New and Noteworthy: What the Mac Mini is really for: movies; The Mac Media Center Project; more

What the Mac Mini is really for: movies In his latest column for PBS, Robert Cringely echoes earlier speculation here on MacFixIt that the Mac mini will eventually become the centerpiece of a push, by Apple, into the as-of-yet undeveloped home HD movie download market. Cringely postulates that Apple will use the "Year of HD" banner, proficiency in the H.264 format, Steve Jobs' movie industry ties, and the Mac mini to create an online movie store that will gain early dominance in an emerging market, just as the iTunes music store did. "Jobs denies interest in video, citing the dominance of cable companies, but then he always denies right up until the moment he changes his mind, and that moment is coming." More.

The Mac Media Center Project "The Mac Media Center Project" is a plan to develop a free Media Center application for the Apple Macintosh, "bringing together the power and intuitiveness of the Macs' built in applications under a simple interface, for use as part of a Home Theatre system." The project's authors also have information on 5.1 audio, remote control and video output solutions for the Mac. "The Project aim is to turn the Mac mini into a Mac Media Center." More.

iPod Shuffle competitors can't match price A Washington Post article notes that other flash-drive MP3 manufacturers can't compete with the iPod Shuffle in terms of price: "The iPod Shuffle's prices aren't just cheap, they undercut those of every major competitor. At Amazon.com, opting for a non-Apple player with the same capacity as the $99 Shuffle will cost at least $20 more; at Best Buy, the not-Apple tax runs to $80 -- or $30 more than Apple's one-gig model. [...] Other manufacturers might already seem doomed to wind up splattered across Apple's windshield." More.

iTunes Music Store Downloads Top a Quarter Billion Songs Apple yesterday announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 250 million songs from the iTunes Music Store. "iTunes users are now downloading one and a quarter million songs per day, which is an annual run rate of almost half a billion songs per year. The iTunes Music Store is now available in fifteen countries, which together represent more than 70 percent of the global music market." More.

Previously on MacFixIt

• iLife '05 (#3): Up-to-date program not for refurbished Macs; Installing on a system with an external DVD burner; more
• iPod Shuffle (#4): Problems when connected to G5's front port, possible solution; Loose/wiggling buttons; more
• iPhoto 5: Problems using external editor; launching; sending images to iDVD
• iMovie HD: Camera issues, more
• More on FireWire camera issues under Mac OS X 10.3.7
• Vonage VoIP and iChat AV port conflict; potential solution

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