Ad-supported online music service Spiral Frog suspended operations yesterday, nearly three years after its launch. SpiralFrog launched in Summer 2006 to much media fanfare, painting itself as a free alternative to .99/song iTunes, and as a legal alternative to illegal file-sharing sites. At that time, SpiralFrog CEO Robin Kent said, “Offering young consumers an easy-to-use […]

Apple today announced that all four of the major networks are offering primetime programs in high definition on the iTunes Store. Apple still provides no ad-supported streaming offering, which has opened the door for Hulu and others to target the huge audience for free streaming Internet television. The list of HD programs now available on the iTunes […]

Fortune reports that Apple is threatening to kill the iTunes Store over music royalties.  The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, D.C. is expected to rule Thursday on a request by the National Music Publishers’ Association to raise royalty rates on songs purchased from online music stores, like iTunes, from 9 cents to 15 cents per […]

Apple has unleashed a storm of criticism as a result of its decision to ban an ebook comic book, Murderdrome, from the iTunes store. Murderdrome may be stupid, it may be offensive and it is certainly gorey – but it’s no worse than a lot of comics that you can get at Barnes and Noble […]

Apple today announced that it had sold over five billion songs from the iTunes Store. The company also announced that iTunes customers are now renting and purchasing over 50,000 movies every day, making iTunes the world’s most popular online movie store. Apple said in a statement that its iTunes Store is now the world’s most […]

You almost have to feel sorry for the mainstream music industry. Almost. The major labels have teamed up with Napster to offer what they are calling “the world’s largest and most comprehensive MP3 store.” Yep – the labels are so intent on breaking Apple’s dominance in the world of digital music that they are giving […]

According to the Guardian’s Tim Anderson, DRM’d music is going to stage a comeback, and Apple’s going to be the one making it happen. The music industry wants to sell new services, like music subscriptions, and DRM’s is central to making these services viable. To succeed, though, subscription music services need to work with iPods […]

Television content available through Apple’s iTunes Store continues to grow. HBO and Apple today officially announced that programming from HBO is now available for purchase and download via the iTunes Store. Programs include The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Deadwoo, Rome, Flight of the Conchords and The Wire. “We’re very excited to make these legendary […]

According to a Hollywood Reporter report – Apple’s iTunes store will be getting more movies and getting them sooner. Apple is expected to announce today that it has struck a deal with a wide array of movie studios to sell new releases at its iTunes Store. The move would come as many bricks & morter […]

Apple confirmed the rumor we reported earlier, announcing that the iTunes Store had surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US. “We launched iTunes less than five years ago, and it has now become the number one music retailer in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We […]