The new study showed buyers prefer the pay-per download model. 24% of current downloaders indicated a preference for obtaining music through a fee-based online offering, with an a la carte pay-per-download method most preferred at 19%. 5% preferred an on-demand PC-tethered streaming subscription service. Downloaders who have experience paying for online music are most pronounced…
Adobe Systems Agrees to Buy Macromedia for $3.4 Billion
Under the terms of the merger, which has already been approved by both boards, San Jose, California-based Adobe Systems will pay 0.69 of its own shares for each Macromedia share. After the deal, Macromedia?s stockholders will own approximately 18% of the combined company on a pro forma basis. The deal values Macromedia?s share at $41.86,…
Walt Mossberg: Fed Up with Windows Security Problems? Go Mac
W indows users who are tired of the endless hassles of security problems should dump Windows, and move to the Mac platform. These words of wisdom were brought to us by Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal in an article titled "Digital Crime Wave" that rounds up all of his most-recommended guards against Windows…
Apple Announces Soundtrack Pro [UPDATE]
< A href="https://www.apple.com">Apple Computer announced Sunday a new version of Soundtrack, the companyis editing software solution for film soundtracks. Soundtrack Pro brings new editing options and features, new features for fixing problems in a soundtrack, plugins from Logic Pro 7, and tighter integration with Final Cut Pro HD. The announcement was made in advance of…
Apple Announces Shake 4 with 3D Features, Distributed Rendering, More [UPDATE]
< A href="https://www.apple.com">Apple Computer announced Sunday Shake 4, an upgrade to the companyis compositing solution for film editing. The new version features 3D multi-plane compositing, cutting-edge optical flow image processing, and what Apple called “unprecedented integration with Final Cut Pro 5.” The announcement was made in advance of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade…
TMO Reports - Apple U.S. PC Market Share Up .5% to 5th Spot, Study Shows
Apple Computer took a jump from 3.2% to 3.7% in U.S. PC market share for the first quarter of 2005, according to the Gartner Dataquest research firm. The increase in shipments of Macs now puts Apple in fifth place among the top manufacturers. Apple shipped 571,000 Macs to capture 3.7% of the market share, compared…
Apple Hot Deals Update For MacMall & O'Reilly
< A href="https://www.apple.com">Apple has updated the Hot Deals pages for MacMall and OiReilly at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products on the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product Guide features several Mac retailers and special offers that one can only get,…
Cagey Apple Sold 138,000 mini's in Q2, Analyst Believes
Using Appleis own data, Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster came to his conclusion based on the total number of flat panel iMacs, eMacs and Mac miniis sold, the total revenue of the group and the approximate average selling price of each model. With only 69 days to sell the Mac mini in the…
TMO Reports - ATR Analyst Downgrades AAPL to Hold
American Technology Research (ATR) analyst Shaw Wu downgraded Apple Computer to a ‘Hold’ Thursday morning. While acknowledging Apple Computer’s fundamental strength, Mr. Wu told his clients that Apple’s slowing top-line growth, or revenue growth, and the high expectations that investors have had for the company give him concern going forward. Mr. Wu’s comment emphasized investor…
Jupiter's David Card: 'Apple is in Great Shape' in MP3 Player Market
During the audio interview, Mr. Card noted that “Apple is in great shape [in the MP3 player market]. Theyive built two or three great products and continue to innovate. Theyive also been aggressive on pricing and have really nailed the sweet spot of the market.” Mr. OiDay compared the iPod phenomenon with the success Sony…
Cook Reiterates PowerBook G5 "the Mother of All Thermal Challenges"
Just like he was asked last January in a similar analyst quarterly conference call, Tim Cook, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Operations, would not elaborate, but repeated his earlier comments saying, “I havenit changed my view on that.” Various Mac news and rumors sites — such as the French site MacPlus — have…
Music Groups to Sue Students Over Downloads
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said Tuesday students at colleges and universities have been using the high-speed Internet2 research and academic network to illegally share music and movies with others worldwide. Calling the trend an “emerging epidemic” that is hurting sales and revenues, RIAA President…
Apple Announces OS X Tiger; Ships April 29
The company announced it is now taking pre-orders of Tiger at its online store for US$129. Apple will also offer a Mac OS X Tiger Family Pack for $199 that includes a single-residence, five-user license. Tuesdayis announcement is ahead of the self-imposed shipping schedule Apple set in January when it said it would release the…
HP Adds iPod photo to Lineup (UPDATED)
< A href="https://www.hp.com">HP has announced the addition of two new iPods to its Apple iPod from HP product line. The company is bringing the 30 gigabyte and 60GB iPod photo models Apple announced last fall to the HP brand. As with other Apple iPod from HP, the new iPods match Appleis specs, with HP packaging…
Microsoft Working With Apple on Office, VPC Compatability
In a prepared statement provided to The Mac Observer, the company said Office 2004 will work with Appleis Spotlight search feature and will index Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats. The company did not provide additional details of other features that will work with Tiger. “Support for additional features such as sync services will be enabled…
TMO Reports - First Albany Raises Revenue & Earnings Estimates for Apple
Wall Street securities firm First Albany Capital has raised its revenue and earnings estimates for Apple Computer for the just completed March quarter. In a research note to clients obtained by The Mac Observer, analyst Joel Wagonfeld raised his revenue estimates by US$200 million to $3.5 billion for the quarter, with earnings per share of…
Congress Considers Music File Standard; Apple Shuns Hearing
During a hearing to discuss mandating interoperability standards between competing music platforms, the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property heard from a variety of industry experts, all of whom concluded that legislation would not be the answer and that the industry needs to find an answer that still furthers competition. Representatives of…
iPod Leaves Sony Struggling to Rebuild Brand in Japan
< A href="https://www.sony.com">Sonyis biggest priority in Japan is rebuilding its brand, thanks to the smash success of iPod in that country, according to an article published by Marketwatch. The company has begun a marketing campaign to achieve this, and company executives see 2005 as the turning point around which the market will continue to evolve.…
Walt Mossberg Recommends Macs Once More
W alter Mossberg heartily recommends Apple systems in his Spring Buyeris Guide, the feature in this weekis Personal Technology column for The Wall Street Journal. “If youire in the market for a desktop PC this spring, thereis good news and bad news. The good news is that you can buy a lot of computer for…
It's a Blogger/RSS Reader/Browser/Editor/Archive System
< A href="https://www.near-time.com/">Near-Time announced Wednesday the commercial availability of Current, an all-in-one tool for creating text documents, browsing Web sites, managing and reading RSS feeds, archiving content, and publishing information back out to blog or other Web server. Included in Current is a WYSIWG editor, an RSS feed reader and manager, an organizer, a Web…
Reports: Flash Media Market to Explode; Prices to Plummet
The analysis concern In-Stat reported Tuesday that digital still cameras, USB flash drives, the growing digital music player market, and the promise of a large mobile phone market will continue to dominate the non-Flash card based demand, with USB memory being the largest of the group with revenues of a little over $2 Billion in…
InfoWorld CTO Under Mac Attack for Lackadaisical Support
T he Mac community has lashed out at one of its own for what was perceived as a lackadaisical approach to supporting Macs at his own company. In a follow-up to another column at InfoWorld, an IT-oriented print and online magazine, CTO Chad Dickerson said he came under a Mac attack for telling a sales…
Newsday: Buy Lots of Music? Buy CDs, Not Downloads
I f you spend a lot of money on music, you should spend that money on CDs, and not downloads from Appleis iTunes Music Store or other competing services, according to a Newsday editorial published Monday in the Los Angeles Times. In a very fair and balanced look at the issues facing consumers wanting to…
Time Rounds Up iPod Competitors
T hough Apple is leading the digital media device market with the iPod, there are a host of companies offering iPod alternatives, and Time magazine has published a roundup featuring Sonyis NW-HD3 Network Walkman, Toshibais Gigabeat MEG F20, the iRiver H10, and the Zen Micro. Time positions all four units as a different way to…
