Technologizer

Apple TV, iTunes Updated; World Remains Unchanged

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Apple has dusted the cobwebs off of Apple TV with a new software upgrade that introduces a redesigned user interface, which is intended to make it easier to play favorites. iTunes 9.0.2 was released in conjunction with the update. Apple TV 3.0 has a redesigned main menu that adds shortcuts to recently rented or purchased movies. [...]

iTunes Gets a Makeover, New Features

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

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The first announcement off of the pipeline is a new version of iTunes, which is available immediately. iTunes 9 contains a few significant enhancements, so lets run through them. Improved Syncing: Definitely a useful feature. Many of us have iPods smaller than our music collections, so Apple’s enhancements here should help. You can sync via a [...]

Palm Goes For the Throat in Apple Tiff

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

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Apple locking you out of iTunes? Call on the USB Implementers Forum. That’s Palm’s tact as it looks to muscle its way back into the smartphone space. Its complaint to the group which manages the standards for USB alleges that Apple is misusing those standards by permitting only its own devices to use the application. It’s [...]

Michael Jackson Takes Over Amazon and iTunes

Saturday, June 27, 2009

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Reasonable people can disagree about just what Michael Jackson’s legacy is, and whether or not he was the biggest pop star of all time. But this much seems pretty much undeniable: He’s the biggest pop star to have died in the Web age. And so the Web is reflecting things about the reaction to his [...]

iTunes Price Hikes Treating the Industry Just Fine

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

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If you thought the recording industry would suffer for pushing higher prices on iTunes and other download services, you’d be wrong. Billboard reports weaker sales for iTunes tracks whose price changed from 99 cents to $1.29 a week ago, but overall revenues for the Top 100 still rose by roughly 10 percent. iTunes adopted a “variable pricing” [...]

So Much for Cheaper Music on Amazon

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

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Well, it didn’t take very long for the other music stores to follow suit after iTunes’ price hike Tuesday. By late evening, both Amazon and Wal-Mart had simarily raised prices on some of their top tracks by 30 cents. Both had priced their tracks at 99 and 94 cents respectively. Like iTunes, both stores have cheaper [...]

Apple Goes to Variable Pricing, Amazon Now A Better Deal

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

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Well, it happened. iTunes instituted variable pricing early Tuesday, and the effects are already rippling through the online music store. Five of the top 10, and eight of the top 25 songs now cost $1.29. One thing we’ve still been unable to locate? Those 69-cent tracks. Nowhere to be found — maybe we’re missing them? But [...]

5Words for April 7th, 2009

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

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Care to read some news? Google searches return local info. New logos for Intel chips. New BlackBerry Storm in September? Problem! Mysterious missing Twitter avatars. Boxee rolls out API, fixes. Dual-thumbstick PSP for Christmas? iTunes variable pricing goes live. Arrington on FriendFeed: cool, unused? Drobo introduces eight-bay storage. AP: hands off our content.

The More Phone App Stores the Merrier

Thursday, March 26, 2009

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BusinessWeek is reporting that RIM is close to opening an online application store for its BlackBerry smartphones that will provide its customers with an experience similar to Apple’s App Store. Microsoft, Nokia, and Palm application stores are expected to follow. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but for Apple’s competitors, it’s a matter of necessity. [...]

iTunes Price Hike Set to Take Effect on April 7

Thursday, March 26, 2009

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Get ready for it. If you like any current music, it would probably be a really good idea to buy it right now. This is because Apple appears to be set to institute variable pricing beginning on April 7. The price of most popular music would go up to $1.29, including some classic tracks. In all [...]

5Words for February 10th, 2009

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

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Not that much happening, apparently…. Windows 7 beta getting yanked. The Dalai Lama wasn’t tweeting. Google wants to read meters. Another prediction of $99 iPhones. iTunes gets digital Marvel comics. Apple nixed Android multi-touch? Microsoft’s ten thousandth patent granted. Kaspersky’s customer database gets exposed. Archos announces Android Internet tablet. Sega cuts jobs, closes arcades.

One Last Thing, And It’s About iTunes

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

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I guess Steve has “one more thing” trademarked. Phil wrapped up this years keynote with a little news on iTunes, which involves three things: price, which would now be in three tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents, and $1.29; the ability to purchase music over AT&T 3G; and what we’ve been waiting for, 8 million DRM-free [...]

iTunes Goes DRM-Free, Gets More Expensive…and Gets Cheaper?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

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It might or might be announced this morning at Macworld Expo, but it seems inevitable: CNET is reporting that Apple has hammered out a deal to sell DRM-free music from Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner, joining EMI’s iTunes Plus DRM-less music in the iTunes Store. The agreement would finally give Apple DRM-free music from all [...]

The Case of the Disappearing iTunes Ringtones

Monday, December 15, 2008

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Some iPhone users are finding that iTunes is no longer displaying whether it can make a purchased song a ringtone for the device within the application itself. This forces the user to search for the track within the iTunes Music Store to see if it is eligible, or just taking a chance and seeing if [...]

Don’t Hold Your Breath for DRM-free iTunes

Monday, December 8, 2008

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The latest rumor-du-jour being served up by AppleInsider cites a French technology website claiming iTunes long love affair with DRM will come to an end tomorrow (Tuesday). Here’s how its put via a translation of the story that’s found here: In French: “Comme toujours avec Apple, nous avançons avec prudence. Toutefois, les signaux sont clairs aujourd’hui. iTunes [...]

Songbird’s Open-Source Music Player Finally Takes Flight

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

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Way back in February of 2006, I wrote about an early version of Songbird, a music-playing app that aspired to be an open-source rival to iTunes. I was guardedly positive. It took way longer than I would have guessed, but the Songbird folks finally unveiled an official version 1.0 of the application today. This final [...]