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New iPod shuffle Available Worldwide This Friday
Nearly half the size of the original, the new iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just half an ounce and features a minimal aluminum design with a built-in clip, making it the most wearable iPod ever.
Apple Tries To Bury Stock Options Controversy
Based on an analysis of the findings of the independent investigation, Apple has recognized additional non-cash stock-based compensation expenses of $84 million.
Buyout firm sues Citigroup over EMI auction
(AP)
AP - A private equity firm that paid billions of dollars for the struggling music company EMI has filed a lawsuit against Citigroup in an attempt to reclaim some of its investment.
The Strangest iPod Accessory Ever?
Thanko has introduced a bizarre iPod box speaker that may be the strangest iPoc accessory ever.
The Eight Thousand Dollar Piano-Shaped ipod Table
The Concerto Table, a piano-shaped table designed by Nicholas Lovegrove & Demian Repucci, has to be one of the most expensive and exclusive iPod accessories yet.
SpeckTone Retro Stereo Speaker System for iPod
The SpeckTone Retro is one of the few iPod accessories that has caught our eyes recently. The fifties look of the all-wood speaker cabinet is finished with a high-gloss lacquered piano finish, and is a surprisingly nice complement to the modern look of iPods.
Man Destroys iPod In A Blender
Blendtec, a company that makes heavy duty blenders, is destroying iPods to help sell $400 blenders.
Citigroup sued by Terra Firma over EMI deal
(Reuters)
Reuters - Private equity firm Terra Firma sued Citigroup Inc, accusing the bank of fraud in connection with Terra Firma's purchase of music business EMI Group in 2007, court documents filed on Friday in New York showed.
MP3 Tech Commentary
Free Music Downloads This Week This week we bring you another selection of free tracks for your listening pleasure. As always, the free MP3 music is full-length and will hopefully give you a good idea about the sound that the artist/band produces before you purchase their music. This blog is also about trying to bring you new music that you might not have otherwise discovered; listening to the following free music will hopefully broaden your musical tastes and introduce you to some new undiscovered genres. The free music downloads this week are:
- Apple Jelly (4:17)
- Salvation (3:23)
Related Articles:
- Top 5 streaming music sites
- How to use iTunes to get free radio and TV shows
- Jamendo music service review
Free Music Downloads This Week originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 09:00:53.
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Free Music Downloads This Week In our music discovery spotlight this week, we showcase another selection of free promotional tracks that cover a wide range of genres designed to broaden your musical horizons :
The free promotional track, Repetition, is a taster of the type of sound that garage rock band, The Willowz produce. This free music download is from their new album, Everyone, which is now available digitally from the iTunes Store; the physical will be available to purchase from stores on Dec. 15 (Dim Mak/Downtown Records). If you want to take a look behind the scenes, there's also an interesting video of the making of Everyone that you can watch via YouTube.
- You've Changed (3:10)
- Hand Me Down (3:22)
Related Articles:
- Top 5 streaming music sites
- Free music download services
- How to use iTunes to listen to thousands of free radio stations
Free Music Downloads This Week originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 09:18:32.
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Gadget Sales Down; eReaders the Exception Just in case you didn't know, the economy isn't exactly in the best shape. But for those of you holding out hope, market researcher IBISWorld is throwing some cold water onto your head with its Holiday Gift Sales report. Out of eight categories tracked by the report, seven are predicted to see drops. That includes gadgets and electronics, which are expected to have a sales drop of 2.5 percent from $10.80 billion in 2008 to $10.53 billion this Christmas. While that doesn't sound like a huge drop, do keep in mind that last year's holiday sales weren't exactly a stellar moment in capitalism (you can basically thank the timing of the implosion of the not-so Super Lehman Brothers for that). One reason for the forecast for slow sales is that retailers are expected to reduce the number of significant discounts this Christmas, Apparently, a similar move last year really did a number on profit margins. Oops. One of the exemptions for electronics? That would be eBook readers, which are just doing gangbusters. Others include cheaper devices such as iPod Nanos and small point-and-shoot cameras. Oh, and that one category that is expected to see growth? That would be clothing. "Parents are using this Christmas season as an excuse to update their children's wardrobes, still filling space under the tree and ultimately saving money in the long run," said Toon van Beeck, senior analyst with IBISWorld. I guess we'll find out soon is Mr. van Beeck is correct. Photo by Jason Hidalgo Gadget Sales Down; eReaders the Exception originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 00:08:51.
Like Being up an iRiver With a Skiff If eReader's are a fad, then somebody apparently hasn't told iRiver and Skiff. (Who comes up with these names?) That's because Skiff and iRiver are diving headfirst into the eReader, um, river come 2010, according to Twice.com. In iRiver's case, it's supposed to be launching its Story eBook Reader next year in the U.S. market, with an official announcement forthcoming at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Because not everything that happens in Vegas apparently stays in Vegas. Besides a 6-inch display and EPUB support, the Story will also feature an MP3 player, voice recorder, personal organizer and memo pad. Skiff, meanwhile, is supposed to be providing all sorts of e-content next year for "at least one dedicated e-reading device during 2010," according to the company. While its name may conjure images of The Old Man and the Sea and Moby Dick, Skiff's digital venture won't be limited to eBooks but will focus heavily on magazines and periodicals. If this improves the chances of yours truly keeping his day job, then your guide is all for it. Speaking of which, have you hugged a print journalist today? (It's like we're a dying breed T_T) Photo © iRiver Like Being up an iRiver With a Skiff originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 00:01:55.
Is Apple Finally Jumping Into The Streaming Music Business? Apple has announced that it has completed its acquisition of the streaming music service, Lala. With streaming music services being increasingly popular with music fans these days, it's no surprise to learn that Apple is potentially dipping its toes into a technology that provides music lovers with a smörgåsbord of endless tracks. We say, "Potentially", because there's no word from Apple yet on what their business model will be. Interestingly, Lala also provides 'cloud storage' for its users -- this means remote storage for your music that you can then use to stream to anywhere. The big question now is, "what is Apple going to do with its latest acquisition?" For many consumers, the obvious answer would be an integrated streaming music element in the iTunes Store. Arguably, this is something that Apple should have done a long time ago, rather than sticking to an outdated pay-per-click only service. But wait a minute? Could Apple also be thinking of using cloud storage? There's little doubt that if they also implemented this, it would cater for consumers who want to be able to stream their music and have a secure remote storage solution.
Related Articles:
Is Apple Finally Jumping Into The Streaming Music Business? originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 09:11:40.
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Timing the Weather Recently, the portables site featured a talking clock in this very space. Certainly, a voice-enabled clock is nice and all. But if you equate the ability to talk with nagging, then perhaps you prefer the strong, silent type. Enter, the Ambient Flurry clock. While this clock doesn't talk, it does offer a pretty neat feature — the ability to tell you the weather. Hey, isn't that how small talk usually starts? On that note, feel free to check out my Ambient Flurry review. Timing the Weather originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 00:01:52.
Multisession Discs: Burn MP3s to The Same CD or DVD More Than Once If you prefer to backup your music library to CD or DVD, then have you tried creating a multisession disc? Simply put, a multisession disc makes it possible for you to add data to the same CD or DVD using more than one burning session; if there is free space still left on the disc then you can add more data to it at a later date. There have probably been times in the past when you've been frustrated by not being able to burn more information to a disc that still had free space on it. The obvious advantage of using a multisession disc is that you don't have to fill up a disc in one go, but you can burn chunks of data until your CD or DVD is full. Popular CD and DVD disc recording programs such as Nero can create this type of format enabling you to burn your media files at your own leisure. Even though this method isn't as space-efficient as burning all your files in one go (a small amount of space is lost using a multisession disc), it's a lot more user-friendly and is well worth doing if you don't currently have enough data to fill an entire disc. If you're interested in finding out more, then our tutorial on How to Create a Multisession CD or DVD using the free CDBurnerXP program will get you started. Related Articles:
Multisession Discs: Burn MP3s to The Same CD or DVD More Than Once originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 09:00:52.
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