Apple Threatens to Close iTunes Store Over Possible Royalty Hikes

According to Fortune, the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington D.C. is expected to rule on Thursday about a request by the National Music Publishers' Association to increase royalty rates for downloads from online music stores such as iTunes. The request asks for an increase in rates from 9 cents to 15 cents a track. It should be noted that this group represents the copyright holders of songs and is distinct from the record companies themselves.

Understandably, Apple is opposed to the rate increase and, in a statement submitted to the board, even suggested that Apple might close iTunes altogether:

"If the [iTunes music store] was forced to absorb any increase in the ... royalty rate, the result would be to significantly increase the likelihood of the store operating at a financial loss - which is no alternative at all," Cue wrote. "Apple has repeatedly made it clear that it is in this business to make money, and most likely would not continue to operate [the iTunes music store] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably."

Apple claims that the market would not accept an increase in the per-track price and that overall sales would decrease. The Fortune article writer doubts that Apple would take such drastic measures as closing the iTunes Store as Apple has used it to leverage hardware sales of iPods and now iPhones.

All credits and information was found by macrumors.

Apple iPhone Battery Lawsuit Dismissed

Apple can be the target of many lawsuits, some more justified than others. One widely reported lawsuit at the time of the iPhone's initial launch attempted to sue Apple over the iPhone's sealed battery, limited number of charge cycles and fee for battery replacement.

Bloomberg reports today that the lawsuit has been dismissed without a trial in a summary judgement.

"Apple disclosed on the outside of the iPhone package that the 'battery has limited recharge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced by Apple service provider,'" Kennelly wrote in his Sept. 23 opinion, quoting the packaging. "Under the circumstances, no reasonable jury could find that deception occurred.''

All credits and information was found by macrumors.

Apple Releases MobileMe Control Panel and Bonjour Updates for Windows

In addition to yesterday's previously-reported hardware and software releases, Apple also released two minor updates specifically for Windows users.

MobileMe Control Panel 1.1 (for Windows) weighs in at 1.6 MB and requires Windows XP Home SP2, XP Professional SP2 or Vista SP1 or later, iTunes 8.0 or later, and a MobileMe account.

Bonjour for Windows 1.0.5 weighs in at 2.1 MB and requires Windows 2000/2003, XP, or Vista. According to Apple's support article, the update addresses two DNS vulnerabilities.
All credits and information was found by macrumors.

Motorola ROKR E1 for Cellular One

The Motorola ROKR E1 is the first non-Apple mobile phone that utilizes the iTunes music applications. As far as music is concerned, the Apple iPod has been very remarkably consistent on being the best portable music player. The fusion between Motorola and Apple to produce a very notable music phone is most likely a take on Sony Ericsson and Walkman's domination on that category.

But whether Motorola and Apple succeed or not, the Motorola ROKR E1 surely rocks! With built-in memory that can hold up to 100 songs, a very crisp voice quality on the headset and stereo speakers, and other features that, well, rock. Clad this mobile phone with Motorola cell phone accessories like cell phone cases, cell phone covers, etc. and you are good to go.
Cell phone batteries go a long way wit this mobile phone. Average talk time can go as far as 4 hours and 20 minutes. Stand by time can last for 230 hours.