New
Palm handhelds coming Monday -September 30, 1999 -CNET
Palm Computing will launch its Palm Vx and wireless Palm VII handheld
computers on Monday, sources say, adding new products to an increasingly
crowded segment of the market.
Goodbye Wallet; Hello Chip -September 30, 1999 -Wired
Visa's top dog envisions a day when everythingfrom a driver's license to a
credit card to keys can be stored on a tinychip. Privacy advocates have misgivings.
'Kings' Tracks Only Online-September 30,
1999 -Reuteurs
In an unprecedented move, Warner Bros. has opted to sell the soundtrack to
``Three Kings'' exclusively online through e-tailers CDNow and MP3.com
instead of through traditional retailers.
Download
tunes to a Walkman -September 28, 1999 -CNN
Introduced 20 years ago, the first Sony Walkman was a clunky cassette player
that revolutionized the way we listen to music. The turn-of-the-millenium Walkman
is Internet ...
Sony's
dilemma: Illegally copied music on Walkman -September 28, 1999 -CNET
Sony's new Walkman will be able to play illegally copied songs, a decision that
puts the consumer electronics powerhouse in the middle of the industrywide firestorm
over how to protect music copyrights in the online era--and apparently at odds with
the company's public stand on the issue.
Online music distribution blamed for drop in record sales -September 28, 1999 -CBC.ca
Sales of recorded music are going down all over the world. A recently-released
report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) shows
a four percent decline in global music sales during the first half of 1999.
EMusic
lures customers with freebies-September 28, 1999 -CNET (Reuters)
Internet companies are famous for wooing customers with free email, free
Web access, and even free PCs. Today EMusic.com became the first online music
retailer to join the Web free-for-all.
Microsoft
Gears for Mobile Music
-September 27, 1999 -Wired
Microsoft signs deals that bring competition to MP3-dominated portable digital
audio players. Chip vendors Cirrus Logic and ARM announce chips optimized
for Microsoft's technology.
Microsoft,
Cirrus team on Net music-September 27, 1999 -Bloomberg (CNET)
Microsoft said Cirrus Logic will unveil a new audio chip next month designed to work with
Microsoft software in portable music devices,in a bid to grab a bigger share of the
fast-growing online music business.
Major Labels, Major Hype-September 27, 1999
-Wired
The Big 5 record labels are warming up to the Web even though they're
not so keen on MP3. In fact, online promotions are becoming the newest
game of one-upmanship.
Mp3 Albums and Players Supported by Stars -September 26, 1999 -Slashdot from the ain't-that-interesting dept™ Slashdot®
Plinth writes "The BBC are running an article on MP3, and how it's being taken up
by big rock stars, such as the ever current Pete Townshend. (CT:still waiting for his
new live album to arrive) The meat of the story, however, is that Bill Wyman (of Rolling
Stones fame) has released an album complete with mp3 player, which of course can be
used to play other things as well." Its interesting cuz its got its own copyrighting
system
but afaict it plays straight MP3s too.
More Channels for The Digital Musician-September
24, 1999 -Slashdot from the rob-can-make-more-bad-music dept. syrupdude writes "For those of us out there who love making bad music,
Harmony
Central has a story about a new digital wiring scheme from Gibson called GMICS,
which uses standard cat5 cable to deliver 16 channels of 32 bits at 96kHz, or 8 channels
at 92kHz. Definitely cool, but apparently not open. "
MP3.com and RealNetworks Team Up To Provide New Music to
RealJukebox Users-September 24, 1999 -Yahoo
(PR Newswire)
MP3.com, Inc., the Internet's premiere online digital music destination, and
RealNetworks(R), Inc., the recognized leader in media delivery on the Internet,
today announced an agreement to combine the extensive reach of RealJukebox(TM)
with the wide range of new music available on MP3.com.
Antipiracy standard threatened-September 23,
1999 -CNET
Music and electronics industry infighting may undo efforts at reaching a consensus
on how to secure music downloads online, an impasse that could stunt progress at
a critical stage for the nascent business.
SDMI-Internet Players To Miss Holiday Season -September 23, 1999 -Techweb
After months of effort by more than 120 companies in the music, computer,
online, and consumer-electronics industries, persistent technology and
political disputes within the Secure Digital Music Initiative pose a serious
roadblock to the holiday-season launch of SDMI-compliant Internet music
players and services.
musicmaker.com and America Online Announce $20 Million
Marketing Agreement-September 23, 1999 -Yahoo (press release)
America Online, Inc., the world's leading interactive services company, and
musicmaker.com, the largest custom CD service and licensed digital download
site on the Internet, today announced that musicmaker.com will offer custom
CD's and downloadable music across America Online's family of brands.
RealNetworks
to unveil digital music alliances -September 23, 1999 -Reuters (Yahoo)
Internet software maker RealNetworks Inc Thursday will unveil a raft of alliances
with pop artists, retailers and hardware manufacturers as it expands its push into
digital music. The aggressive Seattle-based company burst onto the rapidly growing
digital music scene in May with the first beta test version of its RealJukebox
application.
Will CDNow and Columbia House be a hit after merger? -September 23, 1999 -CNET
The online music retailers will presumably be humming a tune tapped out by new
chief executive Scott Flanders once their proposed merger is completed. But will
the new company rise to the top of the charts?
Sony's new Walkman to download Net music -September 22, 1999 -CNET
The consumer electronics giant plans to unveil the next generation of its
Walkman personal stereos tomorrow, including a new device capable of
downloading digital music
MP3
player market heats up with new Rio -September 22, 1999 -CNET
Diamond Multimedia today began shipping its latest portable digital music player, but the
company's grip on the market may be loosening.
Walkman Does Digital Downloads-September 22,
1999 -Wired
Sony joins the portable digital music player club with its latest Walkman. Also:
Diamond Multimedia upgrades the Rio player with more memory.
Bowie launches album first on the net-September 20,
1999 -ITN
David Bowie is breaking new ground by allowing his latest album to go
on sale on the Internet a week before it is released in the shops.
E-Music: How to Pay the Piper -September 20, 1999 -Wired
Will that be cash, check, or micropayment? Digital music might be the road
to e-commerce's dreams of charging for those under-a-dollar purchases.
Labels to Artists: Weownyou.com-September
20, 1999 -Wired
The recording industry is trying to get new artists to sign over their domain
names to a label -- for life. Don't do it, says rapper Ice-T.
Virgin
to announce online music service-September 15, 1999 -Slashdot
Virgin Entertainment Group tomorrow will launch an online service dubbed
Virgin JamCast that delivers music without the wait normally associated with
downloading over traditional dial-up modems.
Sony claims of Artist's Name URL For Life -September 15, 1999 -Slashdot from the you-gotta-be-kidding dept.®Slashdot.
Effugas writes "Apparently displeased that individual artists might try to
contact their fanbase All By Themselves(TM), Sony has been inserting clauses
in their contracts that assign eternal ownership of any URL that even slightly
references the artist's name to The Company. " Sent some shivers down my spine.
New
Palm Vx set for release in October-September 15, 1999
-CNET
The handheld computing world will kick into overdrive next month as
Palm Computing unveils its long-awaited Palm Vx and Hewlett-Packard
introduces its second palm-sized PC.
Sony seeks musician domain names for life-September
15, 1999 -CNET
A controversial provision in Sony Music contracts is effectively asking artists to
sign away
control of their official Web sites for life.
Music
Conference Sings New Tune-September 15, 1999 -Wired
The annual College Music Journal conference now includes tutorials for
helping bands get noticed online.
Cashing
in on Net Radio-September 14, 1999 -Wired
Net radio operators discover ways to make money off music streams. Now, the
recording industry wants a piece of the pie.
Diamond Multimedia Announces Support for Handspring's
SpringBoard Platform -September 14, 1999 -Yahoo (press release)
Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc., a leader in PC multimedia and Internet
connectivity, today announced it will build a specialized Rio(TM) MP3 player
to support Handspring's new Visor product based on the Springboard(TM) platform.
Handspring
set to introduce Palm-based
handheld -September 13, 1999 -CNET
Handspring will tomorrow introduce its first handheld computer, becoming the
second company to market a device based on the Palm Computing operating
system one day after 3Com surprisingly announced it would spin off its Palm division.
Disabling the System -Time
Magazine
Justin Frankel's Winamp threw a monkey wrench into the music business.
Now he's going mainstream. Will digital music follow?
e-Commerce, Taxes & Private Transactions.
-September 11, 1999 -Slashdot
With the apparent inevitability of taxes on transactions over the web, what exactly
will/should be defined as private transactions that are not to be taxed? Obviously, if you
buy a gadget from gadgetseller.com with your credit card, you will be taxed. But what
about baseball cards sold on Ebay? What about a garage band who asks you on their website
to send in a $5 bill for a copy of their CD? These types of sales between two people have
historically been, at the very least in practice, exempt from taxes, but will/should sales
on the internet automatically be considered taxable?" Click above for more info
Big Business Boost for E-Biz-September 11,
1999 -Wired
In order for e-commerce to succeed at the international level, conflicting national
laws must be made compatible with one another. Some very powerful people are
working to make that happen.
Dolby Says It's Payback Time-September 09,
1999 -Wired
Musician Thomas Dolby Robertson says record companies are about to
pay for decades of abusing their power over artists and fans.
EFF: Piracy Not the Problem-September 08,
1999 -Wired
Piracy is the red herring of the digital music distribution debate and the music
industry is fishing for trouble with SDMI, the head of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation told music industry executives on Wednesday.
MP3 player dispenses with PC-September 08,
1999 -CNET
Pine Technology introduces a portable music player that combines a radio,
CD drive, and MP3 player, severing the Net's popular music format from
reliance on PC storage.
Palm creators prep faster, cheaper Visor-September
08, 1999 -ZDNet
Handspring Inc. will turn the Palm world on its ear next Tuesday when
it releases Visor -- a cheaper, faster and more expandable Palm operating
system-based handheld device. Including devices ranging from pagers to MP3
players to voice recorders. Cellular phone modules are also expected, sources said.
The
Real Digital Music Revolution by Eric Scheirer -September 08, 1999 -MP3.com
The culture I live in--maybe you live in it too--is unusual in an important way.
Almost nobody makes music. I honestly haven't read this yet but am not at all surprised MP3.com quickly
hired the man after his great presentation at the MP3 Summit'99. JF.
Lucent's High-Speed 'Stinger'-September 07,
1999 -Wired
The company says its new product will allow ISPs and local phone
companies to offer DSL service without compromising voice-service
quality. Says one analyst: "The 800-pound gorilla is entering the business."
Internet
broadcasts to get a boost from new partnership -September 06, 1999 -CNET
Digital Island, Inktomi, and RealNetworks have formed a worldwide network
for broadcasting video and audio, as the Internet becomes more popular for
playing music and broadcasting live events.
Download Showdown-September 06, 1999
-Sound & Vision
Can online audio sound as good as CD?
Study: Online shoppers get the shaft-September
05, 1999 -ZDNet (Reuters)
Major consumer group says the Internet hasn't learned that the customer comes first --
calls forcyber rules.
Microsoft
making a TV set-top game console -September 02, 1999 -CNET
Microsoft is developing a TV set-top game-playing console under the code name
X-Box, Next Generation gaming magazine said, citing unnamed sources.
Give Away Tunes, Make Money?-September 02,
1999 -Wired
The big Web retailers are finally beginning to realize that offering free music
downloads actually increases their business. Hooray for that.
Cox Interactive, MP3.Com Seek To Boost Radio Sites -September 02, 1999 -Reuters
Cox Interactive Media, a unit of media conglomerate Cox Enterprises, has teamed
up with Internet music supplier MP3.com to form MP3radio.com, which the
companies believe will expand the reach of local radio stations on the web.
