Leading up to Apple’s music event last week, rumor sites had been circling about a new format from Apple that would provide additional content, like lyrics, liner notes, video interviews and more. The rumors came true as Apple announced yet one more way to spend more money inside iTunes: iTunes LPs for music and iTunes Extras for video. Here’s what they look like up close.

Deconstructing the LP

When you purchase an iTunes LP (for this example, I’m using Tyrese Gibson’s MAYHEM!), you actually end up downloading the songs included and the animated content in a new format, called .itlp. This new format is (in this example) a very big file, a little over 400MB. Not only does it take a while to download that content, but if you start to fill your library with several of these, you’ll run out of room very quickly.

For diehard fans, iTunes LPs are simply amazing. In MAYHEM!, the additional content is an animated comic book that comes to life with spoken dialog. As more and more artists sign onto creating iTunes LPs, these will become big time components of true music enthusiasts. Let’s just hope new iTunes LPs are released more frequently than the GarageBand Artist Lessons.

And Now for Video

Apple also announced iTunes Extras for video content, allowing quick scene selection and other animated “behind the scenes” content available in these exclusive packages. For many, this could be the real deciding factor between opting to purchase a new movie on DVD or Blu-ray versus purchasing it within iTunes. The end result, while perhaps not equal in terms of additional content, is a complete movie experience, with a substantial amount of supplemental content. Unfortunately, iTunes Extras are only available when purchasing content from iTunes; they are not available with movie rentals.

If you purchase content from iTunes on your iPhone and that content supports iTunes LP or iTunes Extra, the base content (songs or movie) will download immediately to your device. The LP and Extras content will download to your computer the next time you sync your iPhone or iPod touch. Upon doing so, be sure to go to “Store” and click “Check For Available Downloads” to download the additional content.

A Good Start

The iTunes Store currently has 12 iTunes LPs available (and even some of those are pre-orders) and 15 movies featuring iTunes Extras. Though Steve likes to attribute Apple’s new iTunes LP concept to a desire to pay homage to classic LPs that included bonus content, one can’t help but think that these extra features are offered to persuade users to purchase complete albums instead of a la carte downloads. The concept is very trendy and will definitely turn heads, but will the majority of our music collection feature iTunes LPs? Probably not. Will we have them for some of the big time major artists? Maybe.

What about iTunes Extras for movies? Will this stop some people from ripping their own DVDs and purchasing the content from iTunes? Perhaps. It’s unlikely that anybody (or perhaps this is a challenge to the Handbrake team) will be able to reverse engineer the .itlp format to allow users to have their own ripped DVDs with all special features play natively within iTunes.

At the moment, iTunes LPs and iTunes Extras are only playable within, you guessed it, iTunes 9. Others have already noticed, however, that the interface for these could definitely support interaction through touch, so perhaps eventually we’ll see the ability to sync these content types with our iPhones, iPod touches or even Apple TVs.

Now the question is passed to you. What do you think? Is it worth it? Have you pre-ordered Pearl Jam or downloaded The Doors yet?

Like a lot of folks out there, I run dual monitors on my Mac. In my home office where there’s no TV, it’s nice to occasionally dedicate one of the screens to playing movies while I continue working away on the other.

There’s an inherent problem in running iTunes in this kind of setup, though, that has been a thorn in my side for a long time. Specifically, the lack of advanced support for full screen playback.

The Problem

Using iTunes to watch a video in full screen on a second monitor blacks out the first monitor as well, rendering it useless. This is a problem. The primary reason people extend their desktop to a second monitor is to increase productivity by giving them more screen real estate to manage more windows and applications. Some research shows that the boost to productivity can be as much as 42 percent. Not surprisingly, that number drops to zero when you want to use iTunes to watch full screen video on one monitor while you continue to work on the other.

Quicktime addressed this problem a while ago, as did a number of other OS X video players. I’ve no idea why Apple would leave this type of functionality out of iTunes. Perhaps it’s being planned as part of some future update, perhaps they’re worried about people hooking up their HDTV and eating into the AppleTV market. Either way, while we wait for Apple to sort it all out, I threw together a little AppleScript as a workaround.

The Solution

Since Quicktime already gives us some advanced configuration options when it comes to fullscreen playback, lets take advantage of those. Open up Quicktime preferences and deselect the option to show background color on all displays, then choose the default screen you’d like to use for playback.

Download this script and add it into your ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder. The script simply grabs the currently selected item in iTunes, hands it off to QuickTime, and tells it to start playing the file in fullscreen mode. Once you have the script added to iTunes, open up the Keyboard Shortcuts tab in the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane and create a new shortcut for the script. Choose iTunes as the Application and in Menu Title enter the name of the script (“dualscreen” by default), then choose a shortcut.

Once that’s done, you’re all set. Just browse to and select the movie you want to play in iTunes, hit your shortcut key and AppleScript and Quicktime will take care of the rest. You’ll have beautiful full screen video on one display and on the other you’ll have all the space you want to ignore the work you should be doing but aren’t because you’re to busy watching the movie on the other screen.

It’s that time of the week — when we welcome you to the weekend with a selection of the freshest picks for the iPhone from the App Store.

Hold your horses, though, because before we dive headfirst into a glorious ocean of iPhone apps, I’ve got a roundup of notable Apple news from the past seven days.

We’re starting the weekend by giving you the chance to win a free game for your iPhone, courtesy of Poppy, an excellent one-man game studio in Japan. The game in question, Brave Man, is reminiscent of Bishop’s knife trick from Aliens, except instead of an interstellar synthetic, you play a lumberjack trying not to cut his hand with a knife. Want to win a promo code for Brave Man? To be in with a chance, leave a comment at the end of this post telling me about the bravest thing you’ve ever done.

Some unexpected bad news for early adopters of the iPhone 3GS this week when their new devices became literally too hot to handle. It turns out that the 3GS suffers from an overheating problem that is so bad that apparently white iPhones have been turning pink. Is that going to stop me from purchasing a 3GS? Absolutely not, I’ll take mine in limited edition blazing hot pink, please.

The latest update to the iPhone software, OS 3.1, has been rolled out to developers. This also means that it’s probably not too long before it’s pushed to regular iPhone users, too. Expect a raft of fixes and updates to the OS, including improved boot time, fraud protection in Safari, and the potential for video editing in third-party apps.

There’s been a slow drip-feed of app’s hitting the store that support OS 3.0’s new features. Notably, Remember The Milk is the first to-do app supporting push notifications. This means that, even when the app isn’t running, it’ll ping you with a reminder for forthcoming tasks that need completing. It’s a premium service, available only to subscribers, but one that may prove essential for iPhone-toting productivity connoisseurs.

Over in the EU, several phone manufacturers, including Apple, have agreed on a standard charging interface for all cell phones. The news of Apple signing up for this standard comes as a surprise. At first glance, it implies that it would be dropping its traditional proprietary dock port from the iPhone. An Apple representative cleared up the confusion, stating that the iPhone will, at some unspecified point, start shipping with a micro USB adaptor.

And finally, potential purchasers of the iPhone 3GS should head on over to Apple’s brand-new 3GS availability page. After serving an astounding 1 million devices in the opening weekend, sales are clearly going strong enough to warrant launching this handy inventory tool.

Moving on to the picks, this week I’ve been looking at Jamble, Birdfeed, Rolando 2 and RunPee.

Jamble ($5.99)
I just can’t get enough musical toys for the iPhone. I’ve even got an entire menu screen dedicated just to sound-related diversions. My favorites include Brian Eno’s ambient music app Bloom and, of course, Leaf Trombone World Stage, winner of TheAppleBlog’s coveted Golden Apple Award. Jamble, a clever creative toy for making your own mash-ups, may be another welcome addition to my sonic collection. The app takes a bunch of loops from artists including Gorillaz and David Bowie, then lets you seamlessly blend them together to create your own mash-up masterpieces.

Birdfeed ($4.99)
Not even a month after we get hit with Tweetdeck for the iPhone, (which, you should note, is available for free) comes another potential challenger to Tweetie’s Twitter-client throne. The app is called Birdfeed, and it’s got a stripped-down, simple aesthetic, à la Tweetie, but unfortunately, no Tweetdeck-style groups. If you’re already comfortable with Tweetie, this may not be the app for you, but frequent tweeters looking for a change of client should definitely consider checking out Birdfeed as a simple, stylish and functional Twitter solution.

Rolando 2 ($9.99)
iPhone gamers, let us collectively rejoice. It’s the second coming of Rolando in the App Store. Indeed, the app I’ve been waiting many months for has finally arrived at the App Store, albeit for the slightly pricey sum of 10 bucks. The sequel takes place on a tropical island, updating the artwork with a semi-3D view and introducing tons of new gameplay quirks, including weird contraptions for destroying the bad guys and special floating characters. There’s even a special shack dedicated to Manchester’s funky beat maestro Mr. Scruff, where you can listen to all the tunes contributed to the game. We’ve got a full review coming to TheAppleBlog next week, so stay tuned.

RunPee (99 cents)
We’ve all experienced those extended sessions of torture, watching a movie, squirming in your seat, desperate to go rest but afraid to miss a critical moment. RunPee is a quirky stroke of genius and an app which will prove particularly useful for those with small bladders. The RunPee database contains a listing of the latest movies. Just pick the one you’re watching, and it’ll provide a number of opportunities for which you can discreetly exit the movie theater for some much-needed relief. While you’re away, the app gives you a countdown, to make sure you’re back in time, alongside a plot summary for whatever you’ve missed.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with more news from the week and picks from the App Store.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

I dream of the day when my iPhone’s sync cable lies dusty and neglected in the back of a cabinet somewhere, and that day is getting closer and closer, thanks to iPhone OS 3.0. Yet another new feature discovered last week suggests that iPhone owners will have one less reason to connect and sync their devices come June. The feature in question is the ability to buy and download video content via iTunes.

The discovery came via “leaked” official Apple ad spots in the app Twitterfon (although I have trouble believing Apple would inadvertently be this sloppy) for iTunes TV, iTunes Movies, and iTunes Movie Rentals.

According to Twitter users, the source of the news, and commenters on this post, tapping on the ads redirected users with iPhone OS 3.0 installed on their phone to a previously unknown subsection of the built-in iTunes app, where movies and TV shows are listed. Movie links aren’t active yet, but it otherwise seems to be nearly ready for public consumption.

A variety of screenshots are available, thanks to the post by blogger KwameJones, and one commenter posted a link to the store that would work when accessed using an iPhone running OS 3.0, but the link has since ceased to be active. Lists of shows and movies with polished artwork include very recent titles like “Kings” and “The Wrestler”, which would indicate that Apple is indeed prepping this for a June launch, rather than just beta testing an early build of a video store to be added much later.

At this point, nothing is known about pricing, conditions of rental/purchase, or interaction/syncing with your iTunes library on your computer, but I’d love some sort of Kindle-like function that allows you to pick up watching video where you left off regardless of what platform you use to view it. Since this wasn’t announced at the iPhone 3.0 announcement event, I’m also guessing it’s a recent addition, possibly in answer to Microsoft’s upcoming “xYz” device, which is said to have similar features.

After the recent news that the Slingplayer app for iPhone would only be able to stream over Wi-Fi, I think it’s probably safe to assume that video downloads won’t be allowed over a 3G connection. On the other hand, it is possible that the only reason Apple imposed the Slingplayer restriction to begin with was to make this upcoming service a more appealing choice to iPhone users. If it did offer downloading regardless of connection type, and maybe even streaming content once you’ve begun your download, I think the customer response would be overwhelmingly positive.

Movie-based titles have not enjoyed a favorable reputation in gaming on the whole. There have been exceptions, of course, like Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64, and the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games for the Nintendo and Super Nintendo. The Watchmen MMO for the iPhone and iPod Touch? Definitely not among the greats. Iron Man: Aerial Assault was sort of OK, and Shooter wasn’t terrible, but the pattern of lackluster adaptations seems to have extended to Apple’s mobile platforms.

Well, Sony Pictures is going to have a whole bunch of new kicks at the can this year, so there’s still a chance we could see an escape from mediocrity in the near future. Fan favorite “Ghostbusters,” for instance, will get the iPhone treatment this June. Expect to see its release coincide with WWDC and the unveiling of the next-generation iPhone.

There’s also a James Bond game titled Top Agent set for an August release, so we can all begin hoping for another Goldeneye now, as gamers have done with every new Bond title announced since its release. No other details are currently available, except that it will feature some kind of multiplayer component.

Also in the line-up are games based on upcoming movies “Angels & Demons,” “Zombieland!,” and “2012.” And in case you thought they were just about film adaptations, look for a revival of the classic arcade game Q*bert, and a game based on the popular 80s kid’s show “Voltron,” which features robots that combine to form a much larger, more awesome robot (in case you had a deprived childhood).

I still have a lot of music-savvy friends who deny the validity of the the name Genius for Apple’s recently implemented iTunes music recommendation engine, but regardless of how appropriate the name may be, the service has now been turned on for movies and TV, too. That means selecting any movie or TV show in your library should bring up Genius recommendations in the sidebar, so long as you have it turned on and are using iTunes 8.1.

Genius results are about as accurate as you might expect based on your experience with its usage regarding music. The top results are always episodes from the same series and season as the content from your library. When I tested it out using “Battlestar Galactica,” Season 1, recommendations from beyond the series were fairly accurate, at least getting the genre right, and included “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and “Firefly” among the top results. A similar test with “Heroes,” a far more mainstream program, brought back bizarre results, with the top recommendation outside of the series itself being Dexter. Only parallel I can draw between the two is that Dexter is a serial killer and Sylar is sort of one too. And both star hot girls, maybe?

You also get a new TV Shows tab in the Genius: Just for You subsection of the iTunes store main page. As you can tell from the screenshot from my own recommendations, I am indeed a huge nerd, and aside from Supernatural, iTunes knows me all too well. I suppose it would have shown me Movies recommendations as well, but I don’t actually own any iTunes-purchased movies as of yet. Let us know in the comments how well those recommendations are working out.

Blu-ray took another today hit as Apple announced that it will be offering HD movies for sale (iTunes link), rather than just for rent. That means consumers can download HD quality movies directly into their iTunes library, for use on their computers or Apple TV, or TV-connected Mac mini, if you happen to be me. This probably explains why Blu-ray support hasn’t been forthcoming in recent hardware updates coming out of Cupertino.

Don’t get too excited, though; you don’t get much of a price break for giving up physical media. HD movies on iTunes cost $19.99, which, barring new releases, isn’t that much of a discount from Blu-ray prices. And the file sizes are likely enormous, so plan on either upgrading your internal or moving that iTunes library to an external drive in order to accommodate them.

Launch titles for the service include “Punisher: War Zone,” “Bangkok Dangerous,” and some movies that are actually worth buying, like “Transporter 3.” A number of pre-orders are also available, including the wildly popular teen vampire love story, “Twilight,” and the latest Bond installment, “Quantum of Solace.” The movie files will play no problem on your Apple mobile devices, too, although in standard definition.

I should point out that HD movie purchases are not yet available in the Canadian or UK stores (the only two international stores that I checked so far), and Apple hasn’t released details as to when they might be made available. Currently in the Canadian iTunes store, you can only buy HD TV shows using Apple TV, though the UK store has them available for computer and Apple TV users. I really hope they don’t plan on running the same scheme for HD movies here in Canada as they do for TV shows, because I refuse to be bullied into buying an Apple TV when we don’t have access to most major American network content.

Movie/game tie-ins are as old as the original NES and, as a booming gaming platform, the iPhone/iPod touch are no less susceptible to this continuing trend. To that end, here’s a listing of games for your touch device that are based on a movie (Note: All links go to the App Store).

The Dark Knight: Batmobile Game (99 cents)
“How fast can you get Batman through Gotham City?” Tilt your touch device to avoid obstacles and gain speed for jumps.

Disney Fairies Fly! ($4.99)
Based on the Tinker Bell movie, Disney’s Fairies Fly lets you play as one of six fairy characters through five levels of gameplay. Using the accelerometer, you dodge obstacles and collect power-ups to progress to the next stage.

Fast and Furious: Pink Slip ($2.99)
Use the motion sensor to steer your car in one of four different types of races. Then, challenge others online to win their rides. Thirty-two cars to win in 32 challenging races.

Iron Man: Aerial Assault (99 cents)
Guide Iron Man through the skies as you use his high-tech arsenal to battle enemies.

Lightsaber Unleashed (Free)
Swing your touch device around to emulate lightsaber sound effects. Choose a Force Unleashed character of your choosing (or create your own) and play along to some dueling music.

Saturday Night Fever: Dance / Lite (99 cents/Free)
Tap and slide to perform hundreds of dance moves to disco classics such as “YMCA” and “Car Wash.” Choose from two playable characters and a multi-player mode on a single device.

School of Rock (99 cents)
Learn rock ‘n’ roll music theory, test your knowledge in the trivia section, then rock along to classic tracks by bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Scorpions, or to songs in your music library.

Shooter – The Official Movie Game ($1.99)
Choose from a large arsenal of weapons and equipment in over 30 levels of gameplay taking out enemies as Sgt. Bob Lee Swagger in this first person shooter.

Spongebob’s Atlantis Treasure ($3.99)
Play through five themed levels in this match three or more puzzle game based on your favorite pants-wearing sponge.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed / Lite ($5.99/Free)
Use the force as you tap, touch, and swipe your way through the foes of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice.

Star Wars Sound Board (99 cents)
Choose from sixteen unmistakable Star Wars sound effects, from Darth Vader’s breathing to Obi-Wan’s “May the force be with you.”

Underworld Game (Free)
Play as either a Vampire or Lycan in this head-to-head fighting game. Choose between three levels (the Woods, Castles, or Catacombs) in three modes of difficulty.

Watchmen: Justice is Coming (99 cents)
Team up and fight other players in this turn-based RPG based off the recently released Watchmen movie.

Look out iTunes, there’s a brand new media manager in town, in the form of a public beta just released for OS X. The program is called doubleTwist, and it’s the brainchild of anti-DRM crusader “DVD” Jon Johansen.

Ars Technica had a look at it in length, and it seems to be fairly promising. The idea is the same one behind Pioneers of the Inevitable’s Songbird, namely to provide users with an alternative to Apple’s own iTunes, which is sometimes criticized as having an unnecessarily large memory footprint, among other failings.

The killer feature of doubleTwist, the one which really sets it apart from both Songbird and iTunes, is its ability to sync your media on pretty much any portable device of your choosing that’s capable of playing it back. In fact, doubleTwist supports syncing with literally hundreds of devices, among them the standard heavy hitters like BlackBerry, Sony’s PSP, Nintendo’s DSI, and just about any mobile phone you can think of. Except, and this is the odd part, for the iPhone and iPod, which are currently available for PC users only, though the Mac client with iPhone/iPod support is in private testing.

Curiously, doubleTwist does feature a mandatory sign-up before you can start using it. And, annoyingly, you have to wait to receive a confirmation email and click an activation link before the application will even let you get past an authentication screen. It wouldn’t have been nearly as aggravating if I’d just received the email right away, but I had to wait quite a while to even get started.

Aside from login issues, the program itself is intuitive and easy to use. It can automatically scan all of your drives, folders, and connected mobile devices for any kind of media to build a comprehensive library, organized by where it was found. Unfortunately, doubleTwist is DRM-phobic in its current incarnation, and will not find or recognize any DRM-enabled content, besides iTunes music, which it can presumably play by running Quicktime in the background.

The beauty of doubleTwist, from the perspective of someone who hates messing about with conversion software and often gets frustrating results when he does, is its automatic conversion feature when dragging and dropping media to different devices. If the device is one of the many doubleTwist has in its expanding database, your file will either just be transferred to it automatically if already in a compatible format, or converted into a file type the device will recognize. No muss, no fuss. Which is also a limitation, since you have no control over conversion.

I’m not sure it’ll ever replace iTunes as my primary media manager, since I’d miss Apple proprietary features like AirTunes support, but it does help me wrangle my gadget collection a little better, and with a lot fewer headaches. Let’s hope future updates fully realize doubleTwist’s early potential.

Everyone talks about the trend towards cloud computing, and for a while, it seemed as though computers would eventually become nothing more than net-connected screens and keyboards, since the need for local storage was slowly but surely being eroded. If you use a media download service like iTunes, though, you are probably very aware of just how dependent on storage space we all still are, and we have 1 TB Apple Time Machines to prove it.

If, judging by the sales figures, you’ve turned to Apple for the core components of your home theater (via Apple TV, iTunes music, etc.), the problem you inevitably come up against is where to put all that data you download. Sure, you can take the expensive route of buying to maximum capacity what Apple offers in each device, but you’ll still inevitably have to delete something to make room for something else.

One solution, and one which Apple has in the works, according to AppleInsider, is iTunes Replay, a streaming content delivery system that would alleviate the storage burdens of iTunes customers. Apple would house TV episodes and movies on their own servers, set up for this purpose, and users could then access it as needed without having to download and store the file.

While it isn’t clear which specific iTunes-enabled devices would benefit from the new streaming service, a likely candidate is Apple TV, because of the size of video media, and the fact that many of its competitors already offer streaming media. If I was the optimistic type, I would hope that the service would also be accessible via iPhone and iPod, but that probably won’t occur as part of the initial release.

This move has obvious drawbacks for the computer manufacturer, since it might dissuade customers from opting for the more expensive, higher capacity devices. It might, however, be intended to buttress media sales in uncertain economic times, if they are predicting that new hardware spend will dwindle regardless. AppleInsider also suggests Apple may charge for the service, above and beyond the price of individual episodes and films, which would somewhat offset their losses in hardware sales.

The streaming service is said to be coming as an iteration of iTunes 8, so it won’t bring a major update to the existing software. No word on when the introduction is specifically planned, though. My guess is that it might arrive alongside an Apple TV hardware update, and possibly the one I wrote about yesterday.

It may be the season of good-will, but one naughty iPhone-developer has decided to play the role of Scrooge in the iTunes App Store.

Movies, created by French developer, Olivier Bernal, went live at the App Store on December 19. The app, retailing at $2.99, allows users to grab essential information on the latest box-office releases.

The icon for Movies clearly features a watermark from iStockphoto, a royalty free image library, implying that rather than purchase the master image, Bernal has pilfered the preview sample.

This particular iStockphoto license (including the ‘Electronic Items for Resale’ addendum) is available for 115 credits. At 95 cents per iStockphoto credit, this would be a one-off cost of $109.25. Bernal would therefore need to generate only 37 sales of Movies to cover the cost of the image license.

Achieving just 37 sales is hardly a difficult objective when you also consider that, in order to maximize the potential customer-base for his app, Bernal has created several iterations using the same icon, including Cinema and Cinema UK.

It seems that this may not be the first time Bernal has pilfered from iStockphoto. There are two more highly suspect app icons – TV Shows and Week Number of the Year. The TV Shows icon features a white diagonal line, quite possibly from an iStock Photo watermark. The latter of the pair, clearly uses an iStock Photo sample, titled Calendar – icon idea.

It’s not as immediately obvious as our prime suspect, but enlarging the app icon and then comparing it to the iStockphoto sample image, the original watermark is easily visible.

Sites such as iStockphoto provide a valuable service to organizations with limited design resources, allowing independent creatives to distribute royalty-free visual assets at reasonable rates. It’s therefore somewhat disappointing to see independent developers effectively stealing — surely they should understand the value of content generated by fellow independents?

Furthermore, setting aside development time and cost, distributing via the App Store is hardly prohibitive in terms of initial outlay: Apple charges a one-off fee to developers of $99. It seems that either saving a few bucks or just downright laziness on Bernal’s part led him to grab the sample imagery from iStockphoto.

The question is, now that Bernal has been called out on his immoral icon antics, what will his next move be? It’ll be most interesting to see how he handles the designers whose creations he has illicitly profited from; ideally, after a hasty apology, Bernal will be compensating them for their contribution to his App Store products.

Note that we’ve tried to reach Bernal for comment on the story but have yet to hear back. We assume he was too busy shoveling a mountain of coal from his stocking, stealing bonbons from children and kicking puppies.

UPDATE: We heard back from Mr. Bernal:

For [your] information, I bought the right to use the pictures this morning. You were right, at the beginning I first started with nothing and can’t afford to pay for the pictures, it’s perfectly normal to pay if I intend to continue to use it.

He says the updated, non-watermarked icons will be implemented with the next updates to the applications sometime in January.

Personally, I can’t get enough of the new podcast features rolled out in the iPhone/iPod touch 2.2 firmware update. They’re now an indispensable part of my daily commuting. That’s why I was looking forward to Joost for the iPhone (free). It seemed to have the potential to provide the same kind of time-killing power and more, because of its library of content, which includes popular film and television shows. The app comes with some caveats, however, and it remains to be seen whether those limitations will prevent the app from reaching its full potential.

First strike, although it doesn’t affect users in the U.S., international iPhone owners may be disappointed in the library of available content. Unless you’re a huge fan of Naruto, which seems to make up all of the Anime video section. Many services encounter problems when trying to pick up international distribution rights for all types of media. Pandora is one high profile example, as is Hulu for video. That doesn’t mean there won’t be more content available in future. The Xbox Live Marketplace has brought video to Canada and other markets, albeit behind their American launch.

A second concern is the limitation of playback to devices connected via Wi-Fi only. This one basically dashes my hopes of having another distraction for the commute. And really, when you think about using the Joost app beyond the first couple of days, I wonder if the lack of 3G or EDGE support doesn’t become a deal-breaker. Generally, I don’t get the urge to watch television or movies on a tiny screen when I’m at home, which is where I use Wi-Fi the vast majority of the time, and which is also where I have a 32″ LCD TV that won’t provoke serious neck cramps.

A third issue might be technical concerns, as some users over at TechCrunch have reported connectivity issues, and audio dropping out. During my own tests with the app, I haven’t run into the same problems, and this one should be fairly easy to resolve with a version update.

It’s not all thorns, of course. There are also some significant roses. While people complained about the hit-and-miss nature of the library when the service initially launched for the desktop, there is some great content available. CBS is fairly well represented, and although the Movies list is relatively thin, there are some classics available, like Starship Troopers, which I love dearly.

While Joost may not have the best library among streaming video media services, their iPhone app launch is good news for everyone. It signals a significant maturation point in the lifecycle of internet television, and paves the way for industry leaders like Hulu to enter the fray. Japanese markets are already enjoying TV on their mobile devices via 1seg antennas, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t be enjoying the same sort of thing on this side of the globe. All that remains is for content providers to wake up smell the decline of tradional cable and satellite, and fully embrace the streaming revolution. Everyone stands to gain, the average consumer most of all.

In what seems like another addition to a long list of examples of how when you rent digital content, you’re actually renting it with a strict set of conditions, Apple owners are running into trouble with High Definition Content Protection (HDCP). The problem, affecting owners of the new aluminum MacBooks and MacBook Pro, occurs when you try to play some iTunes-rented movies on an external display attached to your notebook.

The HDCP causing the problem is intended to prevent copying high-def content across an HDMI connection. It’s also included in DisplayPort tech, which is the new standard for video output on current generation Mac portable computers. According to Ars Technica, the problem seems to affect movies protected by Apple’s FairPlay Version 3 DRM, although not all files which have Version 3 protection are affected. Whether or not the movie plays appears to be somewhat random, at least in Ars’ limited sample pool.

The person who pointed out the problem to Ars was just trying to play Hellboy 2 for a class of high school students using an external projector. Another case reported in an Apple support discussion thread occurred when a MacBook owner tried to playback content to his external 19-inch monitor. This report was quickly joined by many, many others. In all cases, playback works fine on the computer’s built-in display.

Is there a fix?

Is this another issue to be resolved quickly and with relatively little stir, like the trackpad hard-click recognition problem? Likely not, since a fix in this case might open up rental HD content to potential piracy. A software solution would take more time and attention to preserve HDCP integrity while allowing proper use for those who rented content and have no intentions of copying the content.

That’s not to say that Apple can let this one pass. One of the great incentives to even rent movies through iTunes is the ability to play it back on your HDTV or projector. If new MacBook owners (who represent a very sizeable group) feel like they’re playing Russian roulette when they rent content from iTunes, they’d simply stop doing it. And those caught unaware will go back to Apple for some kind of compensation and possibly swear off the service for good. Some angry MacBook owners are already seeing this as a ploy to get people to buy AppleTVs. This is probably not the case, but even the impression that it might be is damaging.

In a time when many are turning to their computers as home theater supplements and substitutes, Apple would do well to nip this in the bud right away. Since some movies do and some don’t encounter the HDCP problem, it may be a studio issue and out of their hands. If it is, they’ll have to lobby the studios, paint a picture of lost revenue, and hope to pressure a switch in the encoding of affected movies.

What do you say? Does this HDCP mess have you looking to jump the iTunes ship, or do you trust in an Apple fix?

Joining the ranks of their 99¢ movie rentals and mirroring their “Albums of the Week” for bargain hunters, Apple has introduced “Movies of the Week” on iTunes. Each movie will be available for the duration of the week at a lowered price of $4.99 to own. To kick it off they’re highlighting Terminator 2: Judgment Day as the “movie of the week” and offering an additional nine titles:

• Total Recall
• Last Action Hero
• Red Heart
• Air America
• Basic Instinct
• St. Elmo’s Fire
• The Karate Kid
• Air Force One
• A Guy Thing

A bit heavy on the Arnold—leading in four of the available movies—the initial offering is definitely skewed towards the action movie fan. However, if the “Albums of the Week” are any indication (currently featuring Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool, Beyoncé’s Dangerously In Love, and Dixie Chicks’ Home; among others) there’s no doubt that in coming weeks there will be something for everyone looking to boost up their digital video collection.

I don’t know about you but my favorite corporate blogger is now Brent from Netflix – or as I like to call him – “The Bringer of Good News.”

Netflix announced on Wednesday the addition of 1,000 movies to its “Watch Instantly” collection, which on its own is a welcomed announcement. But at the end of blogger Brent’s announcement was this little gem:

And, for all of you Mac users (of which I am one) we’ve been busy working getting a solution that will allow you to watch instantly on your Mac. So hang in there – we’ll have something for you by the end of the year.

The only reason I currently have Parallels installed on my Mac is so I can run Internet Explorer in order to access Netflix’s streaming TV and movie library. It’s a good feeling to know that by Christmas I will be able to sever the connection to my home PC completely.

But perhaps even better news is the pressure this announcement places on Apple to improve the Apple TV experience. By increasing its library of streaming titles for a ridiculously cheap monthly price, Netflix is doing what we all demand but Apple refuses to do – offer an affordable subscription model for media. Let the competition begin…

I fired up front row the other day for the first time after getting a Time Capsule, and sure enough my Time Capsule movies weren’t indexing. I first tried using the settings inside of Front Row to map the folder, but there was no mapping option available. Next I tried making an alias of my movies folder on my Time Capsule, and putting it in my local movies folder…and it worked!

To play movies in Front Row from your Time Capsule (or any networked or external hard drive) follow these instructions:

1. Download and installPerian (this let’s quicktime play divx and avi’s)
2. Navigate to the folder where all your movies you want to play are
3. Right click on the folder and select “make alias”



4. Drag the alias into your local movies folder



5. Fire up Front Row, and navigate to the “Movies” section. Inside the movies section you should now see the alias folder with all your movies inside!

I took it one step further, and made an alias for my TV shows too, so I could easily find and watch. Please help me in my quest to create my ultimate mac media center and post anymore fun Front Row tricks to the comments. Thanks! ]]> http://theappleblog.com/2008/07/07/view-time-capsule-movies-in-front-row/feed/ 10 jenny make-alias alias http://theappleblog.com/2008/06/04/itunes-uk-canada-receive-over-1200-movies-titles-available-same-day-as-the-dvd-release/ http://theappleblog.com/2008/06/04/itunes-uk-canada-receive-over-1200-movies-titles-available-same-day-as-the-dvd-release/#comments Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:29:53 +0000 Opal Tribble http://theappleblog.com/?p=3432 ]]>

There is good news for iTunes users living in the UK and Canada early Wednesday morning Apple added a massive amount of movies to both iTunes stores.

It’s true the iTunes UK and iTunes Canada are now featuring films from the following top movie studios; 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), Sony Pictures Television International and Lionsgate UK.

The amount of movies that have been added to the both stores is huge, boasting over 700 films for the UK store and over 1200 films for the Canadian store. iTunes users will be able to watch popular titles like “Team America, World Police”, “300″, “Manchurian Candidate”, “Matrix”, “School of Rock”, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, “Reservoir Dogs”, “Hitman,” “I Am Legend,” “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets” and “Into the Wild” are on the list and will be available for purchase and rental.

There’s more, iTunes users will be able to purchase movies the same day they are released on DVD. That’s one thing of the many things I like about iTunes service, having the ability to purchase a digital copy the same day it’s released on DVD. I purchase the movie I want, and watch it on my Apple TV. I rarely go to the movie theater since I prefer to watch the movies at home so for me this is the perfect option.

iTunes is currently the number one music retailer in the U.S. iTunes was announced by Apple, Inc. on January 9, 2001. The iTunes music store debuted on April 28, 2003. On May 9, 2005 video support was added with the release of iTunes 4.8. Initially movies along with TV shows were only available to US customers. Although there was some video content available to those living outside the U.S it was limited to music videos and Pixar’s short films. This is definitely good news for those living in the UK or Canada.

A Tumblr post by Truong Nguyen regarding an alternate ending for “I Am Legend” struck a serious chord in me today, and not just because the the ending is a much better one than they showed in the theater. It demonstrated what is still a glaring gap in the iTunes / Netflix-streaming / Amazon Unbox model of content-delivery: no consistent mechanism or even basic ability to handle alternate/augmented content.

With DVDs, you can easily select options to watch a movie with a particular set of criteria, including different audio tracks, subtitles and even alternate endings (or “middles”). There are very straightforward ways to code that into the options on the discs and users know how to cue up what combination they want to view. The best that iTunes could do – given the current distribution model and viewing options – would be to present a small clip as an additional download that contains deleted or extra scenes. There are no user expectations in the current UI – either in iTunes, Front Row or the Apple TV – that indicate one could or should be able to gain access to such content/options.

Your personal feelings on movie integrity aside (some folks despise alternate endings or “director’s cuts”), the lack of a standard in this area will mean that streamers and downloaders are relegated to second-class citizen status when it comes to video content in the same way that we were relegated to low bit-rate MP3’s in the early days of music downloads, which is a completely unacceptable situation.

Apple has an opportunity to take the lead and define how extra content will be bundled and viewed as the industry [quickly] moves to widespread digital distribution. We consumers also need to also step up and demand access to the same or even better content and not settle in and just take what we’re given. In the meantime, it looks like I’ll still be relying on DVDs – old school or (hopefully soon) Blu-Ray – for longer than I had anticipated (if you’ve ever tried to keep a DVD collection pristine with three kids in the house, you know what a losing battle that is).

Give the media bots that sweep the interwebs something to take notice of and drop a note in the comments with your take on the state of digital video content distribution. The more we raise issues, the better chance our voices will be heard.

The Apple TV and iPod are often maligned for being proprietary. Designed to work with all the content you’ve acquired and ripped into iTunes, they work primarily with music, TV shows, and films you’ve acquired from the iTunes store, or with your iPhoto library. But step outside these file formats and you’re pretty much out of luck.

I’ve been using a program called iSquint to convert .AVI files to play in iTunes, my iPod and via the Apple TV. Now, if you have a friend’s home videos sent to you in .AVI, or you download a video from the Web in .AVI, you can get them onto your big screen.

Using iSquint to make the conversion is simple.

1) Drag the .avi file from your hard drive to the application.
2) Choose to optimize for iPod or TV.
3) Select a quality range, from “Tiny” to “Go Nuts”.
4) Check the “Add to iTunes” box.

iSquint in Action

A few minutes later, when the conversion is complete, you’ve created a brand new .mp4 file, alongside the original .AVI file, and can see it in the “Movies” section of iTunes. If your Apple TV, iPod or iPhone are set to sync, then you’ll have the video the next time you do.

While there are very likely other solutions out there, this is one I’ve found that makes the process simple. If you’re not using iSquint, what have you used to bridge the gap?

After months and months of Apple TV owners, including myself, decrying Apple’s lack of an iTunes movie rental strategy, which would add great value to the device, it appears the company is going to get the users what we want. According to the Financial Times, Apple has struck a deal with 20th Century Fox that not only brings the company’s movies to iTunes, but offers the ability to rent films for a short time, and in an industry first, enable the company’s DVDs to be ripped to iPods.

While Apple has comparatively set the music world ablaze with iTunes, its venture into TV and film has been less successful. Meanwhile, adoption of the Apple TV has been lukewarm at best, highlighted mostly by Apple’s not releasing sales figures, and CEO Steve Jobs dismissively calling the device a hobby. Most of the discourse, from traditional media, and from the blogosphere, has called for Apple to better tie iTunes with the Apple TV, by adding the ability to rent films. And today, we finally get the first solid confirmation that this is happening.

(See previous coverage: Apple to Enter Video Rental Market, How Apple Could Crush Netflix Now and Eight Reasons the Apple TV is Failing, and How It Can be Saved)

While 20th Century Fox is the first studio to be named as having signed with Apple, it is by no means the only studio being courted. The Financial Times also reports Sony Pictures, Paramount and Warner Brothers are in talks with Apple to offer their movies for purchase and rental.

Details of the anticipated MacWorld 2008 announcement are slim thus far. It is anticipated the rentals will be available to customers for viewing in a 1-3 day period, for a few dollars apiece.