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MP3 Player News & Headlines
Two New iPod Games Announced
Electronic Arts today announced the availability of two new games for the fifth generation iPod – EA Sudoku and Royal Solitaire.
Nokia to launch new music phone model
(Reuters)
Reuters - The world's largest mobile phone maker Nokia is preparing to launch a new music-bundled phone, photos from the firm's website showed on Friday.
Griffin Intros Evolve iPod Speakers
Griffin Technology today announced the unveiling of its new lineup of powered speaker systems. Evolve is a speaker system with a flat charging base that holds your iPod in a Universal Dock.
Griffin Intros 2007 Line Up
Griffin Technology today announced their 2007 lineup that will debut next week at the MacWorld Conference & Expo.
MySpace buys imeem music site for under $1 mln
(AP)
AP - MySpace's online music venture with recording labels completed its purchase of song streaming site imeem on Tuesday, scooping up its 16 million users and mobile phone applications for less than $1 million.
What the Apple-LaLa Deal Could Mean for Video Streaming
(PC World)
PC World - There's been a lot of noise over the last few days about Apple's purchase of the online music-streaming service Lala. No one's quite sure what this means for the future of Apple's iTunes music service, or Lala's own service.
MP3 Tech Commentary
Fight Like Apes Thank Loyal Fans With Free MP3 Album Irish alternative/punk rock band Fight Like Apes (FLA) are thanking their music fans for their support by offering up an exclusive free album download via their website. The 11-track festive freebie is a live album of FLA songs recorded this year at the Eurosonic festival 2009 in Groningen, Holland. If you intend on backing up your free music album by using CD Burning Software, then you might also be interested in the accompanying album artwork that can be downloaded from the FLA website. You can then print out this artwork for your CD jewel case; or alternatively design your own artwork using Free CD/DVD Cover Design Software. As an added bonus, there's also the MP3 track, Lumpy Dough, that you can get for free when signing up to the FLA newsletter. Related Articles:
Fight Like Apes Thank Loyal Fans With Free MP3 Album originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 06:08:40.
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eBooks for Soldiers: 'Operation Ebook Drop' Still Going "Operation Dumbo Drop" got a paltry 26 percent on the old "Tomatometer" at RottenTomatoes.com. "Operation Ebook Drop," on the other hand, appears to be faring a lot better. For the uninitiated, Operation Ebook Drop isn't a movie but an effort to provide soldiers deployed overseas free eBooks courtesy of authors participating in the program. The effort apparently started as "Operation Kindle Ebook Drop" when Ed Patterson, an author affiliated with eBook publisher and distributor Smashwords, offered a soldier all 13 of his eBooks free of charge after the solider mentioned that Amazon's download service didn't work in Iraq. Smashwords has since gotten into the act, with founder Marc Coker notifying the more than 1,300 Smashwords authors about the program. Author participation is voluntary. The program has also been expanded to include eBooks for other readers such as Sony's devices, along with cell phones and laptops. So if you know a soldier overseas who likes to read, it might be a good idea to inform them about the program. I mean, hey, it's free. For more details, check out Smashwords Operation Ebook Drop post on its blog page. Photo by Jason Hidalgo eBooks for Soldiers: 'Operation Ebook Drop' Still Going originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 02:00:39.
Paper Bag Records Celebrate Anniversary With Free Album Download This week we bring you a whole album to download for free! The Toronto based music label, Paper Bag Records, is offering up a free 12-track album to celebrate their upcoming 7th birthday. The suitably named album, The Seven Year Itch, is a compilation of songs from some of the record label's artists - a few unreleased tracks have also been included. To get your hands on the free album download, simply visit The Seven Year Itch download page on Paper Bag Records' website. Related Articles:
Paper Bag Records Celebrate Anniversary With Free Album Download originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 05:13:08.
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CD Repair Kits: Are They Really Worth Buying? Under normal usage most optical media (CDs and DVDs) pick up minor surface abrasions that don't affect them. However, accidents can and do happen which can cause more severe scratches which cause problems; skipping for example is a common symptom. If the damage is bad enough then it can even stop a disc from playing altogether. So, are CD repair kits really worth buying? As long as the scratch to your disc isn't deep, there's a good chance that a CD repair kit will be able to successfully resurface your damaged CD or DVD. They can't fix cracks but generally have a high success rate repairing moderately damaged discs. Many of the basic kits can typically fix up to 50 discs, while the more advanced ones can have added features like being able to fix deeper scratches or doubling as a disc cleaner -- this makes them even more useful if you need the extra features. If you consider how much money it would cost to replace your damaged discs, then purchasing a CD repair kit is a worthy investment. If you've got rare or expensive music CDs for example, then a repair kit makes perfect sense -- especially if you want to use a CD ripper to convert them to digital audio files. This will enable you to keep your valuable music collection in a safe place while still enjoying them as MP3s on your computer, MP3 player, or portable media device. If you're looking for a repair kit for your CDs and DVDs, then our CD/DVD Repair Kit Guide will show you some of the best kits for your money. Related Articles:
CD Repair Kits: Are They Really Worth Buying? originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 11:04:45.
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Hercules XPS 2.140 'Slim' is No Lightweight Back in the day when mullets and acid-wash jeans didn't cause people to point and laugh, boomboxes were the hot thing when it came to moving your music from room to room. My, how times have changed. With the advent of digital music, yours truly has since switched to listening to music via a laptop or MP3 player connected to portable speakers. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Which brings us to our featured review for the day, the Hercules XPS 2.140 Slim (I dare you to say that really fast 10 times). Yeah, the "Slim" feature for the left and right satellite speakers is nice and all. But being the typical guy that I am, it's that subwoofer that really has my testosterone flowing. So did the speaker set fulfill my oh-so manly, Herculean expectations? Find out in my (take a deep breath) Hercules XPS 2.140 Slim review. (Boy, that's quite a mouthful to say.) Photo © Guillemot Corporation S.A. Hercules XPS 2.140 'Slim' is No Lightweight originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 01:52:25.
'7 Habits' Author Shifts eBook Rights to Amazon Traditional book publishers suffered another blow in the eBook arena as a popular business author moved the rights to electronic versions of two of his works to a company that will sell them exclusively at Amazon. Stephen R. Covey, author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," has shifted the eBook rights of the aforementioned work and a book yet to be published to RosettaBooks, the New York Times reports. The eBook rights used to be held by Simon & Schuster — the same company that recently announced it would delay eBook versions of 35 big titles in 2010 by four months after the hardcover release. One of the big winners in the deal is Amazon, which will have exclusive rights to selling the eBook versions of the two titles for one year. Upping monetary gains for authors is apparently one habit of highly successful eBook publishers when it comes to getting rights. Covey is set to earn "more than half of the net proceeds" that RosettaBooks rakes in from the Amazon deal. In contrast, the normal digital rate from traditional publishers is 25 percent. Even Covey's son said the higher royalty rate was a factor in the switch. With eBook readers gaining even more popularity, it would be interesting to see how traditional publishers respond. One thing's for sure: Those contracts they write up now are definitely going to include "eBooks" and "digital distribution" in them. Photo © Amazon '7 Habits' Author Shifts eBook Rights to Amazon originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 00:58:48.
Sour Gripes: Cell Phone-Related Snafus Make List of Top Annoyances Technology giveth. But for many folks, technology also annoyeth away, according to a recent survey by Consumer Reports. Five tech-related annoyances cracked a list of top 21 gripes among Americans, three of them related to — can you hear me now? — cell phone use. (As if on cue, the cell phone of a nearby colleague just went off. Loudly. I'm not quite sure if that's a good sign or a bad one.) Highest among tech-related grievances at No. 4 is cell-phone use by drivers. I'd make a snarky remark about that right now but I'm too busy avoiding incoming traffic while texting and driving at the moment. (Obviously, I'm just kidding, so please don't spam my inbox.) Landing at No. 7 is unreliable Internet service, quickly followed by discourteous cell phone use at No. 8. Remind me to never stand near a person having Internet connection problems while some goof loudly yaks off on a cell phone nearby. Making the cut at No. 10? Spam. I'm assuming that's spam of the non-meat kind. Rounding out the list of tech-related gripes is unreliable cell-phone service at Lucky No. 13. Unsurprisingly, folks older than 50 were more annoyed by transgressions related to discourteous cell-phone use than their younger counterparts. Yet one more reason you'll never see Verizon shoot one of their "Can you hear me now?" commercials at your local bingo parlor. Sour Gripes: Cell Phone-Related Snafus Make List of Top Annoyances originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 01:03:24.
Thinking of Buying an MP3 Player This Holiday Season? With Thanksgiving nearly upon us and Black Friday just around the corner, you may already be thinking about purchasing electronic gadgets this holiday season. For more information on budget MP3 players, be sure to read our guide on Top Portables for Less Than $100. Image © Camila Schnaibel. Related Articles:
However, if you have suffered financially this year (due to the world recession for example), and money is tight, then you may think that purchasing any electronic gadget is way off base -- not so! For instance, if you're looking to purchase an MP3 player, then you may be pleasantly surprised to know that you can pick up a budget player for as little as $20. In fact our Budget MP3 Players guide lists a series of top portables (iPod and MP3 player alternatives) that retail for well under $100 -- in our guide you'll also find in-depth reviews to read before taking the financial plunge. Whether you're thinking about purchasing an MP3 player for a friend, family member, or even yourself, there's a whole range of 'cheap and cheerful' portable players on the market these days to fit practically any budget.
Thinking of Buying an MP3 Player This Holiday Season? originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 09:00:25.
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