iTunes

The trailer promoting Marvel's upcoming superhero flick "The Avengers" has earned the title of most-watched on Apple's iTunes and movie trailers apps.

Marvel Studios today said the trailer, which launched as an exclusive to iTunes on Wednesday, was viewed 13.7 million times in its first 24 hours of availability. That tally doesn't include places where the trailer ended up later, including YouTube where it's passed 5.1 million views since being posted yesterday.

This is actually the second time a trailer for the film has broken an iTunes record. An earlier one from … Read more

Apple may be tuning up a new streaming-audio format that handle varying degrees of quality.

Citing an anonymous source, U.K. news site The Guardian reported yesterday that the format would offer "adaptive streaming" to iCloud users, automatically choosing between low-quality and high-quality sound based on the bandwidth and amount of local storage.

Users with lots of bandwidth could listen to a studio-quality recording, while those with minimal bandwidth would get more standard digital quality.

The source reportedly told The Guardian that Apple has reached out to a music studio in London to create audio files to tap … Read more

iTunes users who've been wishing for a kinder, gentler version of the online store may finally get their wish.

Apple is said to be prepping a redesign of the iTunes Store and the App Store for later this year, says 9to5Mac. The goal would be to make the store simpler and help people more easily and quickly find the content they need.

Apple has reportedly told its various music and entertainment partners that it wants to make the iTunes Store a "much more engaging experience," 9to5Mac added. The redesign is considered a "top priority" for … Read more

Apple's begun a countdown--or count up in this case--to its 25th billion app download.

Earlier today the company launched a timer that sits on its front page, counting to the metric. The person who downloads the 25th billion app gets a $10,000 iTunes Store gift card.

Last January Apple ran a similar promotion for the 10 billionth app sold, awarding an identical $10,000 gift card. That was a follow-up to the company's 2009 award to the person who downloaded the one billionth app. That first time was a bit more generous, with 13-year-old Connor Mulcahey nabbing … Read more

Those who buy Apple products, keep on buying them and show few signs of stopping, a new analyst report suggests.

In a research note sent out to investors today, Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research makes the case that Apple's built up a product platform the likes of a cable company, with many of its customers coming back again and again to re-purchase devices like they would a paid subscription.

That may not be such a new idea given the fortune the company's made selling a new version of the the iPod, and now iPhone and iPad every year. … Read more

You certainly can't call the past few days boring for Apple.

The company filled a vacancy left on its executive team, was handed a fairly major setback in a German court, and maybe had its next iPod's big trick unveiled in some alleged spy shots.

That was all on top of a petition from a third-party consumer-watchdog group demanding Apple improve working conditions at overseas factories where its products are made.

These events were joined by a juicy bit of news that came out during an interview with recording artist Neil Young, where Young casually mentioned that he … Read more

Apple has declared war on lookalikes in its App Store.

The company today removed a handful of iOS applications that bore a resemblance to more popular apps, and had climbed the charts as a result.

As spotted by TechCrunch, apps like Tiny Birds, Plants vs. Zombie, Numbers with Friends, and Temple Jump have been removed from the App Store. That's not to be confused with titles like Tiny Wings, Plants vs. Zombies, Words with Friends, and Temple Run, longtime crowd favorites and best-sellers that remain available.

The removals come on the heels of a report posted by The Guardian … Read more

Following controversy, Apple has made changes to the end user license agreement that binds its iBooks Author software.

The legal agreement sparked ire following the software's introduction last month for its stipulation that books that were created with the free software would have to be made available only through Apple's iBookstore if authors intended to charge for them.

In the new version of the software that went out to users this afternoon, the company has modified the original language to state that the only works subject to that rule are files in the .ibooks format, files that only … Read more

I've got 99 problems but a glitch ain't one.

Right now, that's more than Apple can say. The company is trying to fix a glitch that has resulted in iTunes Match filtering out explicit lyrics from what appears to be a small number of rap songs, according to the blog Cult of Mac.

Instead of hearing Kanye West's "Power" or Jay-Z's "Can I Live" the way they were originally recorded, the iTunes Match streaming service will only deliver profanity-free sanitized versions.

While parents might appreciate this kind of malfunction, there are … Read more