MacRumors

In a press release Monday, Apple declared the number of songs sold from the iTunes Music Store has topped the 250,000,000 mark.

When we launched the iTunes Music Store we were hoping to sell a million songs in the first six monthsnow were selling over a million songs every day, and weve sold over a quarter billion songs in total, said Steve Jobs, Apples CEO. iTunes is leading the way into the digital music era and together with iPod is changing the way millions of music lovers find and enjoy their music.

ThinkSecret posted some blurbs about potential updates to both iPods and PowerBooks.

Regarding iPods, ThinkSecret mentions that upcoming Mini models could hit 5GB capacities, meanwhile the 5th Generation iPod, due in mid 2005 at the earliest, may move away from the white form factor to "a more silver enclosure".

PowerBook supplies have widely been reported to be constrained... but ThinkSecret feels that PowerBook announcements will be made soon -- possibly on Jan 25th or Feb 2nd. The site reiterates their previous predictions of 1.5/1.67 GHz models.

MacShrine has posted 45 screenshots from Tiger build 8A351, as a directory of images. There is no thumbnail page yet.

Version numbers shown: Mac OS X 10.4 pre-release, Build 8A351 [images 006 and 011], Automator 1.0 (30) [image 041], Dictionary 1.0.0 [image 001], iChat AV 3.0 (v364) [image 027], and Mail 2.0 (693) [images 015 and 028].

Also included are screenshots of Spotlight and selected System Preferences panels.

[Update] Some mirrors: one, two.

[Update 2] MacShrine has added new screenshots and organized them into categories.

A few different topics to shed light on, none of which have volumes of information about them just yet:

Tiger Developer Release A351 has been seeded according to Macosxrumors.com. According to the site, changes revolve around Finder SMB copies, boot, wake from sleep, applications crash, rich text printing, Mail, volume renaming, Microsoft applications, AOL installer, Adobe installers, Macromedia installers, HelpViewer, Character palette, authenticated copies, user logs path, and package creation with PackageMaker. Spotlight instability is also being address, as well as the inclusion of a new build of iCal 2.

Mac OS X 10.3.8, build 7U7, seems to be in the middle stages of development according to AppleInsider. AI claims the release is slated for sometime in February. Developers are noting the build delivers speedier application launching, with video driver and OpenGL changes.

Logic 7.0.1 was released earlier this week as a minor update. According to AppleInsider, Logic should undergo some changes in its next revision to remove latency in the application when using plug-ins. Apple declined to say when the new version of Logic would be released, but said that this Bus Latency Compensation feature is in direct response to Pro user feedback about the product.

PowerBook shortages are being reported by resellers worldwide, with Apple's own online store putting shipping dates now at 7 - 10 days out. Delays like these usually signify a product change is about to occur, and the G4 PowerBook is expected to have a minor speed bump revision according to Think Secret. G5 PowerBooks have been in the rumor news recently, but aren't expected to show for some time to come.

iLife 05 and iWork Shipping - As anticipated these two software suites have been reported by numerous readers to already be arriving, a day or two ahead of the expected January 22nd date.

NFL games for iPods will be made available by Audible.com via the iTunes Music Store. According to the Associated Press, The first recordings of football games for sale under the agreement will be this Sunday's NFL conference championships, which will be available on the Internet the following morning. Replays of the Super Bowl will also be available under the deal.

With shipment of Mac Mini's the first Mini's have started arriving.

One photo gallery was posted detailing the opening of the Mac Mini from the shipment box. [removed]

Smash's World posted a short MPEG4 video (Quicktime) of the (safe) disassembly of the Mac Mini.

Meanwhile, Appleinsider posts some additional details about the Mini. Most tantalizing is the follow blurb:

Finally, sources note that the mini's non-standard power connector contains too many leads to serve solely as a power source, and could provide hints of upcoming add-ons...

At this point, this remains pure speculation... (and some reader comments claim that this is simply unlikely, with extra pins not likely to be used for anything other than power).

Additional Notes:

- Ships with iLife '05
- iPhoto '05 book/photo ordering support not yet available (later this month)

ThinkSecret posted that Terry Gross of Gross & Belsky LLP will provide legal representation for the rumor site.

"Think Secret's reporting is protected by the First Amendment," Gross said. "The Supreme Court has said that a journalist cannot be held liable for publishing information that the journalist obtained lawfully. Think Secret has not used any improper newsgathering techniques. We will be filing a motion asking the Court to dismiss this case immediately on First Amendment grounds under a California statute which weeds out meritless claims that threaten First Amendment rights."

Apple filed suit against ThinkSecret earlier this month for a series of stories it had posted, claiming that ThinkSecret had obtained information illegally.

The outcome of this case will certainly have effects on the Mac Rumor web.

According to French Mac enthusiast site MacBidouille (english translation), current PowerBooks and eMacs have been declared end-of-life by French reseller FNAC.

We have just been informed that PowerBooks as well as eMac Superdrive have been declared "End of Life" at the FNAC (largest multimedia consumer shop in France).
This means that once machines in stock have been sold; there will not be any new shipment for the same ordering number.
PS: this is not a rumor, simply a fact. We let you draw your own conclusions.

MacRumors has received reader reports that the first wave of Mac minis has already begun shipping. The new machine, unveiled by Steve Jobs January 11 at MWSF 05, measures 6.5" wide x 6.5" deep x 2" tall, and is expected for general availability on January 22.

According to reader reports, as of January 31 Pepsi is again offering the yellow cap iTMS codes on 1 in 3 bottles.

Pepsi has just ended a promotion in Canada featuring an iPod-an-hour giveaway. Apparently the new caps also include one entry into a new iPod-An-Hour giveaway, featuring iPod mini's.

A broken set of details are found in a MacRumors forum post, having been ripped off a bottle already in circulation.

Update: Apple has created a web page previewing the upcoming promotion. http://www.apple.com/itunes/pepsi/. 1 in 3 wins a free song on iTunes. Official Rules.

Update 2: Above pages removed. Here is a mirror of the page: Screenshot.

Update 3: Apple's official pages have been put back online.

An article today in DigiTimes reports on Apple's Taiwanese contractors, saying that Foxconn Electronics (also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry) is contracted to manufacture and ship 100,000 or more Mac minis per month and that Asustek is contracted to manufacture and ship up to 400,000 to 500,000 iPod shuffles per month.

Almost as an afterthought, the article mentions that Asustek, which has been manufacturing and shipping iBook G4s at the rate of 110,000 to 120,000 per month, is to begin shipping an iBook G5 in the second quarter of 2005.

An accompanying chart shows again that Asustek is to delivery iBook G5s in 2005 Q2 (quantity 100,000 to 125,000 per month across both iBook model lines), and also that Quanta Computer is to deliver PowerBook G5s (quantity 30,000 to 50,000 per month) by the same quarter (2005 Q2).

Related stories:Jan 2005 Flash iPod at MacWorld Expo?Dec 2004 ASUSTeK to Manufacture Flash iPods?Dec 2003 Apple's 17-inch PowerBook ProductionOct 2003 Quanta to Produce New iMacs

Apple released 1st Quarter sales today with a net income of $295 million or 70 cents a share. This is up from $63 million or 17 cents/share in the same quarter last year.

iPod Sales were up 7x to 4.58 million units sold last quarter alone, bringing the total iPod sales figure to 10 million.

Meanwhile, total Mac sales rose 26 percent, selling 1.05 million Macintosh computers in the quarter, up from 829,000 a year ago.

Apple will be webcasting their Q1 2005 Financial results today at 5pm EST. The url for the webcast is:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq105/

We will provide updates and summary of information provided.

An apparent oversight in the updating of the Apple Japan website for the iPod shuffle shows:

The iTunes Music Store is the service which is offered in the United States & Europe & Canada & Australia.

The release of the iTMS in Australia has been previously rumored to happen in January of this year.

[Update] Looks like the deal's off - sorry... From ZDNet Australia:

Music analyst Phil Tripp said Apple would not introduce iTunes in the Australian market until all the deals with partners are signed. He added that Australia had a different copyright system that Apple needs to "overcome".

"Apple will not introduce iTunes into the Australian market until all the deals are right and the timing is right. We have a different copyright system that has to be overcome plus a different currency system that fluctuates a lot. We are only two percent of the world market. Its a commercial decision and Apple will concentrate on the major markets in the world first," Tripp said.

Now in Software Update...iTunes 4.7.1, for the newly introduced iPod shuffle:

iTunes 4.7.1 includes support for iPod shuffle and other performance improvements.

[Update] iTunes 4.7.1 is also available for download, with this description:

iTunes 4.7.1 includes support for iPod shuffle, support for copying photos to an iPod photo, the ability to show duplicate songs in your library, and other performance improvements.

The video stream of the 2005 MWSF Keynote speech is now available to watch online:

http://stream.apple.akadns.net/

This marks the first MacWorld keynote address in recent years that wasn't carried live by Apple.

As rumored, Apple released a low-end headless Mac... the Mac Mini. The newest Mac offers the following features

1.25GHz G4 or 1.4GHz G4 for $499 or $599
6.5 inches wide and 2 inches tall
2.9 pounds
Up to 1GB of Memory supported (comes with 256MB)
ATI Radeon 9200
iLife '05
Keyboard, Mouse, and Monitor sold seperately

Available at the Apple Store

As predicted, Apple released their first Flash-based iPod today with the iPod Shuffle

512MB and 1GB models priced at $99 and $149.
Built in USB connector
No Screen
12 Hours Battery
0.78 ounces

Available at the Apple Store

Apple introduced an update to the iLife product suite as well as the introduction of iWork '05.

iLife '05 offers updated versions of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand. Major new features include:

iPhoto: Soft cover books, multiple book sizes, import video, iTunes-like search field
iMovie: HD Video, media browser, improved editing
iDVD: new drop zones, more themes, OnStep DVD transfer from your DV tapes
GarageBand: up to 8 audio tracks, new timing enhancements, create your own loops

iWork '05 brings us an updated Keynote 2 as well as a new word processing application from Apple -- Pages.

Available at the Apple Store