Apple, Itunes | featured news

When Apple launched its iTunes music store a decade ago amid the ashes of Napster, the music industry - reeling from the effects of online piracy - was anxious to see how the new music service would shake out....

The answer to the trivia question will be: "Monkey Drums (Goskel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch." That's the 25 billionth song purchased on iTunes....

Since its debut in 2001, iTunes has morphed from a standard music player into something larger and more complex. It's no longer just a music player -- it's also an App store, a music and movies store and a way to manage iPod, iPhone and iPad devices. In other words, iTunes has become a bloated, slow, unwieldy mess.

After past disappointments, Microsoft has paired its latest digital music offering with the Xbox and Windows as part of a broad set of bets to regain ground it has lost to Apple and other competitors.

Apple's social network Ping will be gone in the next release of iTunes, reports All Things Digital, citing sources close to the company.

Steve Jobs, the mastermind behind Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes, has died, Apple said. Jobs was 56. "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," read a statement by Apple's board of directors. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

The reports are still flooding in over iTunes users finding their credit balances drained by hackers. Why hasn't Apple said a thing to assure customers it has things under control?

While publishers are grumbling about Apple’s new enforcement of in-app purchases for content, parents and one lawmaker are also raising questions about the way Apple handles in-app payments in apps aimed at children. According to the Washington Post, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D – MA) on Tuesday urged the Federal Trade Commission to review the way Apple markets its apps because of questions about the ease with which children are buying items in games.

Apple says people snapped up more than 450,000 copies of Beatles albums plus two million individual songs during the Fab Four's first week on sale through iTunes.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs finally got his Fab Four: On Tuesday, as anticipated, Apple's iTunes Music Store became the first online merchant to sell the Beatles' music.