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MP3 Player News & Headlines
Universal Music promotes Grainge to group CEO
(Reuters)
Reuters - Britain's Lucian Grainge will take the helm of the world's largest music company, Vivendi's Universal Music, after leading the firm's drive to seek new technology partners and grow digital sales.
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.
Man Destroys iPod In A Blender
Blendtec, a company that makes heavy duty blenders, is destroying iPods to help sell $400 blenders.
Omnifone signs music deal for Google's Android
(Reuters)
Reuters - Omnifone, the digital music service provider, is to make its MusicStation offering available to all mobile handsets which carry Google Inc's Android operating platform, it said on Monday.
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.
The Strangest iPod Accessory Ever?
Thanko has introduced a bizarre iPod box speaker that may be the strangest iPoc accessory ever.
Real Networks to manage Sprint ringtones, music
(AP)
AP - RealNetworks Inc., a provider of streaming digital music technology, said Thursday that it will manage ringtones and full-track music services for Sprint Corp.
Muzak Holdings emerges from Chapter 11
(AP)
AP - Muzak Holdings LLC said Monday that it has completed its financial restructuring and has emerged from bankruptcy protection.
MP3 Tech Commentary
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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iPan: Bill Gates Unimpressed by Apple iPad Count Bill Gates (gasp!) among the throngs of iPad nonbelievers. According to an article by Brent Schlender of BNET.com, Gates still believes that the netbooks Steve Jobs (gasp!) panned at the iPad unveil are still the devices to beat when it comes to whatever Apple is trying to accomplish with its magical and revolutionary tablet. In other news, the sun is hot. Gates offered his assessment about Apple's iPad thusly: "You know, I'm a big believer in touch and digital reading, but I still think that some mixture of voice, the pen and a real keyboard — in other words a netbook — will be the mainstream on that. So, it's not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, 'Oh my God, Microsoft didn't aim high enough.' It's a nice reader, but there's nothing on the iPad I look at and say, 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.'" Although comments such as this are oftentimes brushed aside as competitive sour grapes, there's been enough criticism about the iPad to give Gates a bit of covering fire for his statement. At the same time, Apple has successfully pulled off enough iPods and iPhones for every one of its Apple TV's and Cubes to get some benefit of the doubt. So who's going to be right? That, my friends, is why I don't get paid the big bucks (i.e. I don't know) Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that Apple has made agreements with some content providers to provide TV shows at the iTunes store for $1. No word on whether that's just for standard content or if HD video is included. The new low price is apparently part of an upcoming test to see whether the increased affordability will be enough to tempt digital cheapskates to drive up demand for paid video. Are $1 videos enough to stave off BitTorrent downloads? That, my friends, is why — well, you know the drill. Photo © Microsoft iPan: Bill Gates Unimpressed by Apple iPad originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 00:01:16.
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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iPad Camera On the Way? Well what do we have here, hmm? According to an article from MacRumors.com, a job posting on Apple's Web site appears to suggest that a camera might be in store for a future version of the iPad. As you may remember, the lack of a camera for video chatting was one of the things that critics bashed Steve Jobs' magical and revolutionary iPad for (cough* sheepishly raises hand* cough*). Fortunately, Apple seems to be able to take criticism constructively and appears to be already working on an iPad camera. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple was already looking into a camera even before the criticism. In fact, some people are pointing out that the soon-to-be-released iPad apparently has an empty space in its enclosure that would've been a perfect spot for a camera. Anywho, the "iPad Media" job posting is specifically looking for a software quality engineer with "a strong technical background to test still, video and audio capture and playback frameworks." Think you're qualified? Then take your qualified derriere over to the Apple corporate job site. Just tell Steve-O that Jason Hidalgo sent you. I'm sure he'll enthusiastically reply, "Who?" Photo © Apple iPad Camera On the Way? originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 00:01:22.
Will The New MusicDNA Format be MP3's Nemesis? A new music format called, MusicDNA, has been developed that could potentially replace the ageing MP3 format. Bach Technology, who co-developed MusicDNA with the Fraunhofer Institute of Digital Media Technologies (IDMT), say the new format will provide the user with a far richer media experience when compared to standard audio formats. The new technology makes use of an enhanced set of metadata tags to increase a user's interactive experience. Some examples of how these tags could benefit a consumer are: accessing the artist/band's latest videos; following links to related blogs; discovering related music on media-orientated services and social networks, etc. For a long time now, the music industry has been trying different methods to reduce online music piracy -- the most notable being (the almost defunct) DRM technology that prevents files from being copied, shared, etc. The problem with this however was it often restricted the user so much that even major music services like iTunes eventually phased it out. However, this new format potentially offers the consumer a great deal more entertainment for their money than just music. This could be just what the music industry needs to try to increase sales and reduce online piracy via file sharing networks. The big question now is, will the new MusicDNA format 'persuade' consumers to migrate from the trusted MP3 format with the promise of an enhanced multimedia experience? Related Articles:
Will The New MusicDNA Format be MP3's Nemesis? originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 09:00:30.
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Free Music Downloads This Week The free music downloads in our spotlight this week are: Artist/Band: Stacy B Artist/Band: Motor Artist/Band: The Asteroids Galaxy Tour Related Articles:
Genre: Pop / R&B / Club
Free Music Download: Do It Now (download Code: 1688).
Genre: Techno / Alternative / Electro
Free Music Download: Kick It (4:46)
Additional MP3(s): Kick It (Malente Remix) (4:25) via RCRD RBL
Album: Hyper Machine (Dim Mak Records) available from top digital music services.
Genre: Electronic / Pop
Free Music Download: The Sun Ain't Shinning No More (33 Hz Remix) (5:55)
Additional MP3(s): 2 more versions via RCRD RBL
Album: Fruit (Small Giants Records Ltd.) now available digitally
Free Music Downloads This Week originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 09:00:40.
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Omniphone to Use Dolby Laboratories' Cloud Music Format Omniphone, which provides cloud-based music services for major consumer electronics vendors, has annouced that it has struck a deal with Dolby Laboratories to use its new Dolby Pulse audio format. Boasting up to 4 times more bandwidth and data rate efficiency compared to other file formats, Dolby Pulse is a multi-platform file format especially suited for music delivery from the 'cloud'. If you're not familiar with this buzzword, then it's simply just another term to describe Internet-based solutions. In the case of Dolby Pulse, this file format is particularly suited for delivering streaming music to mobile devices, and other consumer electronics that use streaming audio -- home computers, in-home or in-car devices that use digital music services are examples.
Omniphone intend to use the software that Dolby Laboratories supply (Dolby Media Generator) to encode their entire music catalog that currently contains over 6.5 million tracks. Looking at the inner-workings of Dolby Pulse, the file format is basically the same as the HE-AAC (High Efficiency AAC) format, but differs by the integration of Dolby metadata -- this ensures the quality and consistency of the broadcast is maintained. Kevin Yeaman, who is the president and CEO of Dolby Laboratories said, "As digital content services and networked devices become part of our day-to-day lives, the ability to deliver digital content in the most efficient file format becomes increasingly important." So far this is the second article this year concerning new music formats --will this year see the largest change in how digital music services deliver audio? Related Articles:
Omniphone to Use Dolby Laboratories' Cloud Music Format originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 07:36:14.
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