Mozilla CEO John Lily called Apple’s attempt to force its Safari browser upon Windows iTunes and Quicktime users “just wrong.” Apple included the browser as a “stealth update” via an application called Software Update that is included as part of standalone iTunes and Quicktime downloads.

Lily’s objection to Apple’s tactic no doubt stems from fear of competition, but he claims to have altruistic reasons for his statements:

While a user has the option to uncheck the update, Lily argues that most will just press the “Install” button, which automatically installs Safari possibly without the user realizing what he or she has done.

“Apple has made it incredibly easy — the default, even — for users to install ride along software that they didn’t ask for, and maybe didn’t want,” he says, “This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices.”

However, Lily may be getting worked up over nothing. According to Information Week, Safari 3.1 and Windows XP and Vista aren’t the best of partners. XP users have reported that opening Safari causes their operating system to crash, and despite rigorous testing, the browser doesn’t function properly on Vista.

“When I try to start Safari 3.1 in Windows XP, it crashes right away,” said SakJosep, in a post currently on Apple’s online support forum.

“I have this problem too, I have no idea what it is,” said another user, OllieK92.

“I’ve tried removing and installing a new Safari — still fails to open,” reported KobeKungFu.

Such complaints are echoing across a Safari support forum thread on Apple’s Web site that’s drawn more than 1,000 views in the past week — an indication that the problem could be widespread.

Macs are cool and all, but Safari’s pretty fucking lame; and honestly, I’ve been so disappointed with recent Firefox updates that I’ve been using IE more and more. I don’t know if that means I’ve forfeited my standing as a geek or not.

For a while now there have been whispers of the Fab-Four finally going digital and making their back catalog available for download, but for the most part it seemed to be just wide-eyed speculation. However, that appeared to change a few days ago when the UK press (Daily Record, Telegraph, Daily Mail, etc.) began reporting that a deal had been struck with Apple Inc. (computer company not Beatles publishing, that’s Apple Corps.) to make the songs available for download on iTunes.

It looked as if I’d finally get replace those tattered old records with substandard, compressed mp3s! Hooray! Wait, that doesn’t sound right. Why should I be excited to replace organic audio with a cheap codec-ridden blather that’s one-tenth the file size? To be honest, I’m not. Sure it’d be great to line the pockets of Ringo and Paul with a little more cash; after all Paul is about to get hammered by an ugly divorce settlement. But personally I’d rather scour a record store (even if they’re going the way of the buffalo) looking to find that classic album on vinyl. Now you might be thinking, they’ve yet to create a Walkman that plays vinyl, and they probably never will. Truly, you would be mistaken, and you can find one right here that will only run you $250. Even if that groovy gadget isn’t your style it remains true that most of The Beatles’ catalog is already available on CD, which can be purchased and made portable. In the end it becomes a compromise of quality for price.

All techno-babble and rhetoric aside, the issue is still unsettled. The initial reports of an agreement have since been discounted and only time will tell when those famous boys from Liverpool will finally go binary.

Now trailing only Wal-Mart, iTunes is the number two (legal) source of music distribution with 50 Million customers and 4 billion songs sold. They pushed past Best Buy and Target, who trail 3rd and 4th respectively.

From the Associated press:

About 10 percent of music acquired in the U.S. was through legal downloads in 2007, and consumers who bought digital music legally through pay-to-download Web sites grew by 5 million to 29 million in 2007, NPD said Tuesday.

With iTunes’ position as #1 internet retailer of music, I guess that most people figured out that those other digital music servicing sites (where you pay by the month and once you stop your membership your songs go bye-bye) are totally garbage. And more and more youngsters aren’t even buying hard-copies of the music either:

From MacWorld:

NPD says that 48 percent of US teens did not purchase a single CD in 2007, compared to 38 percent in 2006. The report estimates that one million consumers dropped out of the CD buyer market in 2007.

I guess that’s also because owing an iPod is SO COOL!!!!!!!!

…uh…

We’re coming up on the 27th anniversary of John Lennon’s assassination (December 8th, 1980)…
(aside: Isn’t it a bit weird to have an anniversary for an assassination? I mean, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, not the day he was murdered. Same with Lincoln for Presidents Day. Emo.)

To commemorate this dark day in music history, our buddies at The Orchard are releasing the audio from John Lennon’s last official interview, which took place 12 hours before crazed fan Mark David Chapmanpulled a gun and murdered the former Beatle.

You can listen to the first part of the interview here: Testimony

During the conversation, Lennon and wife Yoko Ono talk with Bob Miles about what would be Lennon’s last album, Double Fantasy, their family, how Lennon met McCartney, and much more I’m sure.

If you would like to purchase the whole interview on mp3 you can do so here. Or here.

War is Over (if you want it).

Tis the season…well, almost. As usual, we can expect to be inundated with entertainment industry professionals looking to pretty up their tax forms with some end-of-the-year charity work, but at least it’s all for a good cause, right? Hard Rock is getting a jump on the impending holiday season with their Serve2 compilation, available for download on iTunes. The net proceeds of which will go to Artists Against Hunger and Poverty, an artist-directed special program of World Hunger Year.

Not only is it for a good cause, but the compilation is pretty solid (and at 25 tracks, pretty damn hefty), featuring previously unreleased and live cuts from old school heavyweights like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, but also newer and more vital acts like The Hold Steady. Even New Found Glory and Andrew W.K. managed to sneak on there. You can sample a live rendition of “Baby It’s a Fact” by Hellogoodbye (available on Serve2) here mp3 (or download it at Synthesis.net). Full track listing after the jump.

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A couple listens in to Rogue Wave’s new album Asleep at Heaven’s Gate and so far so good. The CD is due in stores Sept. 18th, but if you don’t want to wait, or you don’t have any more room in your house for scraps of plastic, you can get the whole thing digitally with one bonus track (”I Can Die”) via iTunes, available now. While you’re at it, check out the video to the first single off Asleep at Heaven’s Gate, Lake Michigan:

Real Quicktime