smartech » itunes

iTunes DRM-Free Songs Available In May For $1.29

Nir Ben Yona — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:21:15 +0000

Good news from Cupertino, as apple announces that EMI Music’s digital catalog (and some other major labels like Virgin, Sony BMG, American Recording) will be available for purchase DRM-free from the iTunes Store in May. The tracks will be offered at higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for just $1.29 per song with an option for second tier songs for only $0.69. The meaning is that you will be able to transfer your non-protected songs to other computers freely, as we are talking about 8 million DRM-Free songs to be available for a purchase from now on. Additionaly, iTunes users, will be able to upgrade their entire previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 30 cents ($0.30) a song. The rest of the songs will be offered in the same versions as today, 128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM at the same price of 99 cents ($0.99) per song. If that’s not enough, Apple has also announced that music store downloads are available over 3G connectivity (without the need for a WiFi around)with the same price and sound quality, which means your new iPhone is capable of downloading iTunes tracks directly – Kudos !

[Apple]

iPhone Firmware 2.2 Is Now Officially Available, Introducing Google Street View And Some Other Tweaks

Nir Ben Yona — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:02:36 +0000

Apple has finally released firmware update 2.2, available for downloading via your iTunes software, right away. The new 246MB update brings some neat stuff to your iphone/ipod devices, including Google Street View, over-the-air podcast downloads (which lets you listen to podcast, either through wifi connection or 3G network), public transit and walking directions, more stabilized Safari browser and even the ability to share your location via email. In addition, you get some Bug fixes, together with toggling auto-text correction function, better sound quality in Visual Voicemail messages and a new App rating feature, that allows you to rank any Apple’s App Store application, once you delete it. Stay tuned !

iTunes 8 Goes Live With HD Shows, Genius Playlists And The Great Magnetosphere Visualizer

Nir Ben Yona — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:50:05 +0000

iTunes 8 officially goes live at Apple’s “Let Us Rock” event, introducing HD shows from ABC, NBC and Showtime, to run for $2.99 per episode (the rest priced at $1.99). In addition, the 8 version comes with the new “Genius” sidebar feature, which lets you automatically create playlists from songs in your music library that go great together. Meaning, iTunes has a smart music reccomendation tool that helps users to rediscover favorite songs in their existing music library and suggests related music on the iTunes Store they might want to add to their music collection (sort of Pandora like). Furthermore, you can visualy browse your iTunes’ music / video libraries, using your album or video cover art and enjoy some new stunning Magnetosphere visualizations, once you turn your favorite music on. Tunes 8 is now available for download via Apple’s website.

[Apple]

iPhone Firmware 2.0.2 Is Now Available Via iTunes

Nir Ben Yona — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:43:29 +0000

Apple has released firmware update 2.0.2 for iphone and ipod touch devices, available for downloading via your iTunes, only two weeks after introducing the 2.0.1 version to the world. The new update weights around 250MB and presumably, fixes some of the bugs that have been reported by users. So far, no one can point out which of the bugs were fixed, but it seems to be targeting iPhone 3G phones. The overall feeling is that there’s sort of improvement, so stay tuned for more news and reports to come.

iPhone Firmware 2.0.1 Available Via iTunes

Nir Ben Yona — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:41:10 +0000

Apple has just released firmware version 2.0.1 for iphone and ipod touch devices, available for downloading through your iTunes, 3 weeks after introducing the 2.0 buggy edition. The new update weights 250MB(!) and presumabley, blocks your jailbroken handsets, but not for long, we’re still waiting for Dev-Team to officialy release their ultimate software solution. Meanwhile, if you like your unlocked applications, you should patiently wait, otherwise, in-plan users can update their phone without any problems. Stay tuned for more bug fixing updates and other related news.

Update1: it seems the 3G network browsing works much faster than previous version. Checkout the video after the break.

Update2: several iPhone 3G users are reporting carrier error on both Windows and Mac OS X versions. In this case, restore to the previous 2.0 firmware.

[via slashgear]

Click here to view the embedded video.

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iPhone 3G: Windows PC Jailbreak Goes Live

Nir Ben Yona — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:46:39 +0000

Windows OS users, this is your day, as Pwnage 2.0 version for your PC (AKA: WinPwn 2.0) has been released, allowing iPhone 1st Gen, iPhone 3G and iPod Touch users to jailbreak their devices and unlock their sim cards if necessary. Although it was already available, for early adopters, only 24 hours after the official Dev-Team Mac release, this one is much easier, especially with the ability to make your jailbroken handset – Sim Free – in one click. Mind you, this is only a preliminary version and it might have some bugs, so stay cautious while updating your device.

You can download the software from here or here or here.

read the instructions after the break.

Update: There are new versions available in here.

[via WinPwn]

How To:

according to the WinPwn site:

1) First create a custom IPSW using the IPSW Builder. 

2) Click "Ipwner" and browse for the custom IPSW that you just created.
   This will pwn itunes and allow you to flash Custom IPSW files via DFU mode.

3) Once you have pwned Itunes, put your phone into DFU mode.
   If you don't know how to do this click Here.

4) Once you are in DFU mode Itunes will pop up and then
   you can hold shift and click restore and browse to your custom IPSW file.

iPhone and iPod Touch Firmware 2.0 Is Available For Download

Nir Ben Yona — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:03:30 +0000

iPhone and iPod Touch owners, this is your moment, as Apple has officially released the latest firmware 2.0 version, available for download via iTunes. Mind you, there’s a load on the servers and it might be slow, but if you’re determined to get one, in order to access the new App Store, i guess nothing will stop you from upgrading your devices. Don’t forget, ipod touch users have to pay $9.95 to get firmware 2.0 update.

iPhone firmware 2.0 update is available in here.

ipod touch firmware 2.0 update is available via iTunes Store, in here.

iTunes 7.7 Goes Live With Apple App Store And Remote Control Support

Nir Ben Yona — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:25:50 +0000

So, it is finally here. iTunes version 7.7 goes live with the promised App store assimilated inside, and Remote control functionality as a bonus. The official release says:

“Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home – a free download from the App Store.”

The new Remote application for the iPhone and iPod touch devices controls your Apple TV and iTunes via the Wi-Fi connection. You can literally use it to play, stop, pause, skip or shuffle your songs and videos, you can even search the entire libraries through your handheld device.

Simplify Media Will Stream Your iTunes Music Straight To Your iPhone Wirelessly

Nir Ben Yona — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:56:07 +0000

is a cool application that can stream all your music and media, directly to your jailbroken iphone or your iPod Touch player, via the local WiFi network. With this cool software you can listen to your home audio library over the internet wherever you are, browse and play your friends’ songs while they are online, and even invite them to join your private network, right from your very personal device. Simplify allows you to enjoy songs and playlists from remote computers, by installing itself on your Apple device from the multimedia section in the AppTap Installer. You can also download and install Simplify Media for your PC or Mac, and create one from your desktop. When you first log in, Simplify Media builds a list of remote music availabe to you. This takes several minutes, and performance may be sluggist until the full list of songs has been cached. Once it’s over, you are ready to set your own groups and share your media with the invited members. For more, checkout the video after the break.

[simplifymedia via gmp3]

Click here to view the embedded video.

Macworld 2008: Apple Introdued iTunes 7.6 Movie Rentals Service

Nir Ben Yona — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:10:01 +0000

Now it is official, Apple announced on movie rentals service for iTunes, that includes titles from major film studios, like MGM, Miramax, Lions Gate, Fox, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, Paramount, Universal, Sony and Touchstone. The service will offer 1000 films with the price tag of 2.99$ for older versions, 3.99$ for new ones and 4.99$ for HD movies. The rental is available 30 seconds after you picked up your favorite movie and it will last up to 24h.

[via gizmodo]

Macworld 2008: Keynote Summary

Nir Ben Yona — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:47:01 +0000

Macworld’s opening day answered all our anticipations, with 5 major announcements from El Stivo. The keynote introduced us as follows:

iTunes Movie Rentals Service.
iPhone & iPod Touch Firmware Updates.
Time Capsule.
Apple TV Take Two.
MacBook Air.

It’s not that we were strangers to most of the new announcements, on the contrary, most of them already leaked weeks before, and you could read about it in this blog. Lets view some of them in a nutshell:

iTunes Movie Rentals Service

As we already posted, a week ago, Apple teamed up with all major film studios, such as Paramount, Lions Gate Entertainment, Walt Disney, Miramax, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox and more, to bring the top movie titles into iTunes, and to enable users renting a film directly from their iPhones or their iPod touch devices, for 3.99$ per 24h.

iPhone & iPod Touch Firmware Updates.

iPhone – As we reported several weeks ago, Apple officially announced on Firmware update 1.1.3 which includes:

GoogleMaps application is able to pinpoint your location.
SMS can be send to multiple people, at once.
Bookmark add-on for web sites.
Re-arrangement of home screen icons.
Video chaptering.
Music lyrics display.

iPod Touch - This one wasn’t known to us up till yesterday. Apple released some new add-ons to the Touch players. The new update features Mail program, Maps, web clips, stocks, weather and notes. BUT, this is not a free update, this one will cost you 20$.

Time Capsule

To make it simple, this is a wireless backup server. To make it complicated, it is a full Airport Extreme base station with 802.11n wireless and a server grade hard drives that enables to backup all Leopard OS Macs in your network. The Time Capsule comes in 2 configurations:

500GB for $300.
1TB for $500.

Apple TV Take Two

The major improvements in Take Two TV is that it requires no computer, renting movies is much easier and you can have them in HD Dolby 5.1 format. The Take Two edition supports audio, video and photo browsing via Flickr. To upgrade your Apple TV to a Take Two version, you will have to update the software. It is free of charge and will be available in 2 weeks.

MacBook Air

This is the big one, that everyone was expecting to hear about. MackBook Air goes live with the title of the thinnest notebook on earth, just 4mm (!). It features:

13.3″ screen display with ambient light sensor.
A black keyboard with a LED backlit.
A multi-touch pad (like the iPhone).

Further details will be available in the next posts.

iTunes’ Movie Rental Service To be Announced Next Week

Nir Ben Yona — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:22:17 +0000

Apple is about to announce on a new movie rental service at the MacWorld conference, next week. The service will be available via iTunes and the price should be around $3.99 per 24hr. Apparently, this announcement gets fruition, after Apple managed to team up with the biggest movie studios , such as Paramount, Lions Gate Entertainment, Walt Disney, and the newcomers, Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox.

[via engadget]