Startup digital advertising and technology firm VoloMedia (formerly known as PodBridge) has  announced today a free metrics and analytics service that helps podcasters track the activity of the programs they publish to iTunes.
VoloMedia founder Murgesh Navar described the service in a post today on the Association for Downloadable Media blog:
“Bridge-to-Google Analytics is a plug-in to [...]

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 [...]

Podcasting network Wizzard Media announced the release of Alchemy 2.1. The advertising-insert application “seamlessly” integrates advertisements into podcasts playing on the Wizzard Media Flash player, while also maintaining advanced tracking and interactive capabilities.
The updated app eliminates the need for separate systems to run (and track) advertisements in downloaded podcasts versus streaming audio or video podcasts. [...]

FluidTunes is a freeware application for Mac OS X that lets you control iTunes through a camera with gestures, using your hands, head or feet:

Swipe your hand from left to right or right to left over the screen center to scrub.
Wave quickly at buttons to activate them.
Without using a keyboard or mouse, [...]

iPhone application review site 148Apps reports that Apple’s App Store has hit a milestone, now offering more than 10,000 iPhone apps. 
Other interesting facts:

Most iPhone apps sell for less than $2.00
Games and Entertainment are the most popular categories for iPhone apps
If you purchased every iPhone app, it would cost you over $31,000.

10,000 apps for a mobile [...]

Popular children’s program “Sesame Street” is celebrating its 39th year on the air with a move into Internet media, a Reuters article reports.
The public television show, which debuted in 1969, is broadcast in 140 countries, and now will also be available on Hulu, YouTube, and via the iTunes Music Store, according to Sesame Workshop [...]

Fortune reports that Apple is threatening to kill the iTunes Store over music royalties. 
The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, D.C. is expected to rule Thursday on a request by the National Music Publishers’ Association to raise royalty rates on songs purchased from online music stores, like iTunes, from 9 cents to 15 cents per track. 
“If [...]

Almerica reports that Apple has rejected the hotly anticipated Podcaster iPhone application from the App Store:
Today I finally got a reply from Apple about the status of Podcaster.
Apple Rep says: Since Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes.
That’s right folks, it duplicates the functionality of [...]

The new features in iTunes 8 haven’t impressed me. Genius is mainly a way for Apple to sell you more music, and the new views in iTunes are very slow, compared to the older list views. 
Something that is very useful in iTunes 8, though, is its support for individual podcast settings:

This is a great feature, [...]

Apple’s Let’s Rock event today offered anticipated updates to the iTunes and Apple’s iPod lines, but failed to do two things that many were hoping for: eliminate concerns over Steve Jobs’ health and offer “one more thing” - an unexpected introduction with some “wow”. 
Jobs noted wryly that “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” but [...]