Interesting news/reviews/deals from the portable audio market
Just in time for the holidays: Make your own copy-protected CDs: “Make your friends and relatives their very own copy-protected CDs using the same industrial-grade passive protection technology built into XCP and Macrovision discs.” Ain’t that grand? [via]
Don’t forget to read our end note: iTunes ringtones project (?): canned: according to The Register, Apple was about to unveil a software project in the coming MacWorld Expo next month that would allow consumers to download ringtones from the iTunes Music Stores and even remix them before sending them to their cellphones via BlueTooth. [...]
iPod shuffle (1GB): sold out: Apple’s online store says it won’t be back till mid-January. Whether it’ll come in the form of a new, improved model is not yet known, but we’re betting on it.
The Music Publisher Association is after the lyrics and tablature sites: “In a BBC News interview, MPA president Lauren Keiser said his goal is not just to shut down the sites and levy fines, but also to get authorities to “throw in some jail time,” which he believes will make the group’s campaign “a little [...]
From the “this has got to be comedy” department: Why you shouldn’t download music from the internets (or is it “cyberspace”?): “Every illicit music recording your child downloads from the network is a violation of copyright law, and every illicit copy made from his computer hard drive is a violation of U.S. law, even if [...]
Sonic Impact comes with the $139 Super T-AMP [via], an upgrade to the popular and great T-AMP ($39) with “quality binding posts, RCA jacks and the ability to draw power from either the wall or your car” among other improvements. We had presented the T-AMP back in October, and posted a comparison versus other Class-T [...]
Woah! Check out the screen comparison between Creative’s Zen Vision:M and Apple’s iPod video: evidence #1, evidence #2 [via]. Creative’s got a winner in the screen department, no doubt about that. Also, its TV output looks much better too. Good news for the competition. Check out the rest of the photos to get a better [...]
RealNetwork’s RealMusic service launches in the UK: subscriptions cost £8.50/month, single track downloads £0.99 and full albums £7.99. Radio, music videos and ringtones are also part of the service’s offering, which is PC/Mac compatible. Interesting tidbit: according to the article, we should expect to see more European branches of RealMusic surface during the coming year.
Libra allows you to create, use and manage multiple iTunes music libraries. I know more than a few people that’ll find this handy. You usually get these kind of programs for Mac only, but this one’s got a Windows binary for us Bill-folks too (screenshot on the right of this post). $10 shareware. [via]
To the surprise of no one, MP3 players are hot: more than one in five US consumers plan to buy an MP3 player in the next three months (22%, up from 13% last year). 14% of consumers expressed interest on portable multimedia devices (read: video functionality).