CopyTrans is a $19.90 Windows application that lets you copy files from your iPod directly into iTunes. The software transfers music as well as videos, playlists, ratings, play counts and all music settings.

The program is designed to let you repopulate your iTunes library if you have a system crash, lose your computer or buy a new one. CopyTrans also lets you keep a backup copy of your iPod songs on an external drive or other location. The backups can easily be updated because CopyTrans supports incremental backups. XML files are created in the backup folder to rebuild the iTunes library from the backup files when needed.

CopyTrans runs on Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 and Vista systems, and works with any model of iPod. A demo version is available. All CopyTrans functions can be fully tested for 14 days before purchase with a limit of 100 songs per backup.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) and Apple today announced that MGM is now offering titles from its catalog of feature films for purchase at the iTunes Store. iTunes customers can now get films such as Dances With Wolves, Mad Max, The Great Train Robbery and Rocky, with other titles to be added in the coming weeks.

Titles from MGM‚Äôs collection that will be available on iTunes will include The Thomas Crown Affair, Ronin, and the musical Lilies of the Field. Movies from the iTunes Store are downloaded at a resolution of 640×480 and can be viewed on a computer, fifth generation iPod or widescreen TV with Apple TV. Unfortunately, the resolution that Apple currently offers is, unfortunately, well below the capabilities of most widescreen televisions.

One in four teens would be willing to pay $500 for Apple’s upcoming iPhone, according to a Piper Jaffray survey of teen spending habits.

Survey highlights:

• Of those students who own a MP3 player, 82 percent indicated that they also own some form of iPod, which is up from 79 percent in fall 2006.
• For online music services, 89 percent of students indicated that they use iTunes, slightly down from 91 percent in fall 2006.
• 84 percent of the students had heard of Apple’s iPhone and 25 percent said they would pay $500 for the iPhone.

Parents were also surveyed in a separate study.

Parent spending trends suggest that parents may be spending more money on their teen at the expense of themselves. This could explain why teens are willing to pay $500 for an iPhone, while only 1% of the people surveyed recently by Compete would pay that price.

According to a post at the Photobucket blog, MySpace has made changes to prevent Photobucket users from posting their videos and remixes to MySpace pages:

This action by MySpace means that all of the videos and remixes you created will no longer show up on your MySpace profile, blog and comments section. More specifically, if you attempt to add new videos or remixes to your profile, they will be removed.We are not happy about this and we‚Äôre pretty sure you‚Äôre not happy either. We appreciate that you have invested hundreds of thousands of hours using the editing, remixing and management tools and features available only on Photobucket. In particular, you’ve all been really embracing videos at Photobucket — to the tune of 50,000 video uploads a day, which is great. Rest assured that your content is being kept safe in your Photubucket album even though it may disappear from your MySpace pages.

We believe that by limiting your ability to personalize your pages with content from any source, MySpace is contradicting the very belief of personal and social media. MySpace became successful because of the creativity of you, its users, and because it offered a forum for self-expression. By severely restricting this freedom, MySpace is showing that it considers you as a commodity which it can treat as it sees fit.

The change by MySpace highlights the tradeoffs of relying on a closed social networking site for hosting. While the site offers great opportunities for exposure, they control what you do…..and how you do it.

A couple of days ago, we highlighted some great pro-podcasting propaganda (right) that Magnatune, a net music label that specializes in Creative-Commons Music, is using.

The Podcasting is Selling Music logo parodies a 1980’s campaign by the British Phonograph Industry, Home Taping is Killing Music.

UK Podcasters Association (UKPA) founder Dean Whitbread contacted us and let us know how deep the rabbit-hole goes. The graphic actually comes from a UKPA promotion.

“Yes, it’s ours,” says Whitbread. “We sell the t-shirt. Here’s me posing with it at last year’s Podcastcon UK:”

“I think is absolutely brilliant,” commented Magnatune’s John Buckman, who credits the UKPA with the design. “Podcasting is generally viewed as piracy and illegal by the RIAA, ASCAP and others, and they grudgingly give licenses to allow it in a very limited capacity (ie, 30 second samples). But, the reality is that it functions like radio, and helps sell music.”

The Podcasting is Selling Music logo is Creative-Commons licensed. The original is available at the UKPA site.

Bluegrass Podcaster and humorist Wichita Rutherford tells us that he and his podcasts have made the jump from the Sirius satellite radio network to soon-to-be-acquired competitor XM. His new weekly program, The Grand Old Time Machine, debuted last Friday, April 6, on XM.

He describes the new show this way:

“The new show, ‘The Grand Old Time Machine,’ is gonna be the radio version of the TV show which will be on the recently launched Blue Highways TV this summer. We’re gonna have the best time.

“Rob Walch over at Podcast411.com interviewed me about all this and you can go hear it here if you want. Me, Mitchell and Smarty are so excited we can hardly stand it. Things here will be back on schedule soon too and oh my goodness, gosh-a-mighty me, I’ve got some interviews on the way you just won’t believe.”

Rutherford made news in the early days of podcasting by being the first podcaster to make the jump to satellite radio, two years ago this month.

Looking to take his popular online comedy video podcast “to the next level,” Tim Street, Creator and Executive Producer of French Maid TV has signed with United Talent Agency.

“Seeing what UTA has done for Ask A Ninja, Ze Frank and Sam Has Seven Friends’ Big Fantastic I couldn’t see signing anywhere else. These guys understand the new media space and how it relates to traditional media.” Street (pictured, right, at the 2006 Podcast and Portable Media Expo) says.

Street believes that UTA will be able to help him develop new relationships for integrated advertising in future French Maid TV episodes as well as open doors for him in developing new online content and traditional entertainment.

French Maid TV is a popular online video of sponsored, short “How To’s” tutorials, wherein French Maids take products and services that appeal to young men and give step-by-step instructions on how to use them. French Maid TV has had over 13 million downloads with episodes ranging from “How to Register a Domain” sponsored by GoDaddy.com to “How To Find Music You Like” sponsored by iLike.com.

Emergent Music, developer of the Goombah music recommendation and social networking community, has expanded its offerings with the launch of Radio Free Goombah. The new service allows listeners to download tracks, and to share them via email or by posting on web pages.

Users can enjoy playlists created or selected by Goombah, stock up on tracks from the Goombah Free Music collection, or share their own favorites from their Goombah profile. The company has also inked a deal with the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA) to add tracks from more than 3,000 labels to its free music library, as part of its strategy to target professional free music to a broad audience.

“Goombah is about music discovery, social networking and affinity,” said Diane Sammer, CEO, Emergent Music. “We are adding great music to our library through relationships with distributors like IODA, and launching services like Radio Free Goombah, to serve music lovers who want to find and share music and artists who want to reach their audience and new fans.”

Radio Free Goombah, users can develop their own radio playlists or listen to and keep music from the Goombah-created playlists. All of the radio players can be exported as a widget to post on blogs or web pages and emailed to friends. Goombah-produced playlists include Goombah Free Music Friday and Top Downloads of the Week.

Magazine publisher and media/marketing company Meredith Corporation has launched Better.tv, its first-ever broadband network.

Better.tv offers a range of video programming on twenty “channels”, based on Meredith’s magazines, television stations, books, websites, and live events.

Better.tv topics include food, family, home, style, remodeling, entertainment, relationships, fitness and health. Programs and videos featured on Better.tv range in length from 2 to 30 minutes, and are targeted at “better serving younger customers,” according to President-CEO Steve Lacy.

Meredith publishes magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal, More, Family Circle, Parents and Fitness, and owns a number of television stations, and publishes books on a variety of home and family subjects.

Among the first video content airings is an exclusive “behind the scenes” look at the Family Circle Cup women’s tennis tournament, featuring player profiles and interviews with many of today’s top professional women’s tennis players.

Akimbo Systems today announced that its Internet video-on-demand service will be available next week in beta release for Windows XP and Vista-based PCs. Users will be able to download Akimbo to access thousands of videos for viewing on their PCs. The service was previously available through set-top boxes. The Service will let users bypass the monthly Akimbo subscription fee and instead pay per video download for programming.

The company has not announced a Mac version of the application.

“Making Akimbo available on the PC is an important step toward delivering our award-winning Internet VOD service wherever consumers prefer to receive it,” said Akimbo President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas F. Frank. “Although Akimbo is widely available on TV through the RCA Akimbo Player set-top box and through the AT&T Homezone entertainment service, it’s very significant that consumers now have the option to enjoy their favorite videos in full TV-quality on any Windows PC.”