iTunes gets Beatles songs despite lawsuit

Following Paul McCartney's participation in the London Live 8 concert on Saturday, FOX News reports that Apple's iTunes Music Store finally has two Beatles songs performed by its co-composer available for downloading, despite a multimillion dollar lawsuit between the Beatles' record label Apple Corps and Apple Computer over the use of the Apple name and logo in in the music industry. The two songs that are now available are McCartney performance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "The Long and Winding Road." The report notes that only a few Beatles songs have been available via iTunes: two songs by Ringo Starr, "Yellow Submarine" and "With a Little Help From My Friends", which are from his recent All-Starr Band records and a recent "lost" McCartney tune called "Whole Life," which was part of a Nelson Mandela tribute album.

"ZapWizard" creates "Real wood iPod"

One user has created a "Real Wood iPod" by taking apart his original 4th-generation iPod. Bit-Tech.net has posted a step-by-step tutorial on the construction of the iPod by "ZapWizard" Joshua Driggs: "I have had a 20GB 4th gen iPod since they came out, but I have never liked the white finish. As part of Project Redwood I am also applying a wood finish to just about everything on my desk to have a matching set. And the iPod was not excluded." Driggs said that he did not want to simply apply a wood veneer, or a fake finish to the iPod, but instead wanted to use real wood. He carved out a duplicate faceplate out of a raw piece of African Padauk, a high quality hardwood that he said its "very easy to work with," and naturally red in color.

Tunewear debuts POPTUNE cases for iPod shuffle...

Tunewear today announced its "clean removing" POPTUNE wearable wrapper for Apple's iPod shuffle. POPTUNE is available in a pack of 12 stylish patterns: tropical "Aloha", fierce "Dragon", classic "Wood", cool "Snake", dizzy "Karakusa", pretty "Sakura", hot "Fire", traditional "Stone", bright "Orange", tree-frog "Green", flash "Sparkle Silver" or eureka "Sparkle Gold". The cling-case provides protection against dirt and scratching and is easily removable: "You can also use it again so long as the sticky backing is kept in good condition. POPTUNE does not leave any marks or sticky remnants on the iPod shuffle after it is removed." It includes two covers for each of the Shuffle's USB caps and is available now for $20.