While there are plenty of ways to buy media from Apple's iTunes Store, we've never seen one that donates a little something to a big cause. This $25 iTunes (PRODUCT) RED Gift Card (scroll down on the page) will not only score you some tunes (or movies, or TV shows...), but 10% of the purchase will be donated to fight AIDS in Africa via the Product Red campaign founded by U2's Bono and Bobby Shriver. While there are certainly better ways to donate to a cause, an iTunes gift card matched up with something like the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria seems like a great way to give someone the gift of music while simultaneously helping a country fight a nasty disease. All things considered, we only wish Apple would do more to promote their iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED and this gift card.

[via Marko Karppinen & Co.]

If absolute privacy is a concern critics are voicing against Apple's latest move with DRM-less tracks from EMI, they should have filed their complaints over four years ago when the iTunes Store first opened.

As the story goes, many users and industry pundits have announced their disappointment with the discovery that DRM-less iTunes Store tracks contain the owner's name and email address embedded in the file. Even Cory Doctorow and his merry band of EFF compatriots have added their ubiquitous $.0.02 to the mix, calling this an a privacy blunder on Apple's part. A key example cited for how bad this perceived breach of privacy can get is the theft of an iPod: if someone steals your DMP (iPod or otherwise, if you consider the fact that DRM-less iTunes Store tracks will play on any AAC-enabled device, including the Zune now), they could easily check through your files to scrape out your name and email address from any of the new DRM-less tracks. Fortunately, Geeks R Us nails the problem with this line of thinking in this So What post: "Apple embedded your personal information in content that only you should have is no different than them saving your email address in a Mail application preferences." If a thief stole a typical computer user's notebook - Mac, Windows or otherwise - they would easily have full access to quite a bit more information than the owner's name and email address. So why haven't Cory and his fellow perpetual protesters spoken out against this egregious privacy flaw in the wider scope of computing?

The fault with these complaints against Apple's latest non-DRM move runs more than skin deep, however, as this embedding of personal information didn't merely begin last week. Since the first day it was opened over four years ago, the iTunes Store has embedded an owner's email address in purchased files. You can easily verify this by importing a non-EMI iTunes Store track from a friend - iTunes will immediately notify you that your machine must be authorized to play the track, prompting you with a dialog requesting a password and the email address of the file's owner already filled in.

Watch out Cory - all your email addresses are belong to anyone who steals your iTunes Store files; just as they have been for the last four years.

The moral of the story is the same as ever, only a few of the details change this time around: While Apple certainly isn't the first to offer a DRM-free commercial digital download service (In the mainstream that title probably goes to eMusic), they are the first of the major services to take the leap of faith and offer a premium music catalog completely free of DRM. In all likelihood, if you aren't sharing your personally identifiable files over P2P networks, you don't have anything to worry about, and an email address is the last thing you have to fret over if someone steals your iPod. The thief is after your DMP because they want your gadget, not because they want to email you a great offer on viagra.

There is no more of a privacy issue with iTunes Store files (non-DRM or otherwise) than there is with the theft of your computer or mobile phone. Files bought from the store are supposed to remain just as private as the personal information embedded in them. Now, can we all go back to buying high quality, DRM free tracks - and not vindicating the RIAA by sharing them - so more record labels finally invest in DRM-free digital distribution channels like we've been asking for?

Apple introduced two new features to the iTunes store today. The first is a new "my alerts" section that lets you know when there's new music available from artists whose music you've previously purchased.

The bigger news is Apple's new "Complete My Album" feature. Previously, if you'd already purchased two or three tracks from an artist and then decided you wanted to buy the whole album, you were essentially forced to pay for those downloads twice.

Now you get credit for the songs you've already bough, meaning you can purchase the rest of the album at a discount. While this is obviously an attempt on Apple's part to convince you to spend money on albums and not just singles, it's also good news. Having to pay twice was probably one of the major reasons albums sales have slowed recently. That and the fact that when it comes to pop music, many listeners might only want to own the popular tracks.

The Complete My Album discount works for any album you purchase up to six months after buying a song from that album.

[via tuaw]