News Archive for 06/02/07

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iPod dominates colleges

02/07, 11:20pm

Apple's iPod dominates colleges

The dominance of Apple's iPod in the digital music world has brought the company back as the darling of the tech industry, but its overwhelming presence is leading some users to wish for more competition to bring prices down and push product development. However, Apple continues to push its presence on college campuses, with aggressive advertising and strong iTunes mindshare, which has lead its rival, Napster, to welcome a partnership with Apple, according to The BG News. The iPod is everywhere at Bowling Green State University, but with users looking for competition and a growing number of competiting products, the company may become a victim of its own success: "[Apple] gained the music, but with more and more companies coming out with the MP3 format, you'll see a surge in sales so people can play this other music," one analyst told the publication.

Yahoo updates Music Engine

02/07, 10:55pm

Yahoo updates its iTunes-like software

In a bid to make gains on Apple's industry-leading iTunes, Yahoo today announced a new version of its music jukebox software: the Yahoo! Music Engine now offers functionality for simple playlist creation and sharing, improved sync features, and the ability to connect music throughout the home with a new Network Music feature. The software enables users to share music by e-mail or via Yahoo! Messenger or with the entire Yahoo! Music community. Yahoo also added tools to find music and other users with similar tastes as well as search for user-created playlists by artist, song, or keyword. Much like iTunes, the software now offers drag and drop albums and songs to their portable device as well as create custom playlists specific for their portable device. Attempting to improve connectivity within the home, the Yahoo! Music Engine will automatically detect any supported devices and allow users to play music from their collections throughout their home on any supported network music device.

Shuffle cuts to harm AAPL?

02/07, 9:05pm

Shuffle cuts to harm AAPL margins?

Industry watchers today speculated about the possibility of Apple's profit margins suffering, due to the company's decision to cut prices on its iPod shuffle digital music players. Apple has to date sold over 40 million iPods since the company introduced the small players in 2001, and sold more than 30 million units in 2005 alone. American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said he was not concerned about Apple's profit margins suffering, according to Reuters. "The price of components have come down more than 70 percent, especially flash memory for the Shuffle," Wu said. "And the price of the Shuffle hadn't changed, so they were making a ton of profit off the Shuffle. So they're passing some of those savings on."

iTMS sells 12M videos

02/07, 7:10pm

iTunes Music Store sells 12M videos

Apple today said its iTunes Music Store has sold 12 million videos. The news comes just hours after CBS and Apple both announced the addition of Showtime content on iTunes, as well as Apple's launch of its one billion song promotion. Recently networks even began crediting iTunes with increasing viewership, a turnaround from past skepticism and worry regarding online video content. Another service recently launched allowing artists to publish their own work on iTMS, as well as RealNetworks' Rhapsody service without the need for record labels. The addition of ESPN and ABC Sports enhnaced available content for iTunes users in January, followed by the addition of NHL and Nascar content.

EU antitrust regulators

02/07, 4:05pm

EU investigates music royalty agencies

European Union antitrust regulators today said they were investigating the European agencies that collect royalties for musicians from online vendors, such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, to open the market for online music. The European Commission said it was concerned that contracts with composers, organized strictly along national lines, may violate rules on restrictive business practices and provide national copyright agencies with a monopoly, according to a report from the Associated Press. Commercial users that want to buy the rights are required to obtain a license from each national society which only covers that country-- a complicated and expensive process for online music sites hoping to make songs available online across the European Union. Apple's iTunes has separate French, German, and British sites with a different portfolio of music tracks, according to the report.

Students make iPod cases

02/07, 2:35pm

Students use iPods to create business

Students at the University of Minnessota's Carlson School of Management have created a new case for the iPod. WCCO.com reports that as part of a class, Professor Frank Beil asked the students to develop and operate their own business. Out of seven competing groups one entrenprenurial team was chosen to operate its idea, uSuits, which provides protective casings for iPods, reportedly selling them at the University's book store and the Mall of America's College Store. Adding to the growing influence of iPods in universities, the students are looking to sell the uSuits with school logos from all over America eventually, having sold 30 so far. According to WCCO.com, the money from the business will be going to non-profit organizations.

Nine Figures 3 track sales

02/07, 10:10am

Nine Figures 3 tracks iTunes sales

Twisted Ninja Software has released the third version of its iTunes sales tracker, Nine Figures 3, which tracks iTunes sales as Apple moves towards its 1 billion song goal. Nine Figures 3 is a little utility that sits in the menu bar and pulls data from Apple's website. It also offers a menu of the top 10 songs sold on iTunes, providing a quick and convenient way for people to check out what's popular on iTunes.

iTunes 1B song countdown

02/07, 9:00am

Apple launches 1 billion song promo

Apple has launched a new 1 billion song countdown to celebrate the historical digital music milestone. Apple's iTunes Music Store is offering a free 4GB iPod nano and a $100 iTunes gift card to a lucky winner who downloads every 100,000 song as well as a grand prize package that includes a 20-inch iMac, ten 60GB iPods, and a $10,000 iTunes gift certificate. "We’ve got one billion reasons to celebrate, and we’re starting with you. As we mark our way to one billion, the music fans who download every 100,000th song will receive a prize package featuring a black 4GB iPod nano and a $100 iTunes Music Card." In addition, Apple today lowered the price of the 512MB and 1GB Shuffle and debuted a new 1GB iPod nano as well as added Showtime content to iTunes. The website is offering a countdown image that shows a near-realtime count of the number of songs sold through iTunes and Apple said it will create a full-ride scholarship in the winner's name to a world-renowned music school. In addition, iPodNN notes a new utility that conveniently tracks sales of iTunes songs in the menubar.

Showtime on iTunes

02/07, 8:50am

CBS offers Showtime content on iTunes

CBS Corporation's Showtime Networks and Apple today announced that premium cable programming from Showtime, including recent Golden Globe nominees "Sleeper Cell" and "Weeds," is now available on the iTunes Music Store. With the addition of Showtime hit programming, iTunes now offers more than 50 popular TV shows available for just $1.99 per episode for viewing on a computer or iPod. Apple said that the iTunes Music Store is the "world's most popular" video download store," with more than 12 million videos purchased and downloaded. "iTunes allows fans of these hit Showtime programs to purchase and watch them in an innovative way," said Matthew C. Blank, chairman of Showtime Networks. "It is also a tremendous opportunity for non-subscribers to sample Showtime's programming."

1GB iPod nano

02/07, 8:45am

Apple debuts 1GB iPod nano

Apple today unveiled a new 1GB iPod nano for $150 as well as reduced prices on the iPod shuffle line. The new 1GB Nano offers the same features as the 2GB and 4GB iPod nano models and holding up to 240 songs or 15,000 photos. "The new 1GB iPod nano's ultra-portable design is thinner than a #2 pencil and features Apple's patent pending Click Wheel and the same gorgeous color screen as the other iPod nano models." In addition, Apple has reduced pricing on its iPod shuffle, offering the 512MB and 1GB models for $69 and $99, respectively.