Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

We'll steer clear of a lengthy eulogy, but without Steve Jobs, much of this site would be far less interactive than it is.

The iTunes charts to the right would simply not exist without Apple's digital music downloads store.

Our text and image links to albums on iTunes - a common feature of our reviews - would be impossible too, leaving all of our readers facing the journey to their local record shop (like when I was growing up...) to get the latest releases.

As for you lot - your entire record collections fit in your pockets. And half of you have probably never held a vinyl record, anyway.

While many of today's tributes focus on the iPhone and iPad, let's remember, in our little music-centric corner of the internet, that Steve Jobs' legacy will live on in every iPod dock and digital download, from now until - at the very least - the Next Big Thing in the evolution of digital music comes along.

RIP Steve Jobs.

Advent Calendar - Dec 18th - Hurts - All I Want For Christmas Is New Years Day - iTunes Free Christmas Single of the Week

Okay, we missed this one on the Christmas Number One round-up at the beginning of the week (and a number of others no doubt). It's iTunes' free Christmas Single of the Week, from British synthpopsters Hurts, All I Want For Christmas Is New Year's Day.

As you might guess from the title this isn't your usual cheery seasonal song, in fact it even goes beyond familiar Christmas curmudgeon, to downright slit-your-wrists depressing. So if this is your season to be melancholy, hey, get on board!

And because we like to give you a little bit extra here on Popsiculture, we've thrown in a version of Hurts hit Better Than Love as remixed by LightsOverLA for your consideration.


You can keep up to date with our Advent Calendar posts via RSS here.

Advent Calendar - Dec 16th - TRON: Legacy iTunes download

If you're planning to go see TRON: Legacy, you could do worse than to book your seat with Cineworld. Right now they're offering a free iTunes download of a track from the TRON: Legacy soundtrack when you book online or at one of their box offices. It's not totally free, admittedly - you still have to pay to see the movie - but if you're a fan it's a nice perk.


You can keep up to date with our Advent Calendar posts via RSS here.

Advent Calendar - Dec 5th - Free iTunes download of Prince Fatty - Dry Your Tears

Today's treat is one you probably know about already, but by our reckoning it's the last day that Prince Fatty - Dry Your Tears will be iTunes' free single of the week. It's free, so there's nothing to lose - you may as well get over there and download it, before it's too late! And because it's Christmas, we've even given you a video of Prince Fatty live in Thailand to enjoy.




You can keep up to date with our Advent Calendar posts via RSS here.

The Beatles are on iTunes

So Apple's big exciting announcement was that The Beatles can now be found on iTunes. It is kind of exciting, but not for the reasons they meant it to be. It's exciting because it means there's a very real likelihood that The Beatles will be in the top ten this week. Possibly at number one. If you really fancy it, William Hill are offering 100/1 on The Beatles filling the entire UK Top 40 Singles Chart in any one week in 2011. They're also 25/1 to have the Christmas number one. So, you've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do you...?