App rearrangement is a simple process. First, upgrade to iTunes 9.0 and iPhone OS 3.1. Connect your iPhone OS device to the computer and select it in iTunes. Choose the “Applications” tab and iTunes now displays your app pages as they appear on your iPhone or iPod touch. Apps can be moved around or deleted however you please. Pages can also be rearranged. Sync when you are happy with the order.

The “Applications” tab also lists apps by category and entrance into the App Store. Originally, it was sorted by name only. They will not automatically sync in this order though.

There are a few other limitations. Web apps or apps that came with your device cannot be deleted. Web apps must still be deleted on the device. Both these types of apps can still be moved around within iTunes.

Though far from perfect, being able to rearrange icons in iTunes 9 is a great feature and makes my life easier.

Finally we see the return of Steve Jobs, who was greeted to a standing ovation.  It is great to see him back.  No offense to Phil Schiller, but an Apple event isn’t complete without an appearance from Jobs.

iTunes 9 receives quite a few changes.  The application overall has a cleaner and more modern appearance.  The iTunes Store’s new look was designed to make content navigation easier.  There is too much content on each screen though and it is hard to explore. iTunes 9 also brings app management for iPhone and iPod touch.  Perhaps most importantly for families with multiple copies of iTunes, Apple has finally made it easier to share and sync your songs with something called “Home Sharing”.

One major complaint of buying music online is that it is missing things that CDs have, such as artwork and liner notes.  iTunes LP changes that.  LPs will have artwork, liner notes, videos, photos, and more.  There is a meager selection of LPs currently, but hopefully they will gain traction.

iPhone OS 3.1 is out now and boast a few interesting features.  Genius recommendations suggest apps that you may enjoy.  This is a blessing since it is a chore to navigate all of the apps in the App Store.  MobileMe users now can remotely lock their iPhones.

The iPod nano received the most additions of the entire iPod lineup.  The nano has its own video camera in a bid to compete with Flip camcorders.  The screen is bumped up to 2.2 inches.  The nano’s also have a new polished anodized aluminum finish. Surprisingly, Apple has finally added a built-in FM tuner which can also pause live radio.  There is also a pedometer.  The price remains the same for the 8 GB model ($149), but is reduced for the 16 GB version ($179).

The other iPod models had very few changes.  The classic is 160 GB (so long 120 GB) and is $249.  The iPod touch drops the 16 GB but adds 64 GB ($399).  8 ($199) and 32 GB ($299) models are still available.  The iPod shuffle now has a 2 GB version for $59, 4 GB for $79, and limited edition stainless 4 GB model for $99.  All iPods are shipping from Apple’s online store and will be available in retail soon.

Many rumored announcements did not come to fruition, including an all-you-can-eat subscription plan, DVD ripping, Blu-ray support, the mythical iTablet, and The Beatles finally coming to iTunes (which seems like it will never happen).

We will have more in-depth coverage of these announcements in future articles, so stay tuned.

Don’t want to watch the entire 2009 Macworld Keynote? Here’s a rundown of what was announced and a little commentary.

iLife 09
iLife 09 will be released sometime in late January. iPhoto and iMovie received the largest updates. New organization features Faces (facial recognition) and Places (geotagging) allow you to more easily find the pictures you’re looking for in iPhoto. iPhoto now includes direct upload capability to Flickr and Facebook. iPhoto also includes some pretty sweet slideshow functionality. iMovie now features video stabilization (which looks ridiculously slick), more precision editing, dynamic themes, and a cool travel map feature. GarageBand and iWeb were also updated; iDVD is the same. The cool new feature in GarageBand is the new artist lessons feature. The artist lesson feature is a video where various artists teach you to play their songs. iLife 09 is $79 and $99 for a family pack. You also need OS X 10.5 Leopard to run iLife 09.

iWork 09
I’ll save you the boring details on iWork 09. Basically, increased functionality across all applications. Pages includes a new full screen mode to help remove distractions. Mail Merge is also now included with Pages. Also new is a cool $.99 iPhone/touch application to control Keynote presentations called Keynote Remote (iTunes link). Numbers got a cool linked chart feature when adding Numbers based charts in Pages. iWork 09 is available now for $79 or $99 for a family pack. You can also purchase iWork 09 with a new Mac for only $49.

Mac Box Set
The Mac Box Set is a new product that includes iWork 09, iLife 09, and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard for only $169. Considering Leopard is $129 by itself, this is a remarkably good deal.

iWork.com
iWork.com is a sharing and collaboration site for iWork documents. iWork.com will be available on a subscription basis (price not announced) at a later date. You need iWork 09 to use iWork.com. Though not officially announced, it looks like iWork.com is available for use now.

17″ MacBook Pro
The 17″ MBP looks exactly like the new unibody Macbook and 15″ MBP. The downside of the 17″ MBP is the fact that the battery is not user replaceable, but does get “up to 8 hours” of battery life. The new battery can be recharged up to 1,000 times, “3x the recharges of the standard notebook battery”. The 17″ MBP is available with a new anti-glare option for an extra $50. Video editors will be happy with the new 17″ MBP because it supports 8GB of RAM.

iTunes

• Beginning April 1st, songs sold on iTunes will be available with variable pricing, $.69, $.99, and $1.29.
• 80% of the songs available on iTunes are now DRM free. The remaining 20% will be available DRM free by the end of this quarter.
• The iTunes iPhone/touch App can now operate over the cellular network. This works over Edge and 3G.

My Analysis
The most important announcement was easily iTunes becoming DRM free. Perhaps this is truly the final nail in the DRM coffin?

Perhaps the most interesting announcement is iWork.com. Though it initially seems limited, could this come to rival Google Docs?

Of all the Apple products I own, perhaps my favorite is the Apple TV. The Apple TV along with iTunes, VisualHub, and Handbrake make for a fantastic media experience. Despite nearly every Apple TV owner absolutely loving their device, the product remains a “hobby” to Apple. Though I don’t believe sales figures for the Apple TV are publicly available, a “hobby” isn’t exactly a glowing indicator of sales.

I purchased my Apple TV after the Macworld 2008 price drop and news about the 2.0 software. Originally the unit was too expensive and lacked features. The $229 price (40GB version) was much more attractive as was the 2.0 software which brought movie rentals and the ability to act as a stand alone device (no PC or Mac required). I dropped my $199 bucks down on a refurbished Apple TV and have used it nearly every day since. I really enjoy watching TV shows, video podcasts, movies, and pictures on my Apple TV. My wife absolutely loves it too!

While I gush about how much I like the Apple TV, I seem to be in the minority of Apple fans, as many do not own one. You rarely see ads for the device anywhere and I think a lot of people aren’t really sure what the Apple TV actually does. And really, how much can a “hobby” add to Apple’s already large chest of cash?

I have a solution to raise the demand for Apple TV. In fact, Apple has already implemented this solution with two of the other main product lines, the iPod and iPhone. Apple needs a Made For Apple TV program and a SDK and App Store for the Apple TV.

SDK: Imagine if NBC released a Hulu application for Apple TV. What about Google Earth for Apple TV? NetNewsWire, NYTimes, WeatherBug, Wikipanion, and Last.fm for Apple TV? The ability to set Apple TV to play music/video while you are on vacation would be a nice security feature. The list could go on for possible applications for Apple TV.

Made For Apple TV Program: Imagine the Apple TV as the central nervous system for a wireless home music/video automation system. The ability to interface with the unit via third party controls, wall units, wireless keyboards, etc.

Not only would Apple move more Apple TV units, they would also receive additional revenue with App Store sales and third party accessories (like they do with many iPod accessories). These moves would open up the device to third party developers and create an iPod like ecosystem. This would be a win-win for Apple and their partners/software developers.

Do you own a Apple TV and love it? If not, would you want one if third party accessories and software were available for it? Sound off below with your comments about my idea or your thoughts on the Apple TV.

Did you miss the presidential debate last Friday? Don’t worry, iTunes has you covered. CBS has posted the first 2008 presidential debate as a video podcast. You can download the video or subscribe (there are two more presidential debates) to the podcast here.

As I opened iTunes when I got home, I noticed something new. There was a “1″ beside the Applications icon in my iTunes sidebar, much like the indications that you have new podcasts (see below).

Clicking the Applications icon takes you to a page showing the applications you have installed. In the lower right hand corner, you’ll see a link with a notification that you have X number of application updates available.

Click the link and you’ll be notified which applications have updates. Click the Get Update button, or the Download All Updates button, and the new version will be downloaded. The next time you sync your iPhone the updated application will be installed, or so I thought.

The process was going well until iTunes went to sync my applications. At that point I received the below error.

Even though the error seemed to indicate that the application wasn’t updated, a quick check of the application version on my iPhone indicates that it did update. It’s somewhat ambiguous to identify who is to blame for the error. Is it Apple or Evernote? Either way, I hope they work the kinks out of the process.

The wait is over, the iPhone 2.0 software has finally hit iTunes. iTunes 7.7 was released early Thursday morning, one of the precursors to iPhone 2.0. Earlier today, it was discovered that you could download the 2.0 software before it was available in iTunes. Then later, the App Store (iTunes link) went live in iTunes. Prior to upgrading, I already started downloading applications!  For those waiting (like me), you can now hit that Check For Update button and have your iPhone running the same software as the new iPhone 3G.

What are you waiting for? Update!

I often tag articles on my del.icio.us account to read later. At some point I’ll go back through my del.icio.us account and read the article I’ve tagged with the “readlater” label. Sometimes it’s later that day when I read the article, and sometimes it’s later that month (or longer). I recently found a cool application to help me read those article when I ordinarily would not have the time.

Lips is a great little application for converting text into audio (aiff format). I use Lips to get all those “readlater” articles into my iPod or iPhone so I can listen to them on my way to/from work. Here’s my workflow:

1. Toss the article text into lips
2. Hit the Export button and save the file to my desktop
3. Drop the file into iTunes
4. Change the genre on the file to Article; which is a custom genre I created
5. The next time I sync my iPod or iPhone the article is automatically tossed on the device through the use of a smart playlist. The smart playlist just looks for any audio with the Article genre.

Here’s a screenshot of the Lips UI:

Lips gives you the choice of using various Leopard voices. In addition to choosing which voice you use, you can also change the voice speed. The resulting audio is very listenable through my ear buds. While I like Lips, it could use a few small enhancements to make it even better.

• A stop button. When you choose to play the text directly in Lips, the only way I found to stop it is to kill the application
• An option to export the audio directly into iTunes

I realize that text to audio Applescripts exists. Lips is nice because it allows you to take text from multiple pages (or sources) and export them to one file. The Applescript methods I’ve seen are limited to what text you can highlight at one time, limiting the audio to text from one page. Lips is a free application and requires OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Introduction
Launched in 2007, Amazon MP3 marked the first large assault on iTunes. While it’s not the first digital music download service back by a large corporation (who knew Wal-Mart had a music download service?), this product is unique. Not only was this new effort backed by a large corporation, but it is a corporation with a long respected internet history.

Selection
The selection of music on Amazon MP3 is enormous. While the selection is not quite as large as iTunes, it has most of the same songs/albums as iTunes. The music diversity on Amazon MP3 is also quite good. If you like Top 40 type music, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll find what you’re looking for. If your taste varies from popular music, Amazon MP3 can also wet your music appetite. I had a very hard time not finding the music I was looking for. In fact, of the ten or so artists I looked for, only the most obscure one wasn’t listed. Bottom line, unless you are a complete underground/unsigned indie junkie you’ll find something you like. Even if you are, it can’t hurt to see if Amazon MP3 carries it. Amazon is constantly adding labels to their MP3 offerings.

Price
Most single tracks cost between $.89 and $.99 cents each. Based on my browsing, albums cost between $5.99 and $9.99 each. Most single discs run between $8.99 – $9.99 however. Double discs cost more than a single disc. I’ve seen some double discs for $12.99 and $16.99. Price will likely vary by artist, label, etc.

Music Format
Amazon MP3 offers DRM free 256 kbps mp3 files. Good quality sound and DRM free; about as good as you can get from a download music service.

Experience
As with all the iTunes alternatives I’m reviewing for this article series, Amazon MP3 is a web application. The website features a similar design to the Amazon Store. Searching for a song or album is as easy as using Google and typing into a search box. Once you have found what you want, click buy.

With the help of the Amazon MP3 Downloader, the experience using Amazon MP3 is quite seamless. If you are purchasing individual songs, the use of the Amazon MP3 Downloader is optional. If you are purchasing entire albums, the use of the Amazon MP3 Downloader is mandatory. I do however recommend using it for all your purchases since it does make life easier.

After buying a song or album on Amazon MP3, you’ll download a .amz file. When you have the Amazon MP3 Downloader installed, opening the file will launch the Downloader and you’ll see the songs being downloaded to your computer. Once the download is finished, the Downloader will automatically add the song to iTunes. The album art should also be included!

Overall
Amazon MP3 is by far the best competitor to iTunes. The experience of finding and downloading music is very easy. The quality and selection of music is great, as is the price. If you’re looking to spend your music dollars somewhere other than iTunes, Amazon MP3 will likely be your best choice.

This is part 1 of 3 of the Guide to iTunes Alternatives series.

I usually browse through the Free on iTunes (iTunes link) section on a weekly basis. After all, it is free music/tv. Often I don’t download anything at all, but occasionally something actually sounds good. This week, that’s definitely the case.

I’ve written here a few times that I’m a big singer-songwriter fan. Up for free this week in that category is the song Madly (iTunes link), by Tristan Prettyman. I had previously heard Tristan while browsing last.fm. It’s a pretty catchy song with good vocals and piano work. If you’re into the singer-songwriter stuff, give it a shot. After all, it won’t cost you a thing.

If you like what you heard, her new CD (iTunes link) is currently available on iTunes for less than $6 USD. Her new CD, titled Hello, is even in iTunes Plus format. For two days worth of Starbucks, the CD is a bargain.

I’m going to do my first multi-part post here at Apple Mac HQ. Leading off this first, is a review of the various alternatives to iTunes. I’ll be focusing on what I consider the “major players”. Those services are Amie Street, eMusic, and Amazon MP3. While there are other music services such as Napster and Rhapsody, their business model is subscription based which is outside the scope of this music service comparison.

Over the next week or so I’ll do an in-depth review of each service and then make some final recommendations. Stay tuned for my first review early next week!

According to a latest data from the NPD Group’s Music Watch Survey, iTunes is now the largest music retailer in the US. iTunes now sells more music than any other company in the US. While that’s certainly impressive, consider that iTunes is less than 5 years old. Let that sink in a little. In less than 5 years iTunes is now the dominant force in a business that’s been around for well more than 50 years. Incredible.

If you’re as excited about the upcoming MLB season as I am, iTunes has a free download that will get you primed for the season opening games. Coming in an nearly 700MB, the 2008 MLB Season Preview (iTunes link) takes a look at each division and gives you a synopsis of each team in the division.

The entire video runs about an hour which each team getting about 2-3 minutes of air time. Each team synopsis includes player interviews, team analysis (strengths/weaknesses/etc), beat writer quotes, and the goals of the team for 2008. With the season opening game just a little over a week away, the 2008 MLB Season Preview is a great way to get caught up to date on your favorite or hated team. Go Braves!

The only problem with renting these cheap movies is actually finding them. I spent a good 5 or 10 minutes clicking around in iTunes and for the life of me I couldn’t see any place where you could actually find the special movie rental of the week. Search no more. Wake Interactive has created a website that lists the movie special along with a brief description of the movie and a direct iTunes link to the rental. 99Rental.com also features an RSS feed so you can get the latest movie rental special straight in your RSS reader. If you have an AppleTV or watch movies on your computer, 99Rental.com is a great resource.

[Via TUAW]

OS X
-5 million copies of Leopard have been delivered. This is likely a combination of new Mac sales and Leopard boxed copies (no definitive word given).

Time Capsule
-Time Capsule is a companion product for Leopard’s Time Machine. Time Capsule is a combination Airport Extreme Base Station with a server grade hard drive. It’s a “backup appliance”.
-500GB and 1TB storage for $299 and $499 respectively.
-Backup multiple Macs to the same Time Capsule.
-No word on if this feature will be available for USB drives connected to the current Airport Extreme Base Stations.

iPhone
-4 million iPhone sold to date.
-It’s first quarter shipping it garnered 19% of the smart phone market share.
-1.1.3 iPhone software upgrade released: SMS to multiple people, current position locator in maps, customizable home screen, and more.

iPod Touch
-Mail, maps, stocks, notes, and weather coming to the Touch.
-The cost of those applications is $20 for current Touch owners and will be built in to new ones.

iTunes
-4 billion songs sold
-125 million TV shows sold
-7 million movies sold
-iTunes movie rentals coming by the end of February
-Studios renting movies on iTunes includes Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony.
-24 hours to finishing watching rented movie once started; you have 30 days to watch movie from the time of download.
-You can transfer the movie to a PC, Mac, iPod, iPhone, AppleTV, nearly anywhere.
-Library titles are $2.99 and new releases are $3.99

AppleTV
-Computer no longer required for AppleTv
-Rent movies directly from AppleTV
-Rent movies in DVD quality or HD (with 5.1 sound)
-Flickr and .Mac photo support
-50 million Youtube videos now available for AppleTV
-Buy TV shows and music directly from AppleTV and have them sync back to your computer
-HD movie rentals are $1 more than the standard rentals.
-New UI
-Free software upgrade for existing AppleTV owners to support new features
-Price reduced to $229

Movie Media
-Working with Fox to include a digital copy of a purchased movie on current optical media (DVD, Blu-Ray) to allow instant transfer to iTunes.

Macbook Air
-Super thin notebook
-.76 – .16 inches thick; 3lbs
-Full size keyboard
-13.3″ widescreen LED backlit display
-Built in multi-touch gesture support ala iPhone
-80GB or 64GB SSD (upgrade option) hard drive
-2GB RAM standard
-Runs on a Intel Core 2 Duo chip that is 60% smaller than current chips
-Magsafe power adapter, 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, USB 2.0 port, iSight, Micro-DVI, and headphone jack. No optical drive.
-$99 USB external optical drive
-Remote Disc feature allows you to connect to a local Mac/PC and share its optical drive
-5 hour battery life
-$1799
-Ships in two weeks; pre-order today.

So those are the highlights of the Macworld Keynote. I included nearly every remotely interesting detail about the Keynote, but not everything. Engadget liveblogged the event and you can see their post here. I kept waiting for the “one more thing” but there wasn’t one this year. My money is out for an AppleTV in a few weeks. Are you going to buy anything mentioned in the Keynote?