Sep 09

Digital Music News

Today is a big day for Apple, but I can't tell you exactly how big. Anyway, tomorrow we'll rock for sure, but for now, let's see what else moves around in the digital music world, shall we? Today shouldn't be such a special day, after all, but here's what's new - Microsoft released a new Zune, iTunes 8.0's interface mockup has been spotted, and there's even some news about the man behind the iPod's concept that I have to tell you a few words about!

Let's leave Microsoft and iTunes aside, because there's a man you probably never heard of. To be honest, the name "Kane Kramer" doesn't say anything to me, and "IXI" also leaves me without an answer. If you knew about this guy already, then you are one of my new idols! Anyway, let's move on now...

To make a longer story short, it's enough to say Kramer designed and built the IXI back in 1979, and the device was only capable of storing 3.5 minutes of music back then, but his sketches are showing exactly what was going to be the iPod more than two decades later - a credit-card-sized player featuring a rectangular screen, as well as a central menu button for allowing the user to scroll through a selection of music tracks!

Now, it seems Apple and Kane Kramer are having friendly discussions regarding the compensation he should get for his innovation, but that's not something to discuss now. Just remember that the foundation for the iPod has been laid down back in 1979, by a British guy named Kane Kramer, all right?

In a report about the upcoming version of iTunes, Kevin Rose published an image he claims to be the mockup of the interface featured in iTunes 8.0. Basically, it's about an area of the iTunes sidebar currently reserved for smart playlists expected to be replaced with Genius Playlists, while a new Genius sidebar on the right-hand side of the application will recommend music from the iTunes Store that a user doesn't already own. Nothing revolutionary, if you ask me...but we'll see more about this in a day or two, I guess...

The interesting part is that iTunes 8.0 could have been available for download briefly earlier today, according to various reports. Obviously, a little mistake from Apple. Anyway, today or tomorrow, it's not such a big difference, don't you agree?

Now, the last thing on my list - the third generation Zune! While nothing is official, we're talking about a product page made public on Frys.com by mistake, and then removed. According to that page, the new 8GB Zune comes preloaded with a bunch of games, and will be available in new colors, including blue and silver. Its price will be $150, while the 16GB models will be priced around $200.

This is all for today, but I am sure we'll have a bunch of digital music news right after Apple's big event, so be sure to stay close - subscribe to our news by email, bookmark us, set BindApple as your homepage...do what you like, but be sure to come back! As usual, we'll be waiting for you.