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Apple has announced that it has signed licensing agreements with three of the largest European independent music labels, Beggars Group, Sanctuary Records Group and V2, adding tens of thousands of additional independent tracks from leading artists to the iTunes Music Store in the UK, France and Germany ... Read more...
It had to happen. Taking and merging the iTunes type downloads with a CD store. Mix & Burn Inc. is doing just that with a "Music Tablet" that provides a catalog of 200K songs that can be burned in the store to a CD in 4 minutes. $10 per disk for the first seven songs and $1 per song after that. More expensive than iTunes, but might appeal to those who aren't technically minded or don't want to disclose credit card info on the 'net. Full story at ... startribune.com
Apple has opened iTunes Music Stores in the UK, France and Germany giving music fans there the same large online catalogue, a la carte pricing, free previews, one-click purchasing and downloading, and groundbreaking personal use rights that have made iTunes the number one online music service in the world. Prices are 0.99 euro and 0.79 pounds per song. Click for the country of your choice... United Kingdom... France and Germany ... or go to: apple.com/itunes/
In case you have your Software Update control panel turned off, iTunes 4.6 is now available. While I am sure that there are some bug fixes, the main purpose of the update is to make iTunes take advantage of the Airport Express router. With this combination, you can send music to your stereo. So what are you waiting for? You want to be ready when the Airport Express ships. Don't you?
Download Now, or get the ... details from Apple
Well, the rumors last winter that McDonald's had signed on with iTunes proved incorrect. But now, apparently McDonald's has agreed to distribute a Sony Connect music store song with each Big Mac Extra Value meal. (See, it isn't a super sized meal.) The give-away is suppose to start June 8th and run for 6 to 8 weeks. Would you like a song with that?
Best Buy Canada, I assume that means Future Shops as well, is going to launch a music service called Bonfire to sell songs and albums to Canadians. They are even going to have the same prices as AppleÕs iTunes. $.99 for song and full albums for $9.99, which actually translates to about $.72 and $7.30 in US dollars
On Wednesday, Dan Kois, writer for MSN's "Slate" magazine said "You spend a couple hours recording a wicked awesome mix tape for a friend... later, you ask how much she loved it, and when she shrugs, you feel a hot flush of shame. Face it: Your mix tape sucks." Kois takes a humorous look at the celebrity playlists featured on Apple's iTunes Music Store... Slate.com
CNET News is saying that Apple has provided software tools for developers to customize iTunes on Windows. Such a set of tools has been available for the Mac for some time. So it is only natural that Apple allows this. Now, if I could just put cover art into iTunes for Windows like I can in the iTunes for Mac. Read more...
This ought to slow up the clone makers, although, they appear to be moving pretty slow already. However there is a Linux program that looks very similar to iTunes. Read more...
Apple is celebrating the first anniversary of its iTunes Music Store. Launched one year ago this month with free tunes, and extended rights package, videos, trailers, and a free download each week... check it out
Apple and Walt Disney Records will be offering the leading collection of digital music for kids, teens and families, including soundtracks from Disney's classic animated films and Disney/Pixar's computer-animated films through the iTunes Music Store through September 30th.... Disney
The Motley Fool web site is running the article with the above title. Saying that web sites, including iTunes are now charging a premium for some content. Apple has said that the iTunes store doesn't make money perhaps this is a way to do it. Although, the Wal-Mart option at $.88/song may make it difficult to do. Full story: Fool.com
Our friends at MacMinute.com are reporting that until Friday, April 9th, the iTunes Store will be selling books for up to 90% off. Titles include "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" by Al Franken, "Atkins for Life" by Robert C. Atkins, "Live at Carnegie Hall" by David Sedaris, "Benjamin Franklin" by Walter Isaacson, "This American Live: 20 Acts in 60 Seconds" and more. Check it out via your iTunes software. Read more...
The idea to team up with Pepsi was obviously a stroke of genius. But even not counting the Pepsi promotion, Apple music fans have purchased and downloaded over 50 million songs from Apple's iTunes Music Store. In our book that's some pretty good dough... or bacon, or what ever you want to call it. A recent article in the MIT Technology Journal (February, 2004) reinforced the phenomena that people these days think nothing of 'micro payments' or 'throw-away money'. So, with the internet it's just too easy to buy iTunes!
Roxio isnÕt satisfied with imitating the iTunes store by bringing back Napster. Now they have an iLife imitator for the PC.
The product is called Easy Media Creator 7. One of the reasons for their switch is that Microsoft has taken part of their CD burning business by building CD burning into Windows XP in much the same way that Apple has in OS X. Of course their emphasis on Napster now has also sent them in that direction.
Easy Media Creator 7 has Videowave (for home movies), PhotoSuite (similar to iPhoto and a DVD builder. Additionally it will allow burning of large files to multiple CDs. Read the full story at the Chicago Tribune. (Requires simple registration)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0402280230feb28,1,4200871.column
Fred's Spin: Lynn, since that article a lot of other online writers are logging their own stories.
Here's another good article told in first person on the subject: Movie Making Made Easy from CBS News...
On Feb 3rd, I tried to win an iTunes via the 7-11 cup. The good news there is that I didn't actually have to drink a Pepsi, but could put Dr. Pepper into the cup. The bad news was I got one of the 2 in 3 that didn't win. Oh, well, I haven't purchased a drink at a 7-11 in a long time. So I guess the contest is working in one respect.
Then you've seen the TV commercial with "I fought the law" music, and a teen bragging that she got 'caught' file sharing, but now she can do it legally... "And, there's nothing anyone can do about it!" -- Pretty strong stuff, but impresses many viewers as being in 'bad taste.'
A number of web sites have provided an article about the purchase of silence as a track on the iTunes store. However As the Apple Turns, (AtAT) provides a list of 9 songs that can be purchased separately and a 16 minute one that can only be purchased as part of an album. All of them are silence. Some days I think it would be worth it. See the story appleturns.com
Is what one analyst is saying Apple is doing with iTunes Music Store and the iPod. The New York Times article compared that to Microsoft's idea of selling the XBox at a loss so that they could make a profit on software. But the Microsoft Home Entertainment division lost nearly $1 Billion last year. It is available at the New York Times web site, but it is a paid archive also by now.
Notice how more and more sites are doing this as they determine that advertising alone won't pay the bills. Even when they are selling names to spammers.
Sidebar: Lynn, twenty years ago the product development department would drive the marketing department... today it's the other way around. Microsoft drove the concept to an art, now the others follow. They discovered all the benefits of locking a popular software to another 'new' software or hardware add-ons. The printer industry caught on big time; they practicaly give away the printers knowing the user will have to return again and again to buy exorbitantly inflated ink cartridges. Cheap tunes from the Apple Music store are MP4, which require the new QuickTime. It's not such a big deal to have millions of users upgrade to the latest QuickTime -- it's the marketing data they're after. At least they were smart enough not to require an iPod to play those tunes. And, as predicted, the users are smart enough to break the music files out of the iTunes lock. . . Fred
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Beware that some of these are as old as January 2004, and the links may have gone dead. Many web sites don't care to archive their content.
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