Algoriddim has upgraded DJay, their mixing software for iTunes, to version 3.

Many new features have been added, including Automatic Beat and Tempo Detection, Auto-Cut Scratching, Beat-Matched Looping, enhanced Audio FX, Automix Queue, Auto-Gain and MIDI Learn.

Algoriddim DJay 3 retails for $49.95.

If you’ve used DJay 3, leave a comment!

Features:

• Automatic Beat & Temp Detection is djay’s on-the-fly song analysis that calculates the beats per minute (BPM) and exact location of each beat, laying the groundwork for a host of other features including Auto-Sync, looping and beat-synchronized effects.
• Auto-Sync djay’s automatic beat and tempo detection allows you to easily match the playback speed of two songs for a perfect transition with the click of a single button. djay calculates the volume perceived by the human ear for each song and automatically ensures that all your songs play at the same volume level. This allows you to seamlessly fade one song into the next without sudden changes in loudness.
• Real-time effects, scratching, pitch-shifting and more with solid sound quality and improved low latency. djay’s new audio engine builds upon the Mac’s extended audio support and claims to meet the highest standards in digital audio processing.
• Auto-Cut Scratching automatically applies the rhythmic pattern of the currently playing song to your scratches in real-time. Create sounds like professional scratch DJs and go beyond the possibilities of the analog world. A breakthrough in digital scratching.
• The Automix Queue lets you queue up your favorite tracks in advance. Enable Automix and let djay take care of the mixes while you cruise the party. Or use the queue to build a playlist on-the-go from your audience’s song requests. Plug in your favorite MIDI controller and easily map all features in djay to the buttons and sliders on your controller using MIDI-Learn. With Beat-Matched Looping, you can continuously loop part of a song perfectly in sync with the beat.
• Spice up your mix with djay’s new audio effects including beat-synchronized echo to various reverb types with adjustable wet/dry settings.

justanotherguy put together this condensed version of Apple’s recent music keynote address, which featuredL

• Steve “really nice” Jobs introducing the new iTunes;
• Jeff “really easy” Rubin demonstrating iTunes 9; and
• Phil “amazingly great” Shiller showing off the latest iPods.

Is it any wonder people come away thinking that these things are smarter, better, really incredible and insanely awesome?

This is a promo video for John Tracker’s Amiga 1200 album, Cyber Techno. All 18 tracks on the album were created on the Octomed tracker app on an Amiga 1200.

via bazartist:

Jon Tracker’s track made on the Amiga 1200 titled Cyber Techno and promotional video to assist. This track and the Amiga Album will be available on iTunes soon.

Trent Reznor

The objectionable content?

The Downward Spiral.

Hmmmmm. Wonder what line of what song that was……….

Let me know what you think of Apple’s decision in the comments!

Update: Trent Reznor has posted his thoughts on the issue:

I’ll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy. Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and “clean” versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc to meet Wal-Mart’s standards of decency – because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records. NIN refused, and you’ll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart.

My reasoning was this: I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any “indecent” material for sale – but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film “Scarface” completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense?

You can buy The Downward Fucking Spiral on iTunes, but you can’t allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it. Geez, what if someone in the forum in our app says FUCK or CUNT? I suppose that also falls into indecent material. Hey Apple, I just got some SPAM about fucking hot asian teens THROUGH YOUR MAIL PROGRAM. I just saw two guys having explicit anal sex right there in Safari! On my iPhone!

Come on Apple, think your policies through and for fuck’s sake get your app approval scenario together.

Update 2: Apple has now OK’d the updated Nine Inch Nails app.

This is a fun four-part sneak preview of megaSynth – an iPhone synthesizer.

Here are the features:

• 5-voice polyphony (max # of fingertips allowed on the iPhone = 5)
• 3 Oscillators, 7 waveforms
• Triad arp and chordmaker (”Chordmatic”) with 23 scales
• 24-bucket step sequencer
• Dual keyboards
• Accelerometer-controlled pitch, cutoff, resonance
• Very many LFOs (4 to be exact: filter, pitch, volume…4th is optional audible LFO)
• Recording, wi-fi file export/import
• Saves infinite user presets; comes with 209 factory presets
• FX module with reverb and modulation
• Monophonic keyboard option also included

This should be in the iPhone store soon. More info at Yonac.com.

If you’ve used MegaSynth, leave a comment with your thoughts!

via YonacSoftware:

miniSynth’s older brother arrives at last! Coming soon to an iTunes App Store near you (yeah, well…), megaSynth is one analog-modeling, user-friendly, respect-paying, feature-bloated, forever-grateful, tax-paying, wedding-anniversary-reminding, gum-flossing iPhone synth that’s sure to not disappoint. Try our Crelm toothpaste next. Yum yum.If interested, we’re located at www.yonac.com

The alliance leverages TuneCore’s digital distribution model and iLike’s music promotion and discovery services to give independent artists a way to distribute, promote and sell their music:

• Distribution: TuneCore empowers any artist to distribute their music and videos worldwide to iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazonmp3, and other leading online music stores and subscription services while keeping 100% of the royalties.
• Marketing and Promotion: iLike offers a range of free and paid music-promotion services for artists to reach new fans on leading social networks and platforms across the Web.
• Making Money: Artists will also earn royalties when their music is streamed on iLike.com, Facebook, and other platforms where iLike is available.

Here are the details on how it works:
How It Works:

By submitting music via TuneCore, independent or established musicians can sell their music in all the major online stores and leading subscription services, including: iTunes; Amazon mp3; and through Rhapsody, on Yahoo, MTV and iLike.

After using TuneCore to easily and quickly distribute their music to Rhapsody, artists will earn royalties when their music is streamed not only on iLike.com but also on iLike’s music syndication network, which provides music on Facebook, hi5, Orkut, Bebo, iLike’s third-party developer platform and other leading channels across the Web.

Artists can learn more and sign up for a free account at TuneCore.

The major music labels are so concerned about Apple’s dominance in the world of digital music that they are betting their future on Napster.

The major labels have teamed up with Napster to offer what they are calling “the world’s largest and most comprehensive MP3 store.”

Yep – the labels are so intent on breaking Apple’s dominance in the world of digital music that they are giving Napster – the brand that RIAA head Hilary Rosen once called “both morally and legally wrong” – the opportunity to distribute more music as MP3 than Apple.

Per Napster’s announcement:

Napster’s download store is more than 50% larger than any other MP3 store and boasts not only the largest major label MP3 catalog in the industry, but also the largest library of independent music available anywhere. All Napster download sales in the U.S. will now be in the user-friendly, DRM-free MP3 format, which is compatible with virtually any MP3 player or music phone, including the iPod and the iPhone. Napster is the first music subscription service featuring major label content to offer 100% of its catalog in the MP3 format for download sales.

Pricing for download sales is 99 cents for single MP3 tracks and $9.95 for most MP3 albums.

DRM-free MP3s are great.

The music industry betting its future on Napster, though? Sorta pathetic.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today announced Apple’s new lineup of iPods at an event at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

Here are the highlights:

• The iPod shuffle appears to be on life-support. It got new colors.
• The iPod nano got a bigger screen, video capabilities and an interface update.
• Big iPods are now iPod classics, getting a new UI and hard drive capacity up to 160GB. This looks like the one to get if you’re a fan of Internet video.
• The most anticipated introduction, the iPod touch, brings the iPhone touchscreen interface to the iPod line. It’s basically an iPhone without the phone capabilities, with 8GB and 16GB capacities.
• The price on the iPhone was cut to $399, and the 4GB version was dropped. The iPhone is a success, but not the runaway success that Apple expected. Slashing the price by over 30% should bring it to a price range that’s palatable to a larger audience.
• Jobs also introduced the iTunes WiFi music store, which will allow users to browse and purchase songs via wireless connections. Purchased tracks are copied back to your computer at next sync.
• Apple’s podcast directory has hit a milestone of 125,000 podcasts, 25,000 of which are video podcasts.

While the new iPods aren’t especially surprising, Jobs introduced an extremely strong lineup that should solidify Apple’s position in the portable media player space, strengthen Apple’s venture into smart phone territory and reinforce Apple’s iTunes as the de facto standard for portable Internet media.

Apple today launched iTunes Plus, offering DRM-free music tracks with 256 kbps AAC encoding, for audio quality almost as good as the original recordings, for just $1.29 per song.

iTunes Plus is launching with EMI’s digital catalog of recordings, including singles and albums from Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra, Joss Stone, Pink Floyd, John Coltrane and more than a dozen of Paul McCartney’s classic albums available on iTunes for the first time.

iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today—128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM—at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside the higher quality iTunes Plus versions when available. In addition, iTunes customers can now easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to iTunes Plus tracks for just 30 cents a song and $3.00 for most albums.

“Our customers are very excited about the freedom and amazing sound quality of iTunes Plus,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We expect more than half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end of this year.”

“This is a tremendous milestone for digital music,” said Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group. “Consumers are going to love listening to higher quality iTunes Plus tracks from their favorite EMI artists with no usage restrictions.”

With the release of iTunes Plus, customers can now download tracks from their favorite EMI artists without limitations on the type of music player or number of computers that purchased songs can be played on. iTunes is also offering customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to the iTunes Plus versions.

EMI music videos are now also available in iTunes Plus versions with no change in price. iTunes Plus songs purchased from the iTunes Store will play on all iPods, Mac or Windows computers, widescreen TVs with Apple TV and soon iPhones, as well as many other digital music players.

Source:  Apple Launches iTunes Plus

Industry analysts have found that 90% of the people they surveyed think that Apple’s iPhone is better than their own phone.

In a joint research effort between its Wireless Device Lab and Intelligent System Strategies program, Strategy Analytics explored the appeal of iPhone features, developed comparisons with current products, investigated the nature of the iPhone experience, and gained insights on design criteria for future devices.

“An overwhelming 90 percent of respondents gave the iPhone higher marks than their own handset and over 40 percent of respondents rated the iPhone much better across key functional categories– including music player, web browsing, voice mail, and phone call management–indicating real innovation in designing a user experience,” said Harvey Cohen, President of Strategy Analytics, who conducted this research.

“While the iPhone ‘Wow’ factor is impressive, our user panel indicated that challenges in pricing and positioning may act as a barrier to mass-market success,” said Kevin Nolan, Director of User Experience Research at Strategy Analytics. “Nonetheless, the iPhone clearly represents a breakthrough in terms of user experience.”

Friedwald is a music writer, and has been described as “The Poet Laureate of vintage pop music.” Friedwald spends much of his day in front of a Power Mac G5 using his his mammoth 200,000 track iTunes library.

Here, Friedwald describes his iTunes library:

I just re-compiled the main library (something that takes about six hours – I only do it a few times a year!). Here are the new stats:

• 849 GB | 172,150 tracks | 809.2 days
• 2,935 artists | 11,561 albums
• iTunes library database file – 282 MB
• iTunes library XML file – 259 MB

For reasons I will get into later, I also have several sub-libraries; theoretically, all my music will eventually go into the main library. I also have a separate “annex” of about 200-300 GB of stuff that I am gradually adding in to the main library. If I were to put everything together, which I am slowly doing, it will be around 1200 GB.

Any electronica fans out there with bigger collections? You can brag about how big yours is in the comments…..

“Music fans can now round out their music collections by upgrading their singles into complete albums with just one click, and get full credit for those songs they have previously purchased from iTunes,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “Complete My Album is a wonderful new way that iTunes helps customers grow and enjoy their music collections.”

“iTunes continues to revolutionize the digital music industry by offering music fans innovative ways to explore and enjoy new music,” said Thomas Hesse, president, Global Digital Business and US Sales, Sony BMG Music Entertainment. “With Complete My Album, iTunes is giving music fans the best of both worlds—the ability to discover great new music by buying just the single and a credit toward the purchase of the complete album.”

Complete My Album offers customers up to 180 days after first purchasing individual songs from any qualifying album to purchase the rest of that album at a reduced price. When users buy any song on iTunes the corresponding album will immediately appear on their personalized Complete My Album page with the reduced price listed. For example, a user who’s already purchased three 99 cent singles and decides to buy the corresponding $9.99 album would be able to download the remaining songs to complete the album for just $7.02, without having to buy the singles again.

Apple today started shipping Apple TV, a new class of computer peripheral that turns your HDTV into a big screen iPod.

Apple TV connects physically to your television and wirelessly to a Mac or PC running iTunes. The device then lets you play iTunes content on your TV, including movies, TV shows, music, photos, podcasts and video podcasts.

Apple TV isn’t TiVo or a new type of DVD player; it makes your TV the biggest iPod ever

Many analysts seem to be confusing Apple TV with time-shifting devices like TiVo, or comparing it to playback devices like DVD players. It’s neither of these. It’s really more like an iPod that you can attach a big screen to.

Apple itself positions Apple TV as a member of the iPod family:

“Apple TV allows you to wirelessly play your content from your PCs or Macs using your existing WiFi network as well as the newest and fastest version of WiFi-802.11n,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

Apple TV makes Internet TV a powerful, mainstream platform

The new device promises to ignite the world of Internet video. While Internet video consumption has exploded in the last year, most video downloads have been videos of a few minutes or less in length. While longer videos are available, most people would rather watch longer videos on their television than on the relatively small screens of their iPods or computers.

By bringing HDTV to the wildly successful Internet media platform of iTunes, Apple is turning it into a much more powerful platform.

Apple TV could be the start of something huge. The combination of iTunes and HDTV means that anyone in the world with an HDTV camera and a Mac can now create HDTV television shows and deliver them directly into people’s homes, without studios, without networks and without local stations.

Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive that can store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and is capable of delivering high-definition 720p output. Apple TV can connect to a range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Using high-speed 802.11 wireless networking, Apple TV can auto-sync content from one computer or stream content from up to five additional computers right to your TV without any wires.

Pricing & Availability

Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, will be available beginning this week from the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US). Apple retail stores will also offer hands on workshops and demonstrations of Apple TV’s features.

Apple TV requires iTunes 7.1 or later running on a Mac with Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later, or a Windows PC with Windows XP Home/Professional (SP2). Vista is not supported at this time.

Source: Apple

“The iTunes Store is by far the most popular online movie store in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We’re thrilled to be adding this phenomenal collection of Lionsgate titles from Hollywood’s leading independent studio, including such blockbusters as Terminator 2,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes.

Lionsgate’s collection of movie titles available on iTunes in the coming weeks includes action adventure films and thrillers such as Total Recall and Rambo, indie classics such as Monster’s Ball as well as favorites such as Chaplin and The Boys From Brazil.

via Podcasting News 

• Continue as is it is now, with each manufacturer competing freely with their own “top to bottom” proprietary systems for selling, playing and protecting music.
• Apple could license its FairPlay DRM technology to current and future competitors with the goal of achieving interoperability between different company’s players and music stores.
• Abolish DRMs entirely – according to Jobs, this is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.

Jobs concludes by asking that people concerned with DRM convince the record labels to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free, saying that “Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.”

Jobs’ statement is clearly self-serving; the company has faced criticism and legal battles from several European nations over its monopolization of digital music formats.

Nevertheless, Jobs move demonstrates his intuitive mastery of public relations, redirecting criticism of Apple’s monopolization of digital music to the record labels and their licensing restrictions.

Job’s statement has resulted in an outburst of discussion around the Internet.

via Podcasting News

Apple

“iTunes has crossed another major milestone by selling over two billion songs—with over a billion of them sold in the last year alone—making it by far the world’s most popular music store,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And by selling 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies to date, iTunes is already the largest online video store in the world as well.”

The iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalog, with over four million songs, 250 feature films, 350 television shows and over 100,000 podcasts.

The world’s most popular music jukebox, iTunes 7 delivers stunning features such as the new album and Cover Flow views of music, TV shows and movies, enabling users to quickly find titles in their library as well as casually browse through and re-discover titles they already own. Videos purchased from the iTunes Store are downloaded in near-DVD quality at a resolution of 640 by up to 480, depending on the content’s aspect ratio. And now with Apple TV, you can wirelessly play all your favorite iTunes content from your Mac or PC, including movies, TV shows, music, photos and podcasts on your widescreen TV.

Pricing & Availability

iTunes 7 for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Store and is available as a free download from www.itunes.com. Purchase and download of content from the iTunes Store for Mac or Windows requires a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. Television shows and feature films are available in the US only, and video availability varies by country. Games are available for download in the 22 countries in which iTunes operates and play on the fifth generation iPod®. New release feature films are $14.99 (US) each and other feature-length films are $9.99 (US) each, television shows are $1.99 (US) per episode, music videos and short films are $1.99 (US) each and games are $4.99 (US) each.

Bloom, like McLachlan’s previous venture into remix territory, brings together an A-list of remixers and gives them all a chance to work with some great material. The remixers include Sly & Robbie, DMC, DJ Talvin Singh, Junky XL, and Thievery Corporation.

The best tracks on this CD are standout remixes that truly re-imagine the McLachlan’s songs and take them into new territory. Even the worst tracks are still competent dance remixes. The only track that is uninspiring is Just Like Me, which gets transformed into a hip-hip track by will.i.am of the Black-Eyed Peas. It disappoints because it seems to relegate McLachlan to playing backup chorus girl.

Unfortunately, this is not a standard CD, but is a Sony copy protected CD. We had no problem ripping on a Mac for listening on an iPod, but we wouldn’t trust this CD in a PC.

As a result, we recommend the album for fans of dance electronica and remixes, but can’t recommend buying the CD. Get it at iTunes or other online source instead.

Tracks:

• World on Fire (Junkie XL Club/GM Edit)
• Ice (Dusted Mix)
• Vox (Tom Middleton Mix)
• Dirty Little Secret (Thievery Corporation Mix)
• Stupid (DJ Hyper Mix)
• Train Wreck (Sly & Robbie Mix)
• DMC featuring Sarah McLachlan: Just Like Me (Will-i-am of the Black Eyed Peas Remix)
• Answer (Talvin Singh Mix)
• Fallen (Gabriel & Dresden Mix/ GM Edit)
• Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (Junior Boys Mix)

Unfortunately, the rest of the CD doesn’t come close to rising up to the level of the first track. Oakenfold brings in a collection of well-known names, ranging from Pharrel Williams to Grandmaster Flash, but none of them adds the visceral energy that Murphy delivers.

In fact, the best we can say for A Lively Mind is – check out the single for Faster Kill Pussycat:

You can always get the single on iTunes.

Tracks:

• Faster Kill Pussycat — Featuring Brittany Murphy
• No Compromise — Featuring Spitfire
• Sex ‘N’ Money — Featuring Pharrell Williams
• Switch On — Featuring Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic
• Amsterdam
• Set It Off — Featuring Grandmaster Flash
• The Way I Feel — Featuring Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic
• Praise The Lord
• Save the Last Trance for Me
• Not Over — Featuring Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic
• Vulnerable — Featuring Bad Apples
• Feed Your Mind — Featuring Spitfire

No One Over 21 pushes percussion to the foreground, but not just the standard 4/4 dance beats. Mogt uses programmed beats to help propell the tracks, but adds interest with syncopated percussion drum loops. By combining house beats and Latin rhythm, Mogt creates a hypnotic hybrid. Mogt is from Tijuana originally, and his music seems to reflect town’s mix of influences.

Highlights of the CD include the funky polyrhythms of Radio, the combination of strange vocals and retro-80s beats of Las Cajas Del Ritmo, and funky syncopation of Sitema Local Sound System.

Fussible’s No One Over 21 is a category-bending release, part intelligent dance music, part house, and part world music.

Visit http://www.sonic360.com for more info and audio samples.

Tracks

• Original radio edit
• Las Cajas Del Ritmo remix
• Capri remix
• Clorofila’s Adelitas edit
• Linga Remix
• Dj Matsuoka remix
• SLSS remix
• IPZ remix

Apple

The billionth song Speed of Sound was purchased as part of Coldplay’s X&Y album by Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan. He will receive a 20-inch iMac, 10 fifth generation iPods and a $10,000 gift card good for any item on the iTunes Music Store. In addition, Apple will establish a scholarship to the world-renowned Juilliard School of Music in his name to commemorate this milestone.

“I hope that every customer, artist and music company executive takes a moment today to reflect on what we’ve achieved together during the past three years,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Over one billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet.”

Hype or not, Apple’s milestone demonstrates both the increasing importance of digital downloads to the world of music, and the domination the company has achieved of this market.