In a judgment filed Saturday, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan sided with Universal Music Group’s Capitol Records, which had sued ReDigi for copyright violation.
Sullivan’s argument, in a nutshell: Unless the copyright owner gives you explicit permission to do so, you can’t resell a digital media file.
That doesn’t make sense to me.
Fred Wilson:
It is also in the consumer’s interest. Just yesterday my friend Kirk found some new music because he follows me on Rdio. But I can’t do the same thing with my friends who are on Spotify. Because all of these services are silos, by definition of their paid business model. If a roaming network existed, there would be more social music discovery, listening, and, I believe, uptake of the paid subscription model by consumers.
If Apple ever does a subscription service, I think most people would default to using what they offer. Considering Apple is the most popular music distributor in the world, and if most people used their service, it seems likely it would turn into just what Fred described — except all on one service.
Good tip if you ever wondered how to do this. It’s not elegant to setup, but it works.
Apple said today that it has sold more than 25 billion songs on its iTunes Store.
Apple began highlighting independent authors in a new section of iBookstore called “Breakout Books.” Great idea.
Daniel Eran Dilger:
Among these online movie rental competitors, Apple now takes 45 percent of unit share, followed by Amazon’s Instant Video with 18 percent, the Walmart-owned Vudo with 15 percent, Microsoft’s Zune/Xbox with 14 percent share, and other players (including Google Play and Sony’s PlayStation Store) splitting the remaining 8 percent (no other player can command more than a 5 percent share).
So basically there’s Apple and then everyone else fighting for second.
One of the things missing out of AC/DC coming to iTunes was their concert videos. They are now available.
Rod Christiansen posted about how the default search now works in iTunes 11 and how you can bring back the old version of the search. Such a simple solution.
Dave Caolo has a rundown on how to buy gift cards from Facebook in case that’s on your wish list this year.
Pavan Rajam wrote an interesting piece wondering why iTunes 11 doesn’t take advantage of Mountain Lion’s notification center.
Give a gift that gives back this holiday season with Starbucks iTunes (RED)™ eGift basket. You can send loved ones a thoughtful gift of two digital eGifts—$15 eGift to Starbucks and $15 eGift to iTunes—for $30. With every purchase, Starbucks and iTunes will each donate 75 cents to the Global Fund. With the convenience of a Starbucks Card, Starbucks Card eGifts can be used for purchases in-store at participating company-owned and licensed stores in the U.S. and online. This unique and meaningful eGift basket can be purchased online.
Since launching our partnership with (RED) in December 2008, Starbucks has contributed more than $11 million to the Global Fund to help those living with HIV/AIDS. Starbucks continues to support and drive contributions to the Global Fund while raising awareness toward an AIDS Free Generation by 2015.
Apple on Thursday released the much anticipated iTunes 11. First introduced in September, iTunes 11 features a simplified design and some new features. [...]
Unfortunately, Apple is delaying the release of iTunes 11. Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr told The Loop why today.
“The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right. We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface, and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November.”
Great tip from Chris Oldroyd.
Clayton Braasch:
Until I see a screenshot from a better source, this is complete hogwash. I would have revealed this first, because it’s possible to fake an iTunes version string through Xcode; creating something like this would’ve been a bit more difficult, but it doesn’t matter. The entire build that was received is fake, and if any other sources call it “credible”, I find that very hard to believe.
I have no knowledge of this one way or the other, but Clayton seems pretty sure of himself.
Jack White is great.
I’ve been listening to quite a few new tracks from iTunes under Apple’s new “Mastered for iTunes” program. This is something Apple voluntarily started to help improve the audio quality of the music we download from iTunes. From my perspective, it’s great, but Apple has received some self-indulgent criticism in some circles. [...]
MacRumors: But as Apple now details on its iTunes Match availability page, the service actually launched in 19 new countries today, focusing on Latin America, the Baltic states, and the Netherlands. That brings the total to 37, almost doubling the … Continued
Join iTunes expert Kirk McElhearn as he helps you think like an iTunes power user so you can get the most out of your audio, video, and book collections in iTunes 10. You’ll also learn the best ways to transfer media to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod.
Published by Adam and Tonya Engst, and written by Kirk McElhearn. Hard to go wrong with that combination for an ebook.
Apple on Thursday posted iTunes Rewind 2011 and App Store Rewind 2011, which lists the best and top downloaded music, apps, TV shows, books, movies and podcasts of 2011. Apple’s top iPhone app of the year goes to Instagram, with … Continued
Google Music helps you spend more time listening to your collection and less time managing it. We automatically sync your entire music library—both purchases and uploads—across all your devices so you don’t have to worry about cables, file transfers or running out of storage space. We’ll keep your playlists in tact, too, so your “Chill” playlist is always your “Chill” playlist, whether you’re on your laptop, tablet or phone. You can even select the specific artists, albums and playlists you want to listen to when you’re offline.
So Google Music is called iCloud?
Apple on Tuesday released iTunes 10.5, an update widely expected prior to Wednesday’s introduction of iOS 5. iTunes 10.5 is available for download from Apple’s Web site and through the Software Update system preference. According to Apple, changes to iTunes … Continued
Music service Rhapsody on Monday announced plans to acquire Napster, most recently owned by Best Buy. Terms of the agreement were not announced, but Rhapsody indicated that Best Buy gets a minority stake in Rhapsody after the deal is done. … Continued
Threatpost: Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said on Tuesday that her office would be inquiring into long-standing complaints about fraudulent purchases that leverage Apple’s popular online music store. In a lunchtime address to business and technology leaders in Massachusetts, Coakley … Continued
Apple and Starbucks on Tuesday relaunched the partnership that saw the companies bring “Song of the Week” to customers. However, this new program is even bigger. Dubbed “Pick of the Week,” the new program will include all types of content … Continued
Apple has released iTunes 10.4.1, an update that’s available for download through the Software Update system preference.
Bloomberg: Apple is in early talks that may lead to an acquisition offer for Los Angeles-based Hulu, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly. This is interesting. Apple could do a great job with an streaming video service, … Continued
Apple has released updates to its iTunes and iWork software to make them compatible with Wednesday’s release of OS X Lion. The updates are available through the Software Update system preference.
Apple’s iTunes Festival is underway in London. You can watch the concerts using an app Apple released on the App Store. Here’s some info I posted on the event on June 21:
Apple has released a new app to help users enjoy the iTunes Festival London 2011.