January 23rd, 2008 | Posted in Audio | 
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Offering unprotected music MP3s on a download-to-own basis or as part of an ad-supported service is all the rage these days.
The Associated Press reports that — to no one’s surprise — Yahoo Inc. is in early discussions with major labels to offer MP3s free of digital rights management (DRM) for purchase or as a part of an ad-supported streaming music service.
Two record company execs familiar with the talks told the AP that Yahoo hopes to launch the service this year.
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January 23rd, 2008 | Posted in Audio | 4 Comments
During the CBS-Last.fm announcement today, CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves said the company was looking into developing “communities around content.” “Community clearly is the future,” he said.
Interesting. What does this mean?
But first, here’s the deal: CBS and Last.fm, the London-based online music streaming site CBS bought for $280 million last May, have built a site where music fans can stream any song they want for free. Well, almost for free. The site is supported by advertising.
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January 17th, 2008 | Posted in Audio, Mobile | No Comments
I’ve been wondering this ever since the handset manufacturers and mobile carriers got into the mobile music business. Do people really want to listen to music on their phones and buy it from Verizon, AT&T, Nokia, and others?
According to a new study by M:Metrics, 83 percent of the mobile music consumed in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. is “sideloaded”, meaning it comes from another source and is transfered to the phone via a computer. With this is mind, the answer for buying music directly from the carriers or certain handset makers is, for now, “no.”
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January 15th, 2008 | Posted in Audio, Mobile, Review | 2 Comments
Today’s software updates for the iPhone and iPod touch are welcomed refinements from Apple. Are they earth-shattering? No. They’re incremental, carefully thought out, and point to what we can expect in the future.
One thing we can expect is that Apple isn’t going to roll out a bunch of half-assed features that users may or may not need or want. It’s frustrating — we see the potential and we all want more now — but Apple is going to make sure whatever changes are made, whatever new features are added, they will improve the product, user experience, and the platform that’s being built.
It’s a platform that competitors are no where near duplicating. By the time competing manufacturers introduce their versions of the iPhone (many of which may use Google’s open mobile operating system Android), Apple will unveil even more refinements as well as introduce iPhone 2.0.
In February, Apple has said it will release a software developer’s kit (SDK) for third-party application development. This could be scary, a free for all, but Apple developers are known for elegant software design. If they follow Apple’s lead for the iPhone (guided tour) and iPod touch (features list), there should be little reason for concern.
Until then, we have incremental, refined upgrades. last100 takes a look at these from the January ’08 update.
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January 15th, 2008 | Posted in Audio, Comms, Mobile, Net TV | 2 Comments
Probably the most anticipated announcement that Apple CEO Steve Jobs made at the annual Macworld expo this morning was that of the MacBook Air: a 13.3″, LED backlit notebook computer that pushes the concept of “thin” to its boundaries. But the one that Jobs spent the most time on, and seemed the most excited about, was the announcement of the iTunes Movie Rentals store in conjunction with the revamp of his maybe-no-longer-a-hobby-project Apple TV.
iTunes movie rentals and Apple TV 2
We all knew iTunes Movie Rentals were coming, all that was left for Jobs to announce were the details.
The iTunes Movie Rental store launches today in the US (later this year for the rest of the world), with rentals costing $3.99 for new releases, and $2.99 for library titles. Renters have 30 days to begin watching a movie, and then 24 hours to finish watching it once they do. Every major studio is on board, and Apple’s rental store launches with over 100 titles (1000 promised by the end of February), with new releases appearing 30 days following DVD release (which perhaps indicates some hesitation on the part of studios to embrace a new format — no surprise there).
At first glance, Netflix would appear to have a leg up on Apple. Unlimited streaming for a little as $8.99 per month is probably a better deal for most consumers than $4 per movie strapped to a 24 hour viewing window. But where Apple’s system shines is in its convergence with other devices. Whereas Netflix can only stream to Windows PCs, Apple can stream or download rented movies to both the Mac and PC, as well as to any current generation iPod, the iPhone, and the Apple TV.
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January 14th, 2008 | Posted in Audio | 2 Comments
Four years ago, the major record labels lined up with Pepsi-Cola to give away 100 million songs through Apple’s iTunes online music store. Fast forward to today.
Beginning Feb. 1 and hitting full stride with ads during this year’s Super Bowl on Feb. 3, Pepsi will be giving away upwards of a billion songs from three of the four major record labels through another upstart online music store, AmazonMP3.
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January 10th, 2008 | Posted in Audio | 1 Comment
iTunes may be cool. It has the brand name. It leads the market for online digital music sales by a large margin. But AmazonMP3 has something iTunes does not: all four major record labels selling music free of copy protection, or digital rights management.
Sony BMG, the world’s second-largest record label, will start selling DRM-free music on AmazonMP3 at the end of the month, confirming reports that surfaced last week. And, best of all, fans of Sony BMG artists like Britney Spears and Bruce Springsteen will not have to drive to brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy and Target to purchase Platinum MusicPass cards just to download music free of copy protection.
With Sony BMG now joining the other big labels, EMI, Universal Music Group, and Warner, AmazonMP3 has a clear advantage over iTunes for consumers who want the songs they purchase to be playable on virtually any computer and portable music device.
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January 7th, 2008 | Posted in Audio | 1 Comment
I have to ask: Isn’t the point of buying music online not having to go to the store?
As expected, Sony BMG will begin selling DRM-free music, but in an odd, online-offline, hybrid manner. On Jan. 15, Sony BMG will begin selling MP3s without copy protection, but here’s the rub.
Consumers must go to a bricks-and-mortar retail store like Best Buy or Target to buy a Platinum MusicPass card. The card contains a scratch-off unique PIN — not unlike ones used by iTunes and other online services — that will unlock the chosen album for download at musicpass.com.
The MusicPass cards will retail for $12.99, while an “expanded” card will sell for $19.99 and include an additional album from the artist’s back catalog.
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January 7th, 2008 | Posted in Audio, Mobile, Net TV, Social | No Comments
One of the highlights of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) each year is Bill Gates’ keynote speech, available here as a webcast. This year there were a slew of products and partnerships announced. It was less futuristic vision and more beta products and what’s coming in 2008. In other words, it was much less about Internet-connected fridges, and more about what you can do now on your Xbox 360.
By now everybody is familiar with Microsoft’s strengths: Windows, devices, ‘rich’ user interfaces, partnerships with big media and electronics companies. Over the past few years we’ve seen Microsoft morph into a ‘Services’ company too, where services are delivered over the Internet. Although the branding as Windows Live has been clumsy and confusing, Microsoft has still been able to slot its Services vision into the Windows and devices foundation. Hence Gates’ talk of “Services-connected devices running on the Web” and the “huge amounts of storage” that Microsoft is able to provide.
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January 6th, 2008 | Posted in Audio | No Comments
Logitech-owned Slim Devices have announced the Squeezebox Duet music system, a networked audio receiver and accompanying controller, designed to make it easy to listen to your digital music collection, as well as access online music services and Internet radio, throughout the home.
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