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 >

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: iTunes, Pick of the Week, Starbucks

Big changes to the Apple games catalog on the iTunes Store!

Zuma from PopCap has been added to the list of games compatible with Nanos and Classics… However (and sadly) many other games has had their section removed. These include: Bejeweled, Mahjong, Lost, iQuiz, Mini Golf, Musika, Royal Solitaire and Vortex.

The remaining games are hidden from the public, only available for download through your old backdoor links from different websites. I’m not privy to any of these old links… But by all means if you know of some, post them here as I’m sure many of our readers will want them (Including me!).

One can only suspect that with the new app store and 3G iPhone coming soon, Apple is busy cleaning up their games and other sections in the iTunes store prior to launch. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see these games pop back up again once the app store launches, but what the heck do I know. I certainly hope Mini Golf comes back, or at least a new, better version of the game comes out. That was always one of my favorites

[via iPodNN]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Bejeweled, iPod Games, iQuiz, iTunes, Lost, Mahjong, Mini Golf, Musika, Royal Solitaire, Vortex

Apple has been very good to people recently. For instance, offering firmware upgrades to the Airport Extreme Base Station that now give it the ability to use Time Machine with an AirPort Disk attached to it - something many people said would never happen as “greedy” Apple would want people to buy their Time Capsule hardware.

So, what have people turned to in order to get outraged with Apple? Well, it’s Apple pushing Safari onto poor, innocent Windows users.

When I ran Apple’s update application on my wife’s Windows PC, it came up with the option to install Safari. It wasn’t forced on me - just suggested. I know my wife would still be using Internet Explorer if I hadn’t downloaded Firefox for her years ago. So, assuming that there are many Windows users like my wife, who wouldn’t even consider looking elsewhere for an alternative to Internet Explorer, I think it’s totally fair for Apple to suggest one.

The people they are offering Safari to are already Apple software users (iTunes/QuickTime) and with the iPhone using Safari too, one could argue that the more people who are given the opportunity to use Safari, the better.

So, how do you feel on the matter? Why not leave a comment on the Mactropolis Forums and let the community know.

written by Mike Bradbrook \\ tags: Apple, iTunes, Quicktime, Safari, Windows

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]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: iPhone, iPod, iTunes, iTunes Subscription

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]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Beatles, iTunes, Paul McCartney

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]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Beatles, iTunes, Paul McCartney

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]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: FaceBook, Facebook Music, iTunes

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.

written by Simone Renee \\ tags: iTunes, Wal-Mart

I’ve not been disappointed by the sound of the iTunes music I’ve bought - I don’t care what people say about the low bit-rate. To me (and my untrained ears), it is just fine.

The same goes for Apple TV content. I was not disappointed by the previous quality of the TV shows and movies and I think the new HD rentals look great.

Again, using pure bit-rate numbers, the quality of downloaded Apple content is rubbish when compared to standard DVD, yet alone HD DVD (RIP, by the way) and Blu-ray.

From George Ou’s blog:

“Standard definition 480i DVD movies are typically 5 to 8 mbps (megabits per second) MPEG-2 whereas these so-called HD wannabes weigh in at a pathetic 1.5 to 4 mbps of 720p H.264. Apple’s new HD service is capable of 4 mbps which simply isn’t enough to be considered HD. XBOX360 downloads are 6.8 mbps 720p VC-1 so they’re semi-decent borderline HD. Marketing will push the nicer sounding “720p” aspect of the video but they don’t tell you it’s way too compressed to offer good video fidelity. Blu-ray has a maximum bit-rate of 40 mbps while HD DVD offers a maximum of 28 mbps. Over the air broadcasts can be up to 19.38 mbps.

Modern video compression codecs like H.264 or VC-1 can hide these compression artifact problems much better than MPEG-2 video compression but there’s only so much it can do. At best you might get away 50% more compression over older compression technology but 1.5 to 4 mbps H.264 will not be better than 8 mbps MPEG-2 under most video complexity requirements. The only time 4 mbps 720p will look better than 8 mbps 480i is when the video on the screen is almost entirely stationary or it’s a low-complexity video such as animation movies. Under most normal circumstances, the low bit-rate 720p so-called “HD” video will be inferior though many companies are betting that consumers won’t know any better.”

In pure numbers, George may well be right, but it is subjectivity that matters when it comes to whether someone will purchase downloaded content. If they like the quality and the price, they will spend their money.

Yes, if I could afford it, I’d get a Blu-ray disc, PS3 and 1080p TV but I cannot afford thousands of pounds for what I consider only a marginal improvement over what I am seeing with current upscaled DVDs and electronic downloads.

There was a great difference in the move from VHS to DVD but the high definition DVD industry has a problem: people like me are not adopting Blu-ray because we cannot see the worthwhile benefit of buying new equipment and replacing all our perfectly good DVDs.

So, are you happy with your DVD and downloaded video content or have you bought Blu-ray and love it?

written by Mike Bradbrook \\ tags: Blu-Ray, Downloads, HD, High Definition, iTunes

An anonymous reader over at Slashdot reported:

“Starting on Thursday, January 31st, Time Warner subscribers in Texas starting experiencing connectivity issues to the iTunes store to the point where the service wasn’t usable. General internet traffic issues haven’t coincided with these problems, and many folks have reported that the store works as normal when they head to the nearest mega-bookstore and use their ISP instead. Time Warner has announced that they’re going to begin trials of tiered pricing in one local Texas market, but I’ll be darn sure to switch my provider if I hear the slightest hint of destination/content based tiers instead of bandwidth tiers.”

Very interesting indeed. Could this be the start of destination based pricing for Time Warner? I’d hazard a guess that this would be an extremely unpopular move, but we’ll see what happens.

[via Slashdot]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: iTunes, Time Warner