Love or hate Apple, no one can deny that Jobs and his team can make and market a product. The company has the most popular music store around and sells more apps than anyone else sells as well.

Apple has announced that the 10 billionth song has been sold via the iTunes store. The song that made the historic 10 billionth purchase was “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash. The track was purchased by Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia.

We told you back in January that Final Fantasy was coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch and sure enough here it is. Classic RPG fans can at last breath a sigh of relief and commence old school gaming on a modern device.

Both Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II are available from the iTunes App Store for $9 each. They even have touch-friendly controls and bonus dungeons. What are you waiting for. Get over to iTunes and get your game on.

HD Radio has been around for a while now and promises free over-the-air broadcasts that rival CD quality. Many local FM stations in your area probably broadcast HD programming as well. Ford has announced that starting next year it will integrate HD receivers with iTunes tagging into its vehicles.

The new HD receivers will have a button on the front that users can hit to tag the songs for iTunes. Up to 100 tags can be stored in the SYNC system and downloaded via USB to an iPod to sync with iTunes. When the iPod is synced, the songs can then be purchased with iTunes.

Word is that Google is looking to get into the pay-per-episode TV business with YouTube and offer streaming content for purchase using a service that would compete with iTunes downloads. According to Peter Kafka of MediaMemo, several sources have indicated that YouTube wants to offer streaming TV episodes for a fee.

It would be similar to what Apple already offers: a $1.99 cost per episode. Apparently both sides are in early negotiations and they are “optimistic” that a deal can be reached.

In part of today’s announcements from Steve Jobs and Apple at the “It’s Only Rock and Roll” event, they’ve announced the latest version of iTunes – iTunes 9.

This new version (at first glance) most notably has a a new look to it, making navigation a little easier and get around (provided you aren’t too used to the old version). They’ve also added a way to preview from anywhere in the store instead of having to find the right place.

iTunes LP is something something new with iTunes version 9, bringing back some of the features we used to enjoy with LP’s that have been lost with online music, such as lyrics, notes, video, photos and apperently some other things that were not mentioned up front. Genius mixes are another enhanced feature in this new version, playing automatically generated …

By now everyone knows that the Palm Pre has iTunes support. But Pre’s identity to its host system when connected via USB has confirmed what was already suspected. The method that it uses to hook into iTunes is…questionable.

The Pre identifies itself as an iPod in Media Sync mode, but only on the system’s mass storage interface. The root USB node still comes through as a Palm Pre. Apple could, if they wanted to, easily block it. Would Apple do that? It would certainly help grow their user base to let it be.

If you thought you could count on Amazon keeping the price of their MP3s under the $1 price point after Apple introduced variable pricing to their tunes, think again. And disregard the comparison above. Sorry to dash your hopes and pour salt in your music-loving wounds, but Amazon has decided to go the same route.

They meet the $1.29 price point on iTunes, at least where tracks by popular artists are concerned. Walmart however, throws all caution to the wind and rolls back the price to $1.24 for selected titles. If you like songs that nobody else likes you’ll pay $0.79 and $0.64 on Amazon and Walmart.

Apple has warned iTunes users that variable pricing was coming to the iTunes store and that unwelcome feature has now landed. Engadget reports that many popular tracks are now selling for $1.29 per track rather than the $.99 we are used to for a single.

The increase isn’t that much in the realm of things, but the big issue is that other MP3 stores like Amazonmp3 are still selling the same tracks for $0.99. This may prove to be the shot in the arm iTunes competitors need to gain some customers.

This is a pretty neat application. It allows iPhone users to plant a virtual tree from their phone while simultaneously activating the planting of a real tree. Originally showcased at TED, the app is now available to the masses on iTunes.

The real trees are planted by the Conservation Fund, and they will begin with the restoration of a vulnerable wildlife habitat along the Gulf Coast. It’s sponsored by Ecolife Apparel, makers of cotton “green” underwear, and was developed by iPhactory.

I like going to the movies and typically when I go it’s a last minute thing while I am out running around with the wife and finding movie times is a priority. I have an app that I use frequently for finding show times that leaves a bit to be desired. Often it doesn’t list all the movies showing at my local theater and show times are wrong.

Fandango has a new application that promises more accuracy and allows you to buy tickets for the movie you want right on your phone. The app is available free on iTunes right now and offers movie times for 16,000 screens around the country. In addition to movie times, the app shows trailers for films and fan ratings for movies.

Teac has announced its first HD radio device, in the form of the TEAC HD-1. The iPod docking system comes equipped with HD Radio technology for a superior audio experience and compelling new content through HD Radio programming.

You can use the TEAC HD-1 with your iTunes collection via its iTunes Tagging capability. Some other features include a remote control, dual alarm clock with snooze button, five equalizer presets, and an iPod/iPhone charger. You can purchase the Teac HD-1 HD Radio at select Costco stores around the US for $129.99 each.

Rumors continue to swirl around whatever(if anything) Apple is building. Reports are that Apple has ordered 10-inch touchscreens from Taiwan. That part is looking more like fact. So the question is, will those screens end up in a netbook?

Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times has a slightly different and interesting theory about the device. He thinks it might be an ebook. Which makes more sense as the only real competitor they would have is Amazon.

Sound Blaster for iTunes from Creative Labs likes to party and aims to spread the music around. It will wirelessly stream your music to any room in your home where you have a Creative Wireless Receiver connected to speakers. It will also work with the new GigaWorks T20W speakers, which have the receiver built-in.

The Sound Blaster for iTunes transmitter plugs into your USB port and will fill your home with sound for $99. The Creative Wireless Receivers will run you $69.99. If you choose to use the GigaWorks T20Ws the price is $129.99. The Sound Blaster transmitter will be available this Spring.

Apple recently announced that it was doing away with it’s unfair DRM copy protection. Awesome news. Going one step further, the company is giving anyone who’s ever bought songs on iTunes the ability to upgrade their music to DRM-free versions. For a fee of course. There is a catch. As Wilson Rothman over at Gizmodo discovered, you have to upgrade all of them at once.

That really sucks, because if you’ve been at it for awhile just downloading away over the years, you have a problem. Costs can easily be in the hundreds of dollars. There is no way to upgrade your titles individually. Things like this are why some of us don’t use the service. They’re going to make you pay again for songs you already bought? Nice one Apple.

Iomega is taking the tradeshow road this week to unveil a new network storage solution for media files being showcased in the living room. It is called the Home Media Network Hard Drive and pricing starts around $160.

The Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive, available in 500GB and 1TB storage sizes, is designed to act as both backup server and also media hub. It supports iTunes and Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certified devices, allowing it to save, store and stream audio, video and photos to a wide array of home consumer electronics.