It seems Apple is ready to change the music industry for a second time. As if the introduction of the Apple iPod and iTunes Store weren’t revolutionary enough, new reports have surfaced claiming that Apple is preparing a new music download format that will package whole albums with additional content.The yet-to-be-official offering from Apple is currently called Cocktail and appears to be the software play Apple wants to implement around a rumored forthcoming tablet device. Exactly what sort of impact Apple could have on the music industry a second time with Cocktail and a tablet remain to be seen, but the benefits could be substantial.

This is great news, especially for Apple stock holders, watch this puppy soar to $225 a share this year!

One of my fav groups of all-time, Kiss! Gene Simmons, the Kiss frontman who is relaunching his record label in Canada, will be a keynote speaker at Canadian Music Week.

Canadian Music Week is an annual industry festival and celebration of Canadian music held in March in Toronto.

Simmons’s relaunched Simmons Records is partnering with Universal Music Canada to produce Canadian talent. Simmons launched it last fall with a promise of commercial success for bands under his wing.

At Canadian Music Week, he will speak about his business endeavours, including his experiences as co-founder of Kiss, a band that has survived for 35 years.

Kiss is a juggernaut of licensing and merchandising, with over 3,000 product — from Kiss Visa cards to Kiss condoms.

Simmons’s other endeavours include:

• Reality TV series Gene Simmons Family Jewels, which he produces.
• Cartoon show My Dad the Rock Star for Nelvana.
• Ladies of the Night released through his own Simmons Books.
• Marketing and branding for Indy Car Series through Simmons Comic Group and Simmons Abramson Marketing.
• A clothing line.

Canadian Music Week runs March 11-14 and includes four awards shows and a music festival. Simmons is to speak March 12.

Here is a really cool shirt that was shown at the Electronic Textile workshop held this month in Switzerland.

Featuring removable batteries, speakers and circuitry, the shirt enables the wearer to emit eight different notes.

She is out of the hospital, but Janet Jackson’s recovery from an unknown illness is forcing her to postpone two dates on her “Rock Witchu” tour.

Janet’s concerts in Boston (Oct. 1) and Philadelphia (Oct. 2) will be rescheduled, the star’s rep tells ET. The tour will resume in Greensboro, NC, this Saturday, Oct. 4.

On Monday, the 42-year-old singer suddenly fell ill before a scheduled concert in Montreal and was rushed to a hospital earlier in the day during a soundcheck. Info on the rescheduled concert dates will be released as soon as possible. I want to see her next time around in Toronto.

A family has dropped a lawsuit that claimed a hospital caused distress to a dying woman by moving her to make room for Michael Jackson during his 2005 child-molestation trial, an attorney said Wednesday.The relatives of Manuela Gomez Ruiz ended their case because of stress but felt the message of fair treatment to patients had been made, their attorney, James McKiernan, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

“The defendants made it clear that it was going to be bare knuckles to the end,” McKiernan said. “I’m representing people who have families and jobs, and the constant stress of this lengthy process was too much.”

The court papers requesting the dismissal were filed Aug. 19. The trial had been scheduled to start next month.

The family said Ruiz, 73, had a heart attack the same day Jackson suffered flu-like symptoms during his trial. The lawsuit claimed Marian Medical Center kept Ruiz from critical care, moved her from a double room so Jackson could occupy it himself and subjected her to an “outrageous, circus-like atmosphere” in her final hours.

The lawsuit accused the hospital of inflicting emotional and mental distress. A judge dropped Jackson as a defendant in the case in April.

The singer was acquitted in the child-molestation case. Now this guys is super weird but I really hope he is not a child molester.

Here some of the more interesting music news shorts:

-Mariah Carey performed five songs during a brief concert at a Hollywood shopping mall on Thursday. How cool is that!

-Philip Morris International, the original sponsor of Alicia Keys’ gig in Jakarta last tonight, pulled down all its promotional billboards and posters after the singer spoke out against the tobacco company’s sponsorship of her show.

-Miley Cyrus’ non-Hannah album, Breakout, broke onto the charts at No. 1, selling 371,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan data released today.

Have a rock’in weekend, especially my Canadian readers you are off on a long one……

The BBC will air a long lost Beatles interview featuring John Lennon and Paul McCartney talking about the day they met and their songwriting partnership.  The amazing film interview lay forgotten for over 44 years in a garage in south London until film fan Richard Jeffs realized a piece of pop culture history at his fingertips. Experts were quite surprised to find the audio portion still usable for radio broadcast.

The nine-minute interview was recorded at the Scottish Television studios in April 1964 during the early days of Beatlemania. It will be broadcast for the first time on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday and repeated later this week.  On the tape, Lennon tells how he was playing with a skiffle band outside Liverpool when McCartney introduced himself.  I am really looking forward to hearing this historic interview.

So he will probably win it all, that cute guy, David Archuleta.  He was even a really cute baby, sort of…..he looks like most other babies.

This pic really says it all, if the Monkees did a cover of Y.M.C.A it would look exactly like this!

Creative credit: marcroballistic

Ok, Kristy Lee is gone and I am a little sad but she made it very far and I am sure she has a solid career ahead of her.  Big surpise last night, Brooke goes home….I think she was the best singer in the competition and I am very surprised Jason is still there…maybe girls think he is cute?  I personally think he should have been out at number 11 or 12.  It still looks live David Archelleta is the one to beat and I don’t think any of the other remaining contestants have a chance.  I really thought Brooke, Carly or maybe Johns might have been the dark horses to beat David but without them I think he has it all wrapped up.