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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Interesting Comparisons between iTunes and Amazon

p10131fy7xj.jpgA couple of things that didn’t quite fit into my analysis of Amazon’s new MP3 service that I find interesting and/or ironic.

  • Amazon’s No. 1 download in its first day? Feist’s “1234,” which Apple has made a hit as the theme song for the video iPod nano commercials. The tune ranks third on the iTunes Store.
  • Radiohead’s entire catalog is available on AmazonMP3 for $8.99 per album. The band (which is my favorite) pulled out of iTunes because Apple refused to sell the group’s music as entire albums, insisting on track-by-track downloads.
  • Number of songs in iTunes Top 10 available on Amazon MP3 on Day One: 7
  • Number of those songs available without DRM on iTunes Plus: Zero (0)
  • Number of those songs on Amazon available for 89 cents each: 7
  • Number of top 10 albums on iTunes available on Amazon: 5
  • Number of those albums available DRM-free on iTunes Plus: One.
  • Number of songs written and performed by the Beatles available on either service: Zero

About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is the communications lead for growth strategy firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

Email the author | Read more posts by Pete Mortensen.

3 comments

    [...] Interesting Comparisons between iTunes and Amazon [Cult of Mac] tr { border: 0px } td { cellborder: 10px} table { border: 1px solid black } [...]

    How very Harper’s List of you. A telling comparison.

    Don’t tell. You’ll give it all away!

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