Several of the newest episodes of CW Network’s programing will be free for limited time. The move is similar to FOX’s method of capturing audiences by giving away the first week free through iTunes.

For one week, “Aliens in America,” “Life is Wild,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Girlfriends,” and “Supernatural” will be in the iTunes TV section for free. The rest of the seasons’ episodes will duplicate the normal iTunes store structure. Episodes will then be priced at $1.99 each.

CW’s free week on iTunes comes after a similar two-week free trial from Fox. The network declined to disclose how many people took advantage of the free downloads.

Source: DJ Newswires

The move may be a sign for the future of television program and its available delivery means. By testing the response to free online TV shows, the broadcasters can better understand the future success of a show and possibly hook viewers early. The move may also signal the reduction of TV show pricing in the near future.

In what has been considered a picture perfect online music “monopoly” on the iPod, the iTunes store has long been the only way for iPod users to shop. Now, in one of the largest moves to DRM-free music, Amazon.com (AMZN) has just released their own fully-functional music store.

The next question is whether or not the music downloaded from the Amazon music store will be playable on those precious iPods that an overwhelming number of the population has. The answer, unfortunately for Apple (AAPL), is YES!

The iTunes Music Store has had little to compete with over the past years, and much of that is due to a lack of reasonable competition. Music download programs like Napster have offered little to the MP3 market. Most have had small libraries, poor pricing plans, and an inability to transfer music between all music devices.

The Amazon Store (Amazonmp3) is:

• All DRM-Free Music
• Priced at a very reasonable $0.89 per song (as opposed to iTunes’ $0.99 for DRM-Protected content and $1.29 for DRM-Free)
• Many popular classic bands and current ones too
• 256K Variable Bit Rate MP3 (playable on every music device)
• MP3 Download Program for Amazon Automaticaly places music in iTunes or Windows Media Player
• For Macs and Windows!

Amazon is basically selling what AllofMP3.com was selling to consumers, but legally and more (realistically) expensively. That price will probably erode over the next few years as competition and flexible pricing mature. All good for the consumers. We can only hope that videos and movies follow.
Source: 9to5Mac.com

Apple, you’ve got some serious competition coming your way. The music, platform, and ease-of-use is way to hard to overlook.

Disclosure: Long Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Consumers hoping for the Wi-Fi Music Store to be everything and more are out of luck. Turns out that the wireless method of purchasing iTunes music on-the-go is leaving out about 75 percent of the popular iTunes program. While this may be quite obvious to many, the mere fact that users can’t purchase or download literally “whatever they want” might be disconcerting.

At almost every Apple (AAPL) event, Jobs and various guests talk up the numerous features that encompass the Apple brand. Let it be clear that I would be considered myself an Apple fanboy, but please Jobs, you may have made a large misstep right here.

It’s unclear whether or not it was a creation problem or simply a program created with the sole-purpose of making more money. In many ways, the iTunes store is one of the first things that users click open on their computers. Some are navigating to the iTunes music store to simply purchase music, but a heck of a lot of other users are going somewhere else.

There are 6 main categories under the Library of the iTunes program. Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Radio, and the all-new Ringtones sections. Here’s where Apple either slacked or didn’t do their job. Movies, TV Shows, and Podcasts have become exponentially popular over the past few years, but did Apple simply ignore there potential as a part of a wireless (Wi-Fi) iTunes Store?

In the last Apple event Jobs touted the incredible wealth of information and content that is available throughout the iTunes Podcast section. Best of all, the content is free to download and/or subscribe to, but unfortunately, it won’t be available to the iPod Touch or iPhone users. Simply put, you can put more money into Apple’s pockets by buying songs on the go, and when you wont to get the free stuff, like Podcasts or occasional free TV Shows, Apple neglected to develop a viable method for downloading those items.

What makes the entire situation so much worse is the fact that a smart user can’t simply hack the iPhone or iPod Touch to enable the ability to download their favorite Podcasts through iTunes. Users are at the absolute mercy of Apple, which most of the time serves them just fine, but unfortunately, they’re being left out on over 75 percent of the iTunes store and the general program’s capabilities. While this may seem like a simple rant and rave, it appears as though Apple ingeniously created a method of making more money, without thinking about the need for users to feel at home with the user interface and have fully-functional programs.

Disclosure: Long Apple Inc. (AAPL)

A recent report out of MacRumors.com just told of Apple’s (AAPL) flip to turn ringtone functionality on to the iTunes Music Store. It seems as though Apple turned on the feature overnight, and the row has been added to the “Library.”

If you try to create a ringtone with an arbitrary song, a dialog box pops up and simply says “You can create iPhone ringtones from many songs purchased from the iTunes Store” and does not allow you to covert the song.

If you choose a Purchased Song to create a Ringtone, you are first taken to the iTunes Store to accept the Terms & Conditions for Ringtone sales. If the song is amongst the 500,000 allowed to be converted into a Ringtone, you are taken to the ringtone editor.

Source: MacRumors.com: Apple Adds Ringtone Support to iTunes