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Posts tagged with "itunes"

Mozilla Evangelist Asks Google and Apple To Stop Being Evil

Asa Dotzler isn’t happy about the behavior of software giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft. In fact, Mozilla evangelist and co-founder of the Spread Firefox project in 2004 thinks they all should stop being evil. How so? He’s tired of finding unwanted plug-ins installed in Firefox by software such as iTunes, Windows Live and Google Earth.

Why do Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others think that it is an OK practice to add plug-ins to Firefox when I’m installing their software packages. When I installed iTunes, in order to manage my music collection and sync to my iPod, why did Apple think it was OK to add the iTunes Application Detector plug-in to my Firefox web browser without asking me? Why did Microsoft think it was OK to sneak their Windows Live Photo Gallery or Office Live Plug-in for Firefox into my browser (presumably) when I installed Microsoft Office? What makes Google think it’s reasonable behavior for them to slip a Google Update plug-in into Firefox when I installed Google Earth or Google Chrome (not sure which one caused this) without asking me first?

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How To Turn Your iPhone and iPad Into AirPlay Speakers

One of the biggest limitations of the current version of AirPlay shipping with iOS 4.2.1 (well, video streaming to Apple TV aside) is the fact that you can’t use an iOS device as an AirPlay speaker. In fact, a speaker can be an Apple TV, an audio system connected to an AirPort Express station or an AirPlay-enabled audio system. But, you can’t send audio from an iOS device to another iOS device or from iTunes on your Mac/PC to an iPhone/iPad.

Imagine the possibilities of iOS devices as AirPlay speakers: you’re in the car, iPhone is connected to your car’s audio setup, a friend’s in the backseat playing with his iPad. He wants to send some music from his iPad library to the iPhone, he fires up the iPod app on his tablet and instantly streams music to the car’s audio system thanks to the iPhone acting as a speaker. Or, your Mac’s in your bedroom and you want to play some tunes on your iPad. If only the iPad was an AirPlay speaker, you wouldn’t have to sync music (and thus eat space) on it.

With the following tutorial (files courtesy of TouchBite) you’ll be able to turn any iOS device running iOS 4.1 and above into an AirPlay speaker. Read more

Beatles In iTunes: 2 Million Songs Sold, 450,000 Album Downloads

Unless you’ve been living in a yellow submarine for the past three weeks, I guess you heard about the Beatles coming to iTunes. In fact, Apple thought the day the Beatles’ library was released in iTunes would be a day we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.

Life-changing event or not, the Beatles in iTunes have sold over 2 million songs so far and generated 450,000 album downloads, Billboard reports.

In US the best-selling album was Abbey Road and best-selling song was Here Comes the Sun.

Backed by a strong advertising campaign which also happens to promote iTunes, it looks like there was room for The Beatles in people’s music libraries, after all. One could argue whether 2 million songs sold with all that campaign are much or not, we’re just going to wait for Billboard to provide additional numbers and information before judging.

iOS 4.2.1 Now Available For Download [Direct Links]

Finally, Apple flipped the switch on iOS 4.2 and released the new OS for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It’s available now in iTunes, just hit the “Check for Updates” button. If you can’t see it just yet, keep refreshing as it’s propagating right now in iTunes.

We’ll update this post with direct download links as soon as they become available. In the meantime, check out our complete iOS 4.2 walkthrough. [Update: direct links below] Read more

A Day To Re-Meh-mber

Apple’s “exciting announcement from iTunes” was the availability of the Beatles’ music catalogue in the iTunes Store. No music streaming service, no subscription-based iTunes, no “iTunes in the Cloud”. It was “just” about the Beatles. Did hype take over our minds once again? Yes. But this time, Apple itself created the hype. Read more

The Beatles Come to iTunes

So that’s it. The Beatles music library is available in iTunes, after years of waiting. If you head over the iTunes Store now, you can see by yourself what the fuss was all about: the day “we’ll never forget” is the day Apple announced the availability of the Beatles in the iTunes Store.

Does Apple have more to announce? We sure hope so. But in the meantime, the Beatles have showed up. Songs are already available for download, there’s a Box Set available at $149.00, there are ads and videos.

An update, straight from Apple’s PR:

We’re really excited to bring the Beatles’ music to iTunes,” said Sir Paul McCartney. “It’s fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around.”

“I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes,” said Ringo Starr. “At last, if you want it—you can get it now—The Beatles from Liverpool to now! Peace and Love, Ringo.”

“We love the Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we’ve had since we launched iTunes ten years ago.”

“In the joyful spirit of Give Peace A Chance, I think it is so appropriate that we are doing this on John’s 70th birthday year,” said Yoko Ono Lennon.

“The Beatles on iTunes—Bravo!” said Olivia Harrison.

“The Beatles and iTunes have both been true innovators in their fields,” said EMI Group CEO Roger Faxon. “It’s a privilege for everybody at EMI to work with Steve Jobs and with Apple Corps’ Jeff Jones and their teams in marking a great milestone in the development of digital music.

WSJ: Indeed, Apple Announcing Beatles & iTunes Tomorrow

This could be the end of the saga. It seems like Beatles’ library coming to iTunes is “official” at this point. The Wall Street Journal reports:

The deal resulted from talks that were taking place as recently as last week among executives of Apple, representatives of the Beatles and their record label, EMI Group Ltd., according to these people, who also warned that there is still a chance that Apple could change plans at the last minute.

Spokesmen for Apple, EMI and Paul McCartney declined to comment.

They couldn’t learn the terms of the deal, but according to their “exclusive” sources it’s a done thing. How the Beatles catalogue available in iTunes is supposed to change our lives can’t be verified either.

Billboard: Beatles Coming To iTunes Tomorrow

Following Peter Kafka’s comments at All Things Digital about streaming and cloud services not coming to iTunes tomorrow, Billboard now weighs in consolidating the rumors that Apple is going to announce an exclusive deal to bring the Beatles’ library to the iTunes Store:

That’s not fully confirmed, but after a day of phone calls, e-mails and cryptic messages, Billboard.biz is sticking its neck out and saying this is what we’re going to hear tomorrow.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Apple was “on the verge” of announcing a Beatles deal. For years, every music-related announcement coming from Apple carried a hint of maybe “today’s the day.” But this time it’s very likely that it’ll be the case tomorrow morning.

For these (admittedly thin) reasons and others that we can’t yet divulge here, place your bets on a Beatles announcement tomorrow. Now comes the speculation as to what that announcement will entail.

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