u2

In an Irish radio interview, Bono discusses his various collaborations with Apple, as transcribed by TUAW. Interesting, Bono claims Apple now has 885 million iTunes accounts (up from 800 million as officially announced in April). With his work on a mysterious new music format, he aims to help Apple cross the billion accounts mark. The new medium has apparently been underway for a while, spanning back to a conversation with Steve Jobs in 2009.
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According to TIME, U2’s partnership with Apple goes far beyond a free album in your iTunes library, much to the chagrin of some users. The group is reportedly working with Apple on a ‘secret project’ to rejuvenate digital music scales.

Details, however, are thin on the ground. Bono is quoted as saying he is developing a new music format that will somehow inspire consumers to buy complete albums once more. Without more information, it’s impossible to tell whether this is a silly pipe dream or an actual possibility. In the age of streaming music, the sales potential for individually bought songs is waning.

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Tim Cook and U2 announced that the band’s new album “Songs of Innocence” would be automatically gifted to Apple’s over 500 million iTunes users last week following the announcement of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but many iTunes users were not happy with seeing music from U2 added to their iTunes libraries (even for free).

While iTunes supports a way to “hide” previous purchases, the complaints and confusion apparently grew loud enough to warrant a dedicated support site for permanently removing the free U2 album from iTunes purchase history. Apple says once you remove the free album from your iTunes purchase history and library, you will need to “get it again” if you decide you want it. The U2 album is available for free until October 13th next month when the album will then be available for sale at various retailers. View below for information on how to remove the free U2 album…
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Yesterday Apple and U2 announced that the band’s newest album Songs of Innocence would be given away to all 500 million iTunes customers for free. Most users likely assumed that they’d have the option of downloading the album if they wanted it, but that’s not exactly how it worked out.

In order to claim the record for “biggest album launch in history,” U2 and Apple needed every single iTunes customer to own the album, so they added it to everyone’s account as a purchase automatically. If you go into your iTunes purchase history right now, you’ll see it there. There’s another place you might see it as well, even though you weren’t expecting it…

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Apple has just wrapped up its media event and has pushed several new pages online. The first is a new page dedicated to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and the second is a page for the Apple Watch. But Apple has gone even further, revealing a whole new look for its entire website that features a flattened navigation bar.

A new page about the U2 “Songs of Innocence” album is also live, and includes details on how to redeem your free copy of the album.

Apple has also, for the first time ever, released an iPhone-optimized version of its site. Check it out below:

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Recent rumors that indicated U2 would be involved in the launch of tomorrow’s iPhone 6 and iWatch have been shot down by the band, but the New York Times said today the musicians will in fact have a role in the event. According to three sources who spoke to the Times, U2 is scheduled to perform during the event and announce an “integration” of its upcoming album with one of Apple’s new devices.

Apple and U2 have had a longstanding relationship since the launch of the original iPod, when the band revealed a special edition black and red “U2” model. Tomorrow’s event is one of the most-hyped Apple events in recent years, and has been given a full-page countdown timer on the company’s home page. Earlier today ABC News called the upcoming announcement “groundbreaking” and “historic.” It would make a lot of sense for Apple to team up with U2 again for such a big reveal.

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