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European iTunes Music Store Delayed

Independent UK is reporting that Apple is delaying its European version of iTunes Music Store due to licensing disagreements.

“Attempts by Apple Computer to launch a European version of its online “Music Store”, where people can download individual songs, has been held up until next year by disputes between record companies and their artists over licensing.”

Source: Macminute

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Workaround to share your music with iTunes 4.0.1

Recently I wrote this tutorial on how to enable the feature of sharing your music collection in iTunes 4.0.1 again… which Apple disabled with the latest update. The funny part is it can use freeware made by Apple itself! The tutorial shows you how to set up a proxy for the iTunes server and makes iTunes think the stream is coming from a local area network.

Have fun, but don’t steal music!

2 comments.

Wired: iTunes Music Swap Just Won’t Die

Leander Kahney has a report about Apple axing iTunes’ Internet sharing feature and how developers are answering back by programming new solutions to keep the sharing feature alive and well. Two software solutions and a tip are presented in the report, including iCommune 401(ok), Andromeda and author Jim Heid’s simple solution to use both iTunes 4.0 and 4.0.1 on one Mac.

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“MP3.com backs Apple’s new iPod”

Internet Magazine reports MP3.com Europe will be promoting its service to registered iPod owners by offering exclusive tracks.

“‘With the launch of iTunes Music Store in the US and now the new iPod, Apple is leading the industry in the delivery of pay-per-track online music,’ said Leanne Sharman, VP of sales & marketing, MP3.com Europe. ‘This represents a resounding vote of confidence in our European marketing and distribution mechanism that they’ve chosen to market this exciting new product on our sites on the back of the successful campaign we ran for the company at the end of last year.’”

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Daring Fireball vs. Knee-Jerk Critics

John Gruber of Daring Fireball has weighed in on the iTunes Internet Sharing issue, offering a sound rebuttal to the several digital pundits levying criticism against Apple for disabling the feature in iTunes 4.01.

“I think it was more of a social experiment. Rendezvous networking is built on top of IP networking, so once the programming work was done to support sharing locally, it was likely very little extra work to allow it to work between any two IP addresses. The potential for abuse was obvious, but so was the potential utility. And so I think Apple tried giving everyone the benefit of the doubt with iTunes 4.0’s sharing capabilities. “

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NY Post: Apple, Amazon in Online Music Talks

It seems that Amazon might soon be jumping on the iTunes Music Store band wagon. Tim Arango at the New York Post reports Apple and Amazon are negotiating a deal to make iTMS available on Amazon.com.

“The parties are in advanced talks and a deal is expected, though sources warn that negotiations might still unravel.

[...]

At Amazon’s annual meeting last week in Seattle, Jeff Bezos, the company’s chief executive officer, talked about opening a digital music store, telling reporters, ‘We’ve been looking at it for years.’”

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CNET: Microsoft, again: Apple’s old nemesis

“In a masterstroke of technological and marketing acumen, Apple Computer appeared to have seized the digital music industry last month by boldly creating its own retail download service.

The Macintosh maker, diagnosed being near death in the 1990s, seemed to have pulled off another miracle: Its iTunes Music Store sold 2 million songs in its first 16 days, dwarfing rival download services and drawing raves from Silicon Valley to Hollywood. Yet even before the initial euphoria could subside, the company began hearing familiar rumblings from points north—namely, Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash.”

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“How to Upgrade iTunes Without Losing Sharing”

Author Jim Heid of Avondale Media has posted a great tip on keeping iTunes 4.0 Internet sharing capabilities with the recent release of 4.0.1.

“Anyone who listens to AAC audio will want to upgrade to iTunes 4.0.1, since it fixes a playback problem that existed in version 4.0.

But you may have become fond of iTunes 4’s Internet sharing features, which, as I wrote yesterday, are no more.

The solution? Keep both versions—they’ll coexist on your hard drive.

Before installing version 4.0.1, simply drag the iTunes application icon out of the Applications folder and into a different folder. Then install the 4.0.1 update.

When you want Internet sharing, simply launch version 4.0.”

Note: Jim also has some good info on what’s new in 4.0.1 and how it handles sharing.

1 comment.

NYT: Apple Finds the Future for Online Music Sales

‘The Pop Life’ columnist, Neil Strauss writes about Apple’s success with iTunes Music Store and the recent disabling of iTunes Internet sharing capabilities.

“In just its first month of operation the service, by the company’s estimate, has sold three million songs online, at 99 cents each. This is an impressive figure considering the limited access that music fans now have to the service.

[...]

“We designed it to allow friends and family to easily stream (not copy) their music between computers at home or in a small group setting, and it does this well,” the statement said. “But some people are taking advantage of it to stream music over the Internet to people they do not even know. This was never the intent.” A spokesman for Apple, Chris Bell, said the company made the decision by itself.”

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KBase Documents updated for iTunes 4

iTunes 4.0.1 for Mac OS X: Information and Download
iTunes 4: Shared Music Library Is Not Compatible Alert
iTunes 4: Effects Can Cause Some Sound Fluctuation During Playback

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WSJ: Real Networks to compete with Apple iTMS

Apple’s iTunes Music Store is to face competition from Real Networks, which will today announce a music download service for only 79 cents a track. According to the Wall Street Journal, the service will be based on the Rhapsody service from listen.com, which Real bought last month.

The move means Real won’t push Musicnet any more, a joint venture between it and major firms EMI, AOL and Bertelsmann. But the Journal points out that Real Networks owns 40 per cent of Musicnet and has already plunged an estimated $4 million into the service. Most people are waiting to see what Microsoft will do, as the race to sell music online gathers pace.

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CNET: “Apple limits iTunes file sharing”

Ian Fried, staff writer for CNET News.com reports on the latest iTunes upgrade which limits sharing to local networks.

“‘The new iTunes 4.0.1 update limits Rendezvous music sharing to work only between computers on a local network (its intended use) and disables music sharing over the Internet,’ Apple said in a statement provided to CNET News.com.

‘Rendezvous music sharing…has been used by some in ways that have surprised and disappointed us,’ Apple said. ‘We designed it to allow friends and family to easily stream (not copy) their music between computers at home or in a small group setting, and it does this well.  But some people are taking advantage of it to stream music over the Internet to people they do not even know.’”

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Apple Disables iTunes Sharing with 4.0.1 upgrade

Apple has released iTunes 4.01, a small upgrade, with “a number of performance and network access enhancements”, some AppleScript changes and, most notably, the disabling of Internet Sharing.

From the Apple Knowledge Base: “iTunes 4.0.1 only allows music sharing between computers using iTunes 4.0.1 or later on a local network (in the same subnet).”

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TechTV: AAC Developer Interview

On Tuesday, May 20 at 7 p.m. Eastern, The Screen Savers cable show will have Gary Valan, Director, Computer Audio Initiative (Dolby Laboratories) talking about MPEG-4 and AAC. This episode can also be watched on Wed., May 21 at 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. Eastern.

7 comments.

PC World: Piracy Worries End ITunes Streaming

Paul Roberts, IDG News Service for PC World reports on iTunes sharing/swapping, and websites offering a catalog of users sharing their iTunes library.

“Only days after the appearance of Internet-based music streaming services that capitalize on Apple’s ITunes technology, many of the Web sites that hosted them have removed the feature, citing concerns about piracy.

[...]

Within days of its first public release, however, programmers outside of the company found ways to expand ITunes’ reach. They harnessed an ITunes client feature called Rendezvous that enables Mac users to share downloaded songs with other systems on a LAN or over the Internet.”

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AAC vs. MP3: Tested and Rated Part 2

Gunnar Van Vliet has written Part 2 of his “REPORT ON THE RELATIVE QUALITY OF AAC AUDIO TO MP3” at RecordStoreReview.com.

“The purpose of this test is to compare more codecs at a low, medium and high bit rate. I think from this sampling it will be easy to estimate where other bit rates fit in with various types of music.”

5 comments.

Apple KBase: iTunes 4 Tips & Tricks

Apple has recently posted a new Knowledge Base article for iTunes 4: Tips & Tricks. Here is a sampling of 3 of the 14 tips and tricks listed:

  • To quickly add a song from a CD to an existing playlist, insert the CD, then drag the song from the CD (in the Source list) to the playlist. The song is automatically imported into your library and added to the playlist. To add a song from a CD to a new playlist, drag the song from the CD to the white area below the items in the Source list. The song is imported into your library and added to a new playlist.
  • To open a playlist in a new window, double-click the playlist icon in the Source list.
  • To quickly create a playlist containing an album in your library, click Library and choose Edit > Show Browser (if you see only Hide Browser, then the Browser is already visible). Drag an album from the Album list in the top-right section of the library to the white area below the items in your Source list. A playlist named after the album is created.

2 comments.

ShareiTunes Offers New Search Features

ShareiTunes has added a new keyword search feature, which searches share name, genres, artists, albums, and songs and returns all the shares that match. ShareiTunes offers a catalog of members sharing their iTunes playlist for others to find. iTunes sharing on the Interent has become the hot topic in recent news. Though it isn’t illegal to share a streaming playlist from iTunes, many are finding ways to exploit the stream with software to capture and download the song to their hard drive, which is illegal.

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Apple: iTunes Music Store Tops Two Million Song Downloads

Today Apple announced in a press release that it has sold over two million song downloads through its wildly successful iTunes Music Store.

“‘Response to the iTunes Music Store has been phenomenal - we’ve clearly hit a chord with users,’ said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. ‘We?re adding new songs every day, giving music lovers even more reasons to legally download their favorite music.’”
“Over 4,300 new songs were added to the iTunes Music Store yesterday, including five albums from The Doors; new featured artist Fischerspooner?s album ‘#1’ plus an exclusive remix of their hit ‘Emerge;’ new albums from Cold, Lizz Wright, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; pre-release tracks from upcoming albums by Michelle Branch, Da Brat, Jesse Harris and Kenna; and, completing her catalog of music now available on the store, Alanis Morissette?s albums ‘Under Rug Swept’ and ‘Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.’ Additionally, albums representing diverse genres of music - from rock and alternative to jazz and classical - were added from artists including John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Nina Simone, Paul Oakenfold and Staind.”

2 comments.

LA Times: Song Sharing by iTunes Users Stirs Piracy Concerns

Los Angeles Times staff writer Jon Healey writes about the brewing debate over the Internet sharing capabilities of iTunes.

“In the two weeks that iTunes has been on the market, several Web sites have sprung up to help users find others who are sharing songs online. And some adept programmers have developed a way to let people copy those songs.”
‘“It sounds as if it is a hole in the security that needs to be closed,” Cary Ramos, an attorney for the National Music Publishers Assn., said Tuesday. ‘I don’t know what Apple can do to achieve that, but I would certainly hope that they would take steps immediately to address this issue.’”

1 comment.

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