iTunes Store

Apple is pulling out of the Macworld Conference & Expo and several other conferences, stirring debate about whether that is a good move for Apple and the hundreds of third-party vendors who participate each year.

The announcement not to participate after the January conference and to pull CEO Steve Jobs as the keynote speaker comes after two very successful years. Macworld 2007 set a record for attendance, and Macworld 2008 topped it.

Features galore are included in Apple's new 2.2 software update for the iPhone, which became available a day earlier than expected. Apple released the new software one day before Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion's BlackBerry Storm hit store shelves, but analysts say it was just a coincidence.

One of the major features of Apple's iPhone update includes the ability to download the millions of free podcasts available on the iTunes Store over both a Wi-Fi connection and a cellular network connection, according to Apple.

I didn't expect much from games on the iPhone. I had visions of casual games, perhaps a fancy take on solitaire or a version of poker that takes advantage of the handset's touchscreen. Surely not a true mobile gaming experience.

The Beatles have long been rock-and-roll's most notorious holdouts from the digital revolution. Stroll through the electronic aisles of Apple's iTunes Store, and there's a big, gaping hole where the Fab Four should be, a gap not really filled by A Tribute to the Beatles by The Silver Beatles, or Lullabye Renditions of the Beatles by Rockabye Baby.

But that may be changing. On Thursday, MTV Games and Apple Corps Ltd., the primary rights holder for the Beatles catalog, announced that over the coming year they will collaborate on a new interactive music video game featuring the band's music.

News emerged Friday that Facebook may be considering adding music to its mix. According to the New York Post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is considering getting into the digital-music business.

If the report is true, it would put Facebook on the heels of MySpace's latest strategic effort to differentiate itself among youthful social networkers.

Apple's recent embrace of HDTV is putting the spotlight on a growing trend of renting high-definition movies and TV shows online for up to 24 hours of viewing. Rivals such as Sony and Vudu are already preparing to make high-definition video a bigger part of their online entertainment offerings, and additional providers are expected to join the fray.

The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) in Washington ruled Thursday that music publishers and artists are entitled to a royalty payment of just more than nine cents for each track sold online. In addition, the CRB established a royalty rate of 24 cents for content used as ringtones.

The ruling is the first to formally establish a rate for digital downloads. Until now, online stores such as Apple's iTunes Store had been paying the same rate paid to artists for CD tracks. The new ruling will remain in place until 2012, bringing a level of predictability to the online music industry.

In an eagerly awaited decision, the Copyright Royalty Board announced Thursday that it will not increase the royalties paid by online music stores to members of the National Music Publisher's Association. The decision to keep the royalty rate at nine cents per song is the first ruling by the CRB on digital-music downloads.

The controversy caused considerable controversy online, particularly in the wake of comments by Apple representatives suggesting the company would no longer be able to profitably operate its popular iTunes Store.

On Thursday, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to vote on a request by the National Music Publishers Association to increase the royalties paid to its members for online music sales. Artists are currently paid a royalty of nine cents and want the CRB to increase it to 15 cents.

The move is opposed by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Digital Media Association, a trade group of online music retailers that includes AOL, Apple, MusicNet, Napster, RealNetworks and Yahoo.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the company's music lineup for the holiday shopping season with new, slim iPod nanos, a new iPod touch, and a new version of iTunes software.

Jobs opened the event, deemed "Let's Rock," with an offhand comment about his health. "I just wanted to mention this," he said, displaying a slide that said, "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."