iTunes - page 21

At China’s biggest online shopping site,  Taobao, $200USD iTunes gift cards are on sale for a fraction of their value, some as low as $2.6 USD.

Outdustry broke the story,  interviewing the owner of the site where hundreds of iTunes gift cards are on offer in varying amounts, from $25-200.

“The seller just sells the gift voucher code which they send you directly through Taobao’s IM software. You then redeem the card in your iTunes account.

Once successfully redeemed you then click ‘confirm’ and Alipay transfers your 18 RMB to the seller and you are free to start downloading.

The owner of the Taobao shop told Outdustry the gift card codes are created using key-generators. He also said that he paid money to use the hackers’ service.”

The hacked cards have been on sale for  about six months, the price has been driven down due to competition but a growing market have kept the false iTune cards lucrative.

Prices do seem to vary widely, when we checked there were $200 cards were going for about $15USD.

Via slashdot

More evidence that they just kinda make it up as they go along at the Apple iTunes store.

[Hat tip Harry McCracken]

iTriage is an app for the iPhone and iPod touch that helps US users find local healthcare information on the road.

Developed by two emergency room doctors, it offers a national directory of emergency departments, urgent care facilities, retail clinics and pharmacies. Drilling down, the info also includes descriptions of capabilities and areas of specialization, web site links, opening hours and contact information. Quality reports on hospitals and physicians can be downloaded, too.

The docs saw a lot of patients making uninformed snap decisions, so they formed partnerships with leading health care information, service and technology companies to offer additional services,  including companies that can provide iTriage users with everything from quality and safety ratings and patient recommendations to 24-7 phone consultations with board certified physicians and assistance in negotiating medical bills.

Reviewers — including an ER doc and closet programmer — suggest  filtering to wade through all the info but otherwise like the app.

Available for $.99 on iTunes.

Zumobi announced Monday the arrival of the first-ever official American Idol application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. “American Idol Season 8 Exclusive” (link opens iTunes) follows this season’s American Idol Top 13 finalists in their quest to be named the next American Idol and brings fans exclusive multimedia content and news updates for $2.

The app gives dyed-in-the-wool AI nuts contestant bios, pictures, news and exclusive video from behind-the-scenes of the on-air show. In total, 78 original videos of the remaining contestants will be released weekly between now and the Finale, giving fans the opportunity to get know their favorite contestants better.

A “My Rankings” feature allows users to test their talent-picking power by predicting, customizing, and tracking the order of who stays and who gets voted off each week. As users track their favorite contestants’ progress, they are also one click away from the American Idol iTunes page where they can download music from recent performances.

Of course.

The iTunes Celeb Playlist feature is now a free podcast. Kicking off the 15-minute-podcast of tracks loved by the rich and famous is Tom Jones, who recently admitted that his knowing hands are all a fumble when it comes to his iPod, which is stocked by an assistant.

The podcast is worth it just to hear that Welsh accent as a very personable Jones admits first hearing Aretha Franklin on the car radio thinking it was jazz singer Nancy Wilson , professes his love for Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,”  and thinking Elvis was talking about “salomi” instead of “so lonely.”

A feature called “Now Playing,”  launched in  fall 2007,  allowed latte-sippers to wander into a Starbucks, log onto the iTunes Store with a laptop, iPod Touch or iPhone and instantly see what song was playing in-store, plus browse and buy music on iTunes.

Unwired View found a patent Apple filed for a similar feature.
The basic idea: place a local cache of iTunes media store server at a retail location and follow the music played from that cache. The associated info is beamed to iPhones and Macbooks via local Wi-Fi network.

Apple envisions lots of in-store tie-ins and cross selling thanks to the feature.

From the patent application:
“One advantage of the invention is that patrons of establishments can dynamically receive store-based information while at the establishments. Store-based information facilitates user experience and can also facilitate locating associated media content from an online media store.

In store-based information can be displayed on a patron’s portable electronic device while the patron in the store… The online media store can coordinate with central management to make store-based information centrally stored and accessible…”

Via Unwired View

Some think that the iTunes model — small payments for content subscriptions — might help save floundering old media.

One case in point: London fashion glossy “Drama” pictured above which was shuttered as a monthly newsstand mag only to be reborn on iTunes. At $3.99, the digital version for the iPhone and iPod Touch costs about what you’d expect to pay for something you could read on a train.

The people who came up with the idea of letting the mag rise from its ashes in digital form are calling it “the beginning of the next revolution in publishing.”

Leave it to Van Morrison to pull back the curtain on the state of the music industry today: “We don’t know where the record business is going, and the record companies say, ‘We don’t know what’s happening, and it’s a really bad time.’ So if it’s really bad, why would you want to do business with a record company?”

Morrison, perhaps Rock’s greatest living iconoclast since the death of Frank Zappa, gave a wide ranging interview to TIME, in which the much-beloved, notoriously cranky Irish troubador downplayed the importance – to him and fans of his music – of download sites such as iTunes, admitted he’s neither inspired nor impressed by anything or anyone in music today, and said if he had one thing to do over he would never have become famous.

Follow after the jump for more on Van the Man’s thoughts on the music business and why he doesn’t need iTunes

Potentially fake reviews — written by people who didn’t buy or download the app — were recently removed from the app store on iTunes.

When the app store launched in 2008, you could review the app even if you didn’t buy it. As a result there were a lot of static reviews, both good and bad, as companies tried to push their products or topple competitors.

In September, Apple announced a ban on non-customer reviews from the apps, but the old reviews were still visible.

Until a few days ago, when the slate was wiped clean. The move seems to have removed some of the static: SEGA’s Super Monkey Ball review count dropped from 4,197 to 3,710 while Namco’s Pac Man reviews shrunk from 395 to just 122.

Via mac rumors, readwriteweb

Now that iTunes is the world’s biggest record store, it’s probably important for Apple to spotlight worthy artists who don’t have a giant promotion engine behind them. Fortunately, the company recently launched the (iTunes link)  Indie Spotlight channel to bring attention to relatively obscure bands.

On the other hand, they also recently created the (iTunes link)  “Original Music From the Original Artists As Heard on (American) Idol” channel, so who knows?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wfv0OJ1oMQ

Another video doing the rounds of the blogs this morning, but little wonder because this is another thing that we – all of us – want.

Everyone knows what a pain it is to re-arrange and keep organized your iPhone apps, especially when you have pages and pages of the things. This neat concept video shows an iTunes-based system for keeping things sorted the way you want them, including the option to lock apps in place, or move several of them (or an entire screenful) at a time.

And when I say “everyone”, I mean it. The Apple team must share these frustrations along with the rest of us. So if Apple’s NOT working on something like this for a future iTunes/iPhone release, then I shall buy a packet of Refreshers for the seventh person who comments on this post.

This post at The Next Web made me stop and think for a moment. I’ve been one of the many people who’ll cheerfully spend a dollar or two on an app that looks enticing and has generally good reviews.

After all, a dollar or two is nothing, right? Less than a cup of coffee, less than a pint of beer in my local pub.

But what’s the cumulative effect? Let’s see now… Open iTunes, click iTunes Store, click on my account ID, enter my password, click “Purchase History”, do some adding up, and the total is:

£68.60, or US$99.70 at the current exchange rate.

One hundred bucks, near as dammit, on iPhone apps. Wow. I had no idea was going to be that much. I was expecting about half that.

It also highlights just what an excellent idea the App Store is, and how well it has been designed. Shopping there is so simple, so instantaneous, and often so cheap per-app, that it almost becomes a thoughtless act. “This app looks cool. I’ll try it.” A dollar here, a few dollars there.

I’m not complaining, I’m just noticing my own App Store spending habits for the first time. This information is available to anyone who goes digging around inside iTunes to see it, but perhaps Apple could make it a little easier to keep track of spending.

How about a small box on the iTunes Store front page, which says “So far this month/year/to date, you have spent $X on iTunes.”?

Something small and unobtrusive; but visible.

Confession time: how much have you spent? And is it more or less than you expected?

A small study indicates that students who listened to podcasts remembered more than those who attended lectures.

The study, as reported in New Scientist, tested 64 students on information retention.

To see how much students can learn from podcast lectures alone, students were given a single lecture on visual perception from an intro psychology course.

Half sat through a live lecture and were given printouts of the slides used.  The other 32 downloaded a podcast that included audio from the same lecture synchronized with video of the slides. These students also received a printed handout of the material.

Apple may be putting the finishing touches on a new streaming video service that would allow iTunes users to access purchased video content without the need to download and store it on a local machine, according to a report Wednesday at AppleInsider.

iTunes Replay would let users stream content such as movies and TV shows directly from Apple-owned servers in a manner similar to Amazon’s Video on Demand (formerly known as UnBox) and the Instant Watch service from Netflix, and may also improve the experience of the company’s Apple TV set top box, allowing users to stream purchased media directly from Apple’s servers without syncing or copying files between Apple TV and a computer running iTunes.

The report is unclear whether Apple intends to move toward a “streaming only” distribution model for the typically large files created by video content, or if iTunes Replay would merely represent an option for consumers with fewer concerns about retaining physical control of their purchased media content (and less storage in which to keep it).

To the extent that media distributors such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix embrace the streaming distribution model, consumers may find relief from the need to maintain ever greater storage capacity for growing media libraries. Though the trade-off – and guaranteed consumer dissatisfaction – will arise over bandwidth limitations that already make even a YouTube-watching experience sub-optimal at peak demand times in some places in the US.

Proving itself to be The Little Engine That Could of an otherwise dismal economy, Apple’s iTunes AppStore has reached an inventory of over 15,000 applications (some of which do not exist to reproduce the sound of flatulence) and has entertained more than 500 million downloads since its debut six months ago.

It took just 5 weeks for the AppStore to deliver more than 200 million downloads, whereas it took 6 weeks to go from 200 million to 300 million. So, the volume of interest in applications for iPhone and iPod Touch is increasing impressively, although the most recent bump is likely a result of Apple’s mobile gadgets having been popular gifts this past holiday season.

Via Mashable!

The Motown label is celebrating half a century of hits with a free podcast series on iTunes.

Dubbed “mo-casts,” they’re behind-the scenes interviews with pop greats including Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations and the Four Tops.

The first 15 episodes include the Anatomy of a Hit: “Love Hangover,” Stevie Wonder in a rare archive interview and hip-hop artist Q-tip on his favorite Motown hits.

Apple announced several changes to the iTunes Store today. All four major music labels–Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, now offer their music in iTunes Plus, Apple’s DRM-free format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality, which the cmpany claims is virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings.

iTunes customers can also choose to download their favorite songs from what it calls the world’s largest music catalog directly onto their iPhone 3G over the 3G network just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price as downloading to their computer.

And beginning in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29, with most albums still priced at $9.99.

None of this is earthshattering or unexpected, in fact, these changes have been rumored to be in the works for months. Still, it’s always good to see movement onward and upward.

Itunes fans may soon be able to purchase more songs free of copy-protections, the result of a reported break-through in negotiations with music publishers.

According to CNET, the changes could be announced as soon as Tuesday at Macworld Expo 2009 in San Francisco, Calif.

Apple reportedly has agreed to adopt a three-tier pricing plan, shifting from its previous demand for all songs to be sold for a single price. The change will allow Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music to charge more for popular titles, according to sources sited by the report.

New York Times technology columnist David Pogue and publisher O’Reilly combine to bring those of you who just unwrapped your brand-new iPhone yesterday iPhone: The Missing Manual, a $5 application available at Apple’s iTunes AppStore.

According to the publisher, the app “shows you everything you need to know to get the most out of your iPhone. Full of humor, tips, tricks, and surprises, this book teaches you how to extend iPhone’s usefulness by exploiting its links to the Web as well as its connection to Macs or PCs; how to save money using Internet- based messages instead of phone calls; and how to fill the iPhone with TV shows and DVDs for free.”

The funny thing is if you can purchase and download the app to iTunes and sync your phone so the app gets on there, you probably don’t need the manual in the first place.

Via iSmashPhone

In the hustle bustle of modern urban life, especially during holiday seasons fraught with travel delays, white-knuckle driving on treacherous roads, crowded shopping districts (though maybe not so much that, this year) and kids on vacation underfoot, a little bit of peace and tranquility can seem like the greatest of gifts.

Now you can give such a gift to yourself, a friend or loved one, with Freeverse’s Tranquility app for iPhone and iPod touch.

For just $1.99, drift off to sleep or catch a few peaceful moments during a stressful day. With a beautiful visual interface and new audio tweaks in the recently updated version 1.3 (requires iPhone 2.2 firmware), you can choose from a full 60 minute relaxation and meditation track, or from other themes such as Flowing Water, Ocean Waves, Desert Wind, Gentle Rain or Thunderstorms, even Pink Noise – an enhanced form of white noise.

Tranquility is the other side of Freeverse, the award-winning app developer responsible for Moto Chaser, Burning Monkey Casino and Big Bang Sudoku, among many others. Available now in the AppStore.

eMusic is into the gifting spirit this season, offering a 12 song set of Christmas tunes available to download for free.

The playlist includes songs by an eclectic mix of artists ranging from Twisted Sister to Eartha Kitt, The Brian Setzer Orchestra to Lisa Loeb, with Shawn Lee’s Ping pong Orchestra and Kidz Bop Kids thrown in for good measure.

Classic seasonal favorites include Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls and Auld Lang Syne, as well as Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring and Angels We Have Heard On High.

Well worth checking out, after all – who doesn’t love free music?

Via Distorted Loop

A little bit old school, a little bit new school: the Record 001 app lets you work the image of a vinyl record with your fingers in a shout out to turntable days.

Digital DJs can backspin, pause and scratch like they would on a real record on an iPhone or iPod touch screen.

Record 001 has mixed reviews so far — the first release comes with just two oddball tracks “World Peace” and “The Fashion Song” — calling it a quirky demo app but not regretting the $1.99 price tag.

See if you don’t get a smile out of the video, though.

Via Make

Rapper Lil’ Wayne recently launched an iPhone, iPod touch app designed to give fans a taste of what it’s like to be him.

Well, what it means to look a little like 25-year-old Dwayne Carter, or to paraphrase the old cosmetics slogan: “You, only blinger.”

The app developed by Lil’ Wayne and his record company Universal Music, comes from epictilt, the makers of iPhone app ESPN Cameraman.

The Lil’ Wayne app adds gold jewelry, his trademark teardrop tats and oversized hats to your pics. If you’re unsure you want to pop $0.99 for it on iTunes, you can check out a photo gallery here. The app allows fans to check out other Wayne-ified photos and buy his music.

One guarantee: you get to look fierce but avoid Lil Wayne’s real-life arrests with corresponding mug shots.

Via iPhone Savior

We recently wrote about iBreviary, an iPhone and iPod Touch app that gives the morning prayer, evening prayer and night prayer or complines for the day.

The Italian priest who had the brainwave for the app, Don Paolo Padrini, informed us that the 1.2 version of the prayer app, which he says has the blessing of the Vatican, is now available in Spanish, French, English and Latin (for those, like the Pope, who want a return to pre-Second Vatican Council days) and a version that follows the Ambrosian Rite, for the five million Catholics or so in the Milan area.

iBreviary costs $0.99 on iTunes and now also comes with a how-to page to help those unfamiliar with daily prayer rituals. The original Italian-language version was gratis, Father Padrini says the price of the app is a contribution for the developers.

Don Padrini also says an app is in the works for Facebook called that “Praybook” that will let groups use the Breviary via social network.

Fans don’t listen to our albums, said Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, because
iTunes favors the single and the shuffle mentality.

In a Q&A with the Chicago Tribune, Corgan said the tepid reception of last year’s comeback album “Zeitgeist,” makes it the last effort the band will produce in album format.

Chicago Trib: So “Zeitgeist” was the last album?

Corgan: “We’re done with that. There is no point. People don’t even listen to it all. They put it on their iPod, they drag over the two singles and skip over the rest,” said Corgan.

“The listening patterns have changed, so why are we killing ourselves to do albums, to create balance and do the arty track to set up the single? It’s done.”

With “Zeitgeist,” the Smashing Pumpkins did try to adapt to new musical habits, releasing a pre-sale version with bonus tracks and covers especially on iTunes — to the outrage of some fans who felt obliged to buy more than one copy of the album to get the title track.

Much like Metallica’s rage against the iPod, this probably won’t win the Smashing Pumpkins any new fans.

Via Mac World UK