MacFocus Magazine » iTunes

New iTunes ad is just as awesome as usual

Josh Holat — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:00:18 +0000

Apple released another iTunes ad this week, and this time it features Coldplay’s new song Viva La Vida (Live the Life). As usual, this song was almost instantly sent to the top of the charts in iTunes, with only two of the American Idol David Cook’s songs above it. This ad is one of the best I have ever seen, not just because of the song choice, but because it has some awesome graphical displays. There are a lot of colors as usual, but this time the effects introduce more pop, such as some cool smoke effects.

The strength iTunes possesses in the digital media market place is growing every day. It seems like almost every time a certain song is featured in a hip new iTunes ad, that song instantly sells thousands of more copies. I don’t know what it is, but that takes a strong user base and high attention to achieve if you ask me. Congratulations to Coldplay for getting their song in this new ad, I hope they are enjoying all the money they made off of this, I know I would be!

Link to “Viva la Vida” iTunes Ad: Click here

What do same day digital DVD releases mean for brick and mortar stores?

Josh Holat — Mon, 05 May 2008 05:01:47 +0000

This week Apple announced that the iTunes store will have digital copies of DVD releases the same day as the hard copy release. It has also been reported that Apple TV owners will now be able to purchase movies from their Apple TV, without the use of a computer. This is all fantastic news, but what does it mean for brick and mortar stores such as Best Buy and Circuit City? Do they still hold a place near and dear to our hearts or will they soon be a thing of the past? Although I don’t believe we will see their DVD sales plummet anytime soon, this is definitely a step towards that direction.

All you need now is iTunes and you are able to get a new release DVD with the click of a button. And you know what that means. No more waiting in line just to find out that the store is out of stock! So why would anyone rush to the store anymore then? The DVD comes out, you hop on your computer, click a button, and then sit back and enjoy. Right? Not exactly. I wouldn’t say we are to that point of digital product sales yet. For one, even though there are unlimited copies of the file online, everyone will be trying to download the movie right when it is released, so Apple had better train its servers to handle quite a beating quite often. With HD files upwards of 2GB, the downloads could end up taking quite a while. Another reason digital sales aren’t yet closing in on hard copies is because people still like physical media. You can buy special collectors sets, more easily share the disc without having to worry about DRM, and even just rip a digital copy to your hard drive anyways. Will digital media ever beat that?

So what do you think? Will physical media soon be a thing of the past?

iTunes Music Store’s Birthday April 28

Katherine Fellows — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:56 +0000

On April 28, 2003, Apple added the iTunes Music Store to its fourth version of the iTunes program, introducing the current source of 70% of the world’s digital music download market. As of January 9, 2008, it had attracted four billion song downloads and a single-day record of 20 million songs on December 25, 2007.

Since its original release, the iTunes Music Store has expanded to the distribution of movies, TV shows, and podcasts, in addition to having added beneficial programs for colleges and universities across the countries with iTunes U. It served as a fresh counteraction to other less-convenient options for consumers leaning towards pirating, despite the original skepticism of some. Although it offered a profit of less than ten cents per song, Apple’s venture into the digital distribution of music has produced a wave of revenue and a huge increase in iPod sales, and today marks the movement’s fifth birthday.

Control iTunes… From your iPhone

Josh Holat — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:05 +0000

The iPhone is probably the best iPod I’ve ever owned. The interface is extremely simple, beautiful, and fun. However, being able to control my iTunes library with it would make it just that much better. That’s right, you may soon be able to control iTunes with your iPhone according to some recent strings found in the devices new beta release code. This feature would be given the very unexpected awesome name of iControl. This feature couldn’t have been unanticipated as Apple applied for a patent a while back that would make “a portable multimedia player (such as the iPod. manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.) [that] is used to wirelessly access and control a media server.”

I believe this would be the final step for the iPhone for full iTunes integration. There is already the actual iPod and the iTunes Store on the device, so being able to actually access your library wirelessly would be the last thing you could ever need. Now, add the ability for this to act like a remote for that brand new speaker system that is connected to iTunes and you have yourself one sick setup. The iPhone is headed is the right direction and the new software and SDK are just going to give it more of the edge it needs. There is going to be some exciting announcements about this whole deal at WWDC, and I’m extremely excited.

Via [TUAW]