Hasta La Gadget!

Boingo, the WiFi hotspot service, has updated its iOS app with the ability to pay for Boingo’s monthly subscription using your iTunes account. This means that Boingo users don’t need to enter in their credit card information in the app, but instead just link it with their iTunes accounts, where users will be billed monthly using the payment method they have on file with iTunes.

Boingo has roughly 600,000 WiFi hotspots located around the world, and if you can’t get free WiFi on your laptop and you dare not choose to pay extra for tethering, you can use Boingo, which charges $7.99 per month. This really only seems reasonable if you travel a lot, but if you need WiFi and don’t just a free public network, Boingo is always an option.

Of course, if you don’t want to use the new method of paying for your monthly Boingo subscription, you can still stick with the old ways of doing things and manage your payments through the Boingo service itself. The iTunes payment method is just a few cents more than the traditional method, but that’s really not a huge deal.

For those wondering, yes, Boingo is most likely giving Apple a 30% cut because of this new feature, since it’s technically an in-app purchase, but it seems the company is willing to take the risk of losing money at the chance of getting more users to hop on board now that they have an easier payment method to take advantage of.

Boingo iOS app updates with iTunes subscription billing is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

“What happened is way worse for musicians. It has forced musicians to be marketers.“
John McVey, producer, Coupe Studios

“I fear that in general the only musicians able to create a truly independent and successful career are those who had one before the industry changed, who had the fan base in place to enable them to continue independently of the record labels.” That’s Peter Owen, an independent composer and producer. He is one of many musicians who feel that the internet has made the business of creativity more challenging.

Parts one and two of this series surveyed how iTunes and MP3 catalyzed the digital music movement for labels and consumers. The effect of the internet on musicians is less recognized. In one way, musicians have benefited similarly to consumers. While consumers have gained amazing access to music, musicians have acquired unprecedented access to listeners.

So it’s the promised land for musicians, right? Not exactly. For many creators whose careers span the before-and-after of digital music, there is a crushing sense that the grass isn’t greener after all.

Filed under: Software, Apple

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“iTunes is a stepping stone along the way.”
— Jim Griffin, OneHouse LLC

On April 28th, the iTunes Store basked in a milestone 10th birthday. Two years before its 2003 launch (as the iTunes Music Store), Apple introduced the iTunes client as a desktop music management program and implemented it as the device manager for the first iPod later in 2001. In those two years, Apple laid the groundwork for what can reasonably be called the iTunes era of music.

Apple did not invent digital music, even though for many iTunes embodies 21st century music buying. However, during the past 10 years, it has become the US’ top music retailer, with customers currently downloading 15,000 songs per minute from the app’s library of 26 million songs, according to an Apple spokesperson. Since its launch, it has evolved into the hub of a powerhouse media / tech ecosystem that turned Apple into the world’s most valuable company in 2012.

As a symbolic milestone, the iTunes anniversary encourages reflection on the past, a survey of the present and predictions of the future. Digital music continues to evolve, for businesses, consumers and musicians.

Filed under: Software, Apple

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Along with its refresh of the Featured section in the iTunes App Store, Apple has added a section dedicated to educating people about in-app purchases and what they are exactly. This was most likely added to address the recent fiascos with users accidentally purchasing in-app content on their iOS device.

The user guide, called “Learn more about in-app purchases,” explains what in-app purchases are exactly, and how they work. Plus, it teaches users how to prevent their kids from gaining access to in-app purchases where they might spend a crazy amount of money on virtual goods otherwise.

While kids obviously don’t really know what in-app purchases are, a surprising number of parents are also ignorant on the subject, especially new owners of an iOS device. Of course, that’s not necessarily the parents’ fault, since Apple or other developers have never really explained what in-app purchases are in detail.

However, Apple’s new user guide aims to clear up any confusion on the subject, and it even teaches parents on how to add parental controls to various apps, including the ability to restrict kids from downloading additional content without the parents’ permission. We’re not sure how much of an effect this will have in the future, but at least the Cupertino-based company is doing their due diligence.

Apple educates users on in-app purchases with new user guide is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple has launched a special tribute to its iTunes Store today, with a ten-year-long interactive timeline called “A Decade of iTunes.” Users can flip through each year since 2003 to see what were some of the popular songs back then, as well as look over some of the milestones that Apple and iTunes have passed along the way.

Throughout the timeline, Apple touches on major iPod launches, as well as download milestones for the iTunes Store, including the most recent 40 billionth app downloaded from the App Store, 25 billion songs sold through iTunes, and one billion courses downloaded from iTunes U. If you’ve been an iPod user since the early days, this will definitely bring you way back.

However, this doesn’t mark the 10th anniversary of iTunes. The popular music player and music store combo app was actually launched back in 2001 along with the very first iPod, which would make iTunes around 12 years old now, which means the app has already been around for about two years when the timeline begins.

Nonetheless, it’s a fun thing to scroll through to kill some time, and it even lists the top-selling songs and albums for a given year, and they include a link to buy the song or album if you feel like getting some nostalgia built up. So, what was the top-selling song on iTunes back in 2003? “Hey Ya!” by OutKast.

Apple celebrates “A Decade of iTunes” with interactive timeline is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.