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iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
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  • 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
  • With Teeth

    • 4 out of 10
    • Nine Inch Nails
    • In the sprawling post-A&R rock and roll world, there are two camps: the Beatles and the Stones. The Beatles are the artists that like to explore, evolve, and change styles. The Stones are the artis

  • Perverse

    • 8 out of 10
    • Jesus Jones
    • When you think of Jesus Jones, chances are you can't remember them at all, or you vaguely remember "Right Here, Right Now" because it has been use

  • Gimme Fiction

    • 10 out of 10
    • Spoon
    • Gimme Fiction by Spoon is a terrific album by an Austin band that I was lucky enough to catch on an Austin radio station during a Christmas visit.

  • Mystics Anonymous

    • 8 out of 10
    • Mystics Anonymous
    • Mystics Anonymous is the brainchild project of Jeff Steblea, a fantastic songwriter and good friend of mine, as well. In fact, I even played the drums on all but one of the tracks on this album. Jef

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News

Microsoft’s J Allard: Never Say Never to MS Phone

Microsoft’s J Allard, Chief of Microsoft’s Zune group, said that he’d "never say never" to a Microsoft-built mobile phone, according to Saul Hansell in his New York Times Blog on Friday.

"A cynic would describe Microsoft’s approach to the music player market as simple Apple envy.... So I’ve got to imagine that many in the inner sanctums of Redmond are hot to introduce a slick phone from Microsoft," Mr. Hansell wrote. So he put the question to Microsoft’s J Allard, who was circumspect about the Apple iPhone.

"People are buying it because it’s an Apple phone, not because it’s an iPod. It’s a lousy iPod. You can’t skip a track without looking at it. You can’t go running with the thing. It is the first consumer product that has done browsing [on a cellphone] extremely well," Mr. Allard said. He added that the success of the iPhone is the result of Apple’s "hangover from their relentless pursuit of building beautiful products for 25 years. That is their brand."

When asked about why the carriers have kept Microsoft from making good software for those phones in the past, Mr. Allard praised Apple. "In the past, the cellphone carrier was the final decision maker [about how phones were designed]. A cellphone operator is not best positioned to decide how to lay out a menu. I think the iPhone came out and showed people a great experience, and in some ways got everybody to check their ego at the door."

Finally, when asked about Microsoft’s motives for introducing the Zune, Mr. Allard offered this: "We didn’t create the Zune because we were dying to get into the hardware business and take inventory risk. We felt we had to do it. It’s tough from a P&L [profit and loss] point of view. Windows was incredible. We got to create most of the magic and take none of the financial risk. History isn’t going to repeat that with consumer goods."

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