itunes

Spotify has much to do before U.S. launch

Spotify, the already much-buzzed about European music service, has seen speculation about an impending U.S. launch cranked up to such high levels that it's hard to separate fact from fiction.

On Tuesday, Billboard's Glenn Peoples landed an interview with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and asked him when the popular service will finally land in the United States. This is what he said: "We're in the final stages of setting up. Yesterday we signed a data center contract, which is huge for us...So, we're gearing up for a U.S. launch. I can't … Read more

About the "iTunes Media" folder

Having started as a music player, Apple's iTunes application has historically organized content in your account's Music folder. With the introduction of iTunes 9, Apple applied slight changes to the default organization of files that iTunes manages, which may or may not show up for you, depending on how you use iTunes.… Read more

Addressing problems with iTunes updates

The recent iTunes update has addressed a number of issues some people have had with iPods, playlist syncing, and the capability to remember passwords. While for most users the update should work without problems, some people have experienced issues with iTunes updates in the past and there is no guarantee that new problems will not occur.… Read more

iTunes 9.0.3 released

Apple has released iTunes 9.0.3, which addresses a number of bugs found in previous versions of iTunes 9. The update provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

iTunes no longer ignores your " Remember password for purchases" setting. Addresses problems with syncing some Smart Playlists and Podcasts with iPod. Resolves a problem recognizing when iPod is connected. Addresses issues that affect stability and performance.

The "remember password for purchases" fix will be very popular, since it has been the biggest complaint we've ever received from iPhone Atlas readers about iTunes.

iTunes 9.0.… Read more

SharePod: More than iPod backup and share

Apple makes extracting your music from your iPod unnecessarily difficult, and there's been a cottage industry of software tools designed to get around Apple's restrictive file-renaming conventions. Most of these programs charge you to use them, and of the free ones, few are exceptional at what they do. SharePod breaks the mold with useful features that work encased in a simple but appealing design.

It's a fast freeware tool for transferring your music collection from your iPod to your hard drive, making it easy to back up or restore your music, videos, and photos. It also transfers … Read more

Hands-on with the iPad's iPod

Overall, Apple's iPad looks and behaves like a scaled-up version of an iPod Touch or iPhone, but there are some key differences that distinguish the iPad from its pocket-size comrades. One of these differences, surprisingly, is music playback.

Clicking on the iPod icon sitting in the virtual tray at the bottom of the iPad opens up a music browser that looks nothing like any previous generation of iPod or iPhone, but instead, works like a stripped-down version of Apple's iTunes music software. There's the familiar iTunes gray bar running across the top, with playback controls, a volume … Read more

iPad unites Apple's media and mobile ambitions

While it's still too soon to tell if it can live up to the insane amount of hype that preceded its introduction, the iPad is, more than any other product the company has made, the quintessential Apple device.

From the almost entirely homegrown technology, to the addition of the books counterpart to its iTunes media hub, to taking a risk on the middle category between smartphones and laptops, the iPad completes the picture for Apple in a lot of ways.

Steve Jobs used "revolutionary" to describe his company's newest device Wednesday, and while that's more … Read more

iTunes mysteriously opens, plays music on its own

It's nowhere near Halloween but users are experiencing a ghostly situation regarding Apple's music software, iTunes. As reported, iTunes opens at random times, on its own, and plays the music. As solutions are few and far between on this issue, some users are checking on their sanity.… Read more

Is music part of Apple's tablet hoopla?

At this point, it looks fairly certain that an Apple tablet computer, expected to debut on Wednesday, will offer digital books, newspapers, and video.

But what about music? Conspicuously missing from much of the speculation surrounding Apple's tablet is any word about what music features it offers. Music is the content that Apple used to forge the iTunes and iPod dynasties, and music has been an integral part of the iPhone as well.

Could music be left out of all the tablet ballyhoo?

CNET reported last week that Apple spoke to the labels recently about offering iTunes users the … Read more