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iTunes 10.5 Released Ahead of iOS 5 Update for iPhones and iPads

Todd Ogasawara — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 06:25:17 +0000

Apple should start rolling out iOS 5 updates for supported iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices very soon. Apple pushed out iTunes 10.5 last night in preparation of these device upgrades. Here’s what’s new in iTunes 10.5.
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Starbucks Pick of the Week Adding Book Excerpts & TV Episodes to the Free Songs & Apps

Todd Ogasawara — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:00:13 +0000

Social Times’ Bilal Hameed picked up on iPhone apps being added to Starbucks’ Pick of the Week last week. Previously, the program provided a free song from iTunes every week. However, it seems Starbucks wasn’t quite done with making changes to the Pick of the Week program. This week Starbucks announced that in addition to a free song and free app, the Pick of the Week program would also provide free chapters from books from the iBookstore as well as free TV episodes andn “other media types” (presumably music videos).
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YouTube, Facebook and Netflix Leaders in Web Video

Kenna McHugh — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:15:29 +0000

Based on a survey of a number of Web users during the last week, Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney reports that Apple’s iTunes Store has more or less 10% of market share for online video. In the survey, the most common video platforms were mentioned by users and here are the findings:
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iCloud: iTunes Now Knows When You Buy an App Directly on Your iPhone or iPad

Todd Ogasawara — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:43:03 +0000

If you bought and downloaded an app directly on your iPhone or iPad a week ago, the app would not show up on your PC or Mac until the device was synced with iTunes. Until then losing your iPhone or iPad also meant losing your purchase or free download.

However, a week after Apple announced iCloud at its Worldwide Developer Conference, we are seeing its features even before it fully rolls out later this year when iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion are released. Last week I noted that iTunes gained the ability to re-download songs, apps and books.

iTunes/iCloud Ability to Re-download Songs, Apps & Books is Up and Running

This week I noticed a new behavior for apps downloaded directly to an iPhone or iPad. You do not need to tether your device to a PC or Mac with a USB cable for iTunes to be “aware” of the purchase. Here’s the sequence of events that I noticed.

1. I downloaded and installed a free app using the iPad’s App Store app.
2. Later that day I started iTunes 10.3.1 on my Mac.
3. I noticed that iTunes was downloading something.
4. Looking at the iTunes download queue, I saw that it was the app that I had downloaded to the iPad earlier that day.

This happened even though I had not synced the iPad to iTunes with a USB cable. This new sync process should provide a better backup situation for iOS device users and reduce sync times if you frequently purchase apps directly on the device instead of through iTunes.

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Roger Ebert’s Great Movies App Hits iOS Devices

Kenna McHugh — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:30:02 +0000

Have you ever tried to discuss a movie where you can’t remember the title or actor of the movie picture? Have you ever needed help deciding which movie to download or pick from one of the movie rental stores?

Roger Ebert series of Great Movies is now available on your iPhone. If you like Ebert’s reviews and his style, it’s pretty cool to use. No more grappling with deciding which movie to watch or download. You can read carefully the genuine suggestions offered by Roger Ebert’s ongoing Great Movies series with his full-length reviews.
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iTunes/iCloud Ability to Re-download Songs, Apps & Books is Up and Running

Todd Ogasawara — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:36:38 +0000

It looks like part of Apple’s iCloud is up and running now. I didn’t expect the ability to redownload music, apps and books to go live until iOS 5 is released sometime this fall. However, if you take a look at iTunes (I’m using it on a Mac), you’ll see a new “Purchased” link in the iTunes “Quick Links” right sidebar. Selecting it leads you to a iTunes section that lets you see ever song (including entire albums), app and book you have purchased through iTunes.

Items (songs, apps or books) that were purchased and on your computer are listed as “Downloaded.” Items that were purchased but not on your device have a little cloud icon with a down arrow in it. Tapping the cloud icon prompts you for your iTunes password and then proceeds to download the item which was previously purchased but not on the computer you are using.

The ability to download previously purchased iTunes content should be welcome by anyone who has, for example, lost a hard drive without proper backup and would like to redownload their iTunes library. This previously required a special request to Apple.

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iBookstore Now Part of iTunes Store. iBooks Page Sync is Automatic

Todd Ogasawara — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:01:42 +0000

Apple’s iBookstore is now integrated into the iTunes Store. You can find its link at the top of the iTunes window between “App Store” and “Podcasts.”

iBookstore in iTunes

The book categories includes the enhanced books which includes some children’s books with human narration in a read-along mode. The bookstore includes a selection of $2.99-or-less books as well as two free books (listed below).

L.A. Noire

Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011

I bought a copy of Robert Charles Wilson’s SF novel “Spin” for $2.99 to test the purchase process and found it quick and painless. The novel was a fast 1.4MB download. I placed it on my iPhone 4 and my iPad 2. Unlike Amazon’s Kindle (and its apps), over-the-air page syncing was performed immediately without asking for permission. Some people will find this useful and welcomed (I’m in that camp). Others may be taken aback. There does not appear to be an option in settings to turn this off.

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iOS 5: iCloud, iTunes in the Cloud & iTunes Match

Todd Ogasawara — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:10:12 +0000

And, finally (for today), we come to Apple’s much anticipated iCloud. Apple’s less than stellar MobileMe service, which Steve Jobs described as “not our finest hour” during the keynote, is MobileGone. And, so is its $99 per year fee (for the most part). In its place, we have iCloud. Apple describes it like this:

iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents, and more. And wirelessly pushes them to all your devices — automatically. It’s the easiest way to manage your content. Because now you don’t have to.

It works on iOS devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch) as well as the Mac OS X and even Microsoft Windows desktop. It provides cloud storage for music, apps (including re-installing), photos, and device settings information. Singing up for the service (when it becomes available later this yaer) gives you 5GB of storage at no charge. Photos, purchased (key word) music, apps and books are stored in iCloud outside of the 5GB limit. All of Apple’s major apps will be iCloud enabled in iOS 5: iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, Apps, Books, Documents (iWork), Contacts, Calendar and Mail. The iCloud API will be available for Microsoft Windows software as well as Mac OS X and iOS.

Photo Stream works with iCloud. It stores your most recent 1000 uploaded photos and keep them in the cloud for 30 days. The iCloud Photo Stream appears as a album in the iOS photo app. This is a lot like how Android and Picasa are tied together.

iTunes in the Cloud lets you download purchased music to up to 10 devices. There is an auto-downloads option too. Make sure you have the bandwidth and storage to deal with this option if you buy a lot of music. The service can also scan and match your library using a paid service named iTunes Match. iTunes Match is a $24.99 per year subscription. Here’s how Apple describes its operation:

iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 18 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. And all the music iTunes matches plays back at 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.

If it finds a match to a song on your computer, it will match it in the cloud service without uploading the file. This is a lot like the old MP3.com service and unlike Google Music or Amazon CloudDrive.

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Daily Show and Colbert Nation Now on iPad

Kenna McHugh — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:00:41 +0000

iPads are great for so many things. You can play games, watch movies or watch your favorite television shows. Now, you can watch “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” on you iPad. That’s right. All you need to do is download the app for each show from iTunes.
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Scam Alert: Don’t Trust Emails From Apple About iPhone5

Bilal Hameed — Wed, 25 May 2011 09:20:37 +0000

Fraudulent emails have started surfacing that announce the imminent availability of the new iPhone 5GS from coming Friday. These emails are part of a new wave of phishing scams and are likely to be an attempt to hack Apple IDs and passwords.

The Apple ID of a user is his/her core identity in the eyes of Apple Inc, and any cyber criminal can get to enjoy all the services that Apple has to offer on your behalf. The hacker would have unlimited access to all of user apps and can utilize the user’s money (which is some cases is a lot) to buy new ones.

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TuneWiki Adds Some Social To Their Lyrics App

Reid McCarter — Wed, 25 May 2011 09:10:31 +0000

TuneWiki understands that to survive in the highly competitive world of social media it’s essential to evolve. That’s why the free music app — already doing quite well for itself on Android-based devices — is looking to expand even further through its new update.

The initial gimmick behind TuneWiki was its ability to supply kareoke-style lyrics as a song plays, something that worked to enrich the usual listening experience. BlackBerry users heavily supported the app, turning it into one of the most prominent music downloads available on App World and providing plenty of incentive for the recent interface revamp and multi-platform service expansion.

TuneWiki isn’t dropping any of the features that made it such a hit; rather it’s looking to add additional perks that bolsters the existing experience. Alongside the announcement of a desktop TuneWiki Beta, listeners can now use the mobile app to access three sections (My Music, Discover and Connected) that provide new ways to interact with others through the app.

The new Discover section is, perhaps, the most exciting aspect of the overhaul. It offers users the ability to perform creepy/cool tasks like accessing the Song Map (a geographic view with pinpoints highlighting what global TuneWiki users are listening to), friending others and managing a list of Muses (users with similar tastes that can automatically recommend their favorite songs and artists). Connected adds streaming radio support (complete with lyrics) while My Music is simply the new name for the traditional, pre-update listening experience.

Want to learn more about TuneWiki or download the free app? Check out its official page or give it a download here (its also available through iTunes and BlackBerry App World).

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YouTube Topples iTunes In The Battle For Online Music Consumption

Megan O'Neill — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:40:36 +0000

How do you consume music online? Do you purchase songs from iTunes? Download music for free? Stream music from a mobile app? According to new research you’re most likely to get your online music fix via YouTube.
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Angry Birds Rio Blasts Pass 10 Million Downloads In 10 Days On iPhone and Android

Bilal Hameed — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 14:30:24 +0000

Rovio is on a roll of its life, the developer of Angry Birds has tweeted that Angry Birds Rio, the latest version of the game has crossed 10 million downloads in merely 10 days after its release on iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Rovio had the following to say on Twitter, “10 in 10:-) Angry Birds Rio breaking all records. A massive thanks to all our fans!!!”. The company then went on to clarify that the 10 million figure includes both paid iPhone and iPad downloads and free Android downloads.

Gamers can download Angry Birds Rio for $0.99 from the iTunes store, or get it free on their Android devices from Amazon’s Android Appstore. CNet is speculating that Android downloads must have accounted for the lion’s share of these 10 million downloads, as nothing beats free. If that is the case, stay tuned for even more eye-popping download figures for Angry Birds Rio, since Amazon’s Android Appstore is only catering for US users and hence the global Android audience has yet to get their hands on this latest Angry Birds version.

Angry Birds Rio is a tie-in to Rio – the animated movie that is to be released this month. The Rio, games follows the game flow of previous versions except for the fact that pigs are no longer a part of the game. Instead the objective now is to bust free other beautiful birds from their cages. Later stages of the game has a new animal enemy, the monkeys.

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Warner Bros To Launch Full Length Movies On Facebook

Bilal Hameed — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 01:00:29 +0000

Warner Bros. has announced that it will be using Facebook to distribute its movie titles. During the initial testing phase, Warner Bros will be offering a selected set of movies for sale or rent via its Facebook movie page. Facebook users would have to use Facebook Credits to buy/rent these movies.

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Is Google About To Release A Cloud Based Music Streaming Service?

Bilal Hameed — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:28:32 +0000

Evidence is surfacing that Google is working on an iTunes competitor for the Android platform. The app if and when released, will stream music to the android devices from Google’s cloud infrastructure. There is a high likelihood that Google’s music service will be subscriptions based, similar to Spotify.

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