Posts filed under 'Online Music'
Motorola is about to launch iRadio, a service which allows users to download music to their PCs, move it over to their mobile phone and then listen to it through their car stereo.
The phone itself with cost around $200, but there will be the further investment needed of a bluetooth adapter for your car stereo.
David Ulmer, marketing director, media solutions business, Motorola, said that they set out to find a way to get content into the devices that people actually use to listen to their music e.g. the home stereo or the car stereo. Then they considered what devices were becoming ubiquitous and settled on the mobile phone to act as a hub for the music.
iRadio devices will be sold in stores, but may also be integrated into car stereos directly.
April 18th, 2005
It’s the natural successor to taping off the radio, except this time it will all be strictly legit.
UBC Media, owner of the Classic Gold digital station in the UK wants to make the impulse purchasing of music possible via DBA digital radios. The theory is that you will be listening away, when you hear a track that you just have to own. One button press later the file has been downloaded (to where we are not yet sure - neither are UBC probably) and somehow you’ve been charged for it.
As you will gather, technical detail is thin on the ground with this story, but UBC think that it has legs as they are investing £400,000 in the system this year.
“We think it is a most compelling way to buy music, much more compelling than someone who gets an iPod and crawls all over the internet looking for music for it,” said finance director Jenny Donald. “You are listening to the tune, you like it, it only costs about a quid and you can just push a button to download it.”
April 14th, 2005
The Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America have launched law suits against 405 users of the high speed Internet2 network, which they say makes mass file sharing too easy.
Internet2 is an experimental network linking together 207 US universities which was originally designed for academic use, but its i2hiub software, has become a favoured tool of students wishing to download large files such as movies. i2hub is a peer-to-peer, file-sharing application developed for “student collaboration” on Internet2.
In fact, movie downloading was the process chosen by the makers of Internet2 to demonstrate the extremely high data transfer speeds possible, when they downloaded a copy of The Matrix in under 30 seconds.
The MPAA says that this has now been taken to extremes and 99 terabytes of movie data was being swapped every day – equivalent to an entire video store.
“Internet2 is increasingly becoming the network of choice for students looking to steal songs and other copyrighted works on a massive scale,” said RIAA president Cary Sherman.
“We know who you are and we strongly encourage you to stop what you are doing,” said Dan Glickman, MPAA president and CEO.
Whether or not the RIAA and MPAA will sue the makers of i2hub probably depends on the outcome of the current Grokster case.
April 14th, 2005
HP today announced two additions to its Apple iPod from HP line of digital music players. The new iPod products allow consumers to carry and enjoy an extensive music and photo library wherever they go.
The Apple iPod from HP is available in two sizes - 30 gigabytes which holds up to 7,500 songs, and 60 GB, which holds up to 15,000 songs. In addition to a music library, the new players can each store up to 25,000 digital photos and can display them on a vivid, high-resolution color display.
Consumers can use an optional audio-visual cable accessory to share slideshows on big screen televisions and projectors.
“HP offers consumers simple, fun ways to enjoy and personalize their music and photo experiences,” said Siobhan O’Connor, vice president, Consumer Brand and Marketing, HP. “Along with products such as our new Media Center PCs, now available with an integrated iPod dock and pre-installed Apple iTunes software, these new iPods round out a complete music solution from HP.”
The players come with a USB 2.0 cable to connect easily to a PC for syncing of music, playlists, photos and album artwork. Plus, extended battery life gives users up to 15 hours of music playback or up to 5 hours of slideshows. Both models are backed by HP’s Total Care customer support, which includes one year of phone support and a one-year warranty.
The new iPods are also compatible with HP Printable Tattoos, HP’s innovative way to allow consumers to personalize their iPods with artwork, designs and photography. At http://www.hp.com/music, consumers can find a gallery full of tattoo designs, including album art from the hottest bands and recording artists, as well as unique artwork and images.
Consumers can also upload their own photos and images to print as Tattoos at home. The ultra-thin HP Printable Tattoos are easy to apply and remove from the player’s exterior. Durable and water-resistant, they help to protect from scratches while adding a touch of personal style.
HP Printable Tattoos are sold in 10-packs of printable glossy paper that are pre-cut to fit any Apple iPod from HP. The retail price for HP Printable Tattoos is $14.99. The Apple iPod from HP 30 GB is $349 and the Apple iPod from HP 60 GB is $449. HP also continues to offer the popular Apple iPod from HP 20 GB for $299. The new Apple iPod from HP models and HP Printable Tattoos are available online at hpshopping.com and at many major retailers, including Circuit City, Radio Shack, Sears and Wal-Mart.
April 14th, 2005
The download music industry is fighting a proposal by US Congress to force them to make all downloaded music compatible.
Moving music files between playback devices can be problematic, particularly if, for example, you want to play a tunes downloaded from Apple’s iTunes on a Creative mp3 player.
The Congressional subcommittee hearing on ‘Digital Music Interoperability and Availability’ wants to make this problem a thing of the past by outlawing music protected by proprietary digital rights management (DRM) technology, such as Apple’s FairPlay.
However, the proposal is being vigourously rejected by the music industry, with the message that the problem will be sorted ‘within the family’.
William Pence from Napster said, “It is my belief, and the essential point of my participation today, that marketplace forces will continue to drive innovation in the DRM arena with attendant consumer benefits - new ways to enjoy digital music at a variety of different price points - while also gradually ’solving’ the interoperability problem.”
However, Apple did not accept an invitation to testify at the hearing.
Chariman of the committee, Lamar Smith, said, “Apple was invited to testify today but they chose not to appear. Generally speaking, companies with 75 per cent market share of any business, in this case the digital download market, need to step up to the plate when it comes to testifying on policy issues that impact their industry. Failure to do so is a mistake.”
Slapped wrists all round at Apple then.
April 7th, 2005
You may have wondered why the tit-for-tat battle between Apple and Jon Lech Johansen had gone quiet since DVD Jon last broke Apple iTunes encryption a couple of weeks ago.
Now we have the answer - Apple has poached the Norwegian programmer and made him one of their own.
According to Techtree , Steve Jobs finally lost his patience after Johansen managed to reopen the backdoor into iTunes only 24 hours after Apple thought they had closed the loophole. He reportedly offered an undisclosed (but suitably impressive) sum of money for Johansen to join Apple staff. Whether DVD Jon will actually be doing any work for Apple, or is just being paid to keep out of Jobs’ hair we haven’t yet found out.
DVD Jon had teamed up with a group of programmers to create ‘PyMusique’, an alternative client to iTunes which connected to the iTunes Music Server, but did not add the copy protection to purchased files. Initially Linux and Windows versions were released, but later only the Linux version was updated, after criticism that if the only purpose was to produce a Linux iTunes client, why bother building a Windows application as well.
There’s no news on whether other members of the PyMusique team have signed up for Apple.
April 1st, 2005
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