Metallica: “Beyond Magnetic” on iTunes. December 12, 2011
Posted by very in : Announcement, Apple, Entertainment, iTunes, Music, News, Tech , add a commentFour previously unreleased songs from “Death Magnetic” recording session is now available on iTunes collectively titled “Beyond Magnetic“. These songs were premiered during the week-long Metallica 30th anniversary celebration at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
Posted from Los Angeles, California, United States.
iTunes Match, a $24.99 Question. November 14, 2011
Posted by admin in : Announcement, Apple, Entertainment, iTunes, Music, News, Tech , add a commentApple finally launches iTunes Match two weeks after the “late October” date as mentioned in the “Let’s talk iPhone” event. iTunes Match costs $24.99 annually in the US.
How does iTunes Match work?
Well, iTunes scans the music in your iTunes library and matches them to the ones available in the iTunes Store. iTunes also uploads “unmatched” audio tracks (not just songs, but any audio tracks) from your iTunes Library into your iCloud account.
What you need to know about iTunes Match:
- iTunes Match is limited to 25,000 songs.
- iTunes Store purchases made with the same Apple ID being used for iTunes Match do not count towards the 25,000 song limit.
- Songs containing DRM (Digital Rights Management) will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud unless your computer is authorized for playback of that content
You can find a lot of articles about iTunes Match including the one from Apple Support. Some of you want to know the answer to the $24.99 question. Is iTunes Match worth it?
First, it costs $24.99 for one year. That’s pretty cheap.
Second, once I had iTunes Match I found it to be really convenient. I can easily access my song library on my computers, iPhone and iPad. Well, my HP TouchPad, Android phone and tablet have to take a backseat since they are not supported.
Third, I still purchased CD. Over the years, I ripped the CD’s into AAC and MP3 in various quality. Once I had them matched, I get a music library with consistent encoding quality. That is great considering I had a lot of 128kbps MP3 tracks.
The answer is simple, if you can spare $24.99 a year then you should have no problem trying out iTunes Match.
Remember that iTunes doesn’t have those obscured live bootleg tracks you love so much. iTunes will upload them and it might take some times depending on your internet upload speed.
Posted from Los Angeles, California, United States.
Apple Lossless Audio Codec is now an Open Source Project. October 27, 2011
Posted by very in : Announcement, Apple, iTunes, Music, News, Resources, Tech , add a commentApple Lossless Audio Codec is now Open Source Project as reported by many. It is available under Apache license.
At first I thought:
Apple Free LossLess Audio Codec (AFLAC)
Wait a minute, it sounds just like Aflac.
There is also FLAC Project.
Posted from Los Angeles, California, United States.
iOS 5 is now available. October 12, 2011
Posted by very in : Announcement, Apple, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, News, Tech , add a commentiOS 5 is now available for download.
You should make some preparations before updating to iOS 5 such as installing iTunes 10.5 and backing up your devices.
iOS 5 Software Update
This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:
• Notifications
◦ Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Center
◦ New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen
◦ View notifications from lock screen
◦ Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app
• iMessage
◦ Send and receive unlimited text, photo, and video messages with other iOS 5 users
◦ Track messages with delivery and read receipts
◦ Group messaging and secure encryption
◦ Works over cellular network and Wi-Fi*
• Newsstand
◦ Automatically organizes magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen
◦ Displays the cover of the latest issue
◦ Background downloads of new issues
• Reminders for managing to do lists
◦ Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook
◦ Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
• Built-in support for Twitter
◦ Sign-in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube
◦ Add location to any tweet
◦ View twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts
• Camera improvements for devices with cameras
◦ Double click the home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
◦ Volume Up button to take a picture
◦ Optional grid lines to line up shots
◦ Pinch to zoom in the preview screen
◦ Swipe to camera roll from preview screen
◦ Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure, iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock
• Photo improvements for devices with cameras
◦ Crop and rotate
◦ Red eye removal
◦ One tap enhance
◦ Organize photos into albums
• Mail improvements
◦ Format text using bold, italic, or underlined fonts
◦ Indentation control
◦ Drag to rearrange names in address fields
◦ Flag messages
◦ Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread
◦ Customize mail alert sounds
◦ S/MIME
• Calendar improvements
◦ Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch
◦ Tap to create an event
◦ View and add event attachments
• Game Center improvements
◦ Use personal photos for your Game Center account
◦ Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends
◦ Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends
◦ Discover new games with custom game recommendations
• AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S
• Multitasking Gestures for iPad
◦ Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen
◦ Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
◦ Swipe left or right to switch between apps
• On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant
• Software updates available over the air without tethering
• iCloud support
◦ iTunes in the Cloud
◦ Photo Stream
◦ Documents in the Cloud
◦ Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history
◦ Backup
◦ Contacts, Calendar, and Mail
◦ Find My iPhone
• Redesigned Music app for iPad
• Hourly weather forecast
• Real-time stock quotes
• Wireless sync to iTunes
• Keyboard improvements
◦ Split keyboard for iPad
◦ Improved autocorrection accuracy
◦ Improved Chinese and Japanese input
◦ New Emoji keyboard
◦ Personal dictionary for autocorrection
◦ Optionally create keyboard short cuts for frequently used words
• Accessibility improvements
◦ Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
◦ Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone
◦ New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices
◦ Option to speak a selection of text
◦ Custom element labeling for VoiceOver
• Exchange ActiveSync improvements
◦ Wirelessly sync tasks
◦ Mark messages as flagged, read or unread
◦ Improved offline support
◦ Save a new contact from a GAL service
• More than 1,500 new developer APIs
• Bug fixesProducts compatible with this software update:
• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad 2
• iPad
• iPod touch (4th generation)
• iPod touch (3rd generation)* Normal carrier data rates may apply. Messages will be sent as SMS when iMessage is unavailable, carrier messaging fees apply.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
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Posted from Los Angeles, California, United States.
Apple updates iTunes Terms and Conditions. October 11, 2011
Posted by very in : Announcement, Apple, iOS, iTunes, News, Tech , add a commentApple updates iTunes Terms and Conditions ahead of iOS 5 release.
The changes we have made to the terms and conditions include the following:
- Update of iTunes terms and conditions and/or certain usage rules to reflect changes to available content types;
- Amendment of the App Store terms and conditions to account for the availability of free in-app subscriptions, and to explain where
the subscriptions appear on devices after download;- New terms have been added that govern your use of iTunes Match, whereby you may pay a subscription fee to access certain
content remotely, subject to existing association rules and usage rules, and explain that such content may be accessed on certain
devices that are not subject to existing association rules, with limitations; and- New terms have been added that explain that use of iTunes Match requires collection of certain information from your iTunes library
which shall be associated with your Account.
Complete iTunes Terms and Conditions can be found here.
