itune

Report: Apple to sell iTunes songs through Bebo

The Financial Times reported Tuesday that Apple is poised to announce a deal in which it will sell iTunes store tracks through social-networking site Bebo. At first, it appears that this applies only to Bebo's 8.8 million users in the U.K. and Ireland, where the service is most popular, but the story hinted that it may expand to the rest of Bebo's 33 million-strong user base if successful.

According to the Financial Times article, any band or artist with a Bebo profile--there are approximately 500,000 of them--that's already part of the iTunes catalog will … Read more

Mac apps on Windows suck. Here's why.

Apple has pulled off a remarkable feat: it's released crappy software for Windows that only makes users want more of it.

iTunes is a bad Windows app. It's slow and it's a horrible resource hog. On the Mac, though, it's another story. The app taunts Windows users.

And now, Apple is going to bundle a redundant Windows browser, Safari, with iTunes. Who cares? Users won't--or shouldn't. Safari may be faster than IE, but it has no plug-in support, as Firefox (and even IE) does. It does have tabs. Big deal.

Safari is a runtime … Read more

Nutsie launches in beta: iTunes on your phone, sort of

Mobile media company Melodeo, best known for mobile radio and podcast deals with cellular carriers, has launched the public beta of a new brand: Nutsie, which allows you to upload iTunes playlists to its Web site and stream them to your cell phone. (Get it? "Nutsie?" It's "iTunes" with the letters rearranged.)

So far, it's compatible with a bunch of different cell phones: the Motorola Razr, LG CU500, Sony Ericsson W600, and a handful of Samsung and Nokia handsets. Upon signing up, you export your iTunes library to Nutsie's Web site (no word … Read more

iTunes updates for DRM-free music

After Steve Jobs' open letter to record executives back in February, it was clear that DRM-free music (music without digital rights management technology) wasn't far away for Apple users. Today, the concept became a reality with the release of iTunes 7.2 (download it for Windows or Mac OS X).

As of today, all of the songs from music label EMI on Apple's iTunes Store will be free of DRM via a new service called iTunes Plus. (Note: that link will open iTunes and take you to iTunes Plus, but only if you have version 7.2 installed.)… Read more

Apple offers a little love with its DRM-free upgrades

According to CNET's own experiments, the iTunes Plus feature that launched Wednesday and allows you to upgrade previously purchased EMI song files to the DRM-free versions appears to have a neat side effect.

The upgrade, which costs 30 cents per song or $3.00 per album, seems to be based on iTunes account purchase history, not whether the song file resides in your iTunes library.

Figure out the perk, yet?

It means that those of us who have lost a previously purchased iTunes song file due to a corrupted or lost laptop, now have a chance to get it … Read more

iTunes goes DRM-free with EMI

Apple's iTunes store began selling DRM-free songs from EMI on Wednesday.

DRM (digital rights management) software prevents owners from copying or freely using a digital file across multiple devices.

As expected, all the songs from music label EMI that are sold on iTunes are now available in DRM-free versions. Shoppers have the option to purchase either a 256kbps AAC-encoded DRM-free song for $1.29 via iTunes Plus, or the usual 128kbps AAC-encoded DRM-version for 99 cents.

"We expect more than half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end of this … Read more

iTunes 101: Apple brings college to the iPod

Pop quiz: What sounds like a fictional teen soap school but actually might prove to be very useful?

Apple on Wednesday launched iTunes U, a new section for the iTunes Store dedicated to free content related to all things college.

Posted material is set to include media such as language lessons, lab demonstrations, campus tours and, yes, course lectures.

Universities and colleges participating so far include the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, Duke University and the University of California at Berkeley.

Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes, said in a statement that the … Read more

Give your surfing a soundtrack

Although Power Downloader spends a considerable amount of time in the field chasing down bad guys, part of his job is not quite so glamorous. For all the time traveling around the globe, he still ends up putting more time into research on the Web, hoping he'll find the leads he needs to capture sneaky criminals. To make the job of Web research a little less tedious, Power listens to his favorite music.

To help him stay focused on the research at hand while listening to music, Power Downloader uses FoxyTunes. With this Firefox extension installed, Power can switch … Read more

McCartney available on iTunes--Beatles next?

Maybe Steve's amazed at the way it took so long to get Paul McCartney online.

The Beatles legend has a new solo album coming out next month titled "Memory Almost Full," and if you want a digital copy the only place you'll find it is at the iTunes Store, Apple announced Tuesday. With McCartney on board, and an agreement reached over litigation with Apple Records in February, the stage seems set for the long-awaited release of the Beatles' music on iTunes.

CEO Steve Jobs is clearly a Beatles fan (of course, so is just about anybody … Read more