It's Black Music month, and Apple is celebrating. Along with the special section of the iTunes Store [link], Apple Stores in seven US cities will play host to live music events. Artists like Tiffany Evans, Malcolm Jamal Warner (yes, Theo), Wyclef Jean and Anthony David will perform at Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Santa Monica and Troy, Michigan Apple Stores. You can get the full schedule of appearances here.
We can only assume that these performances will eventually be available in the iTunes Store. You'll notice that the new flagship store in Boston is missing from the list, but that's because Boston lacks a decent music scene.*
As we noted yesterday, Napster has now rolled out the world's largest DRM-free MP3 store. In the spirit of the Amazon MP3 review we ran last year, I thought I would take Napster for a spin to see how the service works from a Mac-user's perspective.
The first thing to note is that this is a download service. While Napster continues to run its subscription-based service (with downloads limited to Windows computers with Microsoft DRM), you do not need a subscription to purchase MP3s from the Napster Store (though you need an account, of course). Once downloaded the files are just straight 256kbps MP3s that should play without problem on any of a variety of devices. With that in mind, let's have a look at the Napster experience.
Napster has announced that it is now offering DRM-free MP3 downloads that play on the iPod family and the iPhone. Furthermore, the library is 6 million songs which puts it in the same league as the iTunes Store, and indeed far eclipses the latter in DRM-free offerings. The MP3s are 256kbps and cost 99 cents per track with "most" MP3 albums at $9.95.
Personally, I had long since moved most of my download music buying to Amazon MP3 to take advantage of the DRM-free offerings (and slightly lower price) versus the iTunes Store. The main disadvantage to Amazon MP3 was the smaller library; now with Napster offering a similar sized library to the iTunes Store it will be interesting to see if and how Apple responds. Indeed it will be interesting to see if Apple is able to respond with more DRM-free music since it seems clear that the record companies are basically triangulating against Cupertino in a bid to undermine Apple's online music dominance.
Posted Apr 28th 2008 9:00AM by Mat Lu Filed under: iTS, iTunes
On the iTunes Store (iTunes link), Apple is celebrating 5 years since the original iTunes Music Store launched on April 28, 2003. Each of the last five years (2003-7) is marked with bestsellers and staff favorites (conveniently arranged for you to add them to your own collection). Clearly in a glowing mood at recently becoming the largest music retailer in the US, they note cheerfully how the store has grown from a little "more than 200,000 songs and a handful of exclusive tracks" to a library of over 10 million today. It's just too bad they couldn't have coughed up some special pricing to help us celebrate, too.
Posted Apr 15th 2008 3:00PM by Mat Lu Filed under: iTS, Deals
Apple and Starbucks are at it again, this time with a new Pick of the Week iTunes offer. Basically each week Starbucks will distribute cards good for a free download of a hand-picked song from the iTunes Store. Starting this week the first such song is the Counting Crows' "Washington Square."
It's not entirely clear what you have to do to get a card, but presumably it involves a purchase. A new card will be available each Tuesday. Once you get a card you have 60 days to redeem it.
The iTunes Store contains podcasts, TV shows, movies, audiobooks, and iPod games so it is easy to forget (for the sake of this post at least) that it also offers a wide array of music. Apple has recently added a new 'Genres' dropdown to the iTunes Store navigation, so you can find what you're looking for even faster.
And to those snarky commenters out there: yes, it is Sunday which by its very nature is a slow news day.
Here's a nice bit of information. Many iTunes customers bought season passes to television shows in iTunes that never aired as a result of the recent writers' strike. As of this writing, Apple has begun addressing their concerns.
In an email that has been delivered to some customers, Apple describes how customer plans will be extended into the next season, or refunds will be issued: "We will make all additional episodes which are broadcast during the 2007-08 season available to you as we receive them. If the season does end up with fewer episodes, you will receive a partial refund to make up for the difference."
Also, some customers are finding an instant iTunes Store credit that may be used towards the purchase of any two TV episodes, music videos, or short films on the iTunes Store.
Posted Mar 6th 2008 12:00PM by Mat Lu Filed under: iTS, Deals
A while back we noted that Apple had introduced a weekly movie rental special in the iTunes store for 99 cents. Each week there's a new movie available at the special rate (Changing Lanes [iTunes link] this week), but until now there hadn't really been a convenient way to keep track of them.
Enter 99rental.com, a new site that simply lists each $0.99 movie as it comes available, with the standard iTunes plot summaries and accompanying iTunes links. Add the RSS feed to your aggregator or subscribe by email and you'll never miss out on that week's special. And since you have 30 days to watch after renting, this makes it easy to grab anything you think you might watch in that period.
I have an iPod, an iPhone, an Apple TV, and I manage all my music with iTunes as I am sure many, many other people out there do as well. Why do I mention this? Because some of my purchases (and yours too) contributed to making the iTunes Store the second largest music retailer in the US (according to NPD data) in 2007. That's right, iTunes is second only to Wal-Mart in sales of music (though the iTunes Store does lack those greeters that make shopping at Wal-Mart so pleasant).
Let's take a moment to reflect on this. Less than 10 years ago the idea that the second largest retailer of music wouldn't have a single brick and mortar store would seem ridiculous. Today, it is a reality and digital distribution can only get bigger. We're living in the future, I tells ya.
Apple also mentions that people downloaded over 20 million tracks on Christmas day alone. iTunes does face some tough competition (I'm a big fan of Amazon MP3), but the ease of use and integration with the iPod/iPhone really makes the iTunes Store a force to be reckoned with.
Along with the iTunes update we noted earlier, Apple has introduced a new weekly special movie rental for 99 cents. Macrumors reports that each Thursday Apple will make available a new movie at the special price, good until the following Monday. You'll have the standard 30 days to watch it. The first special this week is The Hours (iTunes link).
This looks like a clever move to jump start the movie rental business. We can only hope that they'll also consider adding HD versions through Apple TV as well.
Posted Feb 21st 2008 1:30PM by Erica Sadun Filed under: iTS
Many of our readers are noticing that rental titles reach iTunes more quickly than expected. Didn't Apple promise new titles 30 days after the DVD release? TUAW reader Robbie Taylor wrote in to let us know that Michael Clayton hit the iTunes "shelves" within just a day or so of its February 19th store release. Is this something that you're seeing as well? Let us know in the comments.
Being the intrepid blogger that I am, I thought I would go ahead and give Amazon's new MP3 store a whirl, since it works with iTunes and offers up high quality DRM-free MP3 files. What better way to compare and contrast the Amazon experience to the iTunes Store experience than purchasing the same song? The song in question is Rehab by Amy Winehouse (mostly because it was the first song that caught my eye on Amazon's page, and I enjoy it whenever I hear it).
Just 24 hours after enabling ringtones in the US iTunes store, Apple has added a "Top Ringtones" tracker [iTunes link] to the front page. As of this writing, Nickleback has a lock on the #1 slot [iTunes link].
This demonstrates that someone is buying these (just not very many TUAW readers). I'll admit that the next time my iPhone rings, everyone around me will be treated to Eddie Van Halen's solo from Unchained. I hope they like it.
Following NBC's split with Apple, NewsCorp (Fox's parent) has announced their intention to keep top shows like 24 and Prison Break in the iTunes Store. According to president Peter Chernin, his company's relationship with Apple is just peachy:
"Right now we have a perfectly good relationship with Apple."
But don't get a warm fuzzy in your heart just yet. While things are good, they could be better. Cherin adds that NewsCorp wants more control over the cost of their content - an opinion other media outlets share, most notably NBC.
Most of my friends offer the media giants the same response: "If I don't get it from iTunes, I'll get it somewhere else," with "somewhere else" meaning "torrent."
iTunes ringtones officially became available in the US iTunes store late last night (or early this morning, depending on where you live). It looks like fun, but will cost you another buck. Considering that you can make your own (until Apple breaks this routine again), we're wondering: Will you buy iTunes ringtones?
Take our informal poll and check back tomorrow for the results.
It's Black Music month, and Apple is celebrating. Along with the special section of the iTunes Store [link], Apple Stores in seven US cities will play host to live music events. Artists like Tiffany Evans, Malcolm Jamal Warner (yes, Theo), Wyclef Jean and Anthony David will perform at Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Santa Monica and Troy, Michigan Apple Stores. You can get the full schedule of appearances here.
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The iTunes Store contains podcasts, TV shows, movies, audiobooks, and iPod games so it is easy to forget (for the sake of this post at least) that it also offers a wide array of music. Apple has recently added a new 'Genres' dropdown to the iTunes Store navigation, so you can find what you're looking for even faster.
Here's a nice bit of information. Many 
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Being the intrepid blogger that I am, I thought I would go ahead and give Amazon's 
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