How to remove iTunes DRM copy-protection and burn iTunes movie to DVD?

How to remove iTunes DRM copy-protection and burn iTunes movie to DVD?

Many friends ask me how to burn iTunes movies to DVD, so that they can enjoy their movies on large screen TV. For computer newbie, I will recommend them to get an Apple TV; it can connect your iTunes library to TV, the only thing you need to do is to sync movies from iTunes to Apple TV box. An Apple TV costs $299, if you think this is beyond your budget, you can use software to do that same thing, which is a lot cheaper.
Now, let me explain the details. Because movies and TV shows purchased from iTunes store have DRM copy-protection, you have to remove the DRM protection before burning them to DVDs for playback on your home DVD player.

What you need are: Aimersoft DVD Creator & Aimersoft Media Converter. You can download them from:
http://www.aimersoft.com/dvd-creator.html#114

http://www.aimersoft.com/drm-media-converter.html#114

Part1. How to remove DRM copy-protect from iTunes purchased movie or TV shows?
Step1. Download and install Aimersoft Media Converter, just follow the installation wizard, this software will install several high-speed dubbings to speed up the conversion, when you see the pop up warning messages, just click “Keep on going” to finish the installation, which may take a few minutes.

Step2. Then run the Media Converter, click “Add” button to load your iTunes purchased movies or TV shows, the default directory is My Document\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music
In the “Convert Video to” drop down list, select “WMV”, then click “Start” to begin the conversion. If you don't know where the converted videos are saved, you can click “Browse” to locate the files on your computer.

Tips: this software can also remove DRM from purchased music and audio books; it also works for other online stores such as Zune, Amazon, etc.

Part2. How to burn DRM-free iTunes video to DVD?
Step1. After you remove the DRM copy-protection from iTunes purchased movies, download Aimersoft DVD Creator and install it. (Note, you need a DVD Burner to burn DVD, so make sure your DVD Drive has DVD+RW or DVD-RW symbol)

Step2. Run Aimersoft DVD Creator, click “Load Video” button to import your DRM-free videos, and then drag the videos to the storyboard. If you want to burn videos to dual-layer DVD (DVD-9), at the bottom of the interface, select “DVD-R 9.0G”, you can also customize video quality there. And the used disc space is shown on the disc space bar underneath the storyboard.

Step3. If you just want to burn the video to DVD without adding any special effects, just click the “Burn” tab. Here you will see the following options:
“Burn to”: you can burn the video to DVD or create an ISO file on your hard drive.
“Drive”:If your computer has multiple DVD burners, you can select any of them.
“TV Standard”: NTSC is 30 fps. It’s used in USA, Canada and Japan. PAL is 25 fps and it’s used in Europe and Asia.
After the above steps, put a blank DVD disk into your drive and click “Start” to burn your movie.

Tip. You can use this software to add special effects to your videos and also create a DVD menu so you can use DVD remote control to control the playback.

Google launches free music download service in China

Google, in conjunction with over 15 record labels, has announced the launch of a free online music download service that will allow anyone in mainland China to download over 1.1 million tracks for free.

The service has music from Chinese labels, Warner Music Group Corp., EMI Group Ltd., Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music, as well as 14 independent labels and the service will be limited to those using an IP address showing they are in mainland China.

"This is the first really serious attempt to start monetizing online music in China," said Lachie Rutherford, president of Warner Music Asia and regional head of the IFPI.

China has been the poster child for music piracy, with some Chinese music acts admitting to no longer recording because piracy has made the business unprofitable.

Kai-Fu Lee, Google's president for Greater China, says that 84 percent of the Chinese population uses search engines to search for music. "With today's offering, we complete the puzzle and offer a complete set of services that are fully integrated," he added.

China currently has over 300 million Internet users.

via afterdawn

Apple to host WWDC in early June

Apple has set the dates for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, to be held once again in San Francisco during June.

The company will host about 5,000 engineers in San Francisco's Moscone West convention center the week of June 8 through June 12, it confirmed Thursday. Some Apple developers were starting to get nervous that Apple had yet to confirm the dates in order for them to make travel plans.

Apple did not post any explicit information about whether there would be the usual opening keynote at WWDC this year, except for an offhand reference to the "WWDC Keynote Session" in a site section regarding attendance policies. Last year's event saw CEO Steve Jobs unveil the iPhone 3G, but this year, Jobs is supposed to be on medical leave through the end of June, which would likely preclude him from hosting the show.

That is, unless he plans to return early. It's hard to imagine that Apple would host a WWDC without plans for some sort of media event, which this year has been expected to focus on a combination of a new iPhone and the iPhone OS 3.0 software, as well as Mac OS X Snow Leopard, expected to arrive in thenext few months.

A call to Apple representatives seeking more information about the keynote was not immediately returned.

Skype coming to the iPhone

Skype, the Internet calling service owned by eBay, is expected to announce an application for the iPhone at next week's wireless CTIA tradeshow in Las Vegas, according to tech blogger Om Malik of GigaOM.

Skype is keeping mum on the announcement and has declined to comment on the rumors. But the company is hosting a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas the day before the show kicks off. And it's likely the news will be announced there.


Skype admitted earlier this year that it's working on an application for the iPhone. Scott Durchslag, the company's chief operating officer, said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January that an iPhone version of the software client would be coming to Apple's App Store.

"We have to make sure the call quality is there and the application works really well before we can announce the software for any device," he said in an interview after the company's press conference. "But we will have something for the iPhone as soon as it's perfect."

Skype sees mobile as the next major growth area for its business. Not only does it expect its more than 405 million registered users to take their Skype experience, which offers free and low-cost calling, with them on-the-go, but the company also believes they will be able to reach new users via mobile devices. By putting the peer-to-peer service, which uses the Internet to carry voice traffic, it becomes very convenient to use. The regular Skype service runs on a computer and requires either a special phone or a headset and microphone to make and receive phone calls.

In the U.S. most cell phone plans include domestic long distance calling as part of a bundle of minutes, so the Skype service isn't really that appealing. But for subscribers calling outside the U.S., rates can be as much as a $2 a minute if cell phone users don't subscribe to a special monthly plan for making international calls. This makes the Skype mobile client most appealing to users who want to make inexpensive international calls, but don't want to be tied to their computers.

A software version of Skype already exists for Windows Mobile phones. Nokia also plans to embed some of its phones with Skype clients. And Skype has worked with a company called iSkoot to develop a special Skype phone that is sold by the cell phone operator Hutchison 3 U.K. A Skype-lite version of the client is also available on some Java phones.

Now, iPhone users will get to use Skype, too. But before iPhone users get too excited, there's probably a big catch. The new Skype app for the iPhone will likely be restricted to Wi-Fi networks only, as Apple has done to other third party services like Fring, which offers access to Skype.

If this is the case, it will be a huge limitation to the usefulness of the service. While other mobile phone users can use the Skype service anywhere they can a cell phone signal, iPhone users will be restricted to only using it where they can access Wi-Fi. Most people access Wi-Fi home or in the office, where they're likely to be near a computer anyway.


[via: news.cnet]

YouTube for Mobile (Windows Mobile) 2.2 (Free)

YouTube for Mobile is a simple, fairly fast, and well-designed application for a variety of Windows Mobile and Symbian phones that supports both landscape and portrait views. You'll search for videos through the search bar at the top of the screen, or through Top Rated, Most Viewed, or Most Recent categories. The results are displayed in a horizontal ticker, where you'll view a thumbnail image from each video and read the blurb and ratings below. In the Menu options, you'll find a shortcut key to return to the Home page, a shortcut to search for videos related to your current pick, and tips tucked away in a help menu.

YouTube videos loaded quickly in our tests and played in landscape mode. You can tap to call up the Back button and controls to pause, skip, and adjust the volume; otherwise the video will play full screen. Note that playback quality will vary by device and your connection strength. YouTube's videos will chew through data, so having a monthly data subscription is strongly recommended before downloading the application. So long as that applies to you, any YouTube fan with find YouTube's mobile application an easy way to get a quick video fix--although the community aspect and saving favorites are missing from the mobile version.

Download

BlackBerry Niagara To Spark Smartphone Showdown

Just in time to take on the Palm Pre and whatever new iPhone model Apple dreams up this summer, word is the latest must-have BlackBerry smartphone will hit in May.

The long-rumored BlackBerry Niagara doesn't have an exact release data or pricing model, but The Street this week quoted analysts who said the Niagara will land on Verizon Wireless' network in just about two months.

The BlackBerry Niagara is expected to build on the success built by Research In Motion's popular line of BlackBerry Curve devices. The Niagara is expected to be bigger than the Curve but smaller than the BlackBerry Bold, while featuring the same 480 x 320 screen as the Bold, which is exclusive to AT&T in the U.S. Also similar to the Bold, Niagara is expected to run the same 624MHz CPU processor.

In addition, Niagara is expected to run BlackBerry OS 4.6. It will feature a full QWERTY keyboard, EV-DO Rev. A, a GPS, a 3.2-megapixel camera and BES 5.0 support.

Not only would a May release for Niagara reinvigorate Verizon's BlackBerry lineup, which has been start-stop lately with the touch-screen BlackBerry Storm, but it would also give BlackBerry and Verizon a solid smartphone release around the same time competitors gear up to get new devices on the market.

Palm and Sprint have partnered to launch the Palm Pre sometime in the first half of this year. Despite reporting massive third-quarter losses, Palm is hoping the Sprint-exclusive Pre will be its smartphone salvation and pull it out of slumping smartphone sales.

And the industry is also abuzz with speculation that Apple will drop a new iPhone come June or July. While Apple has not yet said the awaited follow-up to last year's Apple iPhone 3G is on the horizon, industry watchers speculate that Apple's unveiling of iPhone OS update 3.0 is a signal that a new iPhone is imminent, with AT&T maintaining the exclusive carrier rights on the iPhone in the U.S.

The Pre, iPhone and Niagara all hitting around the same time will make for a spring and summer showdown between three of the major carriers and three of the top device makers. While no dates are set in stone, it's already gearing up to be a wild smartphone season. If all goes as speculated, the industry could be in for a heated competition that began last year when the Apple iPhone 3G, the Google Android T-Mobile G1 and the BlackBerry Storm squared off in the clash of the touch-screen titans.



Relevent link:
How to put DVD and Video on Blackberry ?

BlackBerry Niagara 9630 Photo

Digital retailers cut prices to lure CD buyers

Online MP3 outlets try big bargains to hook new customers



As the music industry watches in horror while physical CD sales tumble and digital sales fail to bridge the gap, online MP3 retailers are trying to stem the bleeding with an age-old technique: slashing prices.

Some new releases are being priced at a mere $3.99 for a limited time on Amazon MP3, including last week's top-selling album in both platforms, U2's "No Line on the Horizon"; the company offers some full album downloads for 99 cents. Apple's iTunes store runs spotlight specials for as little as $4.99. And subscription-based service Rhapsody routinely has deals for $6.99.

On average, a regularly priced full album digital download costs about $10.

Online retailers are keeping tight-lipped about these bargain-basement prices, usually available for anywhere from a day to several weeks, but industry analysts say the reason behind them is simple: to attract new customers, particularly the vast majority of people who aren't in the habit of downloading music.

[via boston]