Sounds too good to be true, but it looks like the real deal.  Apple is in negotiations with the record labels to offer a music rental program for the iPod.  There are currently two options, one for those in the market for an iPod and one for those who already own one.

The first plan is called "comes with music" and the price would be incorporated into the iPod price.  It would give users access to ALL of the music on iTunes and could even allow you to keep 40-50 songs regardless of whether or not you switched players or stopped the subscription service.  If you already have an iPod, there's an ongoing discussion at Apple over offering a subscription service.  Music to my ears.

Before you get upset, understand that this comes from well-respected British newspapers.  You ready?  OK.  An iTunes/Beatles deal is supposedly being hammered out between Apple and a certain Paul McCartney.  Yes, you've heard it before but this time seems a little more credible.

The deal would put Beatles albums on iTunes for the first time, a move that would almost guarantee the Fab Four putting the charts in a chokehold once again.  The papers say the deal could be worth somewhere in the ball park of $600 million.  It could also give the Beatles a chance to top U2's amazing feat of getting the U2 iPod.

Want more out of your iPod than just a vast library of cd-quality music? Starting this month, iPod users have two new gaming options for their music devices. EA has launched Scrabble and an update for their Mini Golf, according to Apple.

Whether you've got the iPod Classic, nano, or video (Gen 5), you can run both of these smoothly. Just hop on over to the iTunes store a fork over $4.99 and they're yours. Scrabble's tagline is "Every word's a WINNER." Does that include the word "music"?

Violent crime in the '90s dipped, only to creep back up during 2005 and 2006. During this same period, almost 132 million iPods were sold by Apple. Coincidence? Maybe not, says the Urban Institue, a Washington-based group.

iPods are an easy item to lift unnoticed. It's also simple to spot an iPod listener zoning out with their standard-issue earbuds, making them east targets. To blame a spike in national acts of violence on an entertainment device and its users is almost criminal in itself.

Did you know that you can buy DVDs and also get a bonus version for your iPod? This is what Fox started and now Lionsgate is getting in the game. It's really easy to do as all you need to do is pop in the DVD and enter a code when prompted by iTunes. It will play on any iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV device.

The limitations are that you can only do it for one iTunes library and you also have to have an iTunes account. The program is being started with the movie, The Eye. This is interesting because maybe they are doing some kind of Stallone collection where we'll get Rambo and all the Rocky's. We'll have to see.

I'd never thought that I'd be excited that a website is actually down. Especially such a professional site as Apple. However, it's true, but now you're wondering why its so exciting. Specifically, it's the Store part of the site which means they are making some major upgrades.

Apple has a unique architecture which forces them to take down the site to make changes. This also means they are making changes which makes everyone really excited in what they have coming out. Some of the rumors are that the new goodies will include a new Airport Express and Mac Mini since they have been in limited quantities for awhile. We'll have to see, but it makes me laugh that a website downtime generates more buzz than the sales Apple loses.

Many people like to put cheap to expensive skins on their iPhone or iPod. However, have you ever thought about putting a coat that permanently makes your iPhone or iPod have a sleek black shiny coat? Well, probably not, but someone is offering a service where they'll do it for the same price as the iPod itself.

A ceramic coat called TiAIN is used and it'll cost you 299 dollars US to get a black back with no branding, a TiAIN Black logo and a TiAIN Black back bezel. It gives the iPod or iPhone a really sleek and professional look which no one in the neighborhood will have. If you've got money to burn, then why not?

You know when a phone is popular with the geeks when you've got a specially made application that helps you learn Chinese. It's actually quite an impressive application where you actually write on the screen the chinese characters. It's very smooth and quite accurate.

This will cater to a very niche market, but should be fairly popular because writing Chinese ideograms isn't very easy, but it is something many people want to do. Matthias Huber is the founder and he doesn't care if he's the only person using it. Check it out if you think it's interesting.