Weekend Edition Saturday

Americans spend more money on music at Apple's iTunes store than any other music retailer, yet some people are being left out of the party.

For the large group of consumers without a home computer, an iTunes account is out of reach. Those are the people wireless provider Cricket Communications is targeting with Muve Music, a phone-only music service.

Over the next few weeks Weekend Edition Saturday will be producing stories about the business of putting on free concerts, how they work and what they bring to their communities.

In Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, audiences can hear opera, jazz, folk and hip-hop seven days a week, 365 days a year, at 6 p.m. sharp — and never pay a dime.

What's the difference between all of the sweet corn varieties?  The main difference is how sweet they are after harvest.

In this week's essay, host Scott Simon reflects on the almighty power of polls — on the almighty.

In Clyde Edgerton's new novel, The Night Train, the main characters are friends, but no one knows it.

The two boys, Larry Lime Nolan and Dwayne Hallston, work side by side at Dwayne's father's furniture store. They both love the music that's taken hold of the country in 1963, the time the novel is set. But in their hometown of Starke, N.C., Dwayne, who is white, and Larry, who is black, have to keep their friendship concealed like some family embarrassment.