New and Noteworthy: iPod Friday

iPod: The Mac Replayed? A Business Week article compares the iPod's "closed" approach to music downloads with the original Mac, asking if the two situations will play out the same: "Are Apple and its enigmatic CEO bringing about a doomsday déjà vu with their steady refusals to let others partake in the iTunes juggernaut? That seems to be the case. Given its dominant share of the digital-music market, Apple might believe it has no need to worry. That line of thinking is also familiar -- and equally dangerous." More.

Consumer Reports: iPod the best According to a Don't Waste Your Money consumer column, Consumer Reports magazine recently tested the iPod and iPod mini against sever other popular players and called the two iPods the best of the bunch, with Creative's Zen Touch close behind. More.

iTunes Music Store tops 150 million songs, new gift cards An Apple press release touts the 150-million-download milestone reached by the iTunes Music Store, as well as new iTunes gift cards, available at Best Buy stores: "The 150 millionth song was 'Ex-Factor' by Lauryn Hill and was purchased by Beth Santisteven from Ignacio, Colorado. iTunes users are now downloading more than 4 million songs per week, a rate of over 200 million songs per year. Apple also announced the immediate availability of iTunes gift cards at all Best Buy stores." More.

Downloads Up, Purchases Down. Now What? Lost in all the good iPod news this week is the fact that paid music downloads have declined over the past quarter. Playlist's Chris Breen notes that the RIAA's "prosecute everyone" approach isn't working: "Given that the bad cop hasn't been terribly effective, how about giving the good cop a try?" More.

When is small too small? The New York Times covers the trend in consumer electronics towards smaller and smaller devices: "But many device makers and experts on the interplay between people and machines warn that rushing to make things smaller simply because they can be does not necessarily ensure that devices remain useful or even fun. Some of the smallest gadgets raise a new question: how small is too small?" (The article specifically mentions the iPod mini as an example of "good small.") More.

Previously on MacFixIt:

• More on iMac G5 media ejection problems
• Office 2004: More Service Pack 1 problems, fixes (#3); More on font issues, precautions (#3)
• Odds and Ends: StuffIt Deluxe 9.0: Problems expanding older .sit files; Office v.X 10.1.6; more
• Utilities Updates: Data Rescue v10.4.3; TinkerTool 3.3a; A Better Finder Rename 6.6; more
• New and Noteworthy: Apple's Q4 results; A Month with a Mac: A Die-Hard PC User's Perspective; more

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