Apple has released iTunes 8.1, adding support for the new iPod shuffle, improving overall speed, and more. However, the promised video support for the Genius feature has apparently been pulled for now.
Thanks to a recently released application, OverDrive Media Console, I can now download MP3 audio books from my library. But who would want to? The selection is lousy and the procedure is inconvenient and silly. How silly is it? Read on...
In an expected move, online retailer Amazon has released a free iPhone application that enables users to purchase and view titles from the catalog of books available for the Kindle.
The Authors Guild wants its members to be able to choose which electronic rights they grant to their works. As a result, the Guild is painted as a villain for apparently suggesting parents shouldn't read books to their children without paying fees. It's all about revenue, permission, and closed systems. Oh, and the Amazon Kindle 2.
Amazon's Kindle 2 is far easier to use, with a simplified hardware design that streamlines navigation. Under the hood, it's the same offering, however, with the same limitations we've highlighted in the past.
A pair of announcements from Google and Safari Books Online, along with hints from Amazon, promise an ever-improving future for ebook reading on the iPhone and iPod touch.
In a much-anticipated announcement, Amazon has thrown back the curtains on the second-generation Kindle, refining the industrial design and improving some of the hardware specs, but not significantly improving the device's onscreen layout capabilities.
Apple has changed its iTunes Plus upgrade policy, allowing you to pick individual tracks and albums to upgrade and remove digital rights management protection for songs you bought with DRM enabled. Upgrades are still $0.30 per song and $3.00 per album in the U.S. market.
Turn loose change into songs and apps from the iTunes Store via a Coinstar machine.
Despite a Macworld Expo keynote focusing on Mac news, Apple also announced the removal of DRM from songs in the iTunes Store, tiered pricing, and downloads over 3G as well as Wi-Fi.
Keep your Mac awake with a useful utility that temporarily disables normal power-saving measures while you're watching Web-based video.
The first year of the App Store was very good to game developers and flashlight utilities, but what about the rest of the iTunes Store?
Important breaking news: The Simpsons get an Apple Store.
The Apple TV Software Update 2.3 expands the media player's AirTunes capabilities, lets you use a third-party remote control, supports playlists that contain video content, and, at last, lets you control music volume from the remote.
Netflix has announced that Mac users will finally gain access to its coveted Watch Instantly feature through - surprise - a Microsoft Silverlight-based media player.