iTunes

January 15, 2008—Apple today announced iTunes Movie Rentals featuring movies from all the major movie studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema. Users can rent movies for as low as $2.99 and watch them on their Macs or PCs, all current generation iPods, iPhone and Apple TV. iTunes Movie Rentals launches today and will offer over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound which users can rent directly from their widescreen TV using Apple TV. iTunes Movie Rentals are priced at $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 and new releases at $4.99. Read more

September 5, 2007—Apple® today unveiled the iTunes® Wi-Fi Music Store, offering music fans the ability to browse, search, preview, purchase and download songs and albums from the iTunes Music Store over a Wi-Fi network directly onto their iPod® touch or iPhone™. With the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, music fans can start enjoying their music purchases immediately on their iPod touch or iPhone with no computer required. Once they connect their iPod touch or iPhone back to their PC or Mac®, downloaded music will automatically sync back into their iTunes library. If users have only partially downloaded a song or album onto their iPod touch or iPhone, their computer will complete the download automatically. Prices and selection on the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store are the same as on the regular iTunes Store. Read more

June 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple and AT&T Inc. today announced that iPhone users will be able to activate their new iPhones using Apple's popular iTunes software running on a PC or Mac computer in the comfort and privacy of their own home or office, without having to wait in a store while their phone is activated. Activating iPhone takes only minutes as iTunes guides the user through simple steps to choose their service plan, authorize their credit and activate their iPhone. Once iPhone is activated, users can then easily sync all of their phone numbers and other contact information, calendars, email accounts, web browser bookmarks, music, photos, podcasts, TV shows and movies just like they do when they sync their iPods with iTunes.

"Users will be able to activate their new iPhone in the comfort and privacy of their own home or office, without having to wait in a store while their phone is activated," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "There are tens of millions of people in the US who already know how to sync their iPods with iTunes, and syncing their new iPhone with iTunes works the same way." Read more

May 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple today announced the launch of iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store (http://www.itunes.com) featuring free content such as course lectures, language lessons, lab demonstrations, sports highlights and campus tours provided by top US colleges and universities including Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Duke University and MIT.

"iTunes U makes it easy for anyone to access amazing educational material from many of the country's most respected colleges and universities," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "Education is a lifelong pursuit and we're pleased to give everyone the ability to download lectures, speeches and other academic content for free." Read more

May 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple today launched iTunes Plus -- DRM-free music tracks featuring high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings -- for just $1.29 per song. iTunes Plus is launching with EMI's digital catalog of outstanding recordings, including singles and albums from Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra, Joss Stone, Pink Floyd, John Coltrane and more than a dozen of Paul McCartney's classic albums available on iTunes for the first time.

iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today -- 128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM -- at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside the higher quality iTunes Plus versions when available. In addition, iTunes customers can now easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to iTunes Plus tracks for just 30 cents a song and $3.00 for most albums. Read more

Do you want to make the most of your iPod? The tips below are provided by author Michael Miller from his new book iPodpedia: The Ultimate iPod and iTunes Resource.

AVERAGE CONSUMER TIPS
1. Rate Your Songs
The song rating feature is one of the most underused features of iPod/iTunes -- even though it's quite easy. While the song is playing on your iPod, press the center Select button three times, then scroll the Click Wheel to add or subtract stars. Press the Select button again when you're done. This not only changes the rating of the song on your iPod, but also the rating in iTunes -- when you next sync your iPod, that is.

2. Rip a CD Directly Into a Playlist
Here's a bit of a time saver. If you have a new CD that you want to rip to hard disk and also add to a pre-existing playlist, you can do the ripping and adding in a single step. Just insert the CD into your PC's CD drive, select all the songs on the CD within iTunes, and then drag the songs to the desired playlist in the Source pane. When you start the rip, the CD tracks will be automatically added to your library and to the selected playlist, all in a single step. Read more

April 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple today announced that EMI Music's entire digital catalog of music will be available for purchase DRM-free (without digital rights management) from the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) worldwide in May. DRM-free tracks from EMI will be offered at higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding, resulting in audio quality indistinguishable from the original recording, for just $1.29 per song. In addition, iTunes customers will be able to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 30 cents a song. iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today -- 128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM -- at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside DRM-free higher quality versions when available. Read more

March 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple today announced Complete My Album, a groundbreaking new iTunes service that allows customers to turn their individual tracks into a complete album at a reduced price by giving them a full 99 cent credit for every track they have previously purchased from that album.

"Music fans can now round out their music collections by upgrading their singles into complete albums with just one click, and get full credit for those songs they have previously purchased from iTunes," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "Complete My Album is a wonderful new way that iTunes helps customers grow and enjoy their music collections." Read more

October 9, 2006 -- One Voice Technologies, Inc. today announced that it will exhibit the ultimate Digital Home experience at the upcoming DigitalLife tradeshow, held October 12-15 in New York City at the Javits Convention Center, exhibit booth #557 and in PC Magazine’s Digital Village. One Voice will demonstrate to attendees and press their industry leading Media Center Communicator voice recognition application for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 along with One Voice’s My Voice Remote for XP Media Center 2005. For more information regarding DigitalLife, please visit www.digitallife.com. Read more

Sept. 21, 2006--SRS Labs, Inc. today announced the availability of a new consumer software product, the SRS iWOW plug-in (iWOW) designed specifically for the iTunes platform. The iWOW software brings Mac users a richer, more powerful and brilliant audio experience when they listen to music, movies, videos and podcasts on iTunes.

SRS iWOW was designed recognizing audio has become more important to consumers as many people use their Mac for entertainment both at home and on the road. The iWOW was created using several patented SRS Labs audio technologies to provide immersive, three-dimensional audio playing over headphones, desktop, laptop or monitor speakers. This audio enhancement software delivers fully immersive stereo with cleaner sound, deeper bass and the ability for each user to personalize their acoustic preferences. Read more