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MP3 Player News & Headlines
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.
Blink-182, Weezer to headline free Virgin fest
(Reuters)
Reuters - After months of speculation about the fate of the 2009 Virgin Mobile Festival, organizers have made an announcement that should please music fans who've felt the economic pinch of the recession: this year's event is free.
NAMM Update: Denon DJ Intros DN-S3500 Tabletop CD/MP3 Player
Denon DJ introduced the DN-S3500 tabletop CD/MP3 player, featuring a powerful 12-pole Direct Drive motor, 7 on-board effects and intuitive control.
Big fine could be big trouble in downloading case
(AP)
AP - The $1.92 million verdict against a Minnesota woman accused of sharing 24 songs over the Internet could ratchet up the pressure on other defendants to settle with the recording industry — if the big fine can withstand an appeal.
EC Warns Countries Not to Go It Alone in Broadband Upgrades
(PC World)
PC World - A week after the U.K. unveiled plans to establish a super-fast broadband infrastructure across the country within the next three years, Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for telecommunications, Thursday warned E.U. member states, including the U.K., not to go it alone.Coordinating policy on the roll-out of next generation broadband networks with other European countries is necessary if the ambitious goals of the countries, and the E.U., are to be achieved, Reding said in a speech at a conference in Brussels."To make the most of the E.U. single market, and to prevent the various national initiatives from getting out of rhythm and resulting in disharmony, guidance is needed at European level," she said, adding: "Europe cannot afford to get its ICT and telecom policies wrong; too much is at stake."Faster broadband connection speeds allow content such as music and video to be uploaded and downloaded to and from the Internet faster. They will also spur software innovations that will result in a greater choice of online applications for users.Politicians also see faster broadband as a vital tool for creating jobs and kick-starting their economies.Unilateral efforts from countries including the U.K. illustrate the frustration these countries feel about the lack of progress in updating E.U. telecom laws.The European Parliament has effectively vetoed a package of measures that included laws designed to help upgrade Europe's telecom infrastructure.Members of the European Parliament agreed to add a clause forcing governments to seek formal judicial approval before banning anyone suspected of illegally sharing copyright-protected material online.The French and British governments are trying to set up systems that would allow government agencies to ban individuals from the Internet without having to go to court.The national governments refused to accept the Parliament's now infamous amendment 138. As a result the whole package of laws cannot proceed along the law-making process. Reding said Thursday "we need to seal the deal on the new regulatory package so that we can move on to the other pressing regulatory issues that we face."Ed Richards, the chief executive of Ofcom, the U.K. telecom regulator, who was also attending the conference, agreed. "We cannot let it [amendment 138] hold everything else up. Nor can we afford to now re-open the substantive points of the proposed Framework," he said."At a time when governments across Europe are seeking to promote large-scale investment in next generation networks, and competition at the deepest possible layers, a failure to adopt the package before the end of the year would be a significant blow," said Richards.In addition to the telecom package, the Commission has also proposed recommendations aimed specifically at the creation of next-generation broadband networks across the E.U. One is designed to help national governments to step in and assist companies with state aid, while respecting the state aid rules. The other tries to balance two seemingly opposed interests: encouraging investors to spend billions on the new infrastructure on the one hand, and ensuring cheap access to the new networks for rival telecoms firms in order to spur competition.The draft recommendation published earlier this month was criticized by both sides in the debate: incumbents, usually former state owned telecom monopolies, argue that to recoup their investment in the infrastructure they should be allowed to charge higher prices to rivals that use their networks.But the rival firms argue that this would stifle competition and that it amounts to a regulatory holiday for the incumbents.Historically, Reding has been more supportive of the rivals' argument than the one posed by the incumbents. Nevertheless, she said Thursday that she supports the idea of allowing incumbents a light regulatory touch when they team up with other firms to invest in new broadband infrastructure, as long as the infrastructure uses fiber-optic cables."I strongly believe that this support by regulators should not apply in a mere VDSL context," she said. VDSL is a faster version of DSL (digital subscriber line) connections common today, but is slower than fiber-optic cables.The aims of the British initiative, dubbed Digital Britain, include having all U.K. homes connected with broadband of at least 2M bps (bits per second) by 2012.
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.
MP3 Tech Commentary
Voice Removal Software: Eliminate Vocals from Your Songs Have you ever listened to a song and thought, "love the music, hate the singing". In this situation, you can use a software audio tool that specializes in trying to filter out the frequencies of the human voice. Vocal removal can be a time consuming process that involves experimentation with various audio sources, but satisfactory results are achievable. The biggest stumbling block with voice removal is the nature of the music source. If you have a highly compressed song for example that has low quality audio data, then the chances of removing the vocals are poor. On the other hand, if you are working on a high quality audio file that has a good stereo image with vocals that are center-panned, then your chances of vocal removal are much higher. Overall, it really depends on how the song has been mixed and the frequencies involved.
There's a lot of fun to be had experimenting with the songs in your music library, and with an investment in time (and a little luck), you can produce some great results. For more information on removing vocals from songs, why not read our guide on Free Software for Removing Vocals. Related Articles:
Product Preview: Digital Foci Photo Book - A New Portable Digital Photo Viewer The Digital Foci Photo Book is a portable digital album with an eight-inch, 800 x 600 LCD display set in a soft leather-like case. This case, described as a portable album, doesn't completely address the desires of a more traditional photo album in digital form, but its design is better suited for passing around while sitting in a living room or during a business presentation...read more
Image copyright: Digital Foci
A problem some have with the look and feel of portable digital image viewers is that, as cold metal devices, they don't capture the warmth of the images they are displaying. Some hope instead a digital photo viewer could look a little more like photo albums of old. Digital Foci is trying to capture at least part of that sentiment in a new “digital photo album.”
New Sony boombox looks like a saucer The ZS-E5, available next month for an undisclosed price, is said to be Sony's most personalized and least expensive boombox to date. It sports a compact body, four body color choices (pink, blue, red, aqua) and a rather unique design compared to more expensive devices in this category.
Features of the ZS-E5 include a built-in analog AM/FM tuner, an integrated CD player that supports CD-R/RW playback, and a line-in jack for digital music players. This is on top of the large LED display. More details, when available, can be found at the Sony Web site.
Photo Credit: Sony
The boombox, despite ever popular MP3 players such as the Apple iPod, will continue to remain a favorite for at least some. That is why Sony continues to trickle new models out – the latest being the rather saucer shaped ZS-E5.
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
New High-definition Zune on the Horizon Zune users in particular will be interested to learn that Microsoft have announced a new Zune music player. 
The new Zune HD is Microsoft's next generation portable that focuses on high-definition (HD) entertainment. As well as being able to display HD video, the new Zune will also have a built-in HD radio receiver, Wi-Fi, Internet browser, OLED touch screen, and access to the Zune Marketplace online store. The announced specifications are:
The Zune HD will be available in the U.S. this fall.
Image © Microsoft Corporation.
Related Articles:
Ultrasone Edition 8 headphones pop at $1,500 each The Ultrasone Edition 8 is a black and silver closed-back headphone which uses special acoustic technology to provide what Ultrasone feels is a very “spacious tonal perception.” Comfort on the interior ear cups is provided courtesy of Ethopian sheepskin.
Technical features of the Edition 8 headphones include an impedance of 30 Ohm, a frequency range of 6 – 42.000 Hz, 40mm drivers and a SPL of 96 dB. More details on these headphones, available now, can be found at the Ultrasone Web site.
(Note: Product mentions on the Portable Electronics blog do not certify endorsement of the product, but rather provide details on new products which might be of interest to consumers.)
(Photo Credit: Ultrasone)
Ultrasone, a maker of high end headphones, unveiled a couple of days ago some new special edition headphones which, considering the price compared to other Ultrasone models, may not actually be that different. It is called the Edition 8 and it prices for around $1,500.
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.
Free Music Downloads This Week Starting this week, we're planning to bring you cutting edge digital music by providing links to free promotional music tracks. As well as showcasing forthcoming releases from major bands and artists, we'll also be highlighting new and up-and-coming talent that offer free music in order to gain that much needed exposure. One of the great benefits of using free music discovery resources is being able to 'try before you buy' without the financial risk of a blind purchase. The promotional tracks that we're going to showcase every week will hopefully give you a wide variety of styles and sounds to experience. Here are the tracks in our spotlight this week:
This 17 minute monster mix showcases DJ Paul Oakenfold's new 21-track album, Perfecto Vegas, which will be released by Thrive records on July 7 - available in stores nationwide and via digital download.
- Little Wildcat (3:48)
- Sleepwalking (3:40)
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- Top 5 streaming music sites
- Free music download services
- How to use iTunes to listen to thousands of free radio stations
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