Netflix has partnered with LG to compete with online movie rental services such as Amazon Unbox and the upcoming Apple iTunes rentals according to The New York Times. They want to integrate video streaming into just about every media device imaginable including game systems, TV and DVD players. They are trying to strike deals with other electronic companies as well.

Netflix states movies will not be in HD at first and there will be limits on how many movies customers can watch. The first LG streaming devices are expected to ship around the second half of this year. They also state there will be no additional fees to current subscribers to use this service.

More information will be at announced at CES next week.

On November 6th, Jay-Z refused to release his new album “American Gangster” on iTunes because he didn’t like the fact you could buy songs separately instead of the album as a whole. Now he steps down from one of the most well known record labels Def Jam to start a record label with Apple??

According to BoyGeniusReport.com he is, but it’s most likely a hoax.

Apple TV was voted the Top 10 worst products of 2007 from popular mechanics, but does it have any hope in 2008? Could Apple TV be in the top products of 2008?

My Apple TV is a great solution for having parties, playing music and showing photos in my living room, but thats about it. I’ve had my Apple TV Since the end of march and I only have two movies from iTunes on it. I was happy with the quality and the speed of the downloads (unlike Amazon Unbox), but the truth is I don’t like buying movies. I seldom like to watch movies more than once.

Now that it’s confirmed Fox, Disney, Pixar and other companies will be renting movies through iTunes, could this revive this product from the worst to the best in 2008? If anyone can do movie rentals right, I believe apple can, look what they did with music. There are a few factors for iTunes rentals to be successful.

The Key factor, Will Rentals Be Available the Same Day as Their Local Video Store?

Having rentals available the same day as local video stores could make apple TV an instant hit. If rentals are available at a delayed rate such as on demand cable box movie rentals or Amazon Unbox then there’s little hope for success. (more…)

Today the Washington Post Released an interesting Article “Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use“.

In the article, A man Jeffery Howell of Scottsdale Arizona is being sued by the RIAA for obtaining illegal music. This is pretty common to hear when people download illegal music, but this was not the case. Mr. Howell is being sued for having around 2,000 mp3’s on his computer which where ripped from legally bought CD’s that he owns.

I know many of us have copied our bought CD’s into iTunes, so in the eyes of the RIAA we are breaking the law. Whats next, illegal to burn disk from iTunes Music? I’m against illegal downloads of music and software, but this just isn’t right.

Update December 30th 2007 2:50pm EST

Engadget recently posted that Washington Post was partially wrong. Engadget claims the RIAA is suing Howell over file sharing, not Ripping his own CDs, but also claimed the RIAA thinks Ripping bought CDs is making “unauthorized copies”.

I honestly didn’t know who to trust, a professional newpaper or a blog, so I decided to find the dirt myself. After doing some searching myself for the actual brief, it appears Engadget is correct and Washington Post is wrong.

According the the brief, Howell was caught sharing music over Kazaa. Thanks for the heads up Engadget and Ruel for pointing this out!