 2008. During it’s presentation at CES, DECE announced that their technology will set a standard for video encryption and allow users to take their content from one device to the next without jeopardizing Digital Rights Managment (DRM). In essence, the technology allows users to take their content with them on numerous devices while authenticating with a cloud-based “Digital Rights Locker” when the user wants to use their content on a new device. This obviously is a step forward in DRM technology as it would free the user from being locked into using a single device or particular piece of hardware, all the while allowing content providers a degree of control over the way the content is consumed.
The companies the DECE encompasses include some big names; Warner Bros., NBC Universal, Sony, Fox, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Netflix, Adobe and DivX to name a few. Namely absent from the pack are Apple and Disney. While Disney is working on their own version of authentication formatting called KeyChest, Apple is off in the distance and wants nothing to do with the group or the DRM movement. The DECE crew is approximately 60 companies strong and growing. With all of these big players involved one could hope that they are all working toward an easy-to-use system that people will actually want to use. This should be interesting though with the most widely used MP3 player’s father, Apple, keeping it’s distance, UltraViolet may have a hard time becoming the “Universal DRM.” What does this mean for the music download industry and it’s user? We soon shall see.
One of the hottest car manufacturers, BMW, has just teamed up with the leading MP3 player manufacturer in the world, Apple, to create a seamless user experience between their respective products. German automobile company, BMW, has announced the support for the iPod out feature in Apple’s iOS4. This features allows every Apple device running iOS4 to output the MP3 player’s interface right onto the external navigation screen in the BMW. A list of devices that are compatible with the update include the iPhone 3G, 3GS, the iPhone 4 and the third generation of iPod touches as well. What’s great about this feature is that the interface utilizes BMW’s iDrive control with Apple’s cover flow graphics and displays it on the car’s navigation screen.
The advantages of a system like this are obvious. The system is safer to use, legal and allows browsing through your iPhone’s music downloads without taking your hands off the steering wheel. It also charges your iPhone/iPod while in use. This is not the first time that Apple and BMW have partnered on a project. Back in 2004, the two companies released the first iPod automobile interface which allowed drivers to control their iPods from their steering wheel. I have this MP3 player interface on my car and it is an absolute dream to use! Today, you will find similar iPod integration available in the cars of manufacturers like VW, Renault, Honda, Audi, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Nissan.
Are you interested in downloading music? You can download music from Kazaa.com. Kazaa has over one million songs available for download. Right now, Kazaa is offering a 7 day free trial.
We predicted it! Apple will be hosting an event surrounding its popular music player, iPod and the popular music download service, iTunes. The event will take place on September 1st at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10am PDT. It is a tradition for Apple to release a new iPod is September, but the next generation of iPods are expected to get Apple’s juicy retina display and front facing camera, of course along with Apple’s IOS4. There has also be speculation of Apple making changes to the Apple TV, including a scaled down device with the price tag of just $99 and access to the App Store. Get ready ladies and gentlemen, Jobs and his crew are ready to change the game once again… Are you ready!?
