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MP3 Player News & Headlines
Twitter users buy more music: report
(Reuters)
Reuters - A new NPD Group study finds that active Twitter users buy 77 percent more digital music downloads on average than non-users. Additionally, 12 percent of those who have bought music in the last three months also report having used Twitter, versus 8 percent of overall Web users.
iriver clix: iPod/iTunes Killer?
iriver has introduced the clix portable media player, a new media player that integrates with the new Windows Media Player 11 and the public beta of MTV Networks URGE digital music service
Griffin Intros PowerBlock Travel, International USB Power Adapter
Griffin Technology has introduced PowerBlock Travel, a package designed to simplify charging your USB devices (including iPods) while traveling.
Has the RIAA's Fight Against File Sharing Gone Too Far?
(PC World)
PC World - Some legal experts question the constitutionality of a $1.92 million fine given to a woman accused of pirating 24 songs. A Minnesota jury ordered Jammie Thomas-Rasset to pay that yesterday, saying she "willfully" violated music copyrights and should cough up $80,000 per illegally downloaded track.
Jackson will sets family trust, funeral undecided
(Reuters)
Reuters - Lawyers for Michael Jackson filed the pop star's 2002 will in court on Wednesday that puts his multimillion-dollar estate in a family trust for his three children and his mother, but were denied a bid to take immediate control of his music fortune.
iTunes Hits Two Billion Sold Milestone
Apple today announced that more than two billion songs, 50 million television episodes and over 1.3 million feature-length films have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store.
Gemini Announces iTrax iPod DJ Mixer
The iTrax joins the Numark iDJ, to allow users to mix the output of two iPods, with basic dj functionality.
MP3 Tech Commentary
Product Review: Nextar T30 Portable Media Player Photo credit: Nextar
The Nextar T30 portable media player, despite its inexpensive price tag, is hard to recommend when put up against other devices similar to it. It has a few stand out qualities, but the overall experience it provides is marred by a small host of mostly minor issues. Were there but a handful of these it would be one thing, but it is hard to overlook so many challenges at the same time. Should you choose to purchase this player, it is best suited for those on a budget who want a portable media player which offers a wide range of mostly functional features...read more
Buying Guide: Before You Buy a Portable Media Player
Portable media players are, by definition, MP3 players which do much more than just play your favorite digital audio files. These specialized devices also let you watch your favorite television or movie programming in a portable format as well as letting you view lots and lots of your favorite digital photos. There are a lot of portable media players on the market today, so it is important to consider the most important features when making your selection. To get you thinking about these critical functions...read more
Amie Street: What's the Real Value of Music? Most 'paid for' music services on the Internet rigidly set the price of songs they sell. If you're an independent artist looking for a promotional platform to show off your hard work and reap the benefits, then you'll be interested to know that Amie Street offer its artists 70 percent of the profits. As a music fan, it’s a great feeling to know that most of the money spent on a song will be going where it should - to the artist. Music fans also get cash rewards on Amie Street for recommending their favorite songs - this can then be used to download songs that you would otherwise have to pay for. For more information, be sure to read our full Amie Street Review. Image © Amie Street, Inc. Related Articles:
Even though services such as the iTunes Store have recently introduced a variable pricing structure (blog)- it's still some way off from being a totally dynamic system. Amie Street for example is one such service that uses a community-driven pricing system that reacts to how popular songs are. This in effect gives music fans the power to set song prices depending on how many people buy a particular song. Most new songs start off as free downloads, or very cheap, and increase in price as they become popular. The maximum price a song can be is 98 cents which keeps the service competitive; albums too have a maximum of $8.98 - unless you see a new one that you can grab for free.
Product Preview: Philips GoGear Opus - A New Portable Media Player The upcoming Philips GoGear Opus digital audio/video player is certainly no exception to this rule of potential innovation. The company has tossed a number of useful functions into this device...read more
The Philips line up of GoGear portable media players has churned out over the years a steady stream of quality devices known for their sleek looks and easy to use interfaces. These forward thinking products also tend to come with new audio enhancements from Philips, itself a major player in the larger consumer electronics market.
Smart Playlists: Create Song Lists That Keep an Eye on Your Music Library If you've got a sizable music collection, then creating playlists is an essential task for playing, burning, and syncing your music in an efficient way. Most, if not all, software media players support the use of playlists which you can use to organize your music library in many different ways. The only downside to using normal playlists is that unless you update them manually, they never change. So, what's the alternative? Some software media players such as Windows Media Player 9 and higher, support the use of smart playlists that dynamically change depending on the contents of your music library. Windows Media Player uses Auto Playlists which intelligently follow rules that you set. For example, if you define an Auto Playlist to contain only a certain genre, then it will populate itself with tracks from your music library that meet that rule. Even if you update your library with more of the same genre, your Auto Playlist will keep up to speed by automatically updating - this saves time when compared to normal playlists which would need to be manually edited. If you regularly add music to your collection and want a consistent order to your playlists, then smart playlists are worth using. For more information on creating smart playlists in Microsoft Windows Media Player, be sure to read our guide on Creating Auto Playlists. Related Articles:
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