Is There a Long Tail to My iTunes Library? The Stats Tell All.

Having long ago passed the point where I could realistically listen to all my music on my iTunes library in a matter of days or weeks, I set up a number of smart playlists that help me to rediscover old music, sorted by the most recent time I played the song. (See: iTunes: Old Music Is New Again from March of 2006) By solely listening to this constantly re-generating playlist, I find myself avoiding repeated songs, and am constantly finding great music that's fallen by the wayside.

But as this playist has continued to expand, and I can't keep up, despite avoiding new purchases, for the most part, we now can further break down the list to see if there is a long tail to iTunes. Am I getting to every song, and what percentage of my songs have been listened to over specific time periods? Also, given I only have a finite amount of time, how many of the songs have been listened to only once?

Let's find out.

First: As of Midnight PDT on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008:
There are 5,773 items, representing 23.7 days and 35.42 GB.


My iTunes Library, Songs Sorted by Last Played
Of these nearly 6,000 songs, I've managed to get to over 1,000 of them in the last three months, and an additional 500 or so in the prior three months (with no overlaps). But that means more than 4,000 songs have not been touched in the last six months, representing more than two and a half weeks of solid music.

While I've tried to get to every song with some regularity, there's still almost a day's worth of music that hasn't been listened to in more than 10 months.


My iTunes Library, Songs Sorted by Play Count
Additionally, of the almost 6,000 songs in my iTunes library, about 1,000 songs have been listened to greater than 12 times each since iTunes started counting. This compares with about 3,200 songs that have been listened to between 5 and 12 times apiece, and more than 1,500 that have been listened to between 1 and 4 times.


Using a small utility called iTunes Timer, the accumulative play totals for the songs in my library suggest that I've listened to iTunes for more than 195 days and 2 hours. Surely, if I stay connected to the laptop or my iPhone with some good regularity, I can power through those songs I haven't heard in more than six months, or listen to those tracks that haven't gotten enough airplay. But realistically, I shouldn't be letting the statistics drive my listening habits. It's common for people to find their favorite songs and play them a whole lot more than those that don't quite strike their fancy. But with iTunes, and the power of Smart Playlists, I can actually dive in and find out. And to watch me try and catch up, check out my Last.fm page.

What do your iTunes stats show?

The Real Genius in iTunes 8? Apple Will Make More Money.

At times, it seems like the mainstream press hasn't yet figured out how to preview Apple events. That Apple periodically updates its iPods or iPhones or computers and software is really no surprise. The home runs are typically saved for MacWorld San Francisco, with big announcements sprinkled in at the company's WorldWide Developers' Conference (WWDC) and the occasional one-off event. But even when the company makes largely expected announcements, some go into severe hype in advance, and severe lows following. And like the illegal drug users who share the same spike and eventual crash, they're usually left looking for more. But behind the acid trip rainbow iPod Nanos and and upgraded iPod Touch, there was an element of real genius - as iTunes was upgraded with a new tool making it even easier to spend even more money on the popular online music store.


An iTunes Genius playlist, based on ATB's "Do You Love Me"

One of the major new features of iTunes 8 is called "Genius", which will leverage your own iTunes listening history, as well as that of other iTunes users, and try to create a playlist of songs similar to that which you are listening to. Like "Party Shuffle", it will get some mixes right, and some wrong, but it's following along the path of Pandora and Last.fm to use a crowd's information to provide recommendations and guess what other songs or artists you would like.

(See also: ReadWriteWeb: iTunes 8: The Genius in the Box and Mark Evans: Is Apple’s Genius Good or Evil?)

The breakthrough for Genius isn't so much that you can rediscover old music that you've neglected, although for some that is no doubt true. The real value is in the Genius sidebar, which is plastered with "Buy" buttons linking to the iTunes Music Store. In a time when so many Web services are hoping ad clicks will provide them with a way to the promised land, the simplicity of how Apple rolls out new services that enable a larger revenue stream is impressive.

For me, Apple iTunes long ago became my default source for new music. Even if I found a song on the radio or through Last.fm or another source, the first step is to head to iTunes to get it and download it. If iTunes doesn't have the song or album, it might as well no longer exist. I won't be heading to another service to find the song, but I may buy something else instead. That Apple has now made a mainline to my credit card every single time I fire up iTunes is a great way for me to continue making regular donations to my favorite for-profit Cupertino-based charity.

Of course, given I already have 4,342 songs totaling 18.3 days worth of music which hasn't been listened to in the last six months, according to my "Neglected" playlist, maybe I should be satisfied with what I have. Now that would be true genius.

Hitting Last.fm's 'Love' Button Is Getting Me Back In Tune

I'm an unrepentant music-ophile. Through a combination of CD purchases and burns and iTunes downloads, my music library is a swollen 35 Gigabytes, featuring almost 6,000 songs, which would take more than three weeks to listen to straight through. As a result, it's no surprise there are a ton of great tunes that I haven't gotten to in a while, as I'm not constantly listening, as unfortunate as that is. But recently, I've been using Last.fm a lot more frequently, letting me broadcast my playlist to friends who follow me, and letting them know what I'm listening to, making it a more social, and fun, experience.


A Pet Shop Boys discussion from Thursday on FriendFeed
I have been a longtime Last.fm user, having first sent my data to the service back in 2005. Prior to that, I was also a happy user of MusicMobs, starting in 2004, which merged into Last.fm in November of last year. Both sites collectively offered a great way for me to catalog my listening history, find out which artists and songs I hit up most frequently, and discover new, similar, artists.


Another discussion on FriendFeed re: DJ Tiesto
But as fun as statistics are, it's just a new form of navel gazing, and I never really delved into finding "friends" and seeing who my "neighbors" were on the site. But now that Last.fm is integrated into the various lifestreaming applications out there, like MyBlogLog, and especially FriendFeed, I'm having a good time going through artists I've neglected, and hitting the "Love" button on Last.fm's desktop application, which tells people which songs I'm particularly enjoying.

What I've found is that you never know just who might share the same interests. For some reason, I've had people say they're surprised I listen to such electronic music and techno as DJ Tiesto, Underworld, Depeche Mode, Paul Van Dyk and Armin Van Buuren. I've also taken people back a decade or two by listening to classics from the Pet Shop Boys, and Information Society.


Last.fm tells me my top artists
Through Last.fm, I've found that Jeremiah Owyang is a Tiesto fan, that Steven Hodson has fantastic musical tastes, introducing me to Mind In a Box, which led me to Edge of Dawn, and that Kevin Fox likes Pet Shop Boys. Although I have to admit that in the last few months, I haven't had the laptop pumping out iTunes as much as it used to, largely due to not wanting to unnecessarily wake up the twins, sharing my tastes via Last.fm is getting me back into the music in a big way.

You can find me on Last.fm here:
http://www.last.fm/user/louismg

You can see my "Loved" tracks on FriendFeed here:
http://friendfeed.com/louisgray?service=lastfm

iPod Touch As An Apple TV Remote? Cooler Than I Thought.

When Apple's iTunes application store opened up last week, I, at first, skipped over the free Remote application that offered the option to manage iTunes or the Apple TV from your iPhone or iPod Touch. It just seemed stupid at worst, or a proof of concept at best. Why would I want to duplicate the Apple Remote's capabilities with a much more functional device, I thought? But after checking the application out the last few days, I can attest to the fact I've been pleasantly surprised, and am now taking my iPod Touch with me around the house, acting as a DJ on the move.

As the screenshots included in this post show, the Remote application on the iPod Touch or iPhone does more than just meet the same capabilities offered by Apple's miniscule white remote. Benefitting from the wide touchscreen, I can browse thousands of songs, albums and artists quickly, and see a mirror image of what's playing on my Apple TV, letting me change the song with a single tap of my finger, anywhere in range of the Airport wireless network that both my device and the Apple TV share.


In contrast, the white remote has always been painstakingly slow to browse large libraries, practically forcing an indent into my thumb as I held the down key just to pass the letter "M". Given my library has almost 6,000 songs on it, and 23.6 days worth of music, that can be a frequent problem.

Once the Remote application is synched up with your Apple TV, using it is very simple. Choose "Playlists", "Albums", "Artists", or search for a song or any band. Unlike the white remote, you can actually type on your iPod Touch or iPhone, making this very quick.


Now, instead of relying on my iTunes on the laptop, and just turning up the sound to full blast, or resigning myself to not listening to my music as I move around the house, I can leverage the sound system on my TV set, and play DJ from room to room. I can even go to the "More" tab and select what the Apple TV was always intended to do - play movies and TV shows. But overnight, this little would-be useless application has become a must-have. I'm not leaving my iPod Touch laying around any more.

My iPod Touch is Rarely Used for Music

Almost three months ago, we welcomed the iPod Touch to our family.

At the time, I was looking forward to taking videos with me on trips, for surfing the Web via WiFi, and for listening to scads of music. After all, Steve Jobs once said the iPhone, and ergo the iPod Touch, had the best iPod experience ever created. But it's been interesting to see that while my first iPod was all about music, the iPod Touch hardly ever gets used for that purpose.

So what am I doing with my iPod Touch? The overwhelming majority of activity is to browse the Web via WiFi, whether just away from the laptop, or at a friend's home with WiFi. Given the iPod synchronizes its bookmarks with my Safari Web browser, and with the addition of widgets for e-Mail, stocks and weather, just about anything I need is a few "touches" away. And the iPod Touch, to be honest, is the best device I can think of for taking the Web into places where a laptop wouldn't make sense. Ever take a PowerBook into the men's room at work? Didn't think so. But an iPod Touch fits right in your pocket...

As expected, I have used the iPod Touch for viewing movies and TV shows, especially on plane flights. Before my flight to Boston last month, and for this shorter trip to Phoenix, I made sure to rent one or two films before taking off. While Apple hasn't gained the fullest of movie libraries for rent yet, I've found a number of titles worth watching, especially when my alternative is craning my neck to see whatever United or US Airways has on tap. (My latest iPod Touch movie? Punch Drunk Love... and you can skip it.)

With Web access and TV or film, the need to play music is fading. While on my laptop, I almost always have iTunes going, but for my iPod Touch, iTunes is almost a forgotten app.

Recent Apple advances have made iTunes music even less important since I first got my iPod Touch. I've added custom icons to my home screen for Facebook, louisgray.com, FriendFeed and Twitter, and each offers me one-click access to where I'm most frequently engaged and communicating. I'd have added buttons for TechMeme and SiteMeter as well, but so far, I've chosen appearance over functionality, as neither site has a good custom icon. (Here's a great "how to" from Webomatica.)

Gaining the new widgets now puts .Mac and GMail in my pocket, with send and receive functionality. It's not quite able to replace the Blackberry yet, but I've grown quite adept at touch typing on it, more so than I had originally expected. Adding movie rentals to iTunes also made going to P2P networks for films much less inviting.

I'm near my laptop at home and work so often it's a rare time that I need to use my iPod Touch for music. I'm glad it's there if I ever need to tap into it, but over time, it's becoming less and less. Now it's a lot less about finding the right playlist, and a lot more about finding the best open wireless hotspot. That's more than I would have expected when Apple first debuted their original iPod years ago.

MusicMobs Disappears Into the Ether

Today, Om Malik reported the music tracking and playlist service, MusicMobs, had shut down, and the founder, deciding the best policy was to join the competition, rather than continue to do battle, has now become part of Last.FM. Now, the two services have become one, and in an instant, the dedicated artist, song, and genre pages I'd generated over the last few years were obliterated.

You can see some of my prior mentions of MusicMobs here, here and here.

Now, instead of a site full of charts, album covers and trends showing which artists and songs were the most popular, we've got a note saying the site's moved, and a single link to download my user playlist. Had that been the focus of why I used MusicMobs, that'd have been okay, but I would have preferred it if I could have been given the option to say... download my own generated pages as HTML and host them elsewhere. Maybe I could even utilize the software from MusicMobs or Last.fm and simply point them to the new page, continuing to synchronize my stats.

But it looks like it wasn't meant to be. For the want of a single developer, an entire site was lost. While I still like Last.fm, I hate seeing others I like just go away without warning. Word to the wise would be to go backup your user files at services not named Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! or Apple. On second thought, back those up too. You never know.

Faithless Bombs Video: Amazing Music, Piercing Message

One exposure to music from Faithless, led by lead singer Maxi Jazz, will make you sure you've never heard any sound quite like it. I first fell in awe of Faithless' unique vocals in the epic "Insomnia", and gained immeasurable respect for his work with the Iraq War-themed "Mass Destruction", released in 2004. But even that didn't prepare me for the raw message and real emotion shown in his video titled "Bombs" from his latest album, "To All New Arrivals", which hit the iTunes Music Store in early November. While the album hit stores about a year ago, starting in Europe, I only found it today, and ... Wow.

While I highly encourage you to purchase the album (and two accompanying videos) from iTunes, below is the "Bombs" video, courtesy of YouTube. It's very impressive to see an artist I really already like taking such a strong political stance, regardless the consequences.

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Ps_MBXEdA



If you found this music strong or the message moving, pass it along. I'm dismayed it took me so long to find!

Leopard iTunes Best Served With Jelly

If you have your hands on Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 (a.k.a. Leopard), head over to your iTunes Visualizer, select "Jelly" and turn on Visualizer. Your screen will fill with some amazing visuals, much like those sampled above. Though it's been a long time since Apple highlighted the iTunes Visualizer in their marketing, it's a lot of fun to see the company's whimsical side.

Jelly is best experienced with Trance, Techno, Electronica or Drum 'N' Bass.

300 More Inexpensive iTunes Trance Tracks

Offers like this are excellent reasons why we've moved away from physical CD purchases. Rather than purchasing and storing 24 individual CD cases, or taking the time to import each of the 24 CDs individually, the iTunes Music Store makes it drop dead simple to add 300 new tracks to my music library, with just a few clicks. And if that weren't enough, the cost for me to purchase these 300 tunes comes in even lower than 3 "real world" CDs. I guess that explains why, after this most-recent iTunes binge, I'm up to 5,431 songs, comprising 22.3 days and more than 31 gigabytes of music.

Thank goodness I've got my 200 gigabyte hard drive humming away.

If you're into artists like Jan Vayne, M.I.K.E., Vincent de Moor, and Elevation, or think you might be, a great way to start filling up your iTunes library with hundreds of new trance tunes, is to start at the following links:

Trance Top 100 | Top 100, Vol. 2 | Top 100, Vol 3

Good music. Cheap music. Easy to get music. Nice combo.

Prior Posts On this Topic:

7 Hours of iTunes Music: Just $9.99
iTunes Offers Up Massive Song Sets
100 More iTunes Trance Songs for Less than $20
100 iTunes Trance Songs for Less than $20

Underworld Releases First New Album in Five Years

This morning, while making a comment on Steven Hodson's WinExtra blog, a little note caught my eye: Listening to: Underworld - Oblivion with Bells - Crocodile. His blog software will imprint the song he's listening to, but for me, an avowed Underworld afficionado, to not know of this song, was outlandish. I demanded to know where he got it. His answer: iTunes. Duh. Stupid me.

On October 16th, Underworld released a new album, Oblivion With Bells, into the iTunes Music Store, and I had gone an entire 48 hours without knowing. After seeing the world-renowned group in concert twice, and owning virtually all their previous albums, this was a virtual call to arms.

I don't really need to tell you what I did next - I downloaded it. And I'm listening now. The songs are back into the classic Underworld sound - electronically altered vocals, catchy rhythms, and haunting intermixing of sounds, loops and unique lyrics.

After 2002's A Hundred Days Off, which had a pair of excellent songs, and more pedestrian tracks, I can only hope this one is as engaging as the epic Dubnobasswithmyheadman, Underworld and Beucoup Fish, which led my musical library through college and shortly thereafter.

More on Underworld: Underworld Live

Information Society Brings New Music to Old Band

Information Society was one of those bands I fell in love with in junior high and high school - with the unmistakable deep, European voices mixed in with electronic, synthesized beats. The band hit the big time with "Think", "Pure Energy" and "Peace & Love Inc.", but in a flash, disappeared into "Where are they Now?" oblivion.

Today, iTunes sent me an alert that they're back - and I'm all set to cram their new album into my iPod for the drive to Sacramento.

Their new album, appropriately titled "Synthesizer", was released September 4th, and if iTunes' 30-second song samples are any indication, should be a lot of fun, as I both enjoy the new tunes and reminisce of just where I was and who I was when Information Society's first songs were new.

Related Posts on this Topic:

iTunes Offers Something New, Something Old, Something Blue
New Pet Shop Boys Album is Fundamental
iTunes is My Only Source for New Music

7 Hours of iTunes Music: Just $9.99

Long-time readers of this blog know I just can't get enough good electronic/trance/techno music. As my Last.fm and MusicMobs profiles will attest, I don't like spending too much time away from my iTunes. That's why when I find surprise treasures on iTunes with a vast number of songs well beyond the typical CD, I'm ecstatic.

Last night, I picked up a compilation titled "Afterhours Ibiza: Deluxe Edition" from Global Underground for the standard $9.99. But rather than just over an hour's worth of music, the album serves up 63 tracks, with 7.7 hours of music, including three hour-long continuous mixes. There's no doubt I'll be listening to the soothing, occasionally upbeat sounds of Ibiza for weeks to come.

Related Posts on this Topic:

iTunes is My Only Source for New Music
In Depeche Mode Overload and Loving It
iTunes Offers Up Massive Song Sets
100 More iTunes Trance Songs for Less than $20

iTunes is My Only Source for New Music

With radio losing much of its value, thanks to the homogeneity of music from station to station, I simply don't discover new music while I'm in the car or listening at home the way I once did. Instead, the iTunes Music Store is my only source of new songs and albums from artists I already know well and new artists I'm just now getting to know.

While the total offerings on iTunes were once quite light, especially for those of us who don't worship Top 40 and R&B, the last few years have seen an explosion of available tracks. Now, I can safely assume my favorite bands' latest releases will be there, and they, in turn will lead me to similar music from other artists.

iTunes helps this process along in a few ways, most notably with "My Alerts", which tracks my favorite artists, and lets me know when new songs are out. Secondly, there is the "Listeners Also Bought" feature, which tells me that other people with similar tastes to mine also bought other albums. Sometimes, I may already have those albums, and other times, I'm delighted to find somebody I've never heard before. Additionally, should I hit a wall there, I can always go to the genre's main page (i.e. Electronic) and find new releases that 30 seconds later, just may become new downloads.

Some of my most recent purchases I'm most pleased with include:

Paul Van Dyk / In Between

Paul Van Dyk is one of the world's best DJs, period. This album marks his return to the fore, after a few years lower on my list. I simply can't get enough of the song Talk In Grey, and have been known to listen to it a second time just after it's been completed...

Ulrich Schnauss / Goodbye

Some of the best downtempo, ambient electronic music out there. I first discovered Ulrich Schauss thanks to Sasha's sampling of his work on a few tracks. A few iTunes searches later, and Ulrich Schnauss has himself risen to the top of my most listened to artists out there. His work is beyond listenable, and is the perfect complement to more traditional fast-paced techno.

The Chemical Brothers / We Are the Night

When I'm not in the mood for the calming forces of Ulrich Schnauss and want great beats to tap my feet and bob to, The Chemical Brothers sure know how to fit that need. My favorite off the new album? A track titled Burst Generator. Just outstanding.

Based on the above three albums, can you outdo iTunes and give some strong recommendations? Do you even buy in a "record store" any more?

In Depeche Mode Overload and Loving It

Back in January, I noted that Apple had teamed up with Depeche Mode to offer an ultimate collection of songs through iTunes, capturing all of the band's albums, plus previously unreleased live recordings and remixes, delivering 647 songs for "only" $169.99, approximately 26 cents per track, down almost 75% from the typical 99 cent price. After six months of trying to be good, I took the plunge last week, and finally bought it. Now, I'm in Depeche Mode heaven, listening to song after song, hour after hour of some of the best music ever - trying to remember note for note, word for word, each of the songs I first held dear on long-since discarded cassette tapes over the last two decades.

Now, I'm re-acquainting myself with lesser-known excellent tracks from Depeche Mode like "Work Hard", "Dangerous", "Kaleid", "Route 66", "Oberkorn", and "Behind the Wheel", in addition to those that have gained the most airtime, like "Policy of Truth", "Personal Jesus", "People are People" and "Somebody". Like any good snob, it's the ones that didn't get the radio play that I like the best. (See my Last.FM track list for live updates)

Depeche Mode helped bridge the gap between electronic pioneers Kraftwerk and the DJs and techno artists of today like DJ Tiesto, Underworld and Chemical Brothers. Their songs, some a decade or two old, are just as good as the day they first hit vinyl. And having already approved payment for this latest splurge on my credit card, I have no regrets.

For $33.75, I Could Ditch DRM from 130 iTunes Songs

Apple's iTunes Plus project launched today, giving me the option to strip digital rights management (DRM) from a select subset of my musical library for 30 cents per affected song. As the promotion only covers a fraction of the total available iTunes Store, I was curious to see how many I would be offered, and at the end of the first day for this promotion, I could upgrade 130 songs for $33.75, Apple says.

What would I get?

With iTunes Plus, I would remove the iTunes and iPod-only barrier from these songs, letting me pass songs to friends, copy to multiple computers, or in theory, play on other, inferior music devices. Additionally, the songs would be offered in higher quality bit rates.

On the first day of announcement, bands in my purchase history that are available include Coldplay, Beastie Boys, Royksopp, The Chemical Brothers, M83, Fatboy Slim and Cosmic Gate.

While others are excited about the move and hate all things DRM-related, I haven't seen Apple's limitations as much of a hindrance to the way I enjoy music. The iTunes and iPod combination work for me, and I won't be paying a premium to convert my library to iTunes Plus any time soon, whether it was $3.75, $33.75 or $337.50.

New TAB Post: Apple iTunes vs. Comcast On Demand

This weekend we had a chance to utilize Comcast's On Demand service, renting one movie and watching some previously aired episodes. In all, it was a good experience, bringing my entertainment immediately, without waiting for time to download, or taking up hard disk space. Also, the cost for a relatively new movie was only $3.99, contrasted with the $9.99 to $12.99 I could expect to pay for a movie from iTunes. I continue to feel that iTunes is a much better option for music than it is for video, to date.

That's the background behind my most recent contribution to The Apple Blog, titled How Will Apple Compete With “On Demand”?. Per agreement with them, I will not be cross-posting the piece, but instead, have provided a link. Enjoy.

Blonde Redhead: Mesmerizingly Intriguing

When it comes to music and other media, I typically try not to be suckered into falling for the latest promotions and commercials, or buying into the hot band. But tonight, after seeing Blonde Redhead perform their song "23" on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show (a TiVo'd episode from Friday), I just had to check out the iTunes Music Store and pick it up.

As one reviewer on iTunes said, the lead singer, Kazu Mikano, offers up a soothingly indecipherable croon, a nice way of saying she sounds great, but I have no idea what is being sung. Yet, like Bjork, the pure tone and melody is entrancing.

I can't vouch for the rest of the album or the six others iTunes reports the band has delivered, but I expect "23" will be rotating on my playlist for weeks to come before fading down the inevitable road to obscurity.

iTunes Offers Something New, Something Old, Something Blue

Apple's iTunes "My Alerts" feature continues to bring me some great music from artists the service already knows I like, thanks to past purchases. My biggest limitations these days? Determining what to buy, and what to let go. But with $50 in new iTunes gift cards obtained from yesterday's belated birthday bash, I'm being a little more liberal in my tune acquisitions.

Last night, I uncovered three new additions to the iTunes store: something new, something old and something blue, as the saying goes.

Something New

DJ Tiesto's "Elements of Life". Released April 10th, this is DJ Tiesto's latest solo album that doesn't consist of his remixing other artists' tunes, following on to "In My Memory" and "Just Be". I've seen DJ Tiesto in concert, and was even briefly featured in a DVD called "Another Day at the Office", which included a Bay Area stop at Shoreline. Tiesto is easily the world's #1 DJ today, and I'm already enjoying the new tracks. iTunes listeners are calling it the "Best Trance Album of 2007", but... it's only April.

Something Old

Information Society: Peace and Love, Inc. This one debuted on iTunes on March 27, even though the CD itself debuted in 1992. Peace and Love Incorporated was one of my favorite albums in high school, and it died an antiquated death when I left cassette tapes behind, moving to CDs, MP3 and the iPod. Now, I'm all too tempted to pay iTunes for the privilege of going digital, to enjoy "Peace and Love, Inc.", "Crybaby", and "Where Would I Be Without IBM" again. An excellent album that brings back a ton of memories from high school.

Something Blue

Eiffel 65: Contact Though Eiffel 65 is featured as a 1990s one-hit wonder, with their Blue (Ba Da Bee) song hitting the airwaves in 1999 and 2000, I actually didn't even find that track to be the best on the album. Instead, the album's leading song, Europop is the 15th most listened to song in my iTunes library, with 34 plays since iTunes started counting. Now, we've found an obscure follow-on album in 2001 and are enjoying the group's unique sound.

It's not just weddings that can benefit from something new, something old, something blue. See if you can pull off the trifecta with your iTunes.

How Apple Could Crush Netflix Now

Let's make this clear. I have almost zero interest in owning my movies or TV shows. Unlike music, which I could listen to over and over until I had the lyrics memorized, TV shows and films have a very limited shelf life. It is a rare film that fills me with the need to see it more than once. TV shows are even worse. Outside of The Simpsons, once I have seen a show, I'm done with it. When I record shows on TiVo, I always delete the episode when I'm done. When I have watched TV shows I've purchased from the iTunes Store off my Apple TV, I delete them.

(Also see: What is the True Value of an Entertainment Download?)

Today, Apple announced that MGM has added its movie library to the iTunes Store, joining other Hollywood names like Paramount, Disney and Lions Gate. But when I go to the iTunes Store and shuffle through the offerings, I'm not buying. Not a single film. I am not going to pay $9.99 to $14.99 for a film that I will need to download and then watch once or twice at the most. But I most definitely would be happy to sign up and pay $20 or $30 a month to Apple for the privilege to download a set number of films per month, or of course, an unlimited number, even if Apple set restrictions such that I could only watch the downloaded films once or twice, or even tracked how many films I had downloaded, such that I didn't have too many "out" at one time - just like NetFlix does.

Apple's iTunes application tracks how frequently I listen to my music, or if I have watched a TV show. The Apple TV knows to only synchronize those shows that are unwatched (i.e. Plays = 0). If we take this a logical step further, Apple could allow customers to download films, and once the play count reached 2, they would no longer be playable, either on the Apple TV or on my laptop. And yes, I know that one way to trick iTunes would be to stop watching the film before it had reached zero seconds remaining, but that goes back to Apple only allowing a set number out at one time.

In Variety's coverage of the MGM announcement, they note that Apple isn't selling many movies online, and that the rate of adoption is hardly increasing. (Also: PaidContent's take). The company's online movie sales grew from 1.3 million from September to January, to 2 million-plus today. That's not much growth. Maybe the millions of people who have access to the iTunes Store, as I do, are happy with using NetFlix and that company's subscription model. Maybe it's a bandwidth issue. But regardless, they're not exactly jumping on it.

How do you fix that problem?

1) Apple keeps DRM on iTunes movies.
2) Apple introduces a subscription model for iTunes movies.
(3 movies a month for $12.95, 5 movies for $19.95, etc.)
3) Apple enhances the DRM to not play the file after a certain number (say 2) of plays.
4) Apple keeps the option to buy the films if you want, and at a reduced rate if you have already "rented" the film.

I would do that. If Apple introduced this feature, I would cancel our NetFlix subscription tomorrow. The portability of iTunes via the laptop and the Apple TV is nearly as good as any DVD, doesn't require shipping, and won't force me to wait days from when I order off NetFlix to get my movie fix. Apple has all the tools - the DRM, the Media Store, the desktop application, the iPod and Apple TV media players. It just needs to look Hollywood in the eye, and give customers what they want.

New TAB Post: How Smart Are Your Playlists?

It's no secret I am a hardcore iTunes user. MusicMobs reports I've listened to nearly 30,000 tracks in the last three or so years, while Last.fm similarly reports more than 15,000 listens since early 2005. Doing the quick math, and knowing both services likely undercount, and don't include listens from the iPod or on other machines, we're looking at 20 to 30 songs a day, every day.

Meanwhile, we've amassed 4,000 tracks in iTunes, meaning the management of those tracks and my time to listen to them is fairly tricky. That's why I've turned to Apple's Smart Playlists feature in iTunes to help me rediscover tunes I've not heard in a while, or to remind me when I've not listened to one frequently enough.

That's the idea behind my most recent contribution to The Apple Blog, titled How Smart Are Your Playlists?. Per agreement with them, I will not be cross-posting the piece, but instead, have provided a link. Enjoy.

New TAB Post: Apple Adds “My Alerts” to iTunes Store

It's not intentional, but of late, my posts on The Apple Blog are increasingly iTunes-centric. I swear I use Mac all day long, but iTunes is where I see the action happening. Yesterday, I perhaps belatedly noticed that Apple had added "My Alerts" to the iTunes Store, making it that much easier to purchase songs from artists I like without waiting for a dedicated e-mail.

I believe that with time, Apple will increase their offerings in this space, much as TiVo has with its WishList. Some day, I'll be tracking actors and film-makers much as I do bands today.

That's the idea behind my most recent contribution to The Apple Blog, titled Apple Adds “My Alerts” to iTunes Store. Per agreement with them, I will not be cross-posting the piece, but instead, have provided a link. Enjoy.

New TAB Post: iTunes Offers Up Massive Song Sets

Today my iTunes library reached the 4,000 song barrier, exactly. This was in no small part due to my discovery of 50-song trance albums Apple has posted to the online music store, for only $9.99 apiece. So far, I've found six, with two new ones being downloaded today, meaning I've got 300 great songs for less than $60 bucks. (See Previous: 100 More iTunes Trance Songs for Less than $20)

While these offer the best price/song ratio I've found on iTunes, there are plenty of other ways you can fill your iPod, including ways to download 400+ U2 tracks or 600+ Depeche Mode songs in one swoop. (See Previous: Apple Says: Download Every Depeche Mode Song Ever) I went out and found quite a few more.

That's the idea behind my most recent contribution to The Apple Blog, titled iTunes Offers Up Massive Song Sets. Per agreement with them, I will not be cross-posting the piece, but instead, have provided a link. Enjoy.

100 More iTunes Trance Songs for Less than $20

Last year I stumbled upon two 50-song albums from iTunes for only $9.99 each. While iTunes typically sells tracks at $.99 apiece, these 100 trance songs could be grabbed for about 20% of that cost, even though the quality of the new music was very good. I didn't waste any time posting the news to this blog, and e-mailing the links out to friends.

It turns out that promotion must have been a success, as iTunes has added two more trance albums with 50 songs apiece for the low, low price of $9.99 each. You had better believe I already clicked the "Buy Now" button on both.

To set yourself up with 200 Trance Songs in four easy clicks, try those links below:

1. 50 Trance Tunes, Vol. 1
2. 50 Trance Tunes, Vol. 2
3. 50 Trance Tunes, Vol. 3
4. 50 Trance Tunes, Vol.4

If you're just now building out the trance section of your iTunes library, or are looking to complete it, all four are must haves. Good music and plenty of it for a good price.

What is the True Value of an Entertainment Download?

Hollywood and the big media music and television moguls are struggling to determine how to price their entertainment offerings in a new technology landscape. As consumers, we ha