iLounge

Contexture Design, maker of the “45” vinyl iPod cases, has announced a new service that allows customers to send in their own 7-inch vinyl records, which the company will return as a one-of-a-kind iPod case. The “45” cases fit iPods from 20GB to 80GB and are made of thermoformed vinyl records, recycled felt padding, cork and an acrylic glass window. The center hole of each case’s record is positioned to fit around the iPod’s click wheel. The standard “45” cases are available for $45 and custom 7-inch orders are an additional $7.

The extraordinary amount of iPhone press coverage has already generated $400 million in free publicity for Apple, says Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie. “No other company has ever received that kind of attention for a product launch,” Yoffie says. “It’s unprecedented.”

AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier of the iPhone, will have a grand opening this week for a 5,000-square foot store in Houston, Texas—the first of 11 “AT&T Experience” stores the company plans to open this year.

SanDisk may benefit from Apple’s flash-memory intensive roadmap, according to a Wall Street analyst. The AP reports: “Although Apple is not a customer of SanDisk, and although the companies have competing flash memory-based MP3 players on the market, American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman thinks Apple’s increasing orders for flash memory may help absorb oversupply and could help solidify prices.”

The Beatles’ record label has denied a report that the band’s music is about to be released online. “UK download site Wippit indicated it would be first to sell the songs in a headline on its press release pages,” reports BBC News. “EMI said the statement was untrue and has asked for it to be removed.”

The first clone of Apple’s second-generation iPod shuffle has made its way to market. The “Shuffle2-Style MP3 Player,” being sold by DealExtreme.com, appears to be nearly identical to Apple’s latest shuffle, sporting a colored aluminum enclosure, similar controls and dimensions, and built-in clip. A product description is not provided, but the knock-off player is available in two colors—red and black—for $18.89. An Apple-like “Shuffle II USB Data/Power Cradle” is being sold for $5.04. DealExtreme is also selling a second-generation iPod nano look-alike for only $26.50. Again, a product description is not given, but the “Nano2-Style MP4 Player 1G” appears to have an aluminum shell, color screen, and a click wheel-like control pad. A brand name for either player is not provided.

Apple’s aim of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 could be too lofty a goal, according to Forbes. Noting that the iPhone will compete in the smartphone handset segment, Forbes’ Taesik Yoon reports: “Worldwide shipments of converged mobile devices (i.e. smartphones) increased 42% year-over-year to 80.5 million units in 2006. It also remains under-penetrated and offers plenty of growth potential. But the bad news is that it currently represents less than 10% of the total number of handsets likely sold last year. This suggests a much smaller market for the iPhone than one might assume. Even if the growth in smart phones could support the sale of 10 million iPhones by 2008, Apple’s own strategic decisions could easily prevent the company from meeting its target. The most limiting of these is its decision to offer the product only through AT&T.”

Tailored clothing maker Bagir has created the Play List Jacket, a new iPod-compatible blazer designed exclusively for Express Men. “Outwardly, the Play List Jacket is contemporary and elegant in the newest slim, trim silhouette while, within its shell, the jacket is wired to play music,” says Bagir. “A strategically placed pocket has been designed to hold the music element while earphone wires can be set in place via hidden loops on the inner lapel. Want to change the music, pause, rewind, or adjust the volume? An individual can adjust the iPod through soft touch controls that are built into the inner lapel.” The jacket will be in Express Men stores later this month for $248.

European Union Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva is the latest to criticize Apple for its closed copy-protection system used by the iPod and iTunes. “Do you think it’s fine that a CD plays in all CD players but that an iTunes song only plays in an iPod? I don’t. Something has to change,” Kuneva said in a recent interview. A Commission spokeswoman in Brussels confirmed Kuneva’s comment, but said it represented the commissioner’s personal views. “I don’t think she was stating it as a definitive policy position. At this stage it is her gut instinct,” spokeswoman Helen Kearns said. Apple is facing pressure to open up its FairPlay digital rights management technology in countries such as Germany, France, Finland and Norway.

Today’s check of the iLounge Discussion Forums uncovered lots of interesting discussions - here are a few that caught our attention:

In I Just Bought my 23rd iPod, one iLounge reader catalogs the 23 iPods he’s purchased, and amazingly, only three of them were shuffles. See the discussion that ensued, including some surprising revelations by other iLounge readers.

In addition to a discussion titled Why I Hate the Red Nano, in which one reader takes issue with the (RED) campaign’s financial performance and Apple’s involvement with that cause, another discussion (Anyone Bought the Refurb 8GB Red Nanos) considers reader experiences in buying used iPods from Apple - with positive results. Have you bought a refurbished iPod? Share your views here.

Finally, readers discuss J&R Music World, a New York City mail order retailer that has bucked the city’s par experience by offering both good customer service and fairly aggressive prices for many years. Have you shopped at J&R? Have a better recommendation for other iLoungers?

These posts - and literally over 1,000,000 more - are yours for the reading in the iLounge Forums. Take a peek today and see what you’ve been missing!

To build upon iLounge’s large collection of desktop wallpaper images, we’ve launched the “Wallpaper Yourself an iPhone, Apple TV, or iPods” art contest. To enter, you just need to a create a high-resolution (1600 x 1200 pixels) desktop wallpaper featuring any current iPod model and the iLounge.com name. One grand prize winner will receive a 4GB iPhone, while a second place winner will get a new Apple TV set-top box. One third place winner will receive a 4GB iPod nano and a second-generation iPod shuffle in their choice of color. Click here for full contest rules and submission info.

The Wall Street Journal has an in-depth article looking at how Apple picks the artists it highlights on the front page of the iTunes Store, and what those spots mean to record labels and sales. “Apple has jettisoned some of the conventions of traditional music retailing—notably, the practice of selling prime promotional spots to recording companies willing to pay for better visibility for their acts,” the Journal reports. “But behind the scenes there’s plenty of horse-trading going on that influences which songs are seen and purchased by iTunes customers. Apple—now one of the largest sellers of music in the U.S.—offers home-page placement in exchange for things such as exclusive access to new songs, special discount pricing or additional material such as interviews with stars.”

According to music industry executives, an album can sell about five times more copies during a week when it is featured on the iTunes home page than an average week. “The decisions by the small group of Silicon Valley and music-industry veterans running iTunes can help put an unknown band on the map, adding millions of dollars in sales, while relegating others to the obscurity of the site’s virtual back bins,” reports the Journal. “iTunes is housed at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters in a cluster of nondescript cubicles that could easily be confused with a software-development group but for a smattering of music posters on the walls, according to people who have visited or worked there.”

Responding to a “stability issue” with its TriPort in-ear headphones, Bose has announced that it will release an updated version starting next week. The “new” headphones, which are identical to the existing models, will include improved interchangeable ear tips in three sizes, which Bose says offer a better, more-snug fit. Later this year, Bose will offer a wire clip and a neck lanyard for the TriPort in-ear headphones. Those who’ve already purchased the $100 in-ear headphones can get all three upgrades at no charge. Starting March 16, owners can order the new accessories on the company’s website at bose.com/enhance.

Palm, maker of the Treo line of smartphones, has hired former Apple employee and Silicon Valley software designer Paul Mercer to help the company respond to the iPhone. The New York Times reports that Mercer began work three weeks ago at Palm on a line of new products. Mercer joined Palm from Inventor, an independent design firm that he headed in Palo Alto, California. He joined Apple in 1987, working as the lead designer of the Macintosh finder. Mercer later founded Pixo, a mobile software firm that created the basis for the iPod interface. More recently, he helped design the Samsung Z5 digital audio device.

Following Apple being named to Fortune’s list of most admired companies, the magazine has published an interesting article on the beginning of Apple’s retail store effort. “I started to get scared,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs about depending on large retailers to sell Macs before Apple’s first retail store was opened. “It was like, ‘We have to do something, or we’re going to be a victim of the plate tectonics. And we have to think different about this. We have to innovate here.’” Apple’s 174 stores, which each attract 13,800 visitors a week on average, now produce sales of $1 billion a quarter for the company. The average Apple Store generates sales of $4,032 per square foot a year—more than Saks, Best Buy, and Tiffany & Co.

Jobs told Fortune how he helped kick off the retail effort. “We looked at it and said, ‘You know, this is probably really hard, and really easy for us to get our head handed to us.’ So we did a few things. No. 1, I started asking who was the best retail executive at the time. Everybody said Mickey Drexler, who was running the Gap.” Jobs then went after Ron Johnson, then a Target executive, to run the retail store operations. “One of the best pieces of advice Mickey ever gave us was to go rent a warehouse and build a prototype of a store, and not, you know, just design it, go build 20 of them, then discover it didn’t work,” said Jobs. Interestingly, the first Apple Store prototype was scrapped, delaying the launch of the first store by 6-9 months.

Another interesting detail in the article is that the Apple Store Genius Bar was conceived after the majority of a focus group told Johnson that the best service experience they’d ever gotten was from a hotel concierge. “When we launched retail, I got this group together, people from a variety of walks of life,” says Johnson. “As an icebreaker, we said, ‘Tell us about the best service experience you’ve ever had.’” Of the 18 people, 16 said it was in a hotel. “We said, ‘Well, how do we create a store that has the friendliness of a Four Seasons Hotel?’” The answer: “Let’s put a bar in our stores. But instead of dispensing alcohol, we dispense advice.”

Like many other recent warnings across the U.S. and abroad, San Francisco’s rail system has begun informing commuters that the iPod’s white earbuds are magnets for thieves. “Don’t be a target: Use earbuds other than the standard iPod white, or other aftermarket headphones,” the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, or BART, is warning in fliers distributed at the entrances to stations. “iPod theft is not unique to BART; it is a crime of opportunity occurring when an individual is seen wearing the familiar white iPod earbuds.” The flier states that 11 percent of robberies on the BART system were iPod thefts.

Case-mate has announced the Clip, a plastic holster for Apple’s second-generation iPod nano. “The Clip perfectly grips the slimmer shape of the iPod nano 2G, and clips onto just about anything—a pocket, a purse strap or the outside of a briefcase or tote,” says Case-mate. “It is ideal for those who want quick or constant access to a docking station or voice recorder.” The Clip retails for $10.

The Elecom ASP-P100 Portable iPod Speaker Charger ($59) is a combination iPod speaker system and charger. Available in black or white colors, the Elecom device draws power from an AC adapter or USB connection to provide audio playback and charging to a docked iPod. It can also do playback using 4 AA batteries and has integrated volume controls. The Elecom Portable iPod Speaker Charger works with fifth-generation iPods and iPod nanos.

American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said that recent supply chain checks suggest that Apple plans to expand its use of NAND flash memory in iPods and Macs. In addition to a new “subnotebook” that will use NAND flash for its primary storage, Wu said Apple plans to soon have an all-flash iPod lineup. “Our sources indicate that Apple plans to migrate the rest of its iPod product line to NAND flash from HDDs (the current vPod is the only model remaining); however, fairly low price points and customer appetite for high storage capacities will likely prevent this from happening until late 2007-2008,” Wu said. “In addition, we are picking up that a widescreen vPod will not likely ship until after iPhone ships in the June timeframe to not take away from iPhone’s launch.”

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference yesterday, Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer discussed the Apple TV and iPhone, as well as Apple’s retail plans.

Google CEO and Apple board member Eric Schmidt said Monday that Google and Apple are working together on “many more” new projects, which he did not identify. Schmidt said Google and Apple are “doing more and more things together. We have similar goals, similar competitors.”

(PRODUCT) RED items such as the special edition iPod nano have raised only $18 million worldwide for the HIV/AIDS charity. “The disproportionate ratio between the marketing outlay and the money raised is drawing concern among nonprofit watchdogs, cause-marketing experts and even executives in the ad business,” reports AdAge.

TiVo today announced that the Amazon Unbox movie service is now available to TiVo subscribers. The service enables TiVo users to download TV shows and movies from the Unbox store and watch them on their TV.

Following a patent settlement with Apple last year, Creative Technology has officially introduced its first “Made for iPod” speaker systems. Announced only in Japan, the two portable, all-in-one systems include the Creative PlayDock i500 (29,800 Yen; shown right) and the Creative TravelSound i (17,800 Yen). The PlayDock i500 features a built-in subwoofer, charging iPod cradle and wireless remote. The more compact TravelSound features USB connectivity and can be battery powered. At January’s Macworld Expo, Creative displayed a number of iPod speaker systems and introduced its first iPod product—the Xdock Wireless, an iPod audio system that transmits music in the company’s “Xtreme Fidelity” format.

In addition to Apple TV support and other new features, the iTunes 7.1 update released yesterday also includes fixes for several Windows Vista issues, though a number are still unresolved. “Apple has released a new version of iTunes that addresses a number of compatibility issues with Windows Vista,” the iPod maker says in a new support document. “iTunes 7.1 is recommended for use with most editions of Windows Vista, however, Apple is actively working with Microsoft to resolve a few remaining known issues. This document will be updated as more information becomes available.”

Roth Audio has unveiled the Music Cocoon MC4 ($769), a vacuum tube amplifier with a built-in iPod dock. Roth claims through the vacuum tube style design you’ll be able to hear “a real warmth and dimension” to the music you are listening to. Other features include power output of 13 watts (x2), speaker output with short circuit protection, volume control, iPod charging and an included remote control. The device also sports a 3.5mm jack on the back for connecting other devices. [via Gizmodo]