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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
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Release Date: August 29, 2009
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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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Discover New Music

  • Hello

    • 8 out of 10
    • Poe
    • Poe rocked my world with "Angry Johnny" (I want to kill you/I want to blow you/Away) and "Trigger Happy Jack" (Trigger Happy Jack/ You're gonna blow/But I'm gonna get off/Before you go), as powe

  • Billy Miles

    • 10 out of 10
    • Billy Miles
    • Take the voice of a young Billie Holiday and stuff it into a svelte, petite body with the face of an angel, and you have some idea of what it's like to experience the music of Billy Miles in her self-
  • 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
  • Supermodified

    • 10 out of 10
    • Amon Tobin
    • The genius is in the beats. Amon Tobin creates fantastic, groovy beats behind beats. "Supermodified" rolls through your expectations of breakbeat music, and turns them up a bit. It's a mellow album, p
  • Every Day: The Best of the Verve Years

    • 8 out of 10
    • Joe Williams
    • Joe Williams was Figure Two in my three-man education in singing. A brilliant vocalist, scatter, and interpreter of jazz and blues, Williams produces music that's totally unique, yet sounds so effortl

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News

MTV to Launch URGE Music Service [Updated]

After a prolonged wait, MTV is finally ready to launch its online music service, Urge, as a public beta on Wednesday. The service is designed to compete with the iTunes Music Store (iTMS), and will offer some exclusive MTV content in its 2 million available tracks. According to the New York Times, Urge is a subscription-based service, like Napster and RealNetworks, and also a purchase and download service like the iTMS.

URGE has the brand familiarity of MTV, but it does it does not offer Macintosh or iPod support - limitations that are problems for other iTMS competitors. It also relies on the latest version of Windows Media Player from Microsoft, firmly solidifying its position as a non-Apple compatible service.

Listening to music on a Windows-based PC will cost US$9.95 a month. To download music to a portable MP3 player as well, you'll pay $14.95 a month. Songs can be purchased and downloaded for $0.99 each.

Urge will offer 500 preset music playlists, 130 Internet radio stations, and streaming videos. MTV plans to add video purchases later.

In an interview with Playlist, MTV confirmed that the Urge service, along with its reliance on Microsoft's DRM technology, won't change its relationship with Apple. MTV's Chief Digital Officer, Jason Hirschhorn, commented "We are a pure content company. We will still work with iTunes and Apple, but we are really proud of what we have accomplished with Microsoft."

Analysts see Urge as a potential treat to Apple's iTMS, but MTV sees it as a complementary service. Mr. Hirschhorn's responded to analysts comments with "It's not about trying to get people away from iTunes, for us it's about talking to the 95 percent of people that aren't buying online music yet."

[This story has been updated with additional information about Urge.]

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