So you got an iPhone or an iPod Touch for Christmas. Now what? Of course, the next step is to download as many applications as you possibly can. You’re probably already trying to get your hands on various apps, but here is a list of some of the apps that will bring you a whole lot of fun to usher the New Year in.
Spotify for the iPhone
Spotify has already captured the hearts of countless music lovers. It has been dubbed the ultimate music app for the iPhone. You can sync music – offline playlists – through WiFi among other things. Downloading the software is free, but in order to make full use of the Spotify service (listen-all-you-can), you have to pay for a subscription. It is well worth the fee, trust me.
Doom Classic
Younger kids may not have recollections of this game – which was mind blowing way back then – but everyone will enjoy playing Doom. The game play is very similar to the original and the controls very easy. More so, if you have the same WiFi connection, you and your friends can play together via the network!
Photoshop
The iPhone is not known for taking ultra nice pictures, but who needs excellent shots when you have Photoshop to “prettify” them for you? With this iPhone version, you can do a lot with those pictures – and you get free storage (2GB) at Photoshop.com as well.
Music, games, and photo editing – you’ve got all you need to keep you busy!
Tags: Applications, Doom, iPhone, iPod Touch, Photoshop, Spotify
Categories: Applications, Downloading Legally, Mobile Phones, ipods
For Apple lovers, everything that the company does is perfect. Even though there are some flaws in their products, there is always an excuse to overlook these flaws. When it comes to DRM and the music they sell on iTunes, it is a bit hard to overlook the restrictions that apply.
With the New Year comes good news, though. Apparently, iTunes Music Store is now doing away with DRM restrictions – at least if the users chooses to pay for the product. Wired.com featured this breaking news early this month:
Steve Jobs and three major labels have come to terms on a deal: Music will be available immediately on iTunes without DRM restrictions. Free of the limitations that currently restrict music playback to Apple products, the new plan will let consumers choose from three price levels instead of the 99-cent song model the store implemented on day one.
The announcement, made Tuesday at the last MacWorld Expo Apple will attend, ends an increasingly ridiculous war between two stubborn players. They may have thought they couldn’t live together, but they certainly couldn’t thrive apart.
In the end, each side got what it wanted in the accord — after refusing to concede for years. That means we could have got here a long time ago. Indeed, iTunes merely joins other digital music stores that have already agreed to major labels’ demands for variable pricing (Amazon, MySpace and Wal-Mart, to name a few) in offering their large music catalogs without DRM.
What do you think about this new development?
Categories: Downloading Legally, ipods
One of the pioneers of the music file sharing business, they have been persecuted, shut down and mimicked by many and idolized by the myriad of music file sharing sites that have popped up during their brief legal wrangling, but guess what, they’re back! Napster is one of the very first sites where people got free MP3’s and other audio files free and fast during the hay days of the digital music revolution. They have gone legal with memberships and other legalities but they still have free downloads for the first few songs you do get from them. They have re-worked their looks and have begun to comply with the many laws and statutes they have been subjected to and they are still one of the heroes of the digital music world when it came to MP3’s. With offerings for free web music access and their new and ever popular Napster Mobile, they have continued to revolutionize the music file sharing industry. They even offer discounts for military personnel in hopes of doing their part for the war effort overseas where music is one of the few luxuries people in the military can share and enjoy whatever the battle scenario may be.
They have also added support to the many digital multimedia players that are now common stay in every household and carry several versions of songs encoded in the formats they support. They also have functionality for mobile phones through Napster Mobile where music in all formats that are supported by phone manufacturers are offered for download. They have added a new and revised legal terms of use of their web site and the music they share emphasizing on the point that music you get from them is only for personal use, after that you’re on your own in the legalities of all the stuff you get. Most music sites (even the most reputable and publicized ones) have inclusions that though you have obtained music legally thought their web sites, the way and manner in which you use these tracks are covered by laws that prohibits use for anything other than personal entertainment.
Registration is necessary and there is a free music library along with a streaming music system they offer to subscribers and members but the free stuff is mostly offered to clients and users in the US only. Most of their permanent download files come with DRM included in the encoding of the files that allows a maximum of use for up to 3 computers only. There is also a clause which states that transfers from the parent device (the one you used to get the music with) along a maximum of two other computers are allowed. Three multimedia devices can safely be loaded with the music that has been purchased though there is not much indication of how they manage the DRM software and the way it works if you happen to have exceeded the copy restrictions.
In order to control Piracy, they have restricted their services to the US and territories cutting off many of their previous followers from around the globe. The licensing terms restricts them to the said area preventing further clashes with legalities that had hounded them in the past.
Tags: Legal Download Sites, Napster, Paid-Legal-Downloads, Streaming Videos and Music
Categories: Downloading Legally, Mobile Phones, Music, Providers, Videos, ipods
For border security has benn granted the right to inspeact and check for the authenticity of all your digital files whether they be on your iPod or your laptop according to proposed border laws. Canada is beginning preparations into turning their borders not only to screen for illegal entrants to their respective countries but also as copyright checkpoints according to Yahoo Tech and many people are getting jittery of having border guards asking for all gadgets and gizmos to check for pirated content. The rules of engagement so to speak are still quite muddy but indications say that they have been authorized to destroy hardware should it be necessary if it is found to contain pirated stuff.
The move is quite unsettling for there is still no universal way of telling whether a digital file is authentic or not and that there have still been no published guidelines on how the searches are going to be made. Imagine a laptop that has hundreds if not thousands of audio files, how the hell can they check all those files for legality? The move is part of the aliance between the United States and the EU that resulted in the ACTA agreement. ACTA stands for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which grants border authorities to question the legality of digital files on any digital device. May it be a thumb drive, a cellular phone, iPod or laptop, border guards are to be granted the authority to request for them and do searches using a set of methods (which should be quick by the way or travellers might mutiny due to delays affecting tourism and trade). You don’t only run the risk of loosing your precious iPod you take anywhere you can even be fined. Canada is now currently doing random searches of laptops for pornographic materials and the new law/s should they be approved would expand their searching abilities a set further (by a mile).
Further deliberations on the necessary rules and regualtions of the said law is to be debated on the next G8 meeting where the proposed law is to be laid out, diced and spiced hopefully with the protection of privacy in mind for the travelling public.
Tags: ACTA, Anti-Piracy Laws, Canadian Border Checks, Piracy
Categories: DVD Videos, Downloading Legally, Mobile Phones, Music, Videos, ipods
The company has been trying to move into the entertainment theater for quite sometime and they have managed to flop at each and every try. Why, their Apple TV venture is still struggling to make a profit with many customers expressing their opinions with the system’s lack of competitive and interesting content. The company has been trying to push streaming video and other content through the system but the amount of acceptable content has failed way below their promised mark. Many media giants have expressed interest but are still holding back as they try to see what the futuristic TV system that is hooked up to the internet rather than to a cable system is faring out.
Even the company’s CEO Steve Jobs is calling their company’s venture into Apple TV a hobby rather than a major money earning venture as they have invested much into the project with little returns in terms of profit. The promise of distributing content for the iPhone and iPod’s series of multi-media players has indeed perked up the area but still, major profits remain to be gained.
Apple, though it is quite a median player in the PC and portable markets with their Mac’s and Mac Books is recognized by many in the technology business as one of the most performing companies in terms of stock per stock value which is worth around $15.4 billion dollars with $5 billion added in the past year alone according to Fortune. The company continues to reign supreme with their iPod’s and iPhone which are some of the most wanted gizmos and gadgets on earth as far as multimedia is concerned. As more and more cheaper gadgets with similar capabilities come onto the market, the reign of the multimedia giant would be challenged a lot but not as much.
Tags: Apple TV, Flunking Expectations, iPhone, iPod
Categories: DVD Videos, Downloading Legally, Mobile Phones, Music, Providers, Videos, ipods
In attempts to get music stores into the digital music band-wagon, they have come up with a form of digital music purchase system, well sort of. Several music stores have started to sell digital music cards much the same to prepaid cards that allows users to log on to the online store and get them to download their songs for the nifty price similar to the cost of a current audio cd which is $12.00. These cards have a code which they enter that gives the user a sort of consumable account from which their selections are deducted from from the store in CD purchases or for online use. They download the music/albums they wish to get and even get perks such as additional tracks that are offered only to those who purchase the digital cards.
iTunes has been offering Digital Release Cards for sometime and Sony-BMG has their own Platinum Music Pass which is said to have the rest such as Best Buy and Target on their heel to be offering them soon. These cards would allow more and more people to sample the digital music revolution which is still new to some users. They offer digital download only available add-ons such as bonus tracks you don’t get on the original CD. They may need to hurry it up for physical music stores may be going extinct soon for studies are showing that by the year 2012, digital music sales would account for around 40% of all music related sales.
There seems to be lessening ground for these music stores for the ever-expanding reach of the internet which makes digital music possible. Piracy which still accounts for the majority of digital music’s problems is getting heat from all sides and is said to be addressed with the advent and introduction of more digital music copyright controls.
Tags: iTunes, Sony BMG Platinum Cards
Categories: Downloading Legally, Mobile Phones, Music, Providers, ipods
The Canadian Copyright Board is causing a stir when it announced that it has ruled that it will begin implementing taxation on music downloads from online sources. The board enacted the rule after the SOCAN (equivalent to the RIAA) pushed for such due to the increasing trade in pirated music. The board has already defied world economics when it ruled that the sale of digital media players was to be taxed in order to make people more responsible with their use. If only such measures were easy to implement in America and elsewhere (which the RIAA and MPAA are finding to be very much difficult if not impossible.
The new rule has online music stores (which would surely be increasing prices) pay a tax of 3.1 cents for each individual track that is downloaded off their web sites. For full album purchases a 1.5 cent tax is placed on ever song which would surely hurt the music download industry which has been booming in spite of the many illegal sources out on the internet. Such drastic measures might be the only solution to curb piracy which is now a global problem that defies borders. From Europe to Asia, the piracy problem has been a thorn in the side of movie, music and governments fro quite sometime. Let’s give it for the Canadians for getting in the news with outrageous solutions to the piracy problem.
Tags: Music Taxation, Taxes
Categories: Downloading Legally, Music, ipods
In the USA, colleges and Universities are under strict orders to control and prevent the illegal sharing of files within the school’s networks. This would be quite difficult for school and university administrators due to the mere fact that almost 80% of all students use external access points to the internet. The aim is to curb piracy in their classrooms and lecture halls where most students have iPod’s plugged in loaded with pirated music. The rule applies mostly to those educational facilities which receive financial aid from the Federal Government but is causing much dismay from school administrators who will have to implement it or face reduced or revocation of government assistance.
The MPAA and RIAA say that millions of dollars of lost revenue due to shared and used music and movies by students who are in university. Such acts are hard to police and can only be controlled if the access is done through the school’s network itself. Policing each and every digital player, laptop and media player would be next to impossible and can be called an invasion of privacy. This is also seen as a source of unnecessary costs which would be spent on control measures to check for such activities and site blocking systems that would allow proper management and detection of such illegal files. Administrators recommend authorized sites such as Ruckus which is strictly for college students and faculty and many other local sources for their needs.
Students are the highest users of pirated songs and movies they get off the internet and legislators are taking notice of such activities. The law is quite broad and still needs refining for it to become realistic and applicable to their intended targets.
Tags: Colleges, Piracy, University
Categories: DVD Videos, Downloading Legally, Mobile Phones, Music, ipods
The problem why the practice has become so chronic, even with the well advertised penalization of serving 5 years of jail time plus $250,000 in fines is not stopping millions upon millions of people from sharing them over the internet. The problem may be in the internet itself and it can be likened to a water hose that hast several branches what was suddenly punched holes into leading to leakage. The weakness of the internet being so large and with its global reach, enforcement is not an easy task. There are laws and there are convictions in piracy cases yet people just take the risk to get at their favorite music. China, the world’s biggest country with almost a tenth of its population is a very big problem for they have long history of infringing on copyrights and other product designs. The advent of cheap digital Music players didn’t help either for they have spurred many of the younger generation to grab anything they can to stuff their gizmo’s with and use as they go throught the day. Their insatiable need for more drives the P2P piracy trade and it’s getting worse by the minute.
Take the toys industry for example, in a news brief I heard a few months back, you can have a toy fair in China with one stall having a doll with full features one day and tomorrow have all the hundreds of stalls offering the same products. Another incident involved a reputable furniture maker who went there to get supplies only to end up with sub-standard products no one would buy back home.
The root of the problem may be the internet itself and the only way to do that is to totally control it which is almost next to impossible. Most of us don’t feel the urge but the younger generation seems to be inclined on getting what they want when they want it. The world of digital music may not be the same without piracy for to some extent it is driving some to go legal. It may be illegal yet the trade goes on and artists feel robbed of much needed royalties and other benefits they get from their work. So, buy legal and when you do try to download, do it legally. Help support the artists and their work for tomorrow.
Tags: P2P, Piracy, Piracy trade
Categories: Downloading Legally, Mobile Phones, Music, ipods
Good news for promoters of Digital Music Rights, it seems like the newer generation of music fanatics are preferring more of the licensed audio CD’s they buy of stores as opposed to those they get of the internet. They say they prefer to get the best tracks of their favorite independent artists off the shelves where they can show of the artwork and get the bonus tracks as opposed to the totally legal tracks they get from ITunes or other sources that charge an average of $1.00 per song.
I mean, we still get the hottest tracks and music from P2P and other file sharing sites students say in an article from the Stanford Daily, yet they have a knack for supporting independent artists who do get to come out with nice music yet they are not available online due to lack of commercial backing. They may or may not have these songs form the other sources yet still opt to buy the real thing to allow their favorite artists to get the money they deserve to promote and improve their music, for who knows they might make it big someday.
These new additions to the digital age of music after the reason for the huge increase in the sales of audio CD are who suddenly feel the urge to go original. They are after the artwork and literature from the originals. They buy them of the shelves after having them for sometime off the internet wanting more from the artists that the digital forms can have. There are those who still go purely illegal, but the majority are beginning to see the light so to speak in terms of the advances their favorite artists get from the sponsorships and other stuff they earn off the legal stuff. Many students get music through ITunes which is one of the most popular music source and playback devices due to the iPod which is almost in every classroom. They accompany their users from the shower to the canteen to the gym when they are used again and again. Their small size makes them ideal for students who seem to love music from all genres and artists from all over as they seek distance form hectic school life.
Tags: Audio Cd's, DRM, Paid-Legal-Downloads
Categories: Downloading Legally, Music, ipods
