BitTorrent has released the first premium version of its compact file sharing client, uTorrent. And so, if you’re happy to accept the $24.95 annual subscription, then you, too, can unlock a pile of high-end additional features.

Integrated BitDefender-based antivirus will scan your downloads for threats. An integrated HD media player displays videos in their full high-definition glory. If the file you’ve found isn’t in a convenient format, then uTorrent Plus will quickly transcode it to something else. Initial support for the MPEG-4, H.264, Theora, and VP8 video codecs, and MP3, AAC and AC-3 audio codecs should make it easy to convert the file to something Apple, Android or just generally mobile device-friendly.

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Google has updated its popular cross-platform image-viewing, editing and sharing tool, Picasa to version 3.9. Despite the minor version number, there are a significant number of new features and improvements.

Google is keen to showcase Picasa’s new Google+ sharing capabilities, but of more interest to most will be the smorgasbord selection of new photo editing effects and the ability to compare “before” and “after” images side-by-side.

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Classic comedy "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" opens with a body collector calling: "bring out your dead!" "Here's one", replies a man carrying a geezer, who pipes in: "I'm not dead". Major Microsoft competitors -- Apple, Google and their supporters, for example -- have repeatedly tried to give up Microsoft for dead. But today's major Xbox updates clearly proclaim Microsoft isn't dead, or even dying. The Redmond, Wash.-based giant has repositioned the console and supporting cloud services as a whole entertainment package -- more than just about gaming.

If any dead deserve to be brought out, they are Apple and Google. Xbox 360 and Live trailblaze where rumor whores claim Apple TV and Google TV will go. It's pathetic that bloggers and journalists spread rumors about Apple's future TV plans -- the newest about a television coming in three sizes -- a year from now! How the frak could anyone possibly know? Instead of what might be, how about writers focus on what is? Some commenters accuse me of linkbaiting. Apple future product rumors are real prime examples. You won't read them from me.

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When it comes to listening to the radio, the Internet means that you are no longer limited to listening to what you are able to pick up through your set’s antenna. There are a huge number of radio stations broadcasting online and while this means that there is no shortage of choice, it does mean that it can be difficult to find something you like unless you know about it in advanced. Antenna is a free Adobe AIR app that takes a new approach to internet radio.

Tracking down a new station to listen to is a wonderful interactive process that can be approached in a few ways. If you already know the name of station, you can simply perform a search for it, but if you would like to find something new, you can browse through the interactive map where pushpins are used to represent radio stations.

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Music streaming service Spotify on Wednesday unveiled the Spotify Platform, which lets third party developers build apps into the popular Spotify streaming music service.

The platform launches with apps from thirteen partners, including Billboard, Fuse, Last.fm, The Guardian, Moodagent, Pitchfork, We Are Hunted, Rolling Stone, Songkick, Soundrop, and TuneWiki. The apps can be accessed through Spotify's App Finder, which launches in beta today.

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Another busy week software releases has passed, and chances are you missed something. Fear not, we have collected together some of the highlights of the past seven day in another handy roundup so you can catch up.

VMWare released a series of updates to it virtualization software, starting with VMware Workstation 8.0.1. The app can be used to run virtual copies of Windows and Linux and the latest version includes graphics performance improvements as well as support for Ubuntu 11. VMware Player 4.0.1 is the free version of the virtualization tool for Windows while VMware Fusion 4.1 is more a major upgrade for Mac users, which supports full screen mode in Lion, improves performance of virtual machines and much more.

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Yesterday I coughed up $6.99 for Loud Crow Interactive's digital pop-up remake of the Charles Schultz holiday classic. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is available for Android and iOS from the Amazon, Apple and Google mobile apps stores -- for smartphones and tablets. The digital book delights, is more than worth 7 bucks and demonstrates how tablet apps/books should utilize the touchscreen. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is the must-have addition to any tablet you gift. Tablets top this year's holiday wish lists.

But "A Charlie Brown Christmas" also reveals a problematic similarity to the early PC era: Application incompatibilities across operating systems. Schultz's remade classic is available from the three aforementioned stores, and buyers will have to cough up for at least two platforms, if, say, Junior has Android phone and Janie iPad and both want the same digital app/book. They can purchase from Android Market but will have to again at Apple's App Store. Buyers pay twice if they want what functionally is the same content for two different platforms. This isn't a new problem, but visible example because of price (compared to, say, a 99-cent game). Loud Crow's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" is available from the same three stores and Nook, too. The situation presents hardships for some developers and consumers.

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Multimedia specialist CyberLink has introduced a new money-saving bundle in its latest media creativity suite, the Video and Photo Creative Collection 1.0.

The suite combines the company’s high-end video editor,PowerDirector 10 Ultra, with its excellent photography workflow package, PhotoDirector 2011.

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Real Networks has updated the Windows version of its multimedia player, RealPlayer, to version 15. Available in both free and function-enhanced Plus editions, RealPlayer provides a one-stop shop for organizing, sharing and accessing media content, both online and offline.

RealPlayer 15 adds two new features: the ability to instantly access any video posted to Facebook, and a Private Mode that allows you to download and save video to a password-protected secure location. It’s a less radical build than version 14, which introduced social-networking tools alongside a host of other improvements, including a revamped user interface.

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Late this afternoon, Google Music officially launched in the United States, ending a limited beta that started in May. The service differentiates from others by emphasizing mobile devices and by providing free full song or album plays when shared. Google will sell music from Android Market, where it also offers ebooks and movies. The search and information giant encodes tunes as 320Kbps MP3s, surpassing Apple's iTunes and other digital music sellers.

One million people participated in the invitation-only beta, streaming 2.5 hours of music every day. Google distributed 100 million free songs during the beta. Until today, Google Music was little more than a storage locker for tracks people already owned. Now users can buy tunes, too.

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Ventis Media has overhauled its music management tool to add full support for video. MediaMonkey 4.0, available in free and Gold editions, allows Windows users to manage and organize their media collection with a set of powerful tools.

Version 4.0 also adds support for library sharing to and from UPnP/DLNA devices, improves automatic synchronization capabilities with Android mobiles and introduces a new portable installation option, allowing MediaMonkey to be run from USB drives.

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It’s fair to say that a disc burning tool is one thing hardly in short supply, so it would be natural to wonder why another might be needed. While there are all manner of advanced burning suite available, anyone starting out in disc burning for the first time tends to get forgotten. This is something that Hamster Free Burning Studio aims to address, bringing the option to create and copy discs to everyone.

The interface is the first thing you will notice about the app -- it is far from being the complex and often confusing beast that Nero has become; Hamster Fre is just delightfully simple. Despite this apparent simplicity, you can use the program to create CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays using your own files or ISO images, or you can create direct copies of discs.

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Apple has pushed out the latest version of its media player and management software -- iTunes 10.5.1. The latest version of the app is not big news in itself, but the release coincides with the much anticipated launch of iTunes Match, in the US market at least. The service has been expected for some time, but a series of delays pushed the release date back slightly. Now, at long last, iTunes Match is here.

The subscription service will set you back $25 per year and enables you to access your entire music collection in the cloud. The latest version of iOS has seen Apple expressing a greater interest than ever before in life in the cloud and this foray means that it will now be possible for those willing to stump up the annual fee to access their music collection from any internet connected device without the need for manually copying of files.

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iTunes is a piece of software that is loved and hated in equal measure. There is no getting away from the fact that it is a powerful and impressive media management program, but it is also slow to use and has something of a space-hungry interface. This is something that iTuner aims to address, enabling you to take advantage of the power of iTunes without actually having to battle with the interface.

The tool is a small system tray utility that not only provides access to basic playback controls but also to manage your media library. Keyboard shortcuts can be used to start and stop playback, skip between tracks and adjust volume, as well as show lyrics and jumping in the main iTunes application for those occasions when it simply cannot be avoided.

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Many file types support metadata, special tags that provide more information about their contents. A digital photo JPEG may reference the model of camera that took it, for instance; an MP3 might detail the album where it was originally released; PDF documents will often include tags mentioning their title and author.

In some cases you’ll be able to view at least part of this metadata from Explorer (right-click, select Properties > Details). For full control, though, you’ll typically have to go back to an application that specializes in that particular file type: an image editor for JPEGs, an ID3 tag manager for MP3s, and so on. Unless, that is, you have a copy of ExifTool.

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