Items tagged with music
If you are old enough to remember what MTV was like back in the 80's, then somewhere in the far recesses of your mind--sandwiched between memories of Pet Rocks and scrunchies--you once knew that when MTV first launched, "MTV" actually stood for "Music Television." With seemingly back-to-back reality shows and teen dramas now, you'd think that...
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MySpace Music was expected to be successful, but this successful? It was launched at 12 AM EDT on Sept. 25th, and despite that short period of time, it has already streamed over a billion songs (and yes, we have contributed to that streaming). In comparison, (though obviously not fair as iTunes is a pay service, while MySpace Music streams...
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It's no secret that music sales comprised of physical media (i.e. CDs) are down in the face of huge competition from iTunes and other digital distribution channels. At the same time, no one ever said the record labels would give up on physical sales easily. Today SanDisk, along...
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All right, readers, we're sure some among you participate in the downloading of somewhat dicey material (read: copyrighted). If you could have a license to illegally download as much as you wanted - and yes, we suppose, if you had a license, it would no longer be illegal - how would you feel...
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Yes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Prize winner and internationally known humanitarian, is a fan of free music. Don't read that to mean he supports illegally downloading music, however.Tutu has become involved with SOS Records, a label that plans to let users decide which acts it signs. Tutu was in New York on Tuesday to help launch the...
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As though we need still another reason to hate DRM, here comes one. Remember the now-defunct MSN Music store? Hopefully you weren't one of the few to use it.Customers who have purchased music from Microsoft's now-defunct MSN Music store are now facing a decision they never...
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Put this in your rumor bucket for now, but the Financial Times says Apple is in discussion with the music industry over a possible "all you can eat" music plan for iTunes.Apple is in discussions with the big music companies about a radical new business model that would give customers free access to its entire iTunes music library in exchange...
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Various companies and even the RIAA have either settled with or won numerous law suits against pirates and/or networks that allow piracy such as the old Napster or Kazaa. We're talking at least 9-figures worth of damages awarded and/or settlements paid off, but yet the artists don't seem...
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iTunes recently overtook BestBuy to be the nation's #2 retailer of music. If the sales trends continue, it's only a matter of time until Walmart is toppled.“The latest sales figures, which holds every 12 songs downloaded as the equivalent of an entire CD, is not just a win for Apple, but also proves that the entire paid digital music...
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As with all rumors, please take the following news item with a grain of salt until we can receive official confirmation or denial from Yahoo.Yahoo may be attempting to break into the MP3 download business sometime in 2008. At this stage it appears that Yahoo is in preliminary talks with...
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It wasn't all that long ago that online music vendors starting selling DRM-free tracks, often at a small premium and/or small loss of audio fidelity. At the time it was viewed by some as a marketing experiment to see if people would pay more to avoid headaches related to Digital Rights Management, and now it appears that there...
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There hasn't been much love lost between NBC Universal and Apple, especially in the wake of the PR battle that recently took place when NBC announced they were not renewing their contract to have their programming available via iTunes after their current contract is up. Whatever the true reason for that particular decision, it seems...
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Since Amazon MP3 opened, it's been obvious that Apple would have to respond to its lower prices, and they have, by lowering prices on its unprotected music files to match at 99 cents.While there is no reason to think that Amazon has taken the market by storm, it’s clear that it is a competitive force. If iPod users decide to try Amazon’s store...
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The RIAA has prevailed in its suit against a Minnesota woman, who they accused of uploading 1700 music files, for copyright infringement. The jury of twelve awarded the plaintiffs a whopping $222,000 dollars.The verdict, coming after two days of testimony and about five hours of deliberations, was a mixed victory for the RIAA, which has brought...
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Internet retail giant Amazon.com today launched its "Amazon MP3" digital music download service. The 2 million songs available come without Digital Rights Management restrictions, and will play on most any device that can handle a sound file. Most songs are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the...
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The music industry just can't admit that the CD, although not dead, is dying. The latest attempt to save the medium, the "ringle" combines three songs with a ringtone for one price. But the price they are suggesting isn't one that is likely to grab many buyers. The original version...
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Wal-Mart has joined the likes of Amazon.com and iTunes today - it is offering MP3 downloads, free of DRM. Much as it's hard to applaud anything Wal-Mart does, it is a major step when the world's largest retailer signs up. Wal-Mart announces the launch of "DRM-free" MP3 music downloads, now...
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It's been said that if you want DRM-free music, take your CD and rip it to your hard drive. But everytime you do something like this, you lose something: quality. The compression involved in creating the MP3 file reduces the fidelity of the sound. But this is something we've all become used...
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Perhaps signalling another nail in the coffin of DRM, Universal Music Group has announced that it will begin a test program of DRM-free music sales, starting August 21st and lasting through January 31st of next year. Surprisingly, the songs will not be available through iTunes, which has...
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A new worm has been unleashed that has the capability of deleting MP3 files. Known as the Deletemusic worm, it uses removable devices as a vector. Once the infected device gets accessed, the worm starts its work. It first multiplies onto all drives and is executed when Windows fires up. “‘With so many people relying on their PCs to store...
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Compared a year ago, digital music sales are now double what they used to be. However, the research report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) also said that the music industry as a whole continues to slump. Although digital music sales are still growing...
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Pricewaterhouse Coopers is claiming that the sales figures for video games are going to overtake music sales by 2011: "The video gaming industry is poised to overtake the music industry in the US, with global spending on video games surpassing music spending as soon as this year, according to consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers. PwC...
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