2011 – Steve Jobs, Apple Computers, Disney, Pixar, and iTunes died today on This Day in Rock! Jobs, most notably known for the iPhone in recent years, contributed to the computer and music world. iTunes being the most notable and influential music download service in the known universe. At one time apple battled over the name ‘Apple’ with the Beatles who own the same name, but in different industries… until iTunes.
Steve… you will be missed. We equate it to the passing of Walt Disney.
2011 – Judge orders Jobs to answer iTunes questions on This Day in Rock!
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs, who is out on medical leave, has been ordered by a federal magistrate to answer questions from plaintiffs’ lawyers in an antitrust lawsuit related to his company’s iTunes business.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd, based in San Jose, California, ruled that lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the suit may question Jobs for a total of two hours. He issued the ruling on Monday.
Apple could appeal the ruling to a district judge, but it would likely have to make a case that the magistrate “made a big mistake,” said Professor David Levine at University of California Hastings College of the Law.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment, and attorneys for the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment.
In the class-action lawsuit, a group of consumers say Apple created a music-downloading monopoly with its iPod player and iTunes store. At issue is a piece of software called Fairplay that allowed only music bought on iTunes to be played on the iPod, according to the complaint.
One competitor, RealNetworks Inc, responded in 2004 by introducing a new technology that would allow customers to play music downloaded from its site on their iPods. Apple quickly announced a software upgrade to iTunes that once more blocked music from RealNetworks, the complaint charges.
“The court finds that Jobs has unique, non-repetitive, first hand knowledge about Apple’s software updates in October 2004 that rendered the RealNetworks’s digital music files once again inoperable with iPods,” Lloyd wrote in his ruling.
The ruling comes amid intense questions about Jobs’ health and whereabouts. Earlier this month an energetic but thin Jobs resurfaced to unveil Apple’s new iPad. His appearance helped reassure investors and fans worried about what his absence might mean for the company.
Apple failed to provide specific examples of how a deposition of Jobs would constitute “undue hardship,” the plaintiffs wrote in a court filing last December.
Lloyd said the deposition of Jobs would be limited to questions about the back-and-forth with RealNetworks in 2004. Apple had sought to prevent the deposition altogether, while the plaintiffs asked to be allowed a broader inquiry.
“By limiting the scope of the deposition, the judge is trying to avoid using this as some sort of tool for embarrassment or annoyance,” Levine said.
Should a district judge uphold Lloyd’s ruling, Levine said it would be extremely difficult for either side to appeal further.
The case is in re Apple iPod iTunes antitrust litigation, Case No. 05-00037, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.
Apple is involved in a host of other lawsuits, both as a plaintiff and defendant, ranging from disputes over patents to antitrust allegations. On Monday, Apple sued Amazon.com Inc in a bid to stop the online retailer from improperly using its APP STORE trademark, according to a court filing.
(Reporting by Paul Thomasch in New York, Dan Levine in San Francisco and Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Derek Caney)
Apple has acquired the rights to sell Beatles music on its online store. Looking for Hype to gain more momentum, Apple caused a frenzy Monday with speculators.
“Well, let’s not start deleting our iTunes libraries just yet”, sqeacked the Wall Street Journal, “the big news is that iTunes will finally start carrying The Beatles’ catalogue”.
BITCHIN’… for iTuner’s.
WSJ and Billboard agree that “another day”, Paul McCartney’s song off of his solo Record RAM, might be a marketing cheap plug. WOW
2010 – iTunes Store Tops 10 Billion Songs Sold.
iTunes does it again. Pretty impressive… and Johnny Cash earns yet another footnote in Music History.
CUPERTINO, California—February 25, 2010—Apple® today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded over 10 billion songs from the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com), the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store. The 10 billionth song, “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash, was purchased by Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia. As the winner of the iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs, Louie will receive a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. iTunes is the number one music retailer in the world and features the world’s largest music catalog with over 12 million songs.
“We’re grateful to all of our customers for helping us reach this amazing milestone,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “We’re proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering.”
The iTunes Store has a catalog of over 12 million songs, over 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 movies including over 2,500 in stunning high definition video. With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod® and iPhone®, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac® and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.
2008 – Metallica have just premiered the video for their single “The Day That Never Comes” on their MySpace page. The epic clip was directed by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg and filmed this past July in southern California.
On working with the acclaimed filmmaker, Hetfield explained to MTV.com, “That’s the beauty, I think, of writing vague but powerful lyrics — that someone like a movie director can interpret it in his own way and obviously, someone creative is able to take the metaphors and apply them to whatever he needs in his own life.” Go Watch The Video
The band have also just unveiled another song from their upcoming album Death Magnetic. The hard-charging track, “Cyanide” is now available for sale on iTunes.
The leak: Seems some diehard fans got their hands on the album early and it’s all good with Lars. Blabbermouth has a little on that: Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has commented on the premature release of the band’s new album, “Death Magnetic”, via a French record store. A shop in Paris reportedly sold a number of copies of the CD this morning well ahead of its official September 12 worldwide release date with illegal “Death Magnetic” MP3 files making their way online by this afternoon.
During a guest appearance earlier today on “The Woody Show” on the San Francisco, California radio station Live 105 (KITS 105.3 FM), Ulrich stated about the French leak, “Listen, we’re ten days from release. I mean, from here, we’re golden. If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days. Happy days. Trust me. Ten days out and it hasn’t quote-unquote fallen off the truck yet? Everybody’s happy. It’s 2008 and it’s part of how it is these days, so it’s fine. We’re happy.”
2008 – PR reports: Metallica have just released the first single off their upcoming album, Death Magnetic.
The epic track is entitled “The Day That Never Comes” and it’s now available through iTunes and is streaming on the band’s site.
The band recently filmed a video for the track with Danish film director Thomas Vinterberg which will premiere soon. Check out the track which is now streaming on – Metallica.com
2008 – Apple’s iTunes overtook supermarket group Wal-Mart to become the largest music retailer in the US. Market research firm NPD said iTunes surpassed Wal-Mart in January and February if 12 downloads are considered equal to the sale of one CD album. iTunes had sold more than four billion songs since its launch in 2003.
2008 – Neil Aspinall, who ran the Apple Corps music empire for the Beatles from 1970 – 2007 died at a hospital in New York from cancer aged 66. A school friend of Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he was regarded by some of the band as the “fifth Beatle” becoming he the Beatles’ road manager in 1961 before becoming their personal assistant. He led the legal battle with Apple computers over the use of the Apple name and a royalties dispute between the Beatles and record label EMI. Aspinall had also played background instruments on Beatles tracks including Magical Mystery Tour, Within You Without You and Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite.
2008 - iTunes Sells 4 Billionth Song
idolator reports: The record industry has 4 billion reasons to kiss Steve Jobs in the public square. That is the amount of songs that iTunes has sold, which has made it the second largest music retailer in the US. They are second only to the brick and mortar powerhouse of Wal-Mart. Of course the major labels continue to look at alternatives to iTunes that will allow them to make more on music downloads. (4 billion dollars isn’t enough? 2.8 billion going to record companies under the standard iTunes 30% / label 70% split) And they continue to blame their problems on downloads.
Idolator has more on iTunes rise: According to research by the NPD Group, the iTunes Store was the second-largest music retailer in the United States last year, behind only Wal-Mart. iTunes leapfrogged over Best Buy and Target–which came in second and third, respectively, to iTunes’ fourth place the last time the NPD Group conducted their music-buying survey–as paid downloading experienced an overall spike of 50% between 2006 and 2007.
Those downloads now make up 10% of all music sales, although unsurprisingly the rise in downloads didn’t make up for the plunge experienced by CD tallies throughout the course of the year.
2006 – A British judge rules that Apple Computers did not break an agreement with The Beatles – who own the Apple label – not to enter the music with their iPod and iTunes stores.
2004 – The Pixies releases its first new song in 13 years. “Bam Thwok” is available beginning at midnight for digital download exclusively via Apple’s iTunes Music Store.
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