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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
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iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

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Release Date: April 22, 2009
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Release Date: March 31, 2009
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Discover New Music

  • Life's Rich Pageant

    • 8 out of 10
    • R.E.M.
    • In the long series of R.E.M.'s evolution, this album (finally?) showcases their ability to capture on tape what had been happening in the live for years: heartfelt, sweat-filled performances that just
  • War of the Worlds

    • 10 out of 10
    • Jeff Wayne
    • With the new movie adaptation of H.G Wells' classic Sci Fi invasion tale, War of the Worlds, currently on theater screens everywhere, there's new interest in Jeff Wayne's rock opera version, and it is
  • Aretha Sings the Blues

    • 6 out of 10
    • Aretha Franklin
    • While she didn't always have the best taste in song selection, Aretha Franklin is a must-study for anyone with interest in the human voice. She has the kind of powerful, recklessly passionate deliv

  • Cocked & Loaded

    • 8 out of 10
    • Revolting Cocks
    • It's hard to believe it's been more than a decade since Ministry founder and front man Al Jourgensen's side project Revolting Cocks released any new material. 2006 brings us Cocked and Loaded

  • Odyssey Number Five

    • 10 out of 10
    • Powderfinger
    • Guitar-driven rock out of Australia, Powderfinger has not seen much exposure in the States, but should get a nod for their toe-tapping songs. Building off their previous release, "Internationalist" (

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News

Five Years of iPod Influence

On Monday, October 23, the iPod turns five. What started as a hopeful entry into the sketchy digital music market quickly evolved into the leading portable music player. And coupled with iTunes and the iTunes Store, it added legitimacy to the digital music market.

The iPod couldn't have come along at a better time for Apple. CNET News notes that just six days before the release of the iPod, Apple reported a 22 percent drop in quarterly earning down to US$1.45 billion. Many in the industry feared that Apple's days were numbered.

Today, that couldn't be farther from the truth. In the company's most recent earnings report, it stated that 8.729 million iPods shipped in the last quarter. That alone brought in $1.6 billion in sales - more revenue than the company generated as a whole only five years ago.

The iPod is at the root in the increase in portable digital music player models. The iPod+iTunes combination has been a tempting target for many companies, although none have been able to match the ease of use found in Apple's player and computer juke box software, many have tried. Those attempts have given us a wide range of players to choose from, but none have reached the marketshare the iPod enjoys. Estimates put the iPod's marketshare up over 70 percent.

Apple's dominance in the portable music market has drawn the attention of the big guns, and now Microsoft has decided to take on the iPod with its Zune music player. Prior to announcing its own player, Microsoft teamed with other iPod rivals through its PlaysForSure program. Microsoft's decision is now fragmenting the iPod's competition, and may make it even more difficult for other companies to compete with Apple.

As a part of the iTunes Store, originally called the iTunes Music Store, the iPod also brought us legitimate pay-per-song music downloads. This proven music sales model has earned Apple about 85 percent of the legal music download market in the U.S. In comparison, most other online music services work on a subscription-based model, which has yet to prove successful.

Prior to the iTunes Music Store, it was next to impossible to find legal music download sites. In its original version, Napster enabled easy music file sharing, which drew the attention of record labels since they weren't getting licensing revenue from the shared music.

As the iPod and the iTunes store have evolved, so have the media options available to us. Originally just a music player, the iPod now plays audio books, displays album art and photos, plays videos, and video games. It's smaller siblings, the iPod nano and iPod shuffle, sacrifice video playback for compact sizes. The shuffle doesn't even include a display, so it can't show album art or photos, either.

The iPod's versatility has caused many competitors to add other features to their players in an effort to stay competitive. FM radio receivers, built-in speakers, voice recorders, and other add-ons have found their way into other players. Apple's response was to keep the iPod simple.

iPod add-ons are just that; add-ons. If you want to add a voice recorder or FM receiver to your iPod, you can. But by keeping those features out of the box, Apple has been able to keep the iPod's interface sleek and easy to use.

Apple's decision to keep the iPod simple also gave rise to the iPod accessory market. Hundreds of companies now make iPod add-ons ranging from cases to speaker systems, to Nike's iPod workout monitoring gear. An accessory market exists for other portable music players, but not to the same extent.

The downside to the iPod's success is the failure of many competitors. Over the years, a sizable number of the MP3 players brought to market have failed thanks to the iPod's dominance. Of those that are left, a few companies like Creative, SanDisk and Sony seem to be holding their own, but that may change once Microsoft's Zune hits store shelves in a few weeks.

The Internet gave us easy access to almost anything we could possibly want to know - along with a few things we would be just fine with never knowing. It also gave us a way to express ourselves and talk about anything we want. As that concept grew, it evolved into a new medium where people recorded what they wanted to say instead of writing as text on a Web page. And the podcast was born.

The term was born after people began downloading the recordings from the Web and loading them onto their portable digital music players - most notably, the iPod. One of the first podcast evangelists was Adam Curry, and he has plenty to say on the subject.

The iPod and iTunes Store also brought Digital Rights Management (DRM) into the mainstream since media downloads from Apple's online store include copy protection. Apple's FairPlay copy protection is one of the least intrusive forms of DRM, but it does limit the usability of purchased songs and videos.

The music industry sees DRM as a way to protect its slipping revenues, some users see it as a necessary evil to be able to download legal music. Others see it as an unnecessary intrusion into their listening habits, insisting that record labels are treating them like criminals out to steal all the music they can. Right or wrong, we are likely stuck with DRM for a long time to come, and the iPod played a part in that.

Despite the bitter taste DRM leaves in some people's mouths, and the long trail of failed iPod competitors, the iPod is still viewed in a positive light. From legit music downloads to podcasting to innovations in product design, Apple's little music player has changed how we experience our music. Its easy-to-use interface, cross-platform support, easily recognizable shape, and the ubiquitous white earbuds have solidified the iPod in our culture for a long time to come.

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