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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
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Release Date: August 29, 2009
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Release Date: March 27, 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
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
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Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More, with Feeling

    • 10 out of 10
    • Various Artists
    • Most musical episodes of TV shows frankly stink. They are usually little more than ill-conceived vehicles intended to let the stars show off what musical talent they have. Once More, With Feeling,

  • Jagged Little Pill (Acoustic)

    • 6 out of 10
    • Alanis Morissette
    • Ten years after the original release, comes the traditional celebratory acoustic re-recording. The album has held up remarkably well. While it is not as meaningful to me as it was when I was sixteen,
  • One Word Extinguisher

    • 8 out of 10
    • Prefuse 73
    • It's an album about a breakup, done with beats instead of mopey lyrics. But the beats are raw, and the emotions are there, even if there aren't many words on top of it. While possibly not Scott Herren
  • The Wall (Deluxe Packaging Digitally Remastered)

    • 10 out of 10
    • Pink Floyd
    • Okay, someone had to say it, and though others on the iPO staff are more qualified to review this album, I decided the time was now. This is the quintessential concept album. Though others came before
  • Velocifero

    • 6 out of 10
    • Ladytron
    • "Back to the future" isn't the right turn of phrase for Ladytron's newest album,

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News

Playing Catchup With iTunes

On Monday, Ethan Smith at the Wall Street Journal analyzed the competition to Apple's iTunes in an in-depth article: Can Anybody Catch iTunes? [Subscription required.] Mr. Smith's survey of Emusic, Yahoo Music, Napster, RealNetworks, and Microsoft revealed how each company is avoiding a head-on confrontation with market leader Apple, taking an indirect approach, and trying to find small holes in the successful iTunes strategy.

Mr. Smith explained how Emusic is doing well because theirs is the only service compatible with the Apple iPod. Yahoo is going after customers who have been reluctant to engage in pay-for-music services in the past. Napster is concentrating on the "music wants to be free" slogan, leveraging their heritage, and also working ambitiously to convert their base into paying customers. RealNetworks is working on improving the hardware integration with partner SanDisk. Microsoft is focusing on one of the social aspects of music.

This is an excellent survey of the competition. While Mr. Smith didn't make any predictions or come to any conclusions, he showed how each competitor is trying to avoid a head-on approach and, instead, carve out a market niche for themselves.

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