iTunes Announcements?

[MacRumors]

Appleinsider points to this week a a possible one for Apple to make "several music-related announcements" with hints that Apple has been working on major upgrades to iTunes and the iTunes Music Store.

Steve Jobs will be holding a conference call tomorrow for the Media to update them on the iTunes Music Store at its first anniversary.

A few major items still on Apple's plate, include the HP iPod and the iTunes Music Store for Europe.

 

[sonorsven]

Hopefully not an increase in price! $.99 just has a good 'ring' to it, and online music stores like the one at walmart.com is starting to sell songs even cheaper. It would not be a wise move for apple to increase the price. Think iTMS will ever sell Beatles music?

 

[sandmann41]

Think iTMS will ever sell Beatles music?

I don't think that is really apple's decision.

 

[mechamac]

Well, as of today the Beastie Boys are on the iTMS. Are they on any other competitors yet? Perhaps Steve's one last thing will be a shout out to Mike D.

 

[valx]

No New Music Tuesday = ?

It's "New Music Tuesday" and there's no new music on the ITMS. I think this means some kind of "significant" update for tomorrow.

 

[cxny]

Maybe we'll be able to sell our Garageband creations...........To the highest bidder!

 

[JediL1]

No new music tuesdays

There is new music added, click just added on the iTMS homepage.

 

[Mudbug]

It's "New Music Tuesday" and there's no new music on the ITMS. I think this means some kind of "significant" update for tomorrow.

it often takes a while for the "new music tuesday" to happen...
sometimes in the evening, even.

 

[RoadKill]

I want payback for last year

Tomorrow (the 28th) is my birthday. As a nice present i want iTunes UK. I will consider this pay back for last year.

What happened last year I hear you ask?

I bought myself an early birthday present of a 2G 10GB iPod and didn't check rumor sites (I am a recent switcher) then on the 28th, Apple release the 3G iPod and the 15GB was bigger capacity for less of my english pounds than my 10GB one.

Just my luck!!

So come on Apple make my day this year

 

[jared_kipe]

It said "several music related products", perhaps this is the much anticipated iPod upgrade. Perhaps they will announce it to get us all salivating, and then start shipping at WWDC. That would seem to be the right time given Apple's recent supply delays. But at least this means new software or music. I sure wish I could buy music at a higher bit-rate.

 

[Trowaman]

c'mon Steve-o, impress me.

Bring any of the following to the store: Dave Matthews, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, or Smashing Pumpkins.

Make me happy.

 

[Trowaman]

c'mon Syeve-o, impress me.

Bring any of the following to the store: Dave Matthews, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, or Smashing Pumpkins.

Make me happy.

And there are updates and I am a very happy man. Hello Foo Fighters.

 

[phantompigger]

c'mon Syeve-o, impress me.

Bring any of the following to the store: Dave Matthews, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, or Smashing Pumpkins.

Make me happy.

Well, they added Foo Fighters today. I hope it's a sign of things to come...

pp

 

[BornAgainMac]

It's "New Music Tuesday" and there's no new music on the ITMS. I think this means some kind of "significant" update for tomorrow.

That is an excellent observation. They never miss a Tuesday. I hope you are right.

 

[hvfsl]

Maybe they could encode all their music at 48Khz or even 96Khz (24bit) instead of the normal 44khz (CD quality).

All Macs made in the last 5 years should be able to play 48Khz music and all you need is a USB or firewire sound card on the older Macs to play 96Khz music.

 

[valx]

No New Music Tuesday = ?

They may have added some new music, but they haven't done their typical "New Music Tuesday" update. About 10:00 a.m. EST every Tuesday I browse the ITMS. Every Tuesday, they have updated the Home page and all of the Genre pages with new music, new artists picks, new features, etc. This week, all of the pages are exactly the same as they were last week.

 

[gwangung]

They may have added some new music, but they haven't done their typical "New Music Tuesday" update. About 10:00 a.m. EST every Tuesday I browse the ITMS. Every Tuesday, they have updated the Home page and all of the Genre pages with new music, new artists picks, new features, etc. This week, all of the pages are exactly the same as they were last week.

Hm? I see a ****LOAD of stuff that's been added (largest list in a few months).

 

[snahabed]

Bring it on!

I expect an announcement about iTMS sales that tries to spin the 100-million failure. I am guessing it is around 70 million -- which is great. I don't think missing 100 million is a problem at all, but we all know that's how cnet and the like will headline their articles.

I expect an announcement that iTMS Europe is on track for June.

But I HOPE for an announcement of iTunes 5. iTunes 4 is an aged animal! For such a flagship product, it sure doesn't get much attention... it is practically the only Apple software that has not been updated in the past year. There are so many cool things they could do to improve the already-great program.

Maybe a conference call is not really a proper forum for such an announcement, but a guy can dream!

 

[Snowy_River]

...hints that Apple has been working on major upgrades to iTunes and the iTunes Music Store...

Have there been any rumors about what kinds of 'major upgrades' we could expect to see for iTunes and iTMS?

 

[singletrack]

A new iPod? But we haven't had the mini-iPod yet. That would be ironic if everywhere but the USA saw new iPods before the mini. Maybe we could have a special UK version with built in DAB*. That would be nice. Go on Apple, you'd sell even more iPods in the UK with DAB.


* for those of you stuck in the dark ages with FM - http://www.bbc.co.uk/digitalradio/index.shtml?digitalradio

 

[hughdogg]

Well, they added Foo Fighters today. I hope it's a sign of things to come...

pp

They added a TON of new music today, it looks like double or triple the normal amount (comparing columns on the "Just Added" page). Steve will probably talk about that tomorrow..."Blah, blah...lots of new music, blah, blah....



Cheers,
hughdogg

 

[singletrack]

But I HOPE for an announcement of iTunes 5. iTunes 4 is an aged animal! For such a flagship product, it sure doesn't get much attention... it is practically the only Apple software that has not been updated in the past year. There are so many cool things they could do to improve the already-great program.

I just want one thing.... Allowing multiple machines to update a library held on a networked drive. It's a pain in the arse having to delete the library and then re-import the folder just to keep the libraries on two machines in sync.

 

[Frisco]

But I HOPE for an announcement of iTunes 5. iTunes 4 is an aged animal! For such a flagship product, it sure doesn't get much attention... it is practically the only Apple software that has not been updated in the past year. There are so many cool things they could do to improve the already-great program.

Yes iTunes 5 is what I am waiting for. CD-Text and auto album artwork when you import your CDs. Of course lyrics in iTunes and on the iPod would be sweet too

 

[jcook793]

I just want one thing.... Allowing multiple machines to update a library held on a networked drive. It's a pain in the arse having to delete the library and then re-import the folder just to keep the libraries on two machines in sync.

YES. Please God. Keeping my desktop and laptop in sync SUCKS.

 

[cheezmo]

Maybe they could encode all their music at 48Khz or even 96Khz (24bit) instead of the normal 44khz (CD quality).

All Macs made in the last 5 years should be able to play 48Khz music and all you need is a USB or firewire sound card on the older Macs to play 96Khz music.

More sound quality improvement would come from increasing the encoding bitrate to 160kbps or 192kbps than from changing the sampling frequency. 128kbps AAC falls so far short of CD quality as it is that working on getting closer to CD quality would be the first step.