It's all about iPod and iTunes

A market strategist says that the iPod should see a strong holiday demand and that some stores might run into shortages of the iPod nano. He also sees the iPod shuffle being discontinued and says that people are not that interested in getting a Mac. This somewhat echoes the question by a writer whether the iPod's 'halo effect' is real or not. Another analyst predicts that 14.1 million iPods will be sold this quarter. The figure doesn't seem farfetched considering the iPod and iTunes Music Store has gotten the top spot in Japan. It has also been said that Apple has taken 60 per cent of the market share in Japan, surpassing the 50 per cent mark in September.

The iPod shuffle, after being foretold of its doom, seems to be losing sales, too. Recommendations from sales people have shifted away from the shuffle and towards to the nano. This was discovered during a survey of which the iPod family gets 68% of the sales representatives' recommendations.

As the sibling rivalry goes on, Samsung has signed a 'long term, large scale NAND flash supply contract with Apple. Aside from this, Apple is also courting Hyrix, the third company to sign up with Apple to provide NAND flash if they strike a deal.

An audio test rates the quality of the iPod nano's audio as "very good.' Great site for your iPod audio needs. Check out the MP3 vs ACC vs OGG page.

'Lost' is said to be the number one show in iTMS but this has made ABC worry since ratings have declined since they made the show available on iTMS.

The app iTunes Cool will retrieve album art from Amazon based on the track information of the album. I prefer to use the website where you can download the album art that comes directly from iTMS.

Speaking of cool apps, want to play doom in your iPod nano? Well, you have to first break your warranty and then install the penguin into your iPod nano.

From apps to hardware; Macworld's Dan Frakes gives the latest Gear Guide for iPod music fans.

Here's more sibling rivalry, this time between the nano and the 5G iPod, as both tries to grab the most ear times from an iPod Garage writer.