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Top 5 Free Apps

Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: August 29, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: March 27, 2009
Release Date: August 07, 2009

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

Top 5 Paid Apps

Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Genre: Games
Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Another Day on Earth

    • 10 out of 10
    • Brian Eno
    • In his first proper solo release since 1996's relatively cold "The Drop," Brian Eno has constructed a whimsical and ecclectic masterpiece which is arguably one of the year's strongest records thus fa
  • Playing the Angel

    • 8 out of 10
    • Depeche Mode
    • Oddly enough, Playing The Angel is a return to form for Depeche Mode, even though it may well be argued that they never truly deviated from their roots in their more recent offerings. In the

  • The Last 5 Years (2002 Off-Broadway Cast)

    • 10 out of 10
    • Jason Robert Brown
    • The soundtrack to this moving off-broadway musical is heart moving. The lyrics follow a couple in a relationship for five years, one point of view going forward in time, and the other tracing time fr
  • Rock Spectacle

    • 8 out of 10
    • Barenaked Ladies
    • These guys know how to put on a live show, and whomever recorded this knows how to capture one. Rock Spectacle is one of the warmest-sounding recordings I've ever heard, and totally fills a room at a
  • 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

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News

Prices Up For Manufacturers, Down For Consumers in Wake of Apple-Samsung Deal

While no one knows exactly how much of a discount Apple received from Samsung for the NAND flash memory chips used in the iPod nano, the fallout from that deal is well-known: Supplies have become severely constrained to the point that 200 minor MP3 player manufacturers in Asia have gone out of business because they can't get parts.

The New York Times' Damon Darlin published a report on the situation Thursday, citing comments from iSupppli Corp. analyst Nam Hyung Kim to back up such claims. Mr. Darlin notes that estimates for what Apple is paying for Samsung's flash memory range from US$85 to $120, which would be somewhere around a 30% discount.

Even though manufacturers face trouble getting supplies and have seen higher prices, consumers continue to enjoy watching the price of flash-using devices fall. With the iPod nano doubling as a file storage device, companies that sell flash storage drives have had to drop their prices to compete. As Gartner analyst Joe Unsworth told Mr. Darlin: "A 4GB flash drive isn't stylish and trendy, and you can't use it to play music."

And while the micro hard drives used in the iPod and iPod mini continue to be cheaper than flash drives with comparable storage space, Mr. Darlin notes that in 2006, 4GB flash memory chips will actually cost less than 4GB micro hard drives.

For more on the current trends in flash memory and the fight over which type of storage will make its way into cell phones, please see Mr. Darlin's article.

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