Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 200 million songs from the iTunes Music Store. The 200 millionth song was part of "The Complete U2" and was purchased by Ryan Alekman from Belchertown, MA ! "iTunes has now sold over 200 million songs, making it the world's number one online music store by far," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO.

The iTunes Music Store features a holiday genre page with thousands of holiday favorites, including classics such as Ella Fitzgerald's "Sleigh Ride" and contemporary favorites like Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" and others..

Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH today announced the availability of the first update to its Cubase SX3 music production system. Cubase SX3 0.1 includes new features and a new RoomWorks reverb virtual effect processor.

Cubase SX3.0.1 is now available for download to all Cubase SX3 customers from the Steinberg website.

Absynth 3 by Native Instruments is in the starting blocks ! This software sampling instrument and synthesizer now features an optimized user-interface, surround sound, 256 new presets, a new stereo input, a unison mode, oscillator waveforms can be fractalized in real-time, a Free-Run oscillator mode, 2 new effects (Echo, Effect Resonator), and more...

Absynth 3.0 costs 289 € or $339,00.

Spectrasonics today has announced the release of an update to version 1.1 for Stylus RMX, its realtime groove-based virtual instrument plug-in. This release fixes effects bug (Flanger and EZ-Phaser), graphics problem with edit group add/remove button and problem with filter envelope release. The RTAS update also features : support for multiple outputs in Pro Tools version 6.7, support for automation of RMX parameters in Pro Tools, permits MIDI input when the editor window is closed, and fixes crashing problem with multiple instances.

Native Instruments announced that Battery 2 is updated to version 2.1. Battery 2 takes drum sampling to the next level with a powerful new sampling engine, enhanced sound shaping and modulation capabilities, sophisticated sample control and a revised user interface. The Battery 2.1 update features many additions and enhancements plus 13 new "All" kits, each of which is built from samples of a particular instrument type.

More info on Native instruments web site.