iTunes

It's official. Starting today, all 13 Beatles remastered studio albums, the two-volume "Past Masters" compilation and the classic "Red" and "Blue" collections are now available on the iTunes Store. A special digital "Beatles Box Set" featuring the "Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964" concert film (the Beatles' first US concert) is also available - an iTunes exclusive.

Each of the Beatles' 13 remastered studio albums include iTunes LPs, offering expanded visual features including a mini-documentary about the creation of each album. Single albums are available for download at $12.99, double albums for $19.99, and individual songs for $1.29 each.

The special digital "Beatles Box Set" contains the 13 remastered studio albums with iTunes LPs and all mini-documentaries, "Past Masters," and the "Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964" concert film. The "Beatles Box Set" is priced at $149.

Apple also announced that from now until the end of 2010, Beatles fans can stream and view the "Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964" concert film from iTunes for free.

A new smartphone-controlled and Internet-connected music system was announced today. The Orb Music Player lets you listen to your iTunes music library, Pandora, Sirius Radio and a variety of Internet music services, in any room in your home. Priced at an affordable $69, the Orb Music Player turns your home music system into an Internet-connected stereo that is controlled via iPhone or Android smartphones, as well as iPad and iPod Touch.

The system can be set up in three simple steps. First, download the free Orb Caster software to your computer (PC or Mac); next, plug the Orb Music Player into your home stereo; and finally, download the free Orb controller app from iTunes to your smartphone, iPad or iPod Touch. It is as easy as that!

To use, select the music you want to listen to on your smartphone and then choose any home stereo for instant playback. The smartphone music remote control lets you pause, playback, change the volume, or skip around your playlist. Not limited to just one smartphone, everyone in your home can have their own Orb-enabled smartphone remote to play their music collections.Read more

At Apple's media event today they announced a slew of new products; the new Apple TV, an iPod touch, a new shuffle, an iPod nano with multi-touch and iTunes 10 with Ping.

The new Apple TV hits stores later this month and features the largest online selection of HD movies to rent, with first run movies priced at just $4.99. HD TV shows can also be rented from ABC, ABC Family, Fox, Disney Channel and BBC America for 99 cents. Apple TV also streams content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe, as well as music, photos and videos from PCs and Macs to your HD TV.

Apple TV features built-in HDMI, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and an internal power supply for easy set-up. It's up to 80 percent smaller than the previous generation, measuring in at less than 4 inches square. Apple TV can also be controlled via iPhone, iPad or iPod touch using the Remote app, available as a free download on the App Store. It will be available in late September for just $99. Read more

The Creative Sound Blaster Wireless for iTunes will wirelessly play iTunes, MP3 and all audio from a PC or Mac through powered speakers up to 100 feet away. The Sound Blaster Wireless for iTunes including a Creative Wireless Receiver is available today at Amazon.com and Creative.com for only $149.99.

Sound Blaster Wireless for iTunes enables speakers to be placed anywhere in the home. Because Sound Blaster Wireless for iTunes is only about the size of a thumb drive, the user can just grab it and plug it into the USB connection on a PC or Mac. Connect a Creative Wireless Receiver to speakers or the great-sounding Creative GigaWorks T20W speakers which contain a built-in wireless receiver and the Sound Blaster Wireless for iTunes is ready to go.

It uses a proprietary wireless technology based on 2.4 GHz designed specifically for audio so the listener doesn’t have to tolerate dropouts or interference, which commonly plague Bluetooth and Wi-Fi systems. Also, it doesn't require a wireless network.

The SoundLink wireless music system is a one-piece portable speaker system that allows users to play music from their computer, wirelessly, in and around the home. No software or Wi-Fi connection is required. Just plug the included SoundLink USB key into the computer, select music from iTunes, Pandora, or any other Internet radio or music source and the audio will stream to the SoundLink system via a long-range wireless link that works through most walls and floors. It also comes with an infrared remote control and a lithium-ion charged battery.

The new SoundLink wireless music system comes in Gloss Black, and will be available from Bose beginning August 27, 2009, for a price of $549.95. It will be sold at authorized Bose dealers, Bose retail stores, www.Bose.com or toll free at 1-800-444-BOSE (2673).

Verizon Wireless announced at last weeks' CTIA trade show that they are now selling MP3's from their online media store. Verizon is the first mobile provider to offer full MP3's (not just ringback tones) from their online store. Customers simply choose from about 5 million titles on the site, preview the music, log in to purchase, download, and then play it on their computers or any MP3 player, including a Verizon Wireless music-capable phone. In case you were wondering (I know I was!), you don't have to be a Verizon subscriber to buy tracks.

• $1.29 for new releases and best-selling releases;
• 99 cents for most major contemporary releases;
• 69 cents for most classic catalog releases.

Visit Verizon's online store at http://mediastore.verizonwireless.com or http://vzw.com/mp3.

The main strength of the HP MediaSmart Server is central storage and media streaming for music and photos over your home network. Special iTunes support allows iTunes playback on connected computers that use iTunes.

You can serve photos directly from the MediaSmart server or upload photos to Facebook, Picasa or Snapfish. I do not see Flickr support in the announcement though.

In addition to media center type serving of music, videos, and photos the server also performs a network backup for Windows and Mac computers on a home network. To add additional redundancy you can add Amazon S3 for offsite storage. The HP Media Collector can schedule centralizing files from the other computers on the home network.

The HP MediaSmart Server ex485 will have 750 GB of hard drive space at $599 and the ex487 will double the hard drive storage to 1.5 TB and a price of $749. Storage can be expanded to 9 TB later. They both contain a 64-bit 2.0 GHz Intel Celeron processor and 2 GB of RAM. Read more