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MP3 Player News & Headlines
UK pop sale for Haiti raises $80,000 so far
(Reuters)
Reuters - An online auction of pop memorabilia from some of Britain's biggest acts has raised around 50,000 pounds ($80,000) so far for survivors of the Haiti earthquake, organizers Oxfam said on Monday.
Otafuku Rex; Mix Them, Mash Them Up
The new band Otafuku Rex has debuted their music video, Do Me, I'm the Best, and is inviting fans to get in on the action and create their own remixes by mashing up the groups video and music, adding in their own music and video, and sending the results to friends.
What you should know about Apple's tablet
(InfoWorld)
InfoWorld - After all these months of speculation, the iPad is now official: An oversized iPod Touch essentially, with access to the same capabilities of an iPhone (minus the phone) such as Web browsing, video and music playback, e-mail, contact management, game-playing, and map-based navigation.
Sly Stone sues ex-manager for $50 million
(Reuters)
Reuters - Reclusive funk musician Sly Stone filed a $50 million lawsuit against his former manager on Thursday, alleging fraud and 20 years of stolen royalties.
Mac Laptop Explodes Flames
Apple laptops are known for their tendency to run hot; apparently, they run hot enough that they sometimes burst into flames....
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.
Apple Intros iPod Phone
Apple today introduced iPhone, a new device that combines a state-of-the-art mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and an Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps—into one small and lightweight handheld device.
Apple Pumps Down the Volume
Apple today announced a software update for the iPod nano and fifth generation iPod, that lets customers set their own personal maximum volume limit.
MP3 Tech Commentary
Nook Availability Update and v1.2 Software Update Hey, remember the Nook? Leading up to Christmas, the Barnes & Noble eReader was the hottest thing, and appeared poised to give Amazon's Kindle a run for its money. But a slew of bugs, along with the impending arrival of Apple's mighty iPad relegated the Nook to the backburner. Despite the Nook's launch woes, Barnes & Noble still managed to sell a ton of the devices, which has been practically sold out. Until, now that is. An announcement at the Nook blog states that Nook availability is finally looking up. The device is now in stock online and is also supposed to be arriving in Barnes & Noble stores by the middle of the week, according to B&N. Apparently, the ladies love to read as B&N was extra-motivated to make the Nook extra-available right before Valentine's Day. B&N is also throwing in a few deals this month, including a short story from bestselling author Adriana Trigiani and a Valentine's Day recipe for red velvet cupcakes from Anne Byrn. Yes, guys, you can now start running for the hills. (One married co-worker of mine, actually got super-depressed after seeing Wal-Mart's Valentine's commercial during the Superbowl. Nothing against Wal-Mart, though. Dude's just flat out traumatized from past experience.) Speaking of the aforementioned bugs, B&N also released its second update for the Nook, and this appears to be a major one. Cosmetically, the most noticeable difference involves the new icons. But B&N says the update also includes: Meanwhile, a look at the comments on the blog, reveal that some people are still having problems after the update. While page swipe now appears to be working every time for some folks, some are apparently still having issues with it. Other problems reported by people include dictionary issues, lost page numbers and progress bars (for books being read prior to the update), lost libraries and freezing. Not sure, though, if this is actually widespread or simply a case of squeaky wheels getting the most attention. On the plus side, at least the device is now as available as a bachelor — warts and all. Photo © Barnes & Noble Nook Availability Update and v1.2 Software Update originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 00:01:08.
Does The New Apple iPad Make a Great Portable Music Player? Since the official iPad announcement from Apple last Wednesday (Jan. 27), there's been a lot of talk in the blogsphere and gadget world about its features. According to an article from AppleInsider, the Apple iPad can play music for up to 6 days if you turn the screen off -- not ideal when browsing your music library! So, how about its other features? Does it have the potential for being a portable device that you can use for your digital music collection? An article from CNET, highlights deficiencies in the iPad that impact on its capabilities for being a great portable music player. For one, the iPad runs a version of the iPhone OS and not Mac OS, so it isn't capable of running the full version of iTunes. Instead, it acts just like an iPod or iPhone which you have to connect to your computer. CNET's article points out that wireless sync should have been a 'no brainer' when dealing with music files stored on your home network. Another downside according to the article was poor music playback via the built-in speakers. So, in light of these reported deficiencies, you might want to hold on to your portable music player a while longer before trading it in for a shiny new iPad. Image Courtesy of Apple. Related Articles:
Many have pointed out the advantages that the iPad has to offer when performing visual tasks such as: surfing the Web; reading e-books; writing email; and watching videos, but is it any good for listening to digital music?
Does The New Apple iPad Make a Great Portable Music Player? originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 09:00:17.
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Web Radio: Tune into Thousands of Radio Stations From Your Desktop If you're old enough (like me) to remember when there wasn't an Internet, then you'll probably have memories of fiddling around with the tuner on your radio trying to find a decent music station to listen to. If you were really lucky, you may have also had a built-in analog tape deck that you could use to record radio onto compact cassette tape. These days, it's so much easier (and convenient) to listen to radio. With the invention of the Internet, we are now accustomed to listening to music on-demand via streaming audio, MP3 downloads, music services, and other Internet-based delivery methods. Web radio, or more commonly referred to as Internet radio, is very similar to traditional radio in that you can tune into radio stations that broadcast over the Internet; a lot of terrestrial-based stations also broadcast over the Web. However, one of the biggest advantages of using this technology, is that you can access thousands of stations from all over the world -- something that couldn't be done before the digital age. But how do we access this enormous resource of music? One of the most convenient ways is to use software that can play streaming music straight to your desktop. As well as popular software media players such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Winamp which can access Web radio, there's alternative light-weight applications that specialize in delivering Internet radio. The big advantage of using a dedicated Web radio software program is that many of them offer more functions such as being able to record what you're listening to -- similar to the old cassette tape. For more information on listening to and recording Internet radio stations, be sure to read our article on Free Web Radio Software. Related Articles:
Web Radio: Tune into Thousands of Radio Stations From Your Desktop originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 09:00:36.
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Free Music Downloads This Week The free MP3 downloads in our music discovery spotlight this week are: Artist/Band: Rich Hil Artist/Band: Groove Armada Artist/Band: Yes Giantess Related Articles:
Genre: Hip Hop / Rock
Free Music Download: Lady in The Hall (3:40)
Extras: More information and additional free MP3s from the official Rich Hil Website
Genre: Electronic
Free Music Download: Shameless (feat. Bryan Ferry) (4:47)
Extras: Free additional Groove Armada track (Pull Up (Crank It Up) (Mad Decent Remix)) via RCRD LBL
Album: Black Light (OM Records), slated for release March 2, 2010
Genre: Pop / Electronic
Free Music Download: The Ruins (3:04)
Extras: More free MP3 tracks (published previously) via our free music downloads blog
Free Music Downloads This Week originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 06:48:04.
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Free Music Downloads This Week Here's another weekly roundup of free music downloads that will hopefully introduce you to some new styles of music that you'll like. The music downloads are full tracks that will give you a good taster of the sort of sound that the artist/band produces before you consider purchasing their album. The free music in our spotlight this week is: Artist/Band: Solid Gold Artist/Band: Good Shoes Artist/Band: Julia Nunes Related Articles:
Genre: Electronic / Synth Pop
Free Music Download: Synchronize (White Sea Remix) (5:30)
is free promotional track taken from the band's Bodies of Water album and remixed by White Sea. This remix is a taster of Solid Gold's fusion of dreamy 80s electronic sounds mixed with synth pop. Their new Synchronize EP is due for release Jan. 12 exclusively on the iTunes Store.
Genre: Indie
Free Music Download: Under Control (2:29)
from the British indie band, Good Shoes, are offering this free track from their forthcoming album, No Hope, No Future which is due for digital release Jan. 26, 2010. In order to get this free music download, all you need to do is sign up to the Good Shoes mailing list via their website and follow the instructions sent to your inbox. There's also the Under Control music video that you can watch via YouTube.
Genre: Acoustic
Free Music Download: I Think You Know (3:40).
New York based Julia Nunes, who has unconventionally made a name for herself via her YouTube video channel is to release her new 5-track EP, I Think You Know, Feb. 2, 2010 (Rude Butler Records). To celebrate this event, you can download the I Think You Know teaser single to get to hear Julia's unique acoustic music style that includes the ukulele, melodica, piano, guitar, and even items such as pillows, tissue boxes, and water bottles for added percussion effects!
Free Music Downloads This Week originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 09:00:36.
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Top eReaders: A Look at Today's Popular eBook Readers Now that we've got our Slate Tablet Roundup all set up, I figure now is a good time to do a roundup for eBook readers as well. Certainly, we've done a list of some new eReaders from CES. But what about those already out? Check out our eBook reader roundup to see some of the more popular eReaders out on the market. Photo © Sony Top eReaders: A Look at Today's Popular eBook Readers originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 00:01:16.
Not Zune Enough? Talk Swirls About a Zune Phone Microsoft? Who dat? Apple may have buried news about its competitors this year when it hogged the media spotlight with its lead-up to the much-anticipated iPad unveiling. But hidden within the iPad-induced rubble are indications that Microsoft may be planning to release a phone version of its Zune device. That would be the same, oft-maligned Zune that always got treated as the red-headed stepchild in comparison to Apple's iPhone. According to an article from Information Week, a recent Zune firmware update included "Setup Information Files" that specifically reference a phone. Meanwhile, one analyst also predicted that the unveiling of a Zune phone is likely this February or March. As much grief as the Zune has gotten compared to the media darling iPhone, the latest iteration of the device is actually quite solid (which means building on it wouldn't be such a bad idea). In fact, the Zune was the fifth most searched portable device of 2009. And with Microsoft's Windows Mobile losing ground thanks to Apple and Google's Android platform, the company — despite past proclamations against getting into the phone hardware business — could certainly use a boost in the mobile arena right about now. Photo © Microsoft Not Zune Enough? Talk Swirls About a Zune Phone originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 00:01:02.
iPad Debut Disappoints Potential Buyers Apple's self-described "magical" and "revolutionary" device apparently wasn't magical and revolutionary enough for would-be buyers, according to a new survey. A followup survey by Retrevo found that interest in the iPad actually fell significantly after Apple unveiled the device as many consumers felt underwhelmed by its features. According to the survey, the number of respondents who said they were not interested in the device shot up from 26 percent prior to the official announcement to 52 percent. Likewise, the number of people who said they did not need an iPad jumped from 49 percent to 61 percent. The change in opinion is significant given the buzz leading to the iPad unveiling, which generated as many as 7,400 tweets per minute on Twitter at one point. Not only did the unveiling fail to convince new buyers about getting an iPad, it actually caused some buyers originally interested in the device to change their minds about buying one. Some of the device's shortcomings were addressed in our Apple iPad First Look article, along with other articles in our iPad Central page. In contrast, analysts actually were bullish on the iPad, with some predicting anywhere from 1 million to 5 million sales for the device in its first year. So who's right and who's wrong? I guess we'll start to find out after March. Photo © Apple iPad Debut Disappoints Potential Buyers originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 00:01:27.
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