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The latest iTunes ad featuring Coldplay performing ‘Viva la Vida‘ has to be the most beautiful iTunes ad to date. It first aired last night during the finale of ‘American Idol’. It’s one great looking ad, and on top of that, the song is pretty darn good too. Just finished downloading the song as a result of this one. I’m still waiting for an iTunes ad featuring the Rolling Stones… ‘Start me up‘???… Wait… I think that one has already been used?

Check out the iTunes commercial below:

It is stated that Apple is currently in talks with HBO, the television network that made such shows like Deadwood, Entourage, Rome, Sex and the City, and The Sopranos, worldly famous. According to Portfolio publication, Apple will sell not only sell these popular shows, but also first-run original films. The publication also cites that the expected launch time will probably be within the one-to-two week time frame.

And if that wasn’t news enough, the deal is HBO (with parent company Time Warner) wants a bigger cut of the profits or wants to charge a different price for their products. Apple has typically only charged $1.99 on the US iTunes Store, so it is expected that the HBO shows/movies will cost the end user a little bit more.

This varied pricing could start a new trend, as it was only last week the UK iTunes Store started selling NBC/Universal programming at varied rates (which Apple has traditionally resisted), but this happened after the powerhouse (NBC) pulled it’s network shows from the US iTunes Store.

All-in-all, this new deal is thought to be mutually beneficial for all parties involved (Apple TV offers more for it’s users, and may even pull in some new ones, and HBO makes a little more revenue off it’s archived shows.)

Personally, I still do not own an Apple TV, nor have I yet to rent from the iTunes Store, but I expect someday I will rent from the website (I am a big Sex and the City fan.) Until that day, I will continue to watch the old fashion way — on my television!

[via iPodNN]

Starbucks and Apple have announced a new ‘Pick of the Week’ promotion. The promotion offers Starbucks customers a chance to download and listen to complimentary new music and videos each week. Featured artists thus far include a pretty good lineup including Carly Simon, Counting Crows and more.

Every Tuesday more than 7,000 Starbucks locations in the US (sorry Canada) will stock a new ‘Pick of the Week’ download card redeemable at the iTunes Store. The card will get you a complimentary song or video hand-picked by Starbucks and iTunes. The first pick is Counting Crows’ new song ‘Washington Square.’

Once the Pick of the Week cards are distributed via Starbucks locations, customers have up to 60 days from the date of issue to redeem via iTunes.

Eddy Cue, President of iTunes commented:

“Pick of the Week provides an incredible way for Starbucks customers to discover great new music and videos for free on the iTunes Store.. With the world’s largest online catalog of music and video there is truly something for everyone.”

I kind of like this idea. I like Starbucks. I own more than one Mac… I run iTunes… and I enjoy music. If this promotion was only available in Canada I’d be all over it

Read the Press Release >

The rumors have been going on for some time now… But it looks like the iTunes subscription rumors are coming up yet again. Yipee!

According to a report over at the Financial Times, Apple is currently in discussions with major music labels about a new model that would give all of us free access to the entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying premiums for iPod and iPhone devices. Really? Hmmm… now that IS intriguing!

Since iPhone already runs on a monthly billing cycle, a subscription option would more than likely be the best option there.

A report from engadget noted that the major holdup is apparently ‘Apple’s hesitation to pay big bucks in order to access the labels’ libraries’…

I sincerely hope this actually happens… Unlimited music downloads for a monthly fee would be incredible. Premium pricing for an iPod and/or iPhone would be ok too, but I would much prefer the subscription service.

What do you think? Discuss this in the forums >

[via engadget]

All parties involved in the so-called Beatles/iTunes deal have now all denied any talks taking place. Apple Inc. has flatly denied the rumors and have called them ‘unsubstantiated speculation’. A spokesman from Apple also commented ‘this is not news nor is it a scoop’. Enough said.

The Beatles’ label Apple Corps and parent company EMI have both refused to comment on the matter.

British newspapers brought this story to light over the weekend when they published the rumors.

The reported deal is rumored to be worth over $400 million. At that amount, Apple would have to sell around 41 million full Beatles albums to earn back that amount. That’s a lot of music.

To speculate (and I love to speculate), I’d still expect a deal to shakedown at some point in 2008. Even Sir Paul himself has commented that the Beatles’ catalog should be available sometime this year.

[via Billboard]

Rumor has it that Sir Paul McCartney has reached a deal with Apple to offer up the Beatles catalog in the iTunes store. The deal is worth a reported $400 million. That’s big bucks… Not that Sir Paul is hurting for cash.

I can hear you saying ‘How much of a cut does Ringo get I wonder?’ Well, there are many parties that are bound to benefit from the deal. Including the families of the deceased Harrison and Lennon… Ringo (who is not dead yet as far as I can tell) and Michael Jackson also stand to bring in a tidy profit.

Rumors have been floating around on this for quite some time now… This one is reported to be the ‘real deal’…Sir Paul has even been quoted as saying the catalog of music would appear online sometime in 2008. It’s probably just a matter of time before we see ‘Yellow Submarine’  popping up on iTunes. Guaranteed it will be the news of the day when it happens.

[via arstechnica]

Insiders at Facebook have leaked that they are investigating the possibility of their very own music store… Which would, in effect, be direct competition for iTunes.

It is interesting that they have recently launched their Facebook Music service, which allows you to follow artists and buy the music via iTunes. This might have been the ’seed’ that has got Facebook execs thinking.. ‘Hey, lets cut out iTunes and put up our own store! More money for us!’. I’m sure the discussion was more in-depth than that, but you get the picture.

Any way you slice it, Facebook is reportedly in talks with major labels to offer unique content of their own. The deal is rumored to include free ad-backed streaming audio similar to what you see on MySpace profile pages. Also, paid MP3 downloads would be available and usable on any OS.

What do you think? Facebook is certainly used by millions and millions and millions… They have the audience and leverage to give something like this a shot in my opinion. They key will be, what can they do to make it better, easier and more unique than iTunes? Or do they even care… Put up a good store backed by many labels, and start taking chunks out of the market Apple has dominated for the past while!?

[via electronista]

When the Steve announced the iTunes Movie Rentals service at MacWorld, he promised that it would offer at least 1,000 movie rentals by the end of February… and, within those 1,000 rentals, at least 100 of them would be HD rentals. Well, February has come and gone, and those goals were not met.

Using the Apple TV to count HD rentals, MacWorld’s Christopher Breen found a total of 91 HD titles (100 was the target). Another disappointing fact is that not all of these 91 HD titles feature Dolby Digital 5.1… a feature Apple had also promised.

For the total number of rentals available, things get worse. The Apple TV movies section reported a total of 351 movies for rent according to Christopher. 378 were available in the ‘all movies’ section, and only 399 when using ‘power search’. Looks like they have a very long way to go to meet the targets they set out and promised back in January at MacWorld!

One can only suspect that the studios are to blame for the delays on new titles and releases. Licensing issues with the studios could be a problem, and I would not be surprised if one or more studios are delaying the process. No matter which way you slice it, Apple might have mis-judged how compliant and easy it would be to work with the studios on this one. Once all the ‘kinks’ are worked out I’m sure we’ll see the number of movie rentals skyrocket.. but until then… Apple is left with an over promised, and under delivered iTunes Movie Rental Store.

[via arstechnica]

So… iTunes is now the #2 music retailer in the US, holding 10% of the market share, only second to Wal-Mart - which holds 20% of the market share. Many analysts project that by the end of 2008, iTunes will have overtaken Wal-Mart as the #1 spot. But what does this all mean? And how does it affect the consumer and the music industry?

In many ways, the creation of the iPod and the introduction of iTunes saved the music industry; but that in itself is a controversial statement. In the early 21st century, Napster ruled all and CD sales plummeted. I distinctly remember most of the record stores in my neighborhood closing. Then the music industry fought back, kicking Napster’s ass and beginning arrests of hundreds of teenagers; still today we are reminded on a regular basis that the cops might come knocking if we illegally download music (even though it’s not a realistic scenario).

So what’s the next best thing? Getting inexpensive, digital copies of the songs we love off the net and Apple provided just that! In 2001, the music industry partnered with Apple to allow the 99-cent song downloads, thinking it would do the industry good. And it did just that for many years. But now, the record labels are beginning to realize that the sales model of same-price for every song may not be the best. Is it truly appropriate to price a classic Beatles track at the cost of an up and coming artist? It seems not. But now that Apple has over 50 million costumers worldwide who have bought over four billion songs, we can be sure they won’t be willing to raise prices.

As ownership of music becomes less and less important, perhaps Apple’s bubble will be bursting sooner than expected—further expedited if the industry successfully forces Apple to raise it’s prices. Today, most consumers are satisfied with simply live streaming music off the net until they’ve overplayed it. Artists simplify the process by adding the music to their Myspace pages, allowing consumers to listen to the songs an unlimited number of times.

It’s hard to say what the future holds for the music industry. To me, the worst-case scenario would be advertisements placed directly into the songs. Could you imagine the only option of music as free and commercial-packed? Hopefully, iTunes will stay strong and the 99-cent song will prevail.

Today, Apple released iTunes 7.6.1 via the Software Update utility. You can see the details of the iTunes update above.

The iTunes update details:

Rent and download your favorite movies with iTunes on your computer or directly to your living room on Apple TV. Enjoy rented movies in sizes up to 720p HD with surround sound on your Apple TV and sizes up to DVD-quality on your computer. Transfer your rented movies from iTunes to your iPod or iPhone and enjoy them on the go.

Also, purchase and download your favorite TV shows, music, and more directly on your Apple TV. Effortlessly transfer purchases made on Apple TV back to your computer with iTunes.

iTunes 7.6.1 includes several bug fixes and improves compatibility with Apple TV software version 2.0.

…And as you can see in the image above I still have a few other updates to install. A Compressor Update, Keyboard Firmware Update and a small Leopard Graphics Update. Check your software updates by clicking the Apple > Software Update… I’m going to run my updates right now!