New and Noteworthy: Cell phone/music player concerns; iTunes commands 80 percent of UK music download market

Cell phone/music player concerns The Chicago Tribune speculates on some potential bottlenecks that will face hybrid music player/cell phone devices. "While marrying cell phones and iPod music players 'is a fairly big deal,' it will probably take a while before all the bugs are worked out and the product really catches on, said Neil Strother, mobile devices research director at market research firm NPD Group. 'It's a no-brainer to do this, but whenever a new device comes in, every first generation has issues,' he said. One concern may be battery life, he said. Users of both mobile phones and iPods have noticed how often they must recharge their batteries to keep the gadgets operating." More.

iTunes commands 80 percent of UK music download market Apple has issued a press release stating that the iTunes Music Store is the number one digital music service in the UK with 80 percent market share of digital sales, according to the Official Charts Company (OCC). "The iTunes Music Store in the UK features more than 1.7 million songs from the major music companies and over 1,000 independent record labels, 10,000 audiobooks, gift certificates and exclusive music not found anywhere else online. The iTunes Music Store in the UK also carries 15,000 Podcasts, including several from the BBC, which currently hold six of the Top 10 slots on the Podcast chart." More.

Previously on MacFixIt:

• "Choppy" DVD Player playback can be caused by third-party utilities
• More instances of the iDisk causing delays for open/save dialog boxes
• Mac OS X 10.4.x: Broken links in Burn Folders

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