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iTunes New Music Releases

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  • 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

  • Physical Graffiti

    • 10 out of 10
    • Led Zeppelin
    • This album bears every flavor of genius from the five records that came before. It is, I believe, the band's finest. With Physical Graffiti, Zep came raging back to their musical home territory -- har
  • Quadrophenia

    • 10 out of 10
    • The Who
    • Quadrophenia is everything that Tommy wanted to be, a rock opera that told a story, but one where every song could still stand alone. It was also Pete Townshend's farewell tribute to the Mod

  • An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Torm�

    • 10 out of 10
    • Mel Torm� & George Shearing
    • Of the three men who taught me how to sing, the last was Mel Torme. Apparently, Mel Torme is a joke to anyone more than a decade older than me, a living parody of a Vegas crooner. But I stumbled on th
  • Guero

    • 10 out of 10
    • Beck
    • Beck is the modern master of the groove, and Guero is merely the latest example of this. From the opening power chords of "E-Pro," to the Pac-Man cuteness of "Girl," to the dirge-like lullab

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News

Tower Records Files for Bankruptcy

The brick-and-mortar music chain Tower Records filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday for the second time in three years. BusinessWeek reports the company hopes to sell its assets through a court supervised auction scheduled for October 5 - and that the buyer will keep the chain open.

Music stores like Tower have been hurt by stiff competition in recent years from retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy, Amazon.com, and now online music services like the iTunes Music Store. Musicland succumbed earlier this year when it sold its assets, including its Sam Goody stores, to Trans World Entertainment. Trans World is one of the potential suitors for Tower's assets, too.

Tower specifically cited legal music download services as a major contributing factor to its financial troubles. The company noted in its court filing that album sales for 2005 dropped 7.8 percent while sales from the iTunes Music Store and other online services rose 200 percent.

Lisa Amore, a spokesperson for Tower Records, stated that the company intends to keep the Tower brand alive. Inside Digital media senior analyst, Phil Leigh, has a more pessimistic outlook. "I think they'll sell off the name and liquidate the inventory," he said.

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