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Underdogs Amazon and Target take aim at iTunes and Walmart As music retailers suffer ever shrinking sales, some of the most aggressive moves to boost business are being made by the perpetual runners-up in their respective sectors. The past year has seen heightened competitive positioning between Apple’s iTunes store and Amazon for digital sales and Walmart and Target [...] iTunes to Stream 90-Second Samples; Why No Full Songs? Apple says it will triple the length of song previews in iTunes from 30 to 90 seconds. With 90-second clips, iTunes song samples should at least be long enough to hear a chorus and verse. Digital music distributor Symphonic Distribution broke the news on Tuesday via its blog, and CNet [...] French subsidy for music downloads gets EU nod France’s strategy to combat illegal music downloads by contributing to the amount young people pay for them won European Union approval and praise for promoting cultural diversity. Under the scheme, French residents who purchase a card to download music from subscription-based website platforms, will only pay half the cost of [...] Apple in talks on fee-based music service Apple is in talks with major record labels to provide a subscription-based music service, allowing unlimited access to songs for a monthly fee, the New York Post said, citing unnamed sources. A few weeks ago, Apple iTunes boss Eddy Cue discussed with music labels how they could implement this plan, the [...] Apple’s jump into social networking not a slam-dunk For all the innovations Apple has brought to the market through the years, it’s also a pretty good follower. The iPod is a perfect reflection of this. It wasn’t the first MP3 player to hit retail shelves. It was just the best, and it blew away the other devices to [...] Apple unveils new TV box for renting movies, shows Apple Inc. is refining its plans to annex the living room into its entertainment empire. On Wednesday, Apple unveiled a smaller, cheaper version of Apple TV, which connects to a high-definition television and can show rented movies and TV shows from Apple’s own service, plus content from Netflix, photos [...] Google to launch music service: report Google Inc is planning to launch an online music downloading service tied to its search engine, the Wall Street Journal reported, a move that would pit it against Apple Inc and its popular iTunes site. Google’s plans are still vague, but it has been “stepping up conversations” about offering music services online [...] Apple inquiry focuses on price fixing Seeking information on possible price fixing in the digital music marketplace, the U.S. Department of Justice contacted the legal departments of the major record labels as part of an initial inquiry into Apple, sources tell Billboard. The DOJ also spoke with a number of digital music services. The inquiry into iTunes was first [...] The NPD Group: Amazon Ties Walmart as Second-Ranked U.S. Music Retailer, Behind Industry-Leader iTunes Digital music continued to gain on CDs in the first quarter, as iTunes increased its lead in overall U.S. music sales Port Washington, New York (Vocus) May 26, 2010 — According to The NPD Group (http://npd.com/), a leading market research (http://npd.com/corpServlet?nextpage=entertainment-categories_s.html) company, Apple’s iTunes [...] DOJ looking into iTunes antitrust allegations The U.S. Department of Justice is looking into Apple’s practices in the realm of music sales, with an eye to anticompetitive behavior, according to a report in The New York Times . At question are whether or not the company has used its position as the largest vendor of music to [...] |
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