If you're wondering just what Apple has in store for its September 5 event, there's word going around that it's going to be the announcement of Apple iTunes Kiosks across North America.

According to the rumor, Apple will be launching touch-screen machines across the nation which allow the iPhone and iPod to dock. Songs can be sampled for a minute, then can be bought using a credit card.

This will allow iPhone and iPod users to download songs even while they're on the go and not bringing their computers. We'll update you come the official announcement if there's any truth in this juicy buzz.

We finally have the latest version of the nifty app from Michael Descher, MyTunesRSS version 3.0.4. MyTunesRSS is a Java program that lets you access your iTunes library through a local network or through the Internet. The program uses a simple web interface that allows you to download songs, so it's easy to use. Since the program is based on Java, it can be run on any platform supporting Java 1.5, including the Sony PSP (if your PSP has the Java program).

The program allows you to download anywhere from a single song to playlists, and even to entire albums. The program is free but it has limitations. For EUR 15 (about US$ 21), you can unlock the full version. The locked version will only be able to access one computer at a time while the full version can run on multiple servers.

Users are encouraged to go through the Readme file before using the application. The complete changelog from the previous versions as well as the installation instructions can be viewed on the Codewave Software site (just click on the Via link below). Make sure to read pertinent information first before installing these programs.

Thanks to PhoenixBh for the tip!

Download: [MyTunesRSS v3.0.4: platform independent]
Download: [MyTunesRSS v3.0.4: Windows OS]
Download: [MyTunesRSS v3.0.4: Mac OS]

You've got to hand it to those indie developers, they always have something up their sleeve to give us more bang for our buck with the gadgets that we have. A free application called Dot.Tunes does that and more.

It basically extends the serviceability of your iTunes library so that you can stream it on the net and play it right off your PC. What the application actually does is turn your iTunes library into an SQL database and sends it from your PC to the web using an Ajax front-end and multi-layered security system.

While the basic service of the application is free, plug-ins to stream your iTunes through your Wii's, PS3's or PSP's browser are also available at US$ 10 a pop. Also, there's another plug-in available that gives you a custom interface for your iPhone which extends the amount of music you can fit in it for US$ 20.

DotTunes, an Australian-based company, encourages people to open up their iTunes library to friends through the use of their products. They had this to say regarding the matter:

Why pay to podcast or for internet radio streams, when you can publish your own radio shows, TV programs or music mixes directly to your loyal fans? Dot.Tunes is not some lightweight iTunes utility. It's a fully developed web server application that supports mp3, AAC, aiff, .wav, mpeg, mp4, and .mov files, allowing you to share your iTunes library contents with your friends in other cities, your classmates across the dorm or the coworkers scattered throughout the building.

Eminem's music publishing company Eight Mile Style has filed a copyright infringement case against Apple which has been selling the said artist's songs through iTunes.

Eminem's company said that about 70 to 80 songs are involved in this lawsuit and among them include tracks from the Grammy award-winning The Eminem Show. Currently, the company holds the copyright, or partial copyright, of the tracks in question.

So far, Eight Mile Style is asking for US$ 75,000 for copyright infringement, unfair competition and a violation of the Michigan consumer protection act. In addition to this, it is also seeking US$ 150,000 in damages per infringement.

This is not the first time Eminem has had a run in with Apple. Back in 2004 he also sued the company for copyright infringement, saying that the company had used his song Lose Yourself in a TV commercial without permission. The company and Eminem eventually reached a settlement. Will we be seeing the same thing here?

Apple hits a three-billion-milestone. Or rather, it has announced that more than 3 billion songs have been downloaded and purchased through the iTunes store.

Also recently, the NPD Group's MusicWatch survey names iTunes as the third largest music retailer in the US, topping Amazon and Target.

Those are pretty amazing feats considering the rate of piracy these days and that they only offer content that's download only. The sales have no doubt been helped along with Apple's revolutionary iPhone which continues to be what is probably the most popular phone ever to be sold.

It's a fact of life that people want to customize their gadgets according to their need and preferences. After all, what speaks more about a person than the things one uses daily?

If you feel the same way, but bemoan the lack of customizable features of the iPhone, here's a nine step procedure on how to create custom ringtones for your iPhone.

We're pretty sure you already want to start adding the ringtones to your phone, so here are the steps to do so:

1. Create a new playlist. Drag unpurchased songs from the iTunes store into your playlist. The songs will retain their "Add Song" buttons and their price within the playlist.
2. Export your playlist. Select the playlist in the sources column. Control-click/Right-click the playlist name and choose Export Song List from the pop-up menu.
3. Save the playlist as plain text. Select Plain Text from the Format pop-up and save the playlist file to your desktop.
4. Open the playlist file. It is a tab-delimited file of columns, so you can open it up in Excel (my preference, make sure to option-drag the text file onto the Excel icon) or a text editor like TextEdit.
5. Locate the file URLs. Each file URL appears in the final Location column for each line. Copy the URL.
6. Download the files. In Safari 3.0, open the Downloads window (Windows->Downloads). Paste the URL into the Download window and allow the file to transfer. Your computer must be authorized to your iTunes account. You may want to try playing back the file in QuickTime Player just to be sure it downloaded correctly. If you're not a Safari 3.0 user, use your favorite alternate such as curl, wget, or so forth.
7. Rename. Give the file a more meaningful name than, for example, "mzi.rwgtaash.aac.p.m4p". Retain the .m4p extension.
8. Upload to the iPhone. Use your favorite method (iphoneinterface, sshfs, sftp, whatever) to copy the file to /Library/Ringtones on your iPhone.
9. Select the ringtone. On the iPhone, navigate to Settings -> Sound > Ringtone and select the new file. The ringtone will play back as you select it. Please note that some newer releases (including Nicole Scherzinger's Whatever U Like--thanks Drunk Dwarf) do not work as ringtones. I'm not sure why.

As of now, you're nine steps away from customizing your iPhone, if you haven't done so already. Go ahead and give it a try.

 

Top in the hour of the Apple-inclined geek is the Cupertino-based company's bid to expand their music user base: Apple's Next Big Thing. iTunes albums in certain selections go for as low as US$ 5.99 a pop to US$ 6.99 per, featuring artists like the LCD Soundsystem and Peter, Bjorn and John, while also offering DRM-free tracks.

A little bit goes a long, long way, even for tech-giant Apple. With Apple's choice for marketing strategies, they can also reel in independent artists offering cheaper music on the Web, while attracting new customers tight on the music budget. Doesn't sound so big? Well, we'll let you give you a short lowdown of what could be bigger.

Even when record companies breathed hot and heavy on Steve Jobs' neck regarding the hiking up of individual track prices, he took it upon himself to not only stay the 99-cent price line but go even lower. Apple did this despite reports coming in about Universal Music refusing to extend their licensing with iTunes and the record industry's temper against Apple's anti-DRM movement. Now if only one other company took similar risks so blatantly charged here...

For people who reflexively press on the "OK" button whenever there's a new update available, now is a good time to practice restraint. Disgruntled iTunes users have updated to iTunes 7.3 - the new update required for iPhone users - and found themselves getting the message "unknown error - 50" which prevents them from saving any changes to the library after the update.

Some people uninstalled their iTunes to remedy the problem (Note: Remember to backup your files before doing so) and rolled back to iTunes 7.2. Many iTunes users - most of them not owning or not even planning to own an iPhone - were very disappointed with the bugged update so far, to say the least.

If you happen to get the same problem, it's best to call Apple's support hotline to get proper assistance.

If you are Apple, it's only logical for you to take a very good care of your iTunes business. After all, this particular online music retailer is the third biggest in the U.S. today. Just before the month of May ended, Apple released iTunes 7.2. This time, prior to the launch of the much-awaited iPhone, the Cupertino-based company decided to roll out build 7.3.

Needless to say, this update is connected to the Apple's new mobile phone. Here is the complete changelog for iTunes 7.3 as provided by Apple itself:

• Activate your iPhone service
• Sync iPhone with your music, movies, TV shows, and more
• Wirelessly share digital photos from any computer in your home with Apple TV

There are two versions of iTunes 7.3 - one for Mac users that is around 33.8MB in side, and another for Windows-based consumers (47.4MB). If you want to activate the iPhone service, please take note that you should be running at least Mac OS 10.4.10 or Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4.

Our link below should take you to Apple's download page for iTunes 7.3 Mac version. The link for the Windows build can be found at the bottom of Apple's page.

According to the NPD Group MusicWatch report for the first quarter of 2007, Apple's online music store iTunes is now the third biggest music retailer in the U.S. What should surprise most people though, is that this report is not only limited to online sales but to physical distribution as well.

Surpassing iTunes is Walmart at first place, which is holding a whopping 15.8% share of the music market, and Best Buy at 13.8% picking up second place. iTunes currently holds a 9.8% share of music purchases at third place with Amazon.com trailing at fourth (6.7%) and Target at fifth (6.6%).

What makes this rather odd is the fact that 86.2% of the quarter's music sales were in CD format as compared to a 13.8% share in downloadable format. With iTunes only selling downloadable content, it's amazing that it reached the third place spot last January. Does this mean bigger and better things for iTunes in the future? We'll have to wait and see.