Apple has opened up iTunes LP and iTunes Extras, publishing Templates, Best Practices and a Development Guide so that anyone has the capability to create interactive content that can be played back in iTunes 9 or on Apple TV.

• iTunes LP lets you create digital albums that include links to listen to album songs and view lyrics, liner notes, photos and videos (such as artist interviews).
• iTunes Extras is designed to present a movie with interactive menus, bonus content, and chapter navigation, similar to those supplied by DVD or Blu-ray authors.

Apple has also published information on testing and delivering the new formats.

Complete information on building content for the new formats is available at the Apple site.

Panasonic today introduced a new iPod dock, the MW-10 iPod dock/photo frame, that does everything but do your dishes.

Features:

• Built-in CD player;
• FM/AM radio tuner;
• 45-station (30-FM/15-AM) Preset Memory;
• Rigid, low-density bamboo cones;
• D.Bass function enhances bass in conjunction with the volume level;
• Universal Dock for iPod plays music and video downloads;
• Remote control which makes it easy to operate the iPod from a distance;
• 9-inch WVGA LCD can display photos from a CD, SD Memory Card and internal memory;
• 4 GB of internal memory stores image data for up to 6,000** photo; and
• Advanced display offers a combination of screen options: clock and iPod track menu, calendar and photos, clock and photos, and audio and calendar;

Panasonic’s MW-10 will be available in December 2009 with a suggested retail price of $299.95.

The Microsoft Zune HD is no iPod-killer, according to technology research firm, Compete.

Some thought that Microsoft’s new touch-screen portable media player could give the iPod touch a run for its money, but Apple’s latest iPod announcements appear to be generating a lot more interest.

According to Compete’s Conrad Beickler:

• The addition of a video camera to the iPod Nano resulted in a 700% week over week lift in traffic to Nano specific pages at apple.com during launch week
• Traffic to Zune.net, on the other hand, only saw a comparatively modest 90% week to week increase when the Zune HD launched
• What’s far more damaging to the Zune HD’s prospects is that the iPod Touch, which hasn’t changed drastically since its redesign in September 2008, drew virtually identical levels of interest from online consumers as the entire Zune.net site during the first two weeks immediately following the Zune HD launch

Beickler calls consumer interest in the Zune lukewarm – but even that’s an improvement for Microsoft. The Zune HD seems to be convincing people to reconsider the Zune platform.

“If early interest is any indication,” says Beickler, “the Zune HD could have a tough time grabbing a significant part of the market.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Music startup doubleTwist today launched a new application, available for Mac and PC, that wants to replace the proprietary world of Apple’s iTunes with one where you can download music and sync it to any player.

Here’s how doubleTwist explains what they do:

Our vision is simple: to create a unifying media platform that connects consumers with all their media and all their devices, regardless of whether they are online or offline.Just like you don’t use a different browser for every web site you visit (Firefox to read the NY Times, IE to stream Hulu, Chrome to browse YouTube, etc) you shouldn’t have to use iTunes for Apple products, Nokia software for Nokia phones, Sony software for Sony products, etc. The typical household today has many such devices and there is a need for a simple and powerful software that connects them.

There’s a lot to like about doubleTwist. It’s an easy to use app and it could make life a lot easier for people with multiple portable media players. It’s built on Amazon, so most people will find it easy to purchase music.

doubleTwist doesn’t offer anything compelling for iPod/iPhone users, though, and the Music Store is only available on the Mac. Also, the store is currently US-only.

All-in-all, doubleTwist holds a lot of promise, but it currently has more promise than purpose.

It’s a free download, though, so check it out and let me know what you think!

Supported devices include:

• BlackBerry – We have many happy BlackBerry users and support all the recent BlackBerry models such as the Curve, Pearl, Storm, Bold and Flip.
• Sony PSP – Use doubleTwist to automatically convert your videos and sync them to your PSP; sync your iTunes playlists and photo library.
• Palm Pre – automatically convert your videos and sync them to your Palm Pre; sync your iTunes playlists and photo library.
• Archos 605 – sync your videos, iTunes playlists and photos. Other Archos models should work as well.
• INQ1, INQ Mini and INQ Chat – sync your videos, iTunes playlists and photos to your INQ phone!
• G1 and Magic Android phones – automatically convert your videos and sync them to your Android phone; sync your iTunes playlists and photo library.
• Nokia N & E Series phones, including the N95, E61i, E62, and many others such as the 5800 XpressMusic- automatically convert your videos and sync them to your Nokia; sync your iTunes playlists and photo library.
• Sony Ericsson Walkman & Cybershot phones
• Windows Mobile 5.0/6.0 platform (e.g. Treo, HTC, Samsung) — currently PC only, will be available for the Mac very soon – automatically convert your videos and sync them to your Windows Mobile; sync your iTunes playlists and photo library.
• LG Viewty and Shine – automatically convert your videos and sync them to your LG; sync your iTunes playlists and photo library.
• Motorola (V9 and V3xx) and most Razr phones
• Sansa View and Sansa e200 series
• Amazon Kindle – sync audio files to your Kindle
• iPhone with 2.0 firmware – load your iPhone with movies and let doubleTwist make the necessary conversions; iTunes playlists are also supported (PC only but Mac coming soon, 3.0 firmware not supported yet)
• iPod – load your iPod with movies and let doubleTwist make the necessary conversions; iTunes playlists are also supported (PC only but Mac coming soon)
• Nintendo DSi – coming soon! Load your DSi with music and let doubletwist do the necessary conversions
• Most digital cameras
• Most flash-memory-based camcorders are supported

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video demonstrates how The 88 used Sonoma Wire Works FourTrack (App Store link) to record their latest single, Love Is The Thing, on an iPhone.

FourTrack is $9.99, which is amazing, considering it transforms your iPhone into a functional recording studio that can be used for recording music, podcast production and other mobile new media projects.

Impressive? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

via Synthtopia

Click here to view the embedded video.

Steve Ellington‘s Technologic Overkill claims to be the first music video shot on an iPhone 3GS.

The song by XFYA accompanies a video about the plight of a little blue robot and his attempt to be relevant in an increasingly technological world.

It’s not destined to be a classic – but it’s an impressive reminder that cell phones are transforming from being a horseless carriage technology (reproducing the traditional functions of a phone) into something new.

The iPod Wars are over, and if anybody should know, it’s SanDisk CEO Eli Harari.

The founder and CEO of SanDisk admits what just about everyone else has known for a long time: the iPod wars are over, and Apple won.

“You can’t out-iPod the iPod,” says Harari.

Harari’s facing the facts. In April, Piper Jaffrey reported that there was zero interest among teens in portable media players besides the iPod.

Somebody forgot to tell Microsoft, though. While Apple’s clearly moving on from portable media players to establishing a wireless handheld computing platform, Microsoft’s Zune HD announcement reveals that it’s still trying to make a better iPod.

Is it time for Harari to have a heart-to-heart with Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer?

Image: williamli1983

In its first press release since February, online music retailer eMusic announced on Monday that it had inked a deal with giant record label Sony Music Entertainment. eMusic, which offers music downloads by subscription (starting at 24 per month for $11.99), will have access to Sony’s immense music catalog — but only tunes that are two years old or older.

So, according to this agreement, subscribers can download “classic recordings from all Sony Music labels, such as Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, LaFace, Legacy Recordings and RCA, including artists such as Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and OutKast.”  Because you can’t get enough of that fine music from the 1960′s and 1970′s (OutKast excepted).

All sarcasm aside, the partnership with Sony is a huge breakthrough for eMusic. Until now, the eMusic subscription service has been best known for its broad library of independent record labels, and work with Independent online IODA. Making a deal with Sony may open the door for eMusic, or another online music retailer, to forge relationships with the other major mainstream music companies, Warner Music, the Universal Music Group and EMI.

For Sony’s part, they have long wanted to dislodge Apple’s iTunes Music Store from its top spot in online digital music sales. Perhaps this is a small step in that direction (perhaps not). The other major music companies are working on alternate online music sales partnerships as well: YouTube and Universal Music Group are said to be in talks (and inviting the other three big players) to start a music service called Vevo.com, as well.

Even Microsoft is working doggedly on increasing their share of the online digital music market, with recent enhancements to its ZunePass music subscription service.

Certainly, competition would be great for consumers who buy content from iTunes, too. But Apple has the advantage of several years’ head start on these upstart competitors, and a clientele who are “well-trained” in browsing and buying through the iTunes site.

Terms of the eMusic/Sony deal were not disclosed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We may have been unimpressed by the Zune HD, calling it “two years behind Apple’s iPhone/iPod touch platform” – but Gizmodo says that they would take one in a heartbeat:

The device is tighter and more physically beautiful than the iPod Touch and it’s got a better UI, the main menu’s scrolling so natural through the swipe gestures. There’s a little note on the side, under the volume toggle—”Hello from Seattle.” The power button is up top. The home button is nice and prominent, a bar rather than a round button on the Touch. It’s smaller. And the accelerometer is more swift in responding to repositioning; images rotate very fast.

Check out Gizmodo’s Bourne-o-vision blurry-cam video, above, to see Zune HD in action.

Do you think third time’s the charm for the Zune? Could the Zune HD be a contender?

“Crowdsourced” songwriting podcast Rise and Shine TV has released a special 3-track EP this week, all remixes of their popular song “Water On The Moon.” The album is being published by the dPulse label, home to such artists as Adrian Belew and Digital.

The three tracks on the mini-album include two deep remixes, titled “Drop Trajectory” and “Sparks” by “dark techno eminence” Lagowski, along with a really upbeat 145bpm “space dance mix” by Dean Whitbread, the creator or Rise and Shine.  The three tracks all sound beautiful, sometimes ominous, sometimes dance-y, and all sound so different from one another (which, I guess, is the beauty of well-done remixes). The EP is available for download for $2.97.

The Rise and Shine show is a songwriting podcast that incorporates audience ideas into the daily writing of a song, and uses the proceeds from selling the songs to support music-related charities.

Previous Rise and Shine cycles included a session during the spring of this year, and a Yuletide project at the end of last year.