iPod: now in a new colour for each of the 8 people who don't already own one.

The threat of Apple shutting down it’s iTunes store in response to a royalty rate hike on digital downloads in the States was averted yesterday after the Copyright Royalty Board settled on fixing the current rate for the next five years.

David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers Association which tabled the proposed increase, seems to have forgotten his earlier stance completely, saying “These events will bring clarity and order to an environment that for the past decade has been hampered by litigation and uncertainty on all sides”.

Cleverly side-stepping the fact he was the one who wanted an increase in the first place, Israelite now seems content to tow the line. The Top Banana wonders if that’s the sound of one man being bitch-slapped by an entire industry somewhere off in the distance.