09.21.07 - 03:19pm
Fox has decided that not only will they stay with iTunes but they will start the new fall season off by offering some of their shows for free.
Basically, Fox is trying to promote their shows in the hopes that more people will then be exposed to the shows and will in the end create higher ratings.
The free shows can be viewed starting next week and will include episodes of “Prison Break”, Bones, American Dad and K-Ville.
Fox, along with all the other TV executives are trying to find a way to appeal to the new viewers attitude of “watch, when I want to watch”, and somehow still make money. Whether or not to simply sell the downloads of offer them free with advertisements is one of their biggest questions.
Category: itunes | Tags: fox, free-shows, itunes | Be the First to Comment »
09.20.07 - 01:34pm
NBC pulled its shows from iTunes in a much heated dispute over pricing just a short time ago. Now, in a complete turnaround they are offering their shows, not for the $4.99 they wanted to charge on iTunes, but for free.
It seems to be a similar move that Universal pulled, when they didn’t renew their contract due to non-flexible pricing and then announced they would be allowing their songs to be downloaded at .99 cents, DRM free, with rival companies.
NBC is offering the free downloads as a way to promote their new service called “NBC Direct”. The catch on the free shows are that they are DRM coded to play for only for a week after the show has aired. The download also has embedded advertising the watcher cannot skip.
“With the creation of this new service, we are acknowledging that now, more than ever, viewers want to be in control of how, when and where they consumer their favorite entertainment,” said Vivi Zigler, executive vice president of NBC Digital Entertainment.
Category: itunes | Tags: apple, itunes, nbc | Be the First to Comment »
09.14.07 - 10:38am
Apple has provided hints at another new service that may be coming soon - that of month long movie rentals.
The hints have been found in the problem reporting page where references to “RentalMovie” have been found alongside “Movies” and “Ringtones”. It is where the consumer informs Apple if they have not received the download or if the quality is bad.
Apple reportedly has been in talks with Disney and the major Hollywood Studios to allow movie rentals for $2.99 for a month, at which time the download would expire.
The service is something many consumers are hoping for and it seems a likely service, especially as it would boost Apple TV. The rentals could also mean a large increase in the number of films offered on iTunes. The major studios have not wanted to sell their films on iTunes at what they consider to be too small of a price but they may be willing to rent them and still sell them for their higher prices on DVD.
Category: apple, itunes | Tags: apple, itunes, movie-rentals | Be the First to Comment »
09.10.07 - 03:36pm
At least over a PC, (sorry not for free downloading on your iPod), but with dot.tunes you can post your iTunes to your MySpace page, stream tracks to your website with a custom flash player, and publish any number of artists, albums playlist, even your entire iTunes library if you wish.
Basically, your friends can now listen to the music you have, from clear across the country. (No more, can I borrow that CD?)
Through the free service you can even distribute your audio and video creations to iTune users with on-click podcasting.
All you have to do is download and install the dot.tunes program. The program is loaded with multiple layers of Ajax security, so no need to worry about virus’s attacking.
With a password you can let your friends listen to your music and block out any users you don’t want to be able to listen - (Mr. Ex - You are sooo blocked!).
Category: itunes | Tags: dot.tunes, iPhone, itunes | Be the First to Comment »
09.10.07 - 11:34am
“To be or not to be” for NBC shows on iTunes is the question. The contract is set to be renewed at the end of 2007 but negotiations have turned so bitter that Apple is saying it will pull all of NBC shows now refusing to show the new fall lineup saying it wouldn’t want to end things half way through the season.
The reason Apple says it is pulling the shows is because NBC wants to make a “dramatic price increase” jumping the price of their shows for $1.99 to $4.99.
NBC flatly denies those allegations, with NBC Universal spokesman Cory Shields, saying, “Apple is not telling the truth. We never asked to double the wholesale price of our shows. Our negotiations were centered on our request for flexibility in wholesale pricing, including the ability to package shows together in ways that could make our content even more attractive for consumers.”
Category: itunes | Tags: apple, itunes, nbc | Be the First to Comment »
09.07.07 - 02:01pm
Perhaps since no one has been able to beat out Apples iTunes a way to try to compete with Apple is being sprung from another angle - that of a player that can use iTunes. Apple has received their very first competition from a player that supports iTunes AAC music tracks, however with the launch of Apple’s new iPods paying $300 for the 16gb rather than getting the iTouch 8gb or the iPod Classic with 160gb for the same price seems criminal.
The players comes from Creative and is in their Zen line. The new Zens are credit card sized measuring 55×83x12 mm and weighing 2.1 ounces. They have a 2.5 inch color LCD screen which supports up to 16.7 million colors in 320×240 px.
The new Zen player not only supports the AAC tracks but also MP3 and WMA formats allowing a user to buy music from pretty much any store they want to.
Category: MP3 Players, itunes | Tags: itunes, mp3-player, zen-creative | Be the First to Comment »
08.22.07 - 10:31am
Wal-Mart is going head-to-head against iTunes by offering DRM free tunes for less than the online industry leader.
Wal-Mart is number one in the music selling industry including CD’s and wants to be number one in online music downloads as well. They have decided to step out with a bang by doing what Wal-Mart does best - offer goods for less than other retailers.
Their on-line music store is doing this by offering the tunes for a measly .94 cents, only .06 cents less than iTunes normal downloads but those are DRM encoded. If you want the same DRM free ones as Wal-Mart offers you pay $1.29.
Walmart will be selling EMI’s songs DRM free something iTunes already has, but Wal-Mart also has access to the music that Universal is using to test going DRM free, a test that they excluded iTunes from.
Category: itunes | Tags: drm-free, itunes, music-downloads, wal-mart | Be the First to Comment »
08.15.07 - 01:51pm
John Lennon is known for his work as a peace activist, artist and author. He wrote and recorded songs such as “Imagine” widely considered one of the greatest songs of all time, “Give Peace a Chance”, Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) and many others.
Now for the first time Lennon’s famous solo albums are available for download on iTunes. John Lennon’s albums “Lennon
Legend” and “Acoustic” are making their digital debuts on the site.
“John would have loved the fact that his music will now be available in a format suited to a new generation of listeners,” said Yoko Ono.
Lennon’s songs and much of the Beatles work has been available for download from other sites previously, but due to the ongoing dispute over the Apple name none of the Beatles or any solo works from the Beatles albums have been available on iTunes.
Category: itunes | Tags: beatles, itunes, John-Lennon | Be the First to Comment »
08.13.07 - 02:12pm
Universal is going DRM free and gBox is taking full advantage of Apple’s fight with Universal to step in to promote their new online music service.
Google has formed an advertising partnership with gBox in which Google will get paid by showing ads directing buyers to
gBox when a search is done for a particular artist. Buyers can then buy and download the song through gBox so rather than having to search through iTunes for an artist and song users can simply search for the artist or song and buy from there. Google will get paid in their standard advertising dollars from the seller of the music in this case Universal who will be paying for the ads rather than getting a cut of music sales such as iTunes does. Universal then has a separate deal with gBox for using their service to distribute and make their music available for download.
Category: itunes | Tags: apple, drm-free, gBox, itunes, universal | Be the First to Comment »
08.13.07 - 12:39pm
Universal is taking the bold move to go DRM free, but they will be going there for at least the next six months without the biggest online retail store, iTunes.
Universal has fought with Apple notoriously since iTunes first came online. Universal wanted varied music pricing and Apple refused to budge from the 99 cents per song.
They also fought over DRM restrictions particularly when Apple negotiated with EMI for DRM free music, changing the wave of online DRM for all involved like it or not.
During the latest contract negotiations talks fell apart and ended with Universal still leaving songs on Apple but without a long term contract meaning that should the music company decide to they could pull their songs at any time.
Category: itunes | Tags: drm-free, itunes, universal | Be the First to Comment »
