Apple has dropped the price on its line of iPod Shuffles which comes as a welcome (if not overdue) bit of news for many a consumer. the 1GB iPod Shuffle has dropped to $49 where the 2GB iPod Shuffle has dropped to $69.

And now with the price drop, it looks like the iPod Shuffle is once again ready to battle it out with lesser priced and less stylish mp3 players, including the popular line from Sandisk Sansa.

Of course what remains to be seen is if the price drop of the shuffles will change the buying habits of the casual mp3 music listener. Time will tell.

Even though the current season of American Idol is only a few weeks old, the new contestants have already belted out really memorable hits.

(Despite what Simon may have to say to the contrary).

And starting now, if you want to grab that music so you can listen to it any place you go, you can just hop onto Apple iTunes!

Immediately following the weekly FOX broadcasts, you can pre-order your favorites and you’ll receive an email as soon as the performance is available for download. Music performances will be available for $0.99 per song starting with the Top 24 semi-finalists this week, and full video performances of the Top 12 Finalists will be available for $1.99 starting March 11th.

Why don’t you get started by listening to that awesome version of Daydream by Jason Castro?

On the official iTunes website, it is now being said that you can rent movies directly from the iTunes store to be stored and viewed from your personal “i” device such as your iPod, iPhone or Apple TV.

The selection of movies shouldn’t be a problem with the big studios lending their support including but not limited to Fox, LGF, MGM, Miramax, and Disney. Rental prices are pretty similar to what we’ve been used to with other movie lenders at $2.99 for regular releases and $3.99 for new releases. And if you need to watch something in HD on your sweet TV, that’ll set you back $4.99.

Plus, Apple seems to be keeping up with current “no late fees” trend by simply having the rentals “disappear” after their 30 day window. Not only is the “return” effortless, but you shouldn’t have to worry about deleting the movies off your hard drive either.