A storm sprang up this week around reports that, due to disagreements between Apple and Sony BMG, the upcoming Michael Jackson album “This Is It” — a tie-in to the movie of the same name and bound to be a sales success — would not be available on iTunes, the world’s biggest digital music provider.

When Michael Jackson tragically died in late June, sales of his music on iTunes sky-rocketed. A day after he died, eight of the 10 top-selling albums were from Michael Jackson. Eight of the 10 top-selling music videos, too. Five of the 10 top-selling singles were also from Jackson. It was a trend that would continue for weeks. With interest in (and thirst for) Michael Jackson music and video at an all-time high, online music vendors have a vested interest in the new album.

So it came as something of a surprise when, two days ago, news broke that iTunes was to be denied the chance to sell the upcoming album. Paul Reskinoff reported that, according to confidential information leaked to Digital Music News, Sony BMG and the Jackson Estate were insisting downloads could only occur within the constraints of a bundled, full album. So, if a customer wanted just one song from “This Is It,” they’d be forced to buy and download the entire album to get it. Apple’s policy, on the other hand, is well established in these matters; it insists on making individual tracks available for purchase and download. Hence the current standoff.

In his MediaMemo column on All Things Digital, Peter Kafka writes:

…the story is a familiar one, because it’s a longstanding dispute between Apple (AAPL) and the music business. The industry, for both financial and artistic reasons, has tried to keep music bundled together, while Apple insists on selling it a la carte.

Apple usually wins these disputes: Even the stubborn iconoclasts in Radiohead eventually bowed to Steve Jobs’s will and turned their precious albums into individual songs.

Lois Najarian, Sony’s Senior Vice President of Publicity yesterday told Wired.com:

I’m happy to report that… Michael Jackson’s This Is It album will indeed be for sale on iTunes Oct. 27. I don’t have much more information to impart other than that right now, but suffice [it] to say fans will be able to purchase it there.

It was always unlikely Apple would have been blocked from selling the new album — the contract Apple has with Sony BMG to distribute its catalogue of music would see to that. So the question now is not if the album will be sold on iTunes, but how? Najarian doesn’t say, adding only that Apple and Sony BMG are “working on that now.”

Will Sony acquiesce to Apple’s rules, or, controversially, could we see Apple agree to the album-bundling method? It’s not impossible, given how well this release is expected to sell; Apple might be prepared to make an exception to its own (usually immutable) rules in favor of meeting the guaranteed demand of its iTunes customers. Plus, I’m sure the sales revenue it generates will not be unwelcome, either.

Whether temporarily or otherwise, if Apple does indeed make an exception and bow to Sony’s wishes, it’s a decision sure to cause frustration and anger amongst iTunes customers. And you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll be hearing from some pretty miffed artists unhappy they weren’t afforded the same special treatment as the late, great, King of Pop.

Just days after the head of an independent label claimed Apple was charging as much as $10,000 in production fees associated with the new media format, Apple has denied that there are any production charges at all. Even better, the iTunes LP format will soon be available to all content creators.

Introduced at the Apple Music Event last month, the attempt to create an interactive album for the digital age has thus far generated more controversy than content. As of today, there are currently 13 iTunes LPs available, which is why the claims of exorbitant production costs and exclusion of independent labels seemed curious, but not necessarily out of character, for a controlling company like Apple.

However, Electricpig reports that Apple is “releasing the open specs for iTunes LP soon, allowing both major and indie labels to create their own. There is no production fee charged by Apple.” While some will think this clears Apple, keep in mind that “no production fee” does not necessarily mean Apple was not charging content creators money, or acting as a gatekeeper for the major record labels. This is Apple, after all.

Such policies do contrast with the technology itself, though, which is based on WebKit, the open-source browser engine. In fact, iTunesLP.net already allows for anyone to create  iTunesLPs without Apple or the iTunes Store. Still, the success of iTunes LP will require both, and it’s welcoming news to see the company affirming its commitment to iTunes LPs for all.

Introduced by none other than Steve Jobs at the Apple Music Event last month, the iTunes LP adds content like lyrics, liner notes, animation, and video interviews to the traditional album for a little more money, at least for the consumer. It turns out Apple is charging artists $10,000 in production costs for creating an iTunes LP.

That’s what Brian McKinney of indie label Chocolate Lab Records told Gizmodo. McKinney sought information on how one went about making an iTunes LP, and it was relayed to him from an iTunes Store representative that “LPs aren’t being offered to indies and that there are only about 12 LPs being offered right now.” And that Apple is charging $10,000 in production fees.

If that sounds a tad high for your average indie band practically living out of the back of a van, perhaps that’s why there are so few iTunes LPs available a month after format was introduced. To contrast that with another Apple initiative, the App Store, it opened with 500 apps, and less than a week later had nearly a thousand.

If you are looking for a rationale as to why it’s impossible to put together some songs, videos, and lyrics for less than $10,000, don’t look at me. AppleInsider has some steroidal-strength apologia on the topic, though, something about “quality assurance” and that Apple doesn’t “want the new format associated with music the mainstream market doesn’t care about.” It will be great later, though, “open standards” and all that. Let’s hope so, because right now it looks like Apple is channeling the ghost of Sony’s proprietary standards past.

When Steve Jobs introduced the iTunes LP, he remarked that “some of us here are old enough that we actually bought LPs.” Some of us also remember sifting through boxes of LPs in record stores for hours and the joy of finding new music unlike anything we’d heard before. Unless Apple changes its policy, you’ll never have to worry about losing yourself among the virtual LPs at the iTunes Store.

It’s the weekend and I’m over in London investigating a host of new iPhone apps out later this year. In the meantime, I’ve hand-picked four of the latest releases from the App Store for you to check out.

This week I’ve selected a smattering of fun games. My top pick for this week is Canabalt, plus I’ve also been looking at Nota, Tap Tap Revenge 3 and Real Football 2010.

Canabalt ($2.99)

Earlier this week Adobe announced that the latest version of Flash, version CS5, will support iPhone app development. What this means is that an app can be created using Flash and then effectively rendered out as an iPhone-compatible app file.

Ustwo, who I spoke to earlier this week, prototyped its minimalist designer game .™ in 48 hours using Flash. With CS5, developers will be able to handle prototyping and development without leaving Flash. What this means for us folk who download apps is that we’re on the cusp of another exciting period in iPhone development, especially in terms of gaming.

Which brings us to Canabalt, a game which debuted several weeks ago online in Flash form and has since been ported across the the iPhone. It’s a furious filmic rush as you dash across a futuristic rooftop, jumping buildings, dodging debris and trying to survive for as long as possible. This is one button gaming at its very best, a worthwhile download for all iPhone gamers.

Nota ($2.99)

The iPhone has great potential as an e-learning tool, but so far, it feels like an unexplored area. It’s fair enough I suppose…developers need to make a living too and other app genres, such as games, seem like they have more potential for generating profit. It’s a shame though as there’s so much potential to create something wonderful for learning on the iPhone, something just like Nota.

Nota is a music learning tool. It’s got all the beginners stuff, covering notes and crochets and all that jazz, but it dips into the realms of advanced music theory too. There’s a comprehensive reference section containing music terminology, a music quiz with two difficulty levels and even a four octave piano with a real-time musical stave.

As a musician and producer myself I think it’s important to make learning music more accessible to everyone. The app’s rich selection of tools and toys, combined with a quality finish in terms of the visual design, make this a great investment for professional musicians and students alike.

Tap Tap Revenge 3 (99 cents)

The third iteration of Tap Tap Revenge touched down in the App Store earlier this week, but this time it’s going to cost you. The two previous iterations have been free but with the third game Tapulous is charging 99 cents, a paltry sum for such a feature-packed offering.

The game packs in all the usual TTR staples, such as online play, track downloads and competitions. There’s a refreshed track-listing bundled with it too, containing music from Fall Out Boy and Tiesto, alongside premium track downloads supplied by some seriously impressive names, including Smashing Pumpkins, Killers and Foo Fighters.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, it can be summed up as Dance Dance Revolution for the iPhone. Instead of dancing with your feet, you tap with your fingers, plus there’s some shaking and tilting thrown in for good measure too. Regardless of whether or not you’ve got rhythm, if you love music, this is the game to download.

Real Soccer 2010 ($3.99)

Yet again, Gameloft has launched another game that’s terribly similar to a couple of other big name console franchises. This time the folks at Gameloft have taken their inspiration from the FIFA soccer franchise and the ISS Pro series.

Aside from the omission of real soccer team names — Manchester United becomes Man Red, for example — Real Soccer 2010 delivers everything you’d expect out of a console soccer game. There are real player names, a massive range of teams, a convincing in-game commentary system, single-player leagues as well as online matches and so much more.

Normally I’d condone this type of uninspired game design, but the thing with Gameloft is that the end product of its barefaced borrowing is always executed with such flair, focus and immense polish. For soccer fans especially, this should be a definite download.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

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

We’ve covered doubleTwist in the past, and for a time I even used it as my primary media management solution on my Mac, until iTunes 9 drew my wondering eye back to familiar territory. Now there’s even reason to go back to the iTunes competitor, as doubleTwist has just introduced Amazon MP3 store compatibility.

doubleTwist already offers the ability to sync with pretty much any device, instead of just your standard Apple i-devices. And with Amazon support, there’s little reason for many to venture back to iTunes, especially since Amazon’s prices are often better than those found in Apple’s own online store.

It wasn’t too long ago that doubleTwist’s “DVD” Jon Johansen was taking flack from BART for buying legit advertising space at a very conspicuous location, and then using it to promote the iTunes competitor. With the introduction of the Amazon store, we should see that competition heat up even further.

The new Music Store looks like a very stripped-down iTunes store, and though it isn’t as fancy as Apple’s, it is clean and functional, and it doesn’t cause the program to occasionally fail, as iTunes has been known to do. It pales in comparison to the iTunes store in terms of navigation options, though, with a search bar and two small Top Albums and Top Songs lists providing your only means of browsing the Amazon catalog.

The main advantage, of course, comes for people who don’t own an iPod or iPhone (some really do exist, honest). Plug in your BlackBerry, PSP, Android phone, and any number of other supported devices, and you can immediately copy over your purchased media. You miss out on Genius playlists and other iTunes niceties, but if you don’t have an iPod, that probably isn’t an issue anyway.

It may be a small step towards making doubleTwist a full-fledged competitor to iTunes, but having a major player like Amazon onboard is nothing to sneeze at. Ideally, the next step for DVD Jon and his open alternative for the i-device deficient would be to form a partnership with major video media distributors, especially given that doubleTwist automatically converts video when it syncs to most major devices, including the PSP and the Palm Pre.

In fact, Palm could do far worse than doubleTwist in an official partnership to provide its users a dedicated software solution for syncing media instead of continuing to play leapfrog with Apple over iTunes. I’m sure something could be arranged, so long as Palm agreed to keep the software open to other devices as well.

For now, the Amazon store is only available for the OS X version of doubleTwist, but a Windows version is coming soon. You must have an Amazon.com account with a registered payment method in order to use the service.

Tapulous took the App Store by storm with its inaugural Tap Tap Revenge rhythm music gaming title. It followed that up with the no less successful Tap Tap Revenge 2, Tap Tap Dance, and various Tap Tap games branded for individual artists. Tap Tap Revenge 3 (iTunes link) hit the App Store today, bringing with it new features and some unique iPhone 3.0 capabilities.

The official page for the app just went live over at Tapulous’s site. The app is the first in the revenge series not to retail for free — it costs 99 cents, and potentially will result in far more revenue via in-app purchasing.

For those of you worried that Tap Tap Revenge is now all about the Benjamins, fear not, there are still plenty of free tracks available for download, with more planned as future updates. It’s basically the same set-up that existed with TTR2, but without the need to buy special separate themed apps from Coldplay, etc., in order to get that bonus content. Instead, you use in-game “coins” to acquire new songs.

Opening up the app, I found right away that TTR3 was quite different from its predecessors. The first thing I had to do was choose a username and an avatar. The avatar seems to be randomly generated from a stock selection of different parts, so I of course spent far too long randomizing my appearance until I found something somewhat acceptable.

After that, I checked out the store to see what I could spend my hard-won coins on, and was not surprised to find avatar items and clothing among the available purchases. You use coins to buy avatar items, but luckily coins are earned in-game and don’t cost any actual money.

Buying tracks uses the in-app purchasing feature introduced in iPhone OS 3.0, and will prompt you with the amount the item you’ve chosen costs and a dialog that allows you to either buy or cancel the transaction. Tracks come in Packs, each featuring two or more songs. I tried purchasing a Blink-182 track pack for $2.99, and then thought better of it.

The actual rhythm game part of Tap Tap Revenge 3 works just like you remember it, if you played any of the predecessors. Colored orbs travel down three lanes, and must be tapped when they reach the bottom of your iPhone’s screen in order to score points and rack up a high score. Your score affects the number of points you earn, which you can then spend on avatar items.

Song selection in the in-app store is a bit hit or miss, and features a lot of content already available on previous installments, but the game’s only been out for less than a day, so I suspect the library will fill out quite nicely in time. If you liked the previous games, and the added incentive of a growing library featuring top artists and a built-in rewards system appeals to you, 99 cents is well worth the price of admission for TTR3.

Fueled by a burning desire to bring you the latest iPhone app recommendations, I’ve kept a keen eye on the new App Store releases this week. As ever, I’ve hand-picked four apps for you to check out.

This week I’ve given my picks a social twist, whether it’s tweeting, traveling or just talking. My top pick for this week is Ping!, plus I’ve also been looking at TwitMusic, Papaya Farm and Nearest Places.

Ping! (Free)

In just over a year I’ve purchased two iPhones — a 3G and a 3GS — totaling just over €1,000. Alongside the two iPhones, I’ve also paid €15 per month for my 3G connection, €2 per month for my carrier contract and countless euros per day on apps.

I’m not actually going to tally all of that up. My brain refuses to let me. Let’s all agree that it’s a lot of money and I’d be forgiven for leaping on any opportunity to save a bit of my hard-earned cash.

With that in mind, Ping! is the perfect antidote to a dwindling bank account. Currently free to download, the app allows you to send SMS-style messages over your data connection, which are then delivered via push to other contacts who are also registered with Ping!.

Indeed, there’s a few other IM apps that handle push, but it’s worth noting that Ping! isn’t instant messaging as such, it’s much more akin to SMS. You don’t pay to send messages, or receive, and your account is free too. Registration literally takes ten seconds, from within the app, so you’ve got no excuses — grab that app!

TwitMusic (99 cents)

Earlier this week, Loren Brichter finally announced that he has submitted the long-awaited update to Tweetie, his Apple Design Award-winning Twitter client for iPhone. If this is news to you then check out my in depth preview from earlier this week.

The latest version of Tweetie, a complete overhaul of the original app, packs in an overwhelming array of new features. However, there’s a few features missing — such as groups, push and music tweeting — that would have certainly bolstered the app’s offering even more.

The latter of the three features I just mentioned is covered by TwitMusic. It’s an app designed for just one function: tweeting whatever song you’re listening to right now. The app will grab all the details about whatever tune you’re rocking at that moment and push it to Twitter. An excellent app for those who like sharing their personal soundtrack with the world.

Papaya Farm (Free)

A few weeks back I tried out Button, an unsettling multiplayer game in which the only objective is to push the big green button. Randomly tapping the mysterious button throughout the day has given me a test for more multiplayer gaming on my iPhone.

Compared to Button, Papaya Farm, despite it’s slightly more complex gameplay, is much more relaxing. The game finds you tending to your own digital farm: a place where the virtual grass is lush and green, and, with your assistance, the harvest is fruitful.

The real game begins when you start playing with your friends. Your fellow farmers play dirty and attempt to steal your crops. In retaliation, you install security dogs. Your friends then send you abusive messages via Ping! You subsequently forget that all you really wanted to do was grow a carrot. The game descends into chaos. It’s great fun.

Nearest Places ($1.99)

The final app this week is just for 3GS owners. Nearest Places is an app that makes use of augmented reality (subscription required). This buzzword seems to have just become fashionable again but it does mean something pretty cool: you can look through your camera and see lots of extra data about the world around you, Terminator style!

Rather than point you in the direction of your local subway or tube station, Nearest Places brings just about everything else to you. Through your iPhone’s camera you’ll be able to locate the nearest bars, museums, ATMs and more.

Acrossair, the folks behind the app, have uploaded several videos on YouTube showing how its augmented reality technology works on iPhone. If you’re still unsure how it’ll actually work on your 3GS, you can also check out Yelp’s app, available for free, which contains an augmented reality Easter egg.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

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

RjDj, the exceptionally cool “reactive sound platform” app from Reality Jockey, which turns the iPhone’s microphone into an audio synthesizer, just got even cooler: Now available in the App Store is “Kids on DSP,” an entire album featuring collaborations from two well-known techno artists — Carl Craig and Acid Pauli — converted for play in the RjDj app.

Audio picked up by your mic is seamlessly mixed with the music, and played back as a unified audio soundscape in your ear buds; your surrounding environment becomes part of the album. Take a deep breath, say, and it’s turned into a heavily reverbed whoosh; take your iPhone into the kitchen, and the faucet sounds like a rainstorm crescendo added to the backbeat.

The RjDj experience for “Kids on DSP” will vary from track to track, Reality Jockey producer Robert Thomas told me by email. “‘Drowning Street’ incorporates sounds from your surroundings to become a kind of tripped out sonic bed which washes over you and pumps around the music,” he wrote. The “Timecruising” track created with Craig takes external audio inputs and plays them backward, creating a bizarre, temporal rubber band effect. (This video explains further.)

All this aural wizardry isn’t just an innovative plaything, however, because it’s also being launched as a new revenue source for recorded music. Reality Jockey is developing a number of applications for “major label chart topping artists,” Thomas said. While a number of artists are selling apps of their own, he argued that “most of them are actually no different from the old ‘multimedia CD’ release — i.e. some music, some video, some web links, etc.” Thomas believes RjDj will offer a better strategy by selling albums that weave a musician’s work into an immersive, interactive experience that goes beyond mere listening. (Operating on a somewhat similar premise, track downloads for the music video game franchises Guitar Hero and Rock Band have become enormously successful. )

Still, whether this can become another needed revenue alternative for the music industry remains to be seen. Thomas tells me 300,000 iPhone/iPod touch owners have downloaded the RjDj app, which is a nice audience base to start with, but will probably need to grow much larger before it becomes a significant income/promotion channel for labels and artists. And as with music video games, the other challenge is composing music tracks customized to play well in RjDj. Thomas suggested that in order to do that, “[T]he composer needs to think in multiple possible scenarios, not just one route. I tend to call it quantum composing.”

Image courtesy of rjdj.me

As another week draws to a close, the App Store expands even further with a torrent of new toys and tools. As ever, I’ve hand-picked four recent iPhone releases for you to take a look at.

This week I’ve given our picks a creative vibe, selecting four different apps that let you engage with your artistic and cultural side. My top pick for the week is Xewton Music Studio, plus I’ve been looking at Snapture, GraffitiGeo and McSweeney’s.

Xewton Music Studio ($19.99)

Armed with an iPhone, there’s never been so much choice for making music on the move. Despite all the choice, the recording app I keep coming back to is FourTrack. It’s a fully-featured 4 track recorder, complete with bouncing, panning, metronome and Wi-Fi sharing.

When it comes to full on audio sequencing and sketching out bigger ideas, I head for Intua’s BeatMaker. The app costs twenty bucks, but for producers it’s definitely worth it: this is about as close to Ableton Live as you’ll get on your iPhone.

Now it looks like I might be adding Xewton Music Studio to my iPhone audio app lineup. Rather than put the focus on electronica, like Beatmaker, Music Studio is essentially a sequencer designed with traditional composers and songwriters in mind.

Xewton Music Studio includes 21 instruments, a 128-track sequencer, piano-roll note editor, real-time effects and lots more. Although the app may well take some time to learn, it’s powerful enough to potentially become a useful composition tool for many musicians.

Snapture ($1.99)

With Flickr, QuadCamera and PhotoForge handling all of the photo processing on my iPhone, I wasn’t sure if there was room for another camera app. Arriving at the App Store by way of Cydia, Snapture is a very tempting and feature-packed photo processing tool. Tempting as it is for my 3GS, this recommendation is for 3G users only.

The app rolls in a raft of useful functions, such as High Speed Multishot and Level Aid. Plus, once you’ve taken your photos, you can stay within the app to browse and manage your library.

It’s worth noting that the app currently doesn’t make use of the 3GS iPhone’s tap-to-focus functionality. While Snapture works well enough on Apple’s latest device, I would urge 3GS owners to hold out until the app integrates this much requested feature.

GraffitiGeo (Free)

Last Summer I signed a two-year contract with Sonera and received a white iPhone 3G. After arriving home and spending far too long trying to decide if I should film the unboxing (I didn’t), I tore away the packing, activated my iPhone and headed for the App Store.

One of the first apps that I downloaded was Graffitio, an old-school bulletin board that included geo-location support. After tagging various locations and adding a few messages, I got a little bored. The app’s long lists of tiny text felt too plain for my iPhone.

Released this Summer, GraffitiGeo takes the location tagging concept even further. The app feels like a fun version of Dopplr — as a tool, GraffitiGeo is useful for finding food, events and places of interest. And it’s surprisingly compelling as a toy too, as you’re able to form gangs and earn achievements. Definitely one to check out for iPhone owners in big cities.

McSweeney’s (99 cents)

McSweeney’s has always been a reliable destination for deliciously absurd, charming, silly, classy and fun literary offerings. While there are longer pieces to delve into, my favorite is a very short piece by Mike Ward called, E-mail Addresses It Would Be Really Annoying To Give Out Over The Phone.

Regular readers of McSweeney’s monochromatic online offering will be used to getting their fix for free. Although the iPhone app isn’t free, it includes access to a weekly fix of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

The most promising aspect of McSweeney’s iPhone app is that it includes a six month subscription to the Small Chair. Every single week for the next six months you’ll receive scrummy multimedia blips — songs, videos, stories and such — from clever creative folk like Spike Jonze, Chris Ware and Jonathan Ames.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

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

It’s the end of another week and so it’s time for me to scour the latest releases in the App Store for the hottest new iPhone apps. As ever, I’ve selected four hot picks released in the last seven days for you to check out.

This week I’ve plucked our picks from across the globe. Hailing from Japan, my top pick this week is Brain Controller.

I’ve also checked out Finland’s Pajatzo, France’s Adrenaline Golf and Germany’s Vinyl DJ.

Brain Controller ($2.99)

Created by the apparently twisted minds at Motion Portrait Inc. over in Japan, Brain Controller might not be the most useful app to add to your collection but, it may well be the strangest. If you’re looking to drop some jaws and raise some eyebrows while showing off your iPhone, this is the app for you.

After shooting a photo of your friend, the app will work its truly impressive magic on your unsuspecting cohort. Brain Controller creates a Men In Black-style video, featuring a small alien emerging from your friend’s cranium before delivering a personalized message.

Those that still need convincing can check out some of the videos, uploaded directly from the app to YouTube, or even try out mpChange, an excellent little site that uses the same technology to mess with your face in a variety of utterly weird ways.

Pajatzo (99 cents)

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know how I regularly indulge in pachinko-based fun on my iPhone. It all started several months ago with Rockchinko, a pachinko game that introduces rockabilly and bullet-time to the mix.

As a newcomer to Finland, I couldn’t help but notice pajazzo machines in a few of my favorite haunts. Pajazzo is the Finnish equivalent of pachinko. Played by shooting a coin into the machine, your coin will ricochet around before hopefully scoring a jackpot and earning you a modest return on your investment.

As pajazzo’s success never quite reached the epic proportions of its Japanese counterpart, and seeing as most machines are now dusty disused relics, Pajatzo for iPhone might be your only chance to try out this addictive Finnish classic.

Adrenaline Golf (99 cents)

From the folks behind Adrenaline Golf and Adrenaline Poker is the imaginatively titled Adrenaline Golf. Eurocenter, based in France, specialize in developing online games for iPhone. In fact, looking at their back catalogue, all of their releases feature an online component.

While Eurocenter’s Poker wasn’t the most effective online poker game for iPhone (my pick would be Zynga’s excellent Live Poker), they’ve managed to create something solid and fun with Adrenaline Golf. Online multiplayer matches are mixed up with trampolines, bumpers and even cannons.

Particularly surprising is Adrenaline Golf’s price. For just a buck iPhone 3GS owners get a true taster of the fledgling device’s graphical prowess. The details are delicious, from shimmering tropical waters to glowing night-time torches.

Vinyl DJ (99 cents)

This week’s final pick comes to us from Germany. Developed by Armin Heinrich, Vinyl DJ is strictly for iPhone-owning audiophiles who long for the golden days of music, when the closest thing to the iTunes Music Store was wandering down to your local record shop and sifting through never ending racks of dusty vinyl.

Vinyl was kicked to the curb though, sidelined for streamlined, portable and, most importantly, digital formats. Even though the benefits of digital are hard to ignore, there are some who claim that our new-fangled devices are lacking a certain je ne sais quoi.

And that’s where Vinyl DJ comes in. This app brings back that vintage vibe with a variety of effects including dust, crackle, scratch, mechanical noise and, of course, that all important record deck hum.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

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

iTunes 9 brings about a much more flexible setup for syncing. It’s definitely an improvement, in some senses, but still far from perfect. In fact, many might be quick to term some of the options as “feature creep.” Check out some of our thoughts on the new options and look at the side by side screenshots of the syncing options to get an idea.

Syncing in general has been improved in the sense that users can now drill down and sync more specific content. Music can now be synced by a combination of playlists, specific artists or genres. Podcasts can be synced by specific episodes and TV shows can be synced by specific episodes or seasons.

New altogether is the ability to sync iTunes U content which also has its own category, instead of being mixed in randomly between podcasts and music. Photo syncing has also been greatly enhanced, allowing support for specific albums, events or faces. Searching has also been enabled in many of these areas to allow you to quickly narrow down your choices. While these are all great features, they have really intensified the syncing interface. Hopefully it’s not too much for some users.

Still No Love for Audiobooks?

As mentioned in my wish list, I was really hoping for an improved way to sync audiobooks. Apple answered my hopes in an odd way. In the Music section, you can now search through your artists and, upon searching for a particular author, I was able to sync up those specific audiobooks. This isn’t a perfect solution though as a user may have multiple audiobooks from the same author. Why not just add another tab across the top? Apple added one for iTunes U. (I’m completely kidding. Remember, the interface is getting too complicated. iTunes 8 had eight tabs for syncing options while iTunes 9 brings the number to 10.) I personally feel the number of tabs across the top is too many, but I do feel audiobooks are important enough to warrant a more selective approach for syncing instead of just creating playlists for them.

Home Screens, Sweet Home Screens

Of course, the part most of you will really care about is the ability to organize your iPhone and iPod touch home screens via iTunes. This is simply amazing and is surprisingly quite functional. You simply navigate amongst the home screens, deleting or adding as needed and dragging applications between them. If you want to drag an item from the first screen to the fifth, just click and drag the app and hover over the fifth screen. It’ll pop up in the main view and you can place your app.

You can also select multiple apps by holding down the Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) keys. Moving complete screens around is also a snap, just by clicking and dragging them. All in all, this feature works quite well and should give users no excuse for messy randomly placed apps on their iPhones (or at least quell frustrations of people who attempt to switch between pages while editing apps only to grab and app and move it instead).

Generally speaking, these new syncing options do give users more flexible options to manage content on their devices, but I’m curious to see if any of you feel the interface itself has become a little overblown?

The one thing many people did not expect with a new version of iTunes was that Apple would use the opportunity to cause dissent among its fanbase by introducing another new user interface. Some classify the new styling as “needed” and “elegant and refined” while others have resorted to a variety of hacks to return to the UI of yesteryear.

We’ve gone through every corner of iTunes we could find and dug up all of the major changes in the interface. Here’s what we found.

Welcome to iTunes 9

The first thing many noticed is that iTunes 9 now launches with a Welcome to iTunes screen, offering quick links to videos showcasing some of iTunes features. Similar to apps like iPhoto and iWeb, users can disable this by ticking a checkbox.

iTunes Preferences

iTunes Preferences also featured a few notable changes, specifically adding support for grouping iTunes U content.

iTunes 9 General Preferences

iTunes 8 General Preferences

Parental Control also received a new icon (matching the icon in Snow Leopard) as well as some slight rewording.

iTunes 9 Parental Controls

iTunes 8 Parental Controls

Removed from iTunes 9 are references in the Store section to “adding to shopping cart” versus buying with Amazon’s licensed 1-Click technology. Added is an option to use the full window when browsing the iTunes Store.

iTunes 9 Store Preferences

iTunes 8 Store Preferences

Browsing Content

Browsing content within iTunes has also received a refresh. While browsing music in List Mode, the artists have been grouped along the left, making it easier to narrow down your selection rather quickly.

iTunes 9 Music List Mode

When browsing in Grid View, the first thing you will notice is that the dark black background is gone and now albums are scattered amongst an off white background. Badged content, such as Podcasts, TV Shows, iTunes U and Movies feature blue badges instead of the original red. Gone from this view are the tabs to sort content within an area (such as Music) by Albums, Artists, Genres and Composers. This can be re-enabled via the View menu.

ITunes 9 Podcasts

Cover Flow view is pretty much the same, with the refining of the “full screen” icon.

iTunes 9 CoverFlow

The iTunes 9 Equalizer also received a refresh, styling the control knobs with blue accents.

iTunes 9 Equalizer

iTunes 8 Equalizer

Icons & Buttons

Buttons and displays in iTunes 9 have been overhauled to give them a more glossy, shiny three dimensional look. The toolbar has also been realigned, removing the ‘View’ label and moving the ‘Search’ label instead the Search field. The information area has also been updated, providing more useful information during syncing and downloading of content from the iTunes Store (such as time remaining).

iTunes 9 also brings about many refreshed icons, including many of the icons in the sidebar. Specifically, playlist icons have gotten the most attention, while TVs, Movies, Audiobooks, and Applications have seen slight refreshes as well.

Syncing

Syncing is by far the area that received the most attention in this revision. Specifically, users now have the ability to sync content more selectively. When choosing a TV show, for instance, they can sync specific seasons or specific episodes. When syncing a podcast, they can choose to sync specific episodes. When syncing photos, users can take advantage of the iPhoto ‘09 Faces and Places aspect to sync photos of particular people or a particular place. Many of these areas also provide a search field, making it easier to quickly narrow down and select the specific content you’re looking for.

Syncing TV Shows

Syncing Ringtones

Syncing iTunes U

Syncing Music

Syncing Photos

The biggest feature in the redesigned sync options is the ability to organize your iPhone and iPod touch apps directly within iTunes. Check the ones you wish to add, highlight to select them and drag them to whichever home screen you desire. Selecting multiple apps is a cinch and moving them between home screens is equally easy.

Syncing Apps

Everything Else

Upon a user’s first visit to a section, such as creating a new Playlist, or visiting the Podcast area, they are greeted with a new UI that discusses how that particular concept works.

iTunes 9 New Playlist

While this overview is fairly exhaustive, there are likely many other features that users will continue to discover. If there’s one we’ve missed, please use the comments to let us know!

]]> http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/16/itunes-ui-deconstructing-8-to-9/feed/ 45 limeology iTunes Icon Welcome to iTunes 9 iTunes 9 General Preferences iTunes 8 General Preferences iTunes 9 Parental Controls iTunes 8 Parental Controls iTunes 9 Store Preferences iTunes 8 Store Preferences iTunes 9 Music List Mode ITunes 9 Podcasts iTunes 9 CoverFlow iTunes 9 Equalizer iTunes 8 Equalizer iTunes 9 vs iTunes 8 Sidebar Icons TV Shows Syncing Ringtones Sync iTunes U Syncing Music Syncing Photos Syncing Apps iTunes 9 New Playlist http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/14/itunes-9-deconstructing-lps-extras/ http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/14/itunes-9-deconstructing-lps-extras/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:00:41 +0000 Chris Ryan http://theappleblog.com/?p=32363 ]]>

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?

The Beatles may not have arrived in the iTunes Music Store just yet, but it’s not all disappointing news: the App Store has been updated with a new look and a stack of new iPhone apps have been released. As ever, here are my picks from the latest additions.

My top pick for this week is Hitchcock, plus I’ve also checked out Newsstand, Blades of Fury and Rhapsody.

Hitchcock ($19.99)
There’s a fantastic range of apps on offer to budding iPhone-based photographers at the moment. Tools such as QuadCamera and ColorSplash make for fun and effective photo-enhancing toys, and, once you’re done touching up your latest masterpiece, you can share your photography on Flickr via their official app. For folk who want to take their photography a step further and start dabbling in film, Hitchcock has arrived. Don’t let the messy interface fool you, this is a powerful app that’s packed with seriously useful features. Essentially a storyboarding tool, the app allows you to drop in photos as panels, outline camera movement, set shot durations and even add audio notes. Once you’ve laid out your latest shoot, you can export as a PDF too. Possibly a tad pricey but potentially an indispensable tool for indie film directors.

Newsstand ($4.99)
Byline might have been the most useful RSS reader on the block, but there’s a new news-gathering app in town and it’s got a great feature-set and good looks too. Newsstand incorporates a gorgeous newspaper rack style interface, fusing traditional with modern, allowing you to skim the latest headlines in style. Alongside Google Reader syncing, Instapaper support and sharing via Twitter, Newsstand also incorporates two essential RSS features: offline browsing and an embedded browser. I like to be able to open the app up and sync the latest news and happenings across the web for reading later. And for when I’m connected, an embedded browser is essential for those moments when I want to explore a story a little further.

Blades of Fury ($6.99)
There are two interesting things about this app. First up, this game is effectively classic Japanese coin-op and console beat-em-up Soul Calibur, shrunk on to the iPhone. It’s 10 medieval fantasy characters, each brandishing a different sort of pointy stick and an array of special moves. And secondly, Gameloft has seriously upped its quality on the iPhone. It’s heavily leaning on the ideas of other more-successful gaming franchise, like Gangstar’s GTA-style gameplay and Modern Combat’s Battlefield vibe, but it’s releasing good games nonetheless. Just like it’s predecessors, Blades of Fury is derivative, but that’s only noticeable because it does such a stunning job of re-creating Soul Calibur. The artwork and graphics are a true achievement, I’m surprised to see that the iPhone can be pushed so far and while the control scheme isn’t perfect, it certainly works well enough to make for a fun hack ‘n’ slash fighter.

Rhapsody (free)
The joys of Spotify might not have reached the U.S. just yet, but that doesn’t mean that those of you who are stateside can’t enjoy the benefits of all-you-can-eat music streaming. Real Networks, the folks behind the wonderfully bloated ad-touting Real Player, launched its own iPhone app this week. Rhapsody hooks into Real’s music network, giving you wireless access to their gargantuan library, apparently touting more than 8 million songs. There are some neat music browsing features, like Rhapsody Radio and Charts, however, as our own Darrell Etherington noted, the sound quality isn’t so hot. It’s worth checking out though as, although you’ll need to be a paying subscriber to use the app on a regular basis, Real is currently offering a seven-day free trial of the service.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

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

This week’s arrival of Spotify in the App Store (right now limited to UK, Sweden, France, Spain, Norway and Finland stores) could be the ideal opportunity for us all to throw iTunes in the trash and experience the freedom that Spotify has to offer.

Speculation was rife as to whether Spotify would even make it into the App Store. However, Apple’s somewhat unexpected approval of the all-you-can-eat music service means that iPhone and iPod touch users can now listen to anything and (almost) everything, wherever they may be.

For the moment, Spotify is available exclusively in Europe. Released initially for both Mac and PC, the desktop version of Spotify looks and functions quite similarly to iTunes, except with one major difference: everything in the store is free.

Users of Spotify are granted the freedom to cherry pick their favorite tracks, nibbling on morsels of music and sampling the latest flavors, and the tools to legally share them too. You’re able to select any song and instantly generate a URL linking back to the full track, making sharing music a breeze.

The Spotify iPhone app has changed everything. I’m no longer tied to its desktop application. With the iPhone app, I’m able to download and listen to thousands of tracks on the go, which gets me to thinking, is it time I threw iTunes in the trash?

Playlists Versus Libraries

Shifting over from iTunes to Spotify has been a more difficult transition than I expected. Making use of the iTunes “keep my music folder organized” option, my own iTunes library is stored on an external HD where each track is properly named, tagged, numbered and even dated. If I could, I’d wear a top hat and monocle while showing guests around my immaculately maintained iTunes library.

When I’m at home, it’s all about the album experience. I prefer to consume music as the artist originally intended, whether it be the epic tones of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and Sigur Rós’s Ágætis Byrjun, or the bloops and glitches of Kraftwerk’s Computer World and Aphex Twin’s Chosen Lords.

Out and about however I don’t even tend to listen to music anymore. Over the past couple of years I’ve succumbed to the joys of podcasts via iTunes, subscribing to The Bugle, Answer Me This and Totally Rad Show amongst many others. As a result of this, I’ve increasingly felt as though I’m losing touch with my music collection.

The Album Is Dead

Listening with Spotify is an entirely different experience, though. Like many Europeans who are lucky enough to have a Spotify invite, or affluent enough to pay for a €9.99 premium account, I’ve begun to focus on consuming and sharing music exclusively via playlists.

It’s been a tough transition over to Spotify for me, specifically because there’s no iTunes-style music library. With Spotify, the album is dead, felled by his younger and more agile counterpart, the playlist.

Without the personal music library, the heart of iTunes, there’s none of the satisfaction of flicking through your collection in Cover Flow. And with Spotify managing its vast selection of tracks, never again will you glow with pride after correctly tagging, naming and selecting cover art for your latest procurement.

The App Effect

The Spotify iPhone app doesn’t attempt to ape iTunes or the iPod, rather it plays to its own strengths. In effect, the app further establishes Spotify as an entirely new platform for discovering new music. Although the app is available for free, the service can only be accessed on iPhone by premium subscribers.

The €9.99 monthly subscription fee (equating to roughly $14.50) is worth it though. You’re granted unlimited access to Spotify’s growing library, consisting of almost 4 million tracks. And while there are occasional disappointments in both the mainstream and esoteric departments (there’s currently no Immaculate Collection and very little Boards of Canada), more frequently you’ll find yourself overwhelmed at the breadth and depth of what’s on offer.

Imagine having a free-pass to access everything in the iTunes Music Store. It’s just like that. In the past day I’ve tried a little bit of The Breeders, delved into some classic Radiohead, sampled the delight’s of Jason Schwartzman’s Coconut Records, and, via Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour collection, discovered the joys of Gene Harris, Roy Brown and J.B. Lenoir. It feels liberating and exciting.

Using the desktop app, you’re able to design elaborate and lengthy mixes or, as I do, build playlists out of individual albums. You can then wirelessly sync your playlists to the iPhone app. And here’s the best bit: all of the tracks that are synced to the iPhone are actually downloaded to the device, you can take them with you wherever you go and listen offline.

Life Without iTunes?

The freedom that Spotify offers encourages you to spend more time digging deep, inevitably discovering mountains of new music. No longer can I derive pleasure from pruning my tracks and tending to my albums, but then who cares? With Spotify, I spend more time actually listening to music.

It’s not quite time for me to throw iTunes in the trash though. While I imagine Spotify will have podcasts covered in due course, until they do, iTunes is all but essential. Plus there’s all the albums and artists in my collection that just aren’t available in Spotify, meaning I won’t be wiping my iTunes library just yet.

Until Spotify integrates seriously expands its library and integrates podcast subscriptions, iTunes will be afforded a stay of execution. In the meantime, I’ll be leading a dual life, enjoying podcasts and a few select albums via iTunes, while exploring the vastness that is everything else with Spotify.

While Spotify is currently only available in Europe, stateside readers should be able to try the service soon as Spotify is pegged to arrive in the U.S. before the end of 2009.

Across the pond, our European neighbors have been enjoying Spotify for some time now. It’s only fair that Apple should continue on in that vein and approve Rhapsody for the American masses. Sure Rhapsody costs money and Spotify doesn’t, but it does present a very competitive subscription-based alternative to iTunes.

For just $15.99 a month, Rhapsody subscribers have unlimited access to the site’s entire database of tracks, which numbers somewhere around eight million, and features most of today’s popular artists. While users of Last.fm and Pandora have been able to stream customized radio feeds directly to their devices since early on in the history of the App Store, Rhapsody is the first to bring on-demand tracks and albums to U.S. iPhone owners.

It may seem like direct competition for Apple’s own iTunes service, but is it really? Subscribers can stream music to their devices over either Wi-Fi or 3G network connections, but if you want to listen to music outside of Wi-Fi or cellular coverage areas, you’re out of luck, because the app has no offline access at all. Even if you are connected, constant streaming will significantly reduce your device’s battery life.

There’s also the issue of quality. Regardless of the type or quality of data connection you have, Rhapsody content streamed to the iPhone is only 64kbps — which, to someone like myself who tries to find FLAC recordings when possible, is absolutely unacceptable. I won’t even listen to internet radio streams if they don’t broadcast at at least 128kbps, and I don’t touch AM radio.

If you’re willing to put up with sub-par sound quality, and complete silence anytime you have to use the subway or take a trip to the remote wilderness or do anything that lasts more than a few hours away from a power supply, then maybe Rhapsody seems like a true iTunes competitor. I think Apple is gambling on the fact that most users will be willing to make one of those concessions, but definitely not all three.

Rhapsody is the product of a partnership between RealNetworks and MTV, which means they know a fair bit about sound, digital audio and music appreciation. This early version of its iPhone app probably doesn’t tell the full story of what it has planned in the future. Better to have a foot in the door with less than ideal functionality than to be left out in the cold like Google was with its Voice app.

Rhapsody is available now as a free download in the App Store.

Hours before the “Only Rock and Roll” event takes place in San Francisco, the Apple Store has slashed prices on some the current iPod models.

The new numbers are still in the process of being posted, with parts of the Apple Store referencing old prices, but the savings are real and substantial.

The 8GB iPod touch now costs $189, a $40 discount, while the 16GB model is now $249, a $50 reduction. However, big savings are to be had for the 32GB model, now $279, a whopping $120 price cut. Other iPods saw cuts, too. The 8GB iPod nano has dropped to $129, down from $149, and the 16GB model is now $149, previously $199. The iPod Classic, rumored to be phased out today, is now $229, down from $249. The price of the iPod shuffle remains unchanged.

While it’s debatable whether the new pricing will extend to the iPods expected to be unveiled today, the new prices on old models of the iPod touch may impact consumers considering Microsoft’s Zune HD. The 16GB Zune HD, to be released on Sept. 15, will retail for $219.99, while the 32GB model will cost $289.99. This means Apple has effectively undercut the Zune HD, at least on the high-end. It will be interesting to see whether Microsoft will lower prices again, or give up the pricing talking point, which wouldn’t really leave much to talk about regarding the Zune HD.

However, there will be a lot to talk about today, starting at 10 a.m. PDT, and TheAppleBlog will be covering it live.

It has been a little over one year since the iTunes Store was blocked in China for the heinous crime of selling the album “Songs for Tibet.” Now The Wall Street Journal reports that the Chinese government, which hasn’t banned or blocked anything in awhile so are clearly about due, has introduced strict, new rules governing how online music services make foreign songs available to the masses.

To clarify, home-grown Chinese songs aren’t the issue. It’s just those nasty foreign tunes with their subversive, poisonous propaganda that are the problem. Any online service that provides the ability to search for or buy foreign music is affected by the new rules.

Online music sites as well as search engines that provide links to songs will be required to obtain prior approval from the Chinese government for songs recorded outside the country, according to the WSJ. This includes big players like Google, Baidu and Yahoo’s Chinese presence, Alibaba. And it most certainly will affect Apple’s iTunes service, as well.

In a statement from China’s Ministry of Culture, the new measures are designed to:

…weed out bad content, a large amount of unapproved imported music and copyright violations, as well as to establish more supervision and regulation over the market.

Seeking permission and approval is easy. All that’s required is a copy of the lyrics and evidence of the copyright owner’s permission to sell and distribute the songs online. For every single song. Easy. Not a supremely unnecessary pain drain on resources at all.

Even the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) — normally the first to jump up and down with glee at the implementation of efforts to observe artists and record label’s copyrights — aren’t entirely convinced this is the best way to move forward. Neil Turkewitz, RIAA’s executive vice president, International, had this to say:

We understand that China has particular sensitivities about the distribution of content, but introducing new controls on the legitimate delivery of music will do little to address these sensitivities. At present, an estimated 99 percent of the online music accessed by Chinese users is infringing. Hopefully these new regulations will be applied to all services that provide access to music, and not only to the few legitimate services that are providing legal materials.

Turkewitz added, “China should apply and implement these regulations in a careful manner, so that they target copyright violators and don’t become a burden to legitimate providers.”

All this talk of copyright ownership and market regulation is, on the surface, noble and decent and worth applauding. But it’s also a stark reminder that, for big corporations like Apple, Google and Yahoo to continue to do business in that country, they must acquiesce to rules and regulations that, in the West, would be considered completely unacceptable infringements on our rights to freedom of self-expression and commerce.

Certainly, Apple, Google and the rest will do what it takes to continue doing business in China — the market (and the potential revenue it makes possible) is simply too huge to ignore.

September 9 is indeed the day for the next official Apple press event, according to Apple itself via press invitations that were sent out today. The event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, CA at 10AM Pacific. That’s 1PM Eastern for those of us over here on the other coast. Other time zones will have to do their own fancy math adjustment.

The tagline for the event is “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it,” and the image being circulated with the invitation features a traditional dancing silhouette with white iPod and headphones. All of which makes it seem very likely that people expecting a tablet announcement will be somewhat disappointed, but that those looking forward to new iPod models will probably have something to celebrate.

The title is a riff on British rockers The Rolling Stones’ track “It’s Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It).” There has been speculation that fellow British rock sensation The Beatles would finally be coming to the iTunes Store at this event, since it’s the same day Beatles Rock Band ships, but so far that remains up in the air.

Another possible reason for the September 9 date, which falls on a Wednesday instead of following the traditional Apple-event Tuesday pattern, is iTunes 9. Recently, there have been many rumors surrounding the next major point upgrade of Apple’s music and media management software, so expect to see it arrive next Wednesday, complete with added social networking capabilities and possibly additional features that take advantage of new iPod hardware improvements.

Snow Leopard isn’t the only exciting release this week, as ever there are tons of new additions to the App Store. Here are my top picks from the week’s releases.

This week I’ve been looking at iWound, Star6, Gangstar: West Coast Hustle and Tasker.

iWound ($4.99)
If I’m not in the mood for gaming or tweeting, I tend to head over to the ‘reading’ section of my iPhone. Amongst others, I can keep up with the latest global happenings using the official New York Times app, pore over the pages of a classic book with Kindle or jump headfirst into an adventure with Comics. However, there’s nothing there to sate my creative appetite if I’m looking for a little art, fashion, architecture or design. Created by Wound, this app presents the perfect platter of visual creativity, a feast for the eyes and nourishment for your brain, all packaged in digital magazine form. The app’s current theme is ‘La Grande Illusion’, a concept which manifests itself by exploring awesome electro lady Peaches, New York artist Amy Bessone, London designer Marios Schwab and David Rockwell, award winning architect behind the Kodak Theatre.

Star6 ($6.99)
It’s always a good week when a new sound toy worthy of recommending is released on iPhone. While RjDj and Bloom have the artistic sound-installation side of things covered, Star6 has arrived twirling its glow sticks and stomping its feet — this is a sound toy for folk who just want to dance. The app packs in a stack of samples, alongside an array of different options for manipulating the onslaught of audio. Although you can upload and play with your own samples, there are six sample packs included, covering hip hop, drum and bass, electro and other mild headache-inducing (yet sonically adorable) sound effects. Those familiar with music production and sound manipulation will be pleased to hear that there’s a granular synthesis-powered audio engine, allowing you to control pitch, speed, gate, sample order and randomness. However, even the last sentence sounded like jargon to you, you’ll still find it’s fun to open the app, start tapping buttons and see what kind of weird rhythms you’re able to generate.

Gangstar: West Coast Hustle ($6.99)
A few months back Payback was released for iPhone. The app did a convincing enough impression of GTA 2 to warrant recommending, however after extended play it left me wanting so much more. With the release of the iPhone 3GS, games can now push previous technological boundaries even further. Gangstar uses the iPhone’s usual touch ‘n’ tilt interaction, but takes advantage of the iPhone 3GS — a faster device that’s packing better graphics than its predecessor. What results is the iPhone’s answer to GTA3: a fully 3D, free roaming, automobile heist adventure. The game includes 50 missions, an armory of weaponry, and an entire city to cruise around in — more than enough for a lazy Sunday of iPhone gaming.

Tasker ($2.99)
If you’re all about productivity but you’ve got a hectic on-the-go kinda lifestyle, Tasker may be just the app for you. The app touts itself as a “simple, yet powerful task manager”, yet it’s so much more than that. By keeping the app’s focus solely on task lists, the app’s designer, Scott Sykora, has excelled in creating a task manager that’s easy to use and incredibly powerful. Tasks can be ordered by date or place, allowing you to drill-down to a specific day and plan out your schedule on a map, viewing and sorting tasks in specific locations. As if that wasn’t enough, task-entry has been refined into a fast, yet effective process. There’s a variety of tools out there for managing your tasks via the iPhone, Tasker is certainly worth considering for it’s simplicity and potential effectiveness.

That’s all 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?