music

It wasn't so long ago that we heard the story of single mother Jammie Thomas, forced by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) to pay over $200,000 in fines for making a handful of songs available for illegal sharing on former ... peer-to-peer protocol Kazaa. Now, a new report suggests that file sharers like Thomas probably shouldn't be made out to be criminals. In fact, they're the record industry's best customers. The RIAA may just want to have a chat with British researchers working in the Great White North. According to a report filed by Industry Canada, for every track a ... (view more)

If copyright boards in the United States are to ever tax our downloaded music files, we'll have one Big White scapegoat. If and when that day comes, you can BLAME CANADA. I don't mean to be a jerk, but the Copyright Board of Canada has indeed set ... the precedent for similar American bodies to follow. Given the immense popularity of legal downloading sites like iTunes and Napster, there surely is good reason for boards to impose an excise. So, what are the Canadians charging? The tariffs will be charged to companies that legally distribute music over the web. For Canucks, this will mean the ... (view more)

News of the iPod's success...is not news. It's not even up for debate, given the worldwide popularity of the device. However, as the globe's most iconic digital music player enters old age (by technology standards), updates to the formula are on the ... way. But, is the fan-dangled iPod "Touch" really worthwhile? According to BusinessWeek's Cliff Edwards, not so much. The tech journalist recently wrote in a review that "the Touch seems mostly an interim gesture," a way to tide over would-be iPhone buyers not amused with unavoidable provider AT ... (view more)

A few days ago, I reported on the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) victory over Jammie Thomas, a single mother and the first defendant in a crusade against a parade of supposed copyright offenders. As expected, many anti-copyright ... groups are now emerging to support Thomas in the fight against the increasingly despised RIAA. For those that missed it, Thomas was recently found guilty of "making available" about 24 songs (not even two full records) on Kazaa's now defunct illegal network. That essentially made the songs free and clear to be downloaded illegally by others, and that's ... (view more)

Napster is hoping to reclaim its former glory days after introducing a new web-based platform that allows users to play their music from anywhere in the world without having to download additional software. Once the best friend of every cheapskate ... music fan, Napster was forced by the Record Industry Association of America to charge customers money for the very songs they once shared for free. This was all received with a mass exodus of former "loyal" users from the company. Napster now hopes to attract subscribers by making their platform more flexible and compatible with any Internet-enabled ... (view more)

The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) is currently embroiled in the first American trial of a person accused of illegally sharing music. According to the organization itself, it won't be the last. Although we've been hearing for a long ... time that there can be real trouble for those who skip the CD store to visit Torrents and, in the past, protocols like Kazaa, to some it has seemed an empty threat. While 26,000 lawsuits have been filed since 2003, only this most recent trial proves the RIAA is taking such matters very seriously. According to Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, "We ... (view more)

Last week we reported on the release of a new legal downloading page called "SpiralFrog.com," which boasts free downloading but disallows users from uploading material to an iPod. Since it's not much of a competitor for iTunes (although it will ... surely take a few customers away), Amazon has a more deadly new weapon in its arsenal. Already firmly established as the world's largest online compact disc retailer, it's really not much of a leap for Amazon to take on Apple in this sphere. Although iTunes certainly retains great name recognition when it comes to online music sales, Amazon's recently ... (view more)

The most "hip and trendy" music download site is combining with the one retail environment that may just as well define "hip and trendy". Yeah, that's right, Apple's megapopular iTunes music service has teamed up with overpriced java distributor ... Starbucks, promising free songs to customers waiting for a caffeine fix. According to reports, Starbucks intends to dole out some 50 million free tunes in its domestic coffee shops to promote iTunes' upgrade to wireless service, set to debut in select markets soon. What's the deal? For the month between October 2 and November 7, Starbucks ... (view more)

Apple and several major music labels will find themselves under the gun later this month as they take part in the European Commission (EC)'s antitrust hearings. The hearings, scheduled for September 19 and 20, will be a forum for the EC's concerns ... over unfair pricing and sales practices in the European iTunes Store. Representing the next step in the investigation, the EC has emphasized that the hearings will not lead directly to a judgment. The EC has not yet set a date for a final decision. (Source: arstechnica.com ) The EC accused music labels EMI, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner ... (view more)

Move over Sony, Apple's iTunes has won the online music battle. As a result, Sony will surrender and close its Connect Music Store as early as March 2008. Although Connect's official ending is certainly big news, the vultures have been circling for ... months. Back in June, suspicions arose when Sony Connect Inc. announced that it was eliminating positions. The reason the company gave for this layoff surrounded shifting its resources to other online services such as its PlayStation video game system. Officially, Sony denied any connection between these changes and a possible closing. For those ... (view more)