Reprinted from TidBITS#803/31-Oct-05 with permission. Copyright (C) 2005, TidBITS. All rights reserved. http://www.tidbits.com/ MailBITS/31-Oct-05 ------------------ **iTunes Music Store Sells Over 1 Million Videos** -- Less than 20 days after unveiling new video-capable iPods and announcing Apple would begin selling music videos, short films, and selected ad-free ABC television episodes for $1.99 apiece, Apple says it has already sold more than 1 million videos through its iTunes Music Store. The most popular items include music videos from Michael Jackson, Fatboy Slim, and Kanye West; Pixar's shorts For the Birds and Boundin'; and episodes of Lost and Desperate Housewives. Apple's press release quotes CEO Steve Jobs saying the sales indicate a strong market for legal video downloads, and pledging to expand iTMS's video offerings. Is it too soon to hope for The Honeymooners or Your Show of Shows? [GD] **Squeezebox Gets New Design, Software Upgrade** -- Slim Devices has released the third generation of their Squeezebox network music player (see "Squeezebox2: Long Live Rock" in TidBITS-782_). The change is largely cosmetic, as the new player's design features the polished metal look that's all the rage, and it stands upright like a picture frame. (Personally, I like how the prior design nestles subtly inside my stereo rack.) Technical improvements include two internal wireless antennas, and a new power supply. The player is available in black or white, with a matching remote control. SlimServer 6.2 adds support for automatic volume adjustment; it reads settings stored by the Volume Adjustment and Sound Check features of iTunes, or mp3gain, aacgain, J.River Media Center, or replaygain (in Ogg Vorbis or FLAC files). The Windows Media Audio (WMA) format is now supported on all platforms, including files and streaming radio stations. New firmware for the Squeezebox 2 and 3 adds Wake-on-LAN support, Unicode character display, and support for WPA2 security on 802.11g wireless networks. [ATL] **OmniWeb 5.1.2 Released** -- The Omni Group has released OmniWeb 5.1.2, a minor update aimed primarily at fixing bugs (see "OmniWeb 5.0: The Powerful Web Browser" in TidBITS-742_ for a full review). New features in OmniWeb 5.1.2 include support for Fast User Switching and the Flash Player 8 plug-in. JavaScript alert() and prompt() dialogs now properly display the domain that initiated them and bring the initiating page or tab to the front, a useful security measure. Most of the changes, however, are bug fixes, ranging from the trivial, such as corrected tooltips, to the significant, including a variety of crashing bugs. See the release notes for a full list. OmniWeb 5.1.2 costs $30, and upgrades are free to registered users as a 6.0 MB (English) or 10.3 MB (internationalized) disk image. [ACE] **Apple Opens iTunes Music Store in Australia** -- Much to the delight of some of our friends down under, Apple has finally opened a version of the iTunes Music Store in Australia. Reportedly, the delay was due to at least one of the big music companies holding out, and that may account for the lack of artists from the Sony/BMG label. Despite this, Apple claims over 1 million tracks, including a number of exclusives from Australian musicians, and over 1,000 music videos; that's about half the size of the U.S. iTunes Music Store. Also currently missing are TV shows, which undoubtedly require an entirely different licensing process. Prices are a bit higher than the U.S. iTunes Music Store, with most songs costing A$1.69, which is equivalent to US$1.28 at the moment, in comparison with the US$0.99 that U.S. customers pay for most tracks. Nevertheless, it's nice to see Apple finally serving Australian Mac and iPod users in this way. [ACE] **Apple Releases Pro Video Updates** -- Apple recently released a slew of updates to its professional video software. Final Cut Express HD 3.0.1 adds compatibility with the recently announced Power Mac G5s equipped with PCI Express graphics controllers; the update is a 948K download. For Final Cut Pro 5 users, the Final Cut Pro 5 Updates provide "improved reliability" and bring Final Cut to version 5.0.3; the updater is an 85 MB download. Apple also released Pro Applications Update 2005-02, which updates the Helium.framework and DesktopVideoOut.component used by Final Cut Studio, Apple Qmaster 2, and Final Cut Express HD 3; it's available via Software Update. Finally, Pro Application Support 3.1 improves general user interface reliability for Final Cut Studio, Soundtrack, Logic Pro, and Logic Express; separate versions for Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4 are available as 6.1 MB downloads. [JLC] .