All About the Accessories

iTunes passed Realplayer in unique users near mid-2007. The higher
growth rate of iTunes propelled it past RealPlayer for the first time
in April of 2007. Among the four major streaming media players, only
iTunes had a positive growth rate over the past year. Among active
Internet users in the US, broadband increased to 86.8% in December 2007.

Apple’s iTunes player passed
RealPlayer in unique users in 2007 (see Figure 1). iTunes is the only
player to show a positive growth rate over the past year, growing by
26.8% from Dec. 2006 to Dec. 2007 (see Table 1). QuickTime usage fell
8.6%, RealPlayer fell 17.5%, and Windows Media Player was essentially
flat over the past year. Note that the growth trend lines show a more
accurate picture without the monthly fluctuations. Both QuickTime and
RealPlayer were essentially flat, while Windows Media Player grew
slightly. Only iTunes showed a significant positive growth rate.

Technorati Tags: apple, itunes, realplayer

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At CES 2008 Monday afternoon, Variety Magazine hosted a panel discussion and Q&A session with representatives from some of today’s biggest content providers. Their discussion was the future of content delivery, and the big question was this: How will you make money from it?

Featured on the panel were Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media for Disney/ABC TV group; Dan Fawcett, President of Fox Entertainment Group’s Digital Media arm; newly-inaugurated president of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution Thomas Gewecke; and Tom Lesinski, president of Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment. The panel was moderated by Variety’s president and publisher Charlie Koones.

The panelists in today’s discussion hold slightly differing opinions on how to monetize their content, yet they all agree upon one point: Apple and iTunes are a positive force in the digital marketplace.

Technorati Tags: itunes, apple, movies

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Since Apple launched its wildly successful iTunes music store back in 2003, CEO Steve Jobs has adamantly refused to offer a monthly subscription service. If you want to buy music from iTunes, you do it either by the single or the album, that’s it. But that could soon change.

Les Ottolenghi, CEO of INTENT MediaWorks, a digital distribution system that works with peer-to-peer networks, said he’s had meetings with people from Apple and he believes the company will announce a subscription service for iTunes within the next six months. “I think Apple is seriously considering a subscription offering right now even though they will probably tell you otherwise,” he said. Spokespeople for Apple were not immediately available for comment.

So far though, it appears that Apple has made the right decision to spurn the subscription model. Rival online music stores, such as Napster , RealNetworks’ Rhapsody and Yahoo’s Y! Music Unlimited, that offer monthly subscriptions have failed to attract a lot of interest. In fact, I wrote yesterday about how teens widely prefer iTunes to subscription-based music stores.

But Ottolenghi said that even though music subscription services have struggled against iTunes so far, he doesn’t think consumers are necessarily averse to paying monthly subscriptions. He argues that because Apple doesn’t offer a subscription product, that’s why music fans haven’t embraced the model.

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A few months ago I was at a big family dinner at Capsouto Frères, a fancy French bistro in Tribeca. One of the partygoers runs a small computer and electronics shop and considers himself an authority on computers and consumer electronics. His opinions on Apple (AAPL) and its products bug me (to put it simply).

I held my tongue as he chattered on about all the supposedly fascinating things he was doing with his Microsoft (MSFT) Windows machines. We barely know each other, and he had no idea what I write about for a living. But when the subject turned to the iPod, he gave me an opening I couldn’t resist. “Oh those iPods,” he said dismissively. “People are always bringing them into the shop with complaints, and they don’t even play standard MP3 songs like all the others.”

“Absolutely not true,” I said, breaking my silence. “I don’t know where you got that idea, but it’s patently false.”
A Popular Misconception

His convoluted explanation, as best I could understand it, was that he thought iPods played some “Apple-only” format, which he called ACC (it’s actually AAC, as in Advanced Audio Coding, and it isn’t “Apple-only”). I explained that the iPod plays every major digital audio format save two, Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Ogg Vorbis.

He had somehow gotten it into his head that all online music stores, save iTunes, sell MP3s on which there are no copy restrictions. Noting that he was vastly misinformed, I told him that in in fact no online music store sells unprotected MP3s—the exception being eMusic.com—while Napster (NAPS) and Yahoo! Music (YHOO), for instance, sell heavily protected WMA files, which are compatible with a wide range of portable players, but not the iPod. Where he got his set of ideas, I don’t know.

Technorati Tags: apple, itunes

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EMI Group PLC said Sunday it planned to unveil “an exciting new digital offering” with computer company Apple Inc., raising expectations that The Beatles’ music catalog is about to be made available through Apple’s iTunes online music store. EMI said it would hold a news conference Monday at its London headquarters with its chief executive, Eric Nicoli, and Apple boss Steve Jobs “and a special live performance.”

EMI has been The Beatles’ record label since the early 1960s. The Beatles have so far been the most prominent holdout from iTunes and other online music services, and Apple’s overtures to put the music online were stymied by a long-running trademark dispute with The Beatles’ commercial guardian, Apple Corps. Ltd.

In February, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps resolved their legal feud over use of the apple logo and name, paving the way for an agreement for online access to the Fab Four’s songs.

Technorati Tags: apple, beatles, itunes

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Apple today announced Complete My Album, a groundbreaking new iTunes service that allows customers to turn their individual tracks into a complete album at a reduced price by giving them a full 99 cent credit for every track they have previously purchased from that album.

“Music fans can now round out their music collections by upgrading their singles into complete albums with just one click, and get full credit for those songs they have previously purchased from iTunes,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “Complete My Album is a wonderful new way that iTunes helps customers grow and enjoy their music collections.”

“iTunes continues to revolutionize the digital music industry by offering music fans innovative ways to explore and enjoy new music,” said Thomas Hesse, president, Global Digital Business and US Sales, Sony BMG Music Entertainment. “With Complete My Album, iTunes is giving music fans the best of both worlds—the ability to discover great new music by buying just the single and a credit toward the purchase of the complete album.”

Complete My Album offers customers up to 180 days after first purchasing individual songs from any qualifying album to purchase the rest of that album at a reduced price. When users buy any song on iTunes the corresponding album will immediately appear on their personalized Complete My Album page with the reduced price listed. For example, a user who’s already purchased three 99 cent singles and decides to buy the corresponding $9.99 album would be able to download the remaining songs to complete the album for just $7.02, without having to buy the singles again.

Technorati Tags: apple, itunes, apple+itunes

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AppleTV box uses an assortment of chips to allow people to wirelessly stream
and store digital content stored in their iTunes library to their televisions.
It comes standard with 40GB of storage that can store 50 hours worth of
video, and costs $299. There are already several 3rd party vendors offering hard drive upgrades to allow for more video storage on the units.

The CPU chip is Intel, Wi-Fi is provided by Broadcom, Video is an Nvidia graphics processor and
Marvell Tech is making the hard-disk drive chip. Analysts from Prudential
Equity have cracked open the AppleTV to value the parts. MarketWatch

Technorati Tags: aplle+tv, tv, apple, itunes

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Microsoft has issued a patch to fix a problem that left iPods vulnerable to being corrupted if Vista users select the operating system’s Safely Remove Hardware option to eject the iPod.

Apple had already patched several Vista compatibility bugs in iTunes, but has continues to warn users to only use the eject function within iTunes to remove an iPod in Vista. News

Technorati Tags: vista, apple, itunes, windows, microsoft

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Starz Entertainment, LLC, today filed suit against Buena Vista Television (BVT), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., for copyright infringement and breach of contract. Starz filed the suit in the US District Court for the Central District of California because Disney recently began to sell for transmission over the Internet the same movies that Disney licensed exclusively to Starz.
Under the terms of the 1993 and 1999 Starz-BVT agreements, extended by BVT in 2005, Disney is prohibited from selling its films for transmission over the Internet prior to Starz’s first exclusive license period and during all of Starz’s exclusive license periods.
Despite this prohibition, the suit notes that Disney has “begun to sell over the Internet via services like Apple Computer Corp.’s iTunes and (Wal- Mart Corp’s) Walmart.com the very same Disney films licensed to Starz.” Such conduct, the suit adds, constitutes “a blatant breach” of the licensing agreements between BVT and Starz. The suit notes that over the life of the contract Starz has paid “over one billion dollars” for periods of exclusive rights to the films.
Starz Entertainment Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Robert B. Clasen said, “Disney has been a great partner. We hope to continue our relationship. But our agreements clearly prohibit them from selling their movies by electronic download over the Internet while they are exclusive to Starz. If Disney is permitted to violate our contract in this manner, it will undermine the integrity of copyright in general which is a cornerstone of our industry.”

Technorati Tags: itunes, apple, movies, starz, disney

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More than 30 albums from Elton John will be made available for digital download later this month, the singer said on Wednesday, marking the first time his whole catalogue of more than 400 tracks will go online.

The 59-year-old, who has sold more than 200 million hard copies of records in a career spanning more than 40 years, has already released some of his more recent work online in the United States, but this will mark the first time his entire catalogue is available.

John said he had wanted all his music to be online for some while but time was needed to prepare the entire catalogue.

“I knew that the entire catalogue — not just the hits — needed care and attention to be released in this way,” he said in a statement. “Now that it’s happening, I’m pleased for the fans’ sake.”

Technorati Tags: music, itunes, elton+john

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Apple has quickly update iTunes to 7.1.1, available for both Mac and Windows. This is an update to fix erros found in version 7.1. Apple only notes that it fixes a stability issue and minor compatibility problems with previous version.

Technorati Tags: itunes, apple, update, mp3

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he Palms Casino Resort today announced that it has teamed up with iTunes to offer music fans “Live from Las Vegas” performances including exclusive audio and video available for purchase on the iTunes Store ( www.itunes.com). The brand new $80 million concert theater The Pearl at The Palms ( www.palmspearl.com) is set to make its grand debut with a performance by Evanescence on March 17. “Evanescence: Live from Las Vegas” will be available exclusively on iTunes in the coming weeks including extended song lists and behind-the-scenes interviews for purchase and download.

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Apple has added movies from two indipendent companies. Apple has not yet commented on the release of indie content in iTunes. The snowboarding movie “That” from Forum Snowboards and movies from Studio 411 are available now. While these independant films seem to focums on sporting themes, other indie producers are sure to dying to get their films on iTunes. Anyone still has the capability to release video content for free via podcasts in iTunes. This does not allow them to charge for the content if its in the podcast section. “That” is currently being sold for $1.99 while other movies in this section are selling for Apples standard $9.99 movie pricing. Variety

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Electronics arts puts some of the best sounding music in their games, which will now be available on iTunes. Music from games like Madden NFL, Burnout, Need for Speed and many others will be available. Every song that can be heard in these games can now be purchased via iTunes as well as exclusive mixes. EA Music

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Annual consumer spending on Internet downloads of movies and television shows will top $4 billion in 2011, up from just $111 million last year, according to a study released Wednesday by Adams Media Research.

“The Internet is going to revolutionize the distribution of video,” says Adams Media Research President Tom Adams.
Video More video
After Wal-Mart jumped into the movie-download business, it is getting a competitor. CNN’s Stephanie Elam reports.

The growth will be fueled by the introduction of hardware devices such as Apple TV, a $299 box that converts videos downloaded from the Internet into signals that can be played on high-definition television sets.

Apple Inc. (Charts) is selling those boxes on its Web site and says they will be shipped later this month.

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IFC Entertainment today announced that its independent theatrical catalog will now be available on the iTunes Store ( www.itunes.com). Included in the announcement are all IFC’s 2007 Independent Spirit Award nominees. This is the premier award for the independent film community and for the 2007 Spirit Award competition IFC Entertainment received the most Spirit Awards nominations of any one film company.

“By making IFC films available on the world’s most popular online movie store we’re giving independent filmmakers the exciting opportunity to reach a wider audience of movie enthusiasts,” said Lisa Schwartz, IFC’s senior vice president of sales and business development. “For over ten years, IFC has strived to provide independent filmmakers with a strong voice so we’re excited our first foray into the digital downloads will deliver the best of independent films to movie fans.”

“We’re delighted to be adding full length independent films to the world’s most popular online movie store,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “The passion and creativity of independent cinema means a great deal to film fans and to iTunes so we’re thrilled to be adding IFC’s remarkable catalog.”

Available immediately for purchase and download on iTunes are 13 films, 6 of which are nominated for the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards which will be held on Saturday, February 24th. This year Independent Spirit Award nominations include Best Male Lead for Forest Whitaker in American Gun, Best Female Lead for Michelle Williams in Land of Plenty and Best Female Lead for Robin Wright Penn in Sorry, Haters. The first IFC films available on iTunes will also include previous nominees to highlight the best independent films from IFC’s extensive catalog. All IFC films on iTunes will be priced at just $9.99.

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