Friday, December 29, 2006

Samsung debuts 8GB music phone

The SCH-B570 can store about 1,600 MP3 music files or about 16 movies and there's also a receiver for South Korea's mobile satellite broadcasting service. It also has a 2 megapixel camera.

The phone, which was announced on Tuesday, will go on sale in South Korea shortly.

A day earlier SanDisk took the wraps off an MP3 player with a similar 8GB storage capacity.

The relatively high price of flash memory is a limiting factor in the storage built into products such as MP3 players, phones and digital still cameras. But both Samsung and SanDisk are among the world's largest manufacturers of flash memory chips and so are able to benefit from lower prices than those paid by competitors such as Apple and Sony.

Both the new SanDisk player and cell phones capable of playing video like Samsung's SCH-B570 are among the types of products that could kick-start the market for portable video. After Apple released the iPod with video last year, interest in the sector has grown but the market remains small compared to that for music.

With such products raising awareness of portable video, the worldwide market for video-centric portable media players is expected to hit 5 million units this year from 390,000 in 2004, according to a report published earlier this month by InStat.

Play MP3s on your stereo speakers

The scoop: Wireless Music System for PC, about $150, from Logitech

What it is: The Wireless Music System is a USB transmitter and Bluetooth receiver that lets you listen to music stored on a PC and stream it to any stereo system within a 330-foot radius of the transmitter. The system includes a remote control that lets you change songs or change the volume without having to run back to the original PC. A docking station for the USB transmitter lets you connect to a desktop PC, or you can detach that and use the transmitter with a notebook PC. The transmitter connects to the PC with the stored songs via USB, and the receiver connects to a stereo system via composite audio cables (you also can connect to a portable speaker system via a stereo headphone jack, but you'll need to buy a separate cable).

Why it's cool: If you've taken a lot of time to transfer your CDs into MP3 format, or if you've caught the wave of the 99-cent song download from iTunes, you have a lot of songs on a PC but can play them only on that PC (or your iPod). Playing the songs on a better stereo system becomes difficult, especially if you want to play a specific list that you've built. Existing products intended to let you listen to music stored on a PC on a separate stereo system require a networked media player or other device that connects via wired Ethernet or wireless (802.11b/g) network. Since the system is basically acting like an extended set of speakers and it runs over Bluetooth, you don't have to do any wireless configurations (especially security).

What it is: The Wireless Music System is a USB transmitter and Bluetooth receiver that lets you listen to music stored on a PC and stream it to any stereo system within a 330-foot radius of the transmitter. The system includes a remote control that lets you change songs or change the volume without having to run back to the original PC. A docking station for the USB transmitter lets you connect to a desktop PC, or you can detach that and use the transmitter with a notebook PC. The transmitter connects to the PC with the stored songs via USB, and the receiver connects to a stereo system via composite audio cables (you also can connect to a portable speaker system via a stereo headphone jack, but you'll need to buy a separate cable).

Why it's cool: If you've taken a lot of time to transfer your CDs into MP3 format, or if you've caught the wave of the 99-cent song download from iTunes, you have a lot of songs on a PC but can play them only on that PC (or your iPod). Playing the songs on a better stereo system becomes difficult, especially if you want to play a specific list that you've built. Existing products intended to let you listen to music stored on a PC on a separate stereo system require a networked media player or other device that connects via wired Ethernet or wireless (802.11b/g) network. Since the system is basically acting like an extended set of speakers and it runs over Bluetooth, you don't have to do any wireless configurations (especially security).

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Napster launches free on demand music player

Napster has relaunched the Napster Web site by allowing U.S. customers to listen to music free, the company announced Monday.

The move makes Napster the first digital music service to offer free, legal on-demand music to customers, the company said. Customers who sign up for a free online account with Napster can listen to about 2 million music tracks through a Web-based music player, and customers can listen to each song as many as five times for free.

The advertising-supported Napster Web site also points customers to places they can purchase and download songs or sign up for premium services, the company said. Napster eventually will expand the free service to customers outside the United States.

With the new service Napster is attempting to find a digital music model that satisfies fans, musicians, music labels and copyright holders, Napster Chairman and CEO Chris Gorog said in a press release. With Monday's announcement the company believes "we have taken a significant step toward achieving this goal," he added.

Napster on Monday also announced two features, one of which is NapsterLinks, which lets customers add links to free Napster music to e-mail messages, instant messages and Web sites. NapsterLinks are URLs that link to specific songs, albums or artists in the Napster online catalog, and the URLs are created using a free tool, the company said.

Also announced is the Narchive, a public music archive where customers will be encouraged to contribute to an ever-expanding audio and visual dialog of the "people's history of music," the company said. Customers will be encouraged to add personal stories, photos and memorabilia about music in personal entries at the Narchive. Using NapsterLinks, they will be able to link to the music and artists they write about.

The Narchive will be available in a beta release soon, Napster said.

Napster also offers monthly subscription plans allowing for music downloads and transfers to portable MP3 players.

Record labels sue XM Radio for selling music

XM Satellite Radio is infringing the copyright of music labels by allowing its subscribers to record songs, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Music fans who subscribe to XM Radio and own an Inno recorder from Pioneer can use the cell phone-size device to listen to satellite radio broadcasts, record songs, then replay them as MP3 files.

On Tuesday, the RIAA said XM was committing "massive wholesale infringement" of copyright sound recordings, and asked the court to stop XM's broadcasts and award it damage payments.

By allowing listeners to record MP3 files, XM is acting as a competitor to legal online music stores such as Apple's iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody, the RIAA said. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In fact, XM Radio is marketing the Inno as an alternative to the Apple iPod, using the advertising phrase "It's not the pod, it's the mothership."

The RIAA is an industry group that includes major music labels such as Atlantic Recording, Capitol Records, Motown Record, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Virgin Records American and Warner Bros. Recording.

Its members deny they are opposed to satellite radio in general. "We celebrate the growth of XM and Sirius. We think the downloading capability of XM's Inno is attractive and appealing -- it just needs to be licensed," the RIAA said in a statement.

A spokesman for XM Radio did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Listeners have been able to legally record songs off commercial, analog radio stations for years.

The RIAA says this is different because the broadcast is digital, so XM subscribers can scan through a broadcast and record only certain songs.

They can store a lot. The Inno's 1GB of storage can hold about 50 hours of music, or 1,000 songs. As future devices deliver greater memory, that storage capacity could easily swell to 10,000 songs, said the RIAA.

In fact, retailers have been selling Pioneer's $400 Inno since March, and XM is already promoting new devices, such as Samsung's Helix.

At that rate, the RIAA fears no one will ever buy music from the labels again.

"Because XM makes available vast catalogues of music in every genre, subscribers will have little need ever again to buy legitimate copies of plaintiffs' sound recordings," the RIAA said.

That would be a lot of listeners. XM currently broadcasts 170 channels of music to 6 million U.S. subscribers, each paying a subscription fee of about $12.95 per month. XM projects that its subscriber base will reach 9 million by the end of 2006.

In its lawsuit, RIAA says that XM already has the ability to stop the practice. XM currently embeds software code in its encrypted satellite transmissions that deletes saved songs if a user stops paying his XM subscription fee. RIAA says XM could use that same code to prevent users from recording certain songs.

This lawsuit is similar to one that the RIAA brought against XM's rival, Sirius Satellite Radio. In that case, Sirius agreed to make it harder for listeners to record specific songs on its S50, a handheld satellite radio similar in size and price to the Inno.

Music player sales drive shortage of NAND flash

The soaring popularity of MP3 music players is driving demand for NAND flash memory chips faster than suppliers can keep up.

Sales of portable media players will grow from 134.5 million units in 2005 to 187.7 million units in 2006, according to a study from Gartner released Wednesday.

Despite converting factories from dynamic (DRAM) to NAND production, chip makers won't be able to keep up with such growth. So the market for NAND flash is expected to see a 5.8% shortage in the fourth quarter of 2006 and a 2.6% shortage in the first quarter of 2007, Gartner said.

That could lead to tough competition between flash makers such as Toshiba, Samsung Electronics and the newly merged Micron Technology and Lexar Media.

In the United States Intel has made a bid for the business by agreeing with Micron in 2005 to create a joint venture flash memory company called IM Flash Technologies.

The pending flash shortage could be even more severe if Apple Computer releases a high-capacity version of its iPod digital music player, said Joseph Unsworth, a principal research analyst for Gartner.

By year-end, Apple could launch a flash-based music player with 10G to 20GB of capacity, far above the 1G to 4GB capacity of its current flash units.

Many devices already have 30G or 40GB, but they save song data on spinning hard disk drives, not solid state electronics. The industry is changing fast. Eighty percent of the devices made in 2005 used flash memory, with the rest using hard drives.

Greater capacity will let designers add new features. The next generation of portable media players will include video playback capability, wireless communication and integration with consumer electronics and cars.

Flash memory is popular with designers of digital cameras, mobile phones and digital music players because it can store a huge amount of data without requiring constant power.

Microsoft unwraps Zune site makes changes to MSN music

The new site outlines details of the Zune player as well as the Zune marketplace, where customers can buy songs individually or subscribe to a monthly music download service.

The site already features a few bands and offers downloads of images and videos of Zune advertisements.

It also features accessories that will be available from third-party manufactures. A docking station will let users play music directly over speakers, a wireless remote will enable control from across the room while the Zune sits in a dock and cables will allow users to connect the Zune to their car stereos. Other accessories include leather cases and premium headphones.

Microsoft is pointing to the new Zune.net site from MSN Music, an online store that offers articles about artists as well as music sales. Now, the customer service page of the MSN Music store says that starting Nov. 14, the launch date for Zune, customers will notice that the current "buy" button near songs for sale will change to links that connect to Zune and to RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody service. As part of a previous legal settlement with rival Real, Microsoft has agreed to promote Real's music service.

The new Zune.net site joins two others that Microsoft has made available since revealing that it was developing the music player and store. Zune.com features a short animation and simply says that zune.com is coming. Comingzune.com used to feature short animations with songs but now redirects to a site that contains Zune artwork and animations.

In late September, Microsoft revealed pricing for the Zune player and said it would launch the player and music store Nov. 14. Since its introduction of Zune, Microsoft hasn't said much about what would happen to its existing MSN Music store or how the Zune store might affect its relationships with customers like MTV Networks, which have worked closely with Microsoft to launch their own music stores.

China Mobile, News Corp. make deal for mobile music

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and China Mobile Communications Corp. (China Mobile), the world's largest mobile operator, will launch a joint mobile music service, Chinese media reported Saturday.

The deal marks the second agreement between the two companies this year, and a potentially important step in News Corp.'s largely frustrated efforts to crack the Chinese market.

In June, News Corp. sold about half of its stake in Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Corp. Despite some of its personalities becoming stars in China, Phoenix still has not received landing rights in China outside of limited areas such as hotels and foreign diplomatic compounds, although its signal is downlinked illegally in residential complexes around the country.

The two sides gave few details except to say that they would launch the music service, for which News Corp.'s Channel V music video station would produce related shows, reports said.

The new service, which was not named will compete with other fee-based music sites in China, including Motorola Inc.'s MotoMusic, currently China's largest.

Kenwood claims smallest HDD music player

Japan's Kenwood Corp. plans to begin selling soon what it claims is the smallest portable music player based on a hard-disk drive.

The HD10GB7 "Media Keg" contains a 10G-byte hard-disk drive, measures just 44 millimeters by 62mm by 17mm and weighs 78 grams. It has a 1.5-inch OLED display on its front with a small keypad positioned directly under the display.

It plays MP3, WAV and Windows Media audio files including those with Windows Media DRM10 digital rights management. That means it can play tracks purchased on many Internet music stores.

Battery life for the player is 24 hours for MP3 files and 20 hours for Windows Media files, according to Kenwood. It can also display JPEG images and the user interface can be switched between Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Dutch and Spanish.

It will go on sale in Japan in early December for around ¥40,000 (US$344). Kenwood didn't announce plans to put it on sale outside Japan.

Review Thump 2 digital music player sunglasses




Company: Oakley

Product name: Thump 2 digital music player sunglasses

Company: Oakley

Why it's a Toy of Summer: There's nothing cooler than hitting the beach or favorite vacation spot with a nice pair of sunglasses, and you can't get much better than wearing a pair of Oakleys. When you add a slick music player to the mix, you can leave your iPod at home and listen to the tunes (or work-related podcasts!) inconspicuously while you're getting some much-needed rest (or sun).

Quick Review: When we tried the first version of the Oakley Thump, we had three complaints (comfort, nonprescription and no display). Comfort has been addressed - the ear booms now fit in your ears more comfortably than before. In fact, you don't have to insert them; you can position them outside your ears and still hear the music. Second, the sunglasses now are prescription-ready, so you can wear them while driving (with no music playing, of course). There's still no display to let you select what songs you want to hear (as an iPod or similar device does), so you play songs in the order that you transferred them from a PC or pick the random mode.

We also like how you can wear the glasses behind your head and still listen to the music (Oakley designed the Thump 2 to be able to do this). When worn behind the head, you can listen to your tunes indoors and not feel like you're weird by wearing sunglasses indoors.

Is it worth $450 (for the 1GB version)? That will buy you an iPod with a lot more memory and the ability to select the songs you want to listen to, but then you can't really go mountain biking or snowboarding with an iPod very comfortably (even with Bluetooth adapters). The Thump 2 isn't meant to compete with iPods as much as complement a fashionable digital music enthusiast. You also can spend less on the 256M-byte ($300) or 512M-byte ($350) models.

Danish court blocks Russian music site

A Danish court has moved to block consumers from using AllofMP3.com, an online Russian music store accused of selling albums below their market price and cheating artists out of the royalties.

The judge in the Copenhagen City Court ordered the Swedish Internet service provider Tele2 AB to block its subscribers from reaching the site, said a spokesman for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a record label trade group whose Copenhagen branch filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Danish recording industry.

"We will be looking with interest when the translation comes out on Monday to see if we can learn any lessons. Other groups are welcome to look at this and see if they can do it in their own territories," said Alex Jacob, an IFPI spokesman in London.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) may bring a similar lawsuit in the U.K., and there is a criminal case pending in the Russian courts, he said. The IFPI is also affiliated with the largest U.S. music industry trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the U.S. is making the Web site an issue as Russia attempts to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Neither Tele2 nor AllofMP3.com replied to requests for comment.

In a virtual press conference in October, an executive at AllofMP3.com admitted he had never paid royalties to the artists, but insisted his site was legal because those dues were being held by the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS). Artists are free to petition ROMS for their money or to deny permission to sell their songs, but very few have done so, said Vadim Mamotin, director general of the Web site's parent company, Mediaservices Inc.

The international community seems wary of those claims, however. In October, the credit card companies Visa International Service Association and Mastercard Worldwide announced they were refusing to process their customers' credit card payments registered on the site. In a company blog, AllofMP3.com decried those moves as illegitimate policies enacted outside the legal process.

Still, the Danish court decision has given momentum to the music industry. "This decision eliminates any doubt that people may have about the illegality of AllofMP3.com," said Jens-Otto Paludan, chairman of IFPI Denmark and managing director of Universal Music Denmark. His remarks were issued in a release. "AllofMP3.com is an illegal service, which cheats artists and producers of millions of kroner every year. With this judicial decision, we can, at last, bring one of the most provoking pirate services' activities in this country to an efficient standstill."

Vodafone Sony team on new mobile music service

After launching a streamed mobile TV service, Vodafone Group PLC is poised to introduce a new streamed music offering, in a move to boost revenue beyond its core telephony business.

Europe's largest mobile phone operator has joined forces with Sony NetServices GmbH, a unit of Sony, to launch the Vodafone Radio DJ service, which offers personalized music channels streamed to customers' handsets and computers, Vodafone said Monday in a statement.

Vodafone joins a growing group of mobile phone operators around the globe launching new streamed and downloadable music services.

Last week, for instance, Verizon Wireless. announced plans to launch an online music store this month, allowing customers to download songs directly to their phones and to Microsoft Windows XP PCs.

A key feature of the Vodafone service is a personalization system that enables customers to "train" preprogrammed channels to their own personal tastes by simply pressing a button to indicate "like" or "dislike" while listening to a song. When pressing "dislike," customers automatically skip to the next song, according to Vodafone.

Users also can create their own personal channels.

"This is an interesting new way for users to explore and hear music that they don't have with traditional methods," says Ben Padovan, a Vodafone spokesman.

The service will be available for a fee through the Vodafone Live portal, which requires handsets using packet-based technologies, such as GPRS or 3G.

The fee comes either as a monthly subscription, to cost between €10 (US$12) and €15, or in the form of a daily rate between €1.50 and €2, according to Padovan.

Prices will vary according to market, he says.
Vodafone will charge no extra data fee for sending the music to the phone.

In addition, users can download and pay for songs. Pricing for music downloads was unavailable, however.

All music will be copy-protected using Microsoft digital rights management technology.

"We will be offering hundreds of thousands of music tracks from major labels as well as independent labels," Padovan says.

Vodafone Radio DJ will be launched in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the U.K. over the next few months, with other markets in the Vodafone Group to follow in the course of the year.

UK music group enlists ISPs in piracy battle

The British Phonographic Industry is trying to enlist ISPs in its battle against illegal file sharing, a move that could allow it to target more music traders and reduce the amount of time it spends in court.

It was unclear how much help it will get from the ISPs, however, with one service provider saying the initiative is "not really a welcome approach."

The BPI, which represents music copyright holders in the United Kingdom, on Monday asked Tiscali U.K. Ltd. and Cable and Wireless PLC to shut down 59 accounts allegedly being used to upload thousands of pirate recordings to the Internet.

It sent letters to the ISPs regarding 17 Tiscali accounts and 42 Cable & Wireless accounts, said BPI spokesman Matt Phillips. The 59 accounts represent the "worst offenders," he said.

Asking the ISPs to shut down accounts is a new approach for BPI. In the past it went to court to get ISPs to turn over names and addresses of suspected file sharers, then took legal action against the individuals.

Of 139 people targeted in the past, BPI settled with 111 out of court for amounts as much as $12,000. Four cases that went to court were decided in favor of BPI, and the remaining 25 legal actions are pending, BPI said.

The group is now asking ISPs to enforce their own acceptable use policies, which often ban illegal file sharing. This means fewer time-consuming legal cases for the BPI and should allow it to go after more illegal file sharers, Phillips said. "This approach is far more effective for us," he said.

Cable & Wireless said its Bulldog ISP division has a policy to shut down accounts used for illegal file sharing. "We will take whatever steps are necessary to put the matter right," the company said.

Tiscali was less enthusiastic. It does ban file sharing but does not suspend accounts upon request, and is investigating the information provided by BPI, said Tiscali spokeswoman Jody Haskayne. BPI presented evidence for only one of the 17 accounts it requested be cut off; Tiscali plans to ask BPI for more information, she said.

BPI went to the press at around the same time the letters were sent to the ISPs, making it something of a media "ambush," she said.

"It might be a different tack for them, but it isn't in the spirit of collaboration within our industry," Haskayne said. "We very much support legal music. This was not really a welcome approach."

BPI used peer-to-peer file-sharing software to find out the IP addresses of the people it thinks were trading music illegally. When a file is available for download, the IP address for the account is often revealed, and BPI can then give the address to the ISP. Log files can show which subscriber used a particular IP address even if it is dynamically assigned.

Digital music sales grow during first half

Digital music sales continue to grow, in revenue and as a percentage of overall music sales, according to research from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

During the first half of the year, digital music sales grew 106% compared with the same period last year to reach US$945 million. Digital sales now account for 11% of the recorded music market worldwide, up from 5.5% in December 2005.

While still a small portion of overall sales, mobile song downloads have grown unexpectedly, says Gabriella Lopes, a senior analyst for the IFPI. In December, mobile song downloads accounted for 3% of digital music sales but during the first half of this year they made up 6% of digital sales, she says.

Mobile song downloads are popular in places like Japan where customers use the latest mobile phones that include music players and where they have access to high-speed wireless networks to enable fast downloads of songs, she says. In Japan, mobile music downloads account for 85% of digital music sales. However, the IFPI includes master ring tones, ring-back tunes and music videos along with full song downloads in its overall mobile music sales figures.

Worldwide, master ring-tone downloads made up 32% of all digital music sales, according to the IFPI.

Online single track downloads also accounted for 32% of sales, followed by full albums with 15%. Subscriptions made up 7% of digital music sales for the half-year.

Koreans are some of the most avid digital music consumers, with 51% of music sales there coming from digital sales. In the United States, 18% of music sales were made through digital channels in the first half of the year, accounting for $513 million in sales.

Growth in physical music sales was a mixed bag during the half-year. Japan recorded a 12% increase while France had a 9% decrease and the United States had a decrease of 7%. Overall, physical music sales declined by 10% worldwide, leading to a 4% decline in total music sales for the half-year.

The IFPI blames piracy and competition for consumer spending for the decline in sales. The music industry is competing for young people's cash with other products like clothing, mobile phones, games and other entertainment products, Lopes says.

The music industry has won several high-profile cases recently to close down Web sites that help consumers illegally share copyright music without benefiting the copyright owners. But piracy continues to compete for legitimate music sales, the IFPI said.

French operator follows Apple on mobile music pricing

A French mobile phone operator will cut the price of its music downloads in half next month, matching that of Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Store.

From Nov. 7, Société Française du Radiotéléphone SA (SFR) will charge €0.99 (US$1.25) per track, compared to €1.99 today. Additional charges apply if the track is downloaded over the air to a mobile phone, rather than over a fixed Internet connection to a PC.

It's no coincidence that the new price matches that of Apple's iTunes Store in Europe, said SFR spokeswoman Caroline Mir.

Apple's "is the reference price today," she said. "This is the first time that this price has been offered on a mobile service," she added.

SFR even plans to undercut Apple's price, offering complete albums for €9.90, compared to Apple's price of €9.99, or a pack of up to 20 downloads a month for €14.90, bringing the price per track down to €0.75. The tracks, in AAC+ format, will play on 3G (third generation) mobiles or on PCs, Mir said. A DRM (digital rights management) copy prevention system allows buyers to burn the tracks to CD a maximum of five times.

Rival network operator Orange SA charges €2 per track, plus airtime, for its music download service in France.

SFR's subscribers currently download 300,000 music tracks per month, Mir said. The company hopes the lower price will push music downloads to 1 million tracks a month next year, helped by growth in the adoption and deployment of 3G service.

The company had 1.5 million 3G subscribers at the end of August, and hopes to have 2.5 million by the end of the year, Mir said.

Advances in technology could help boost demand for mobile music services, by cutting the cost of the airtime used to download the track.

SFR charges €0.10 per minute for access to the music download service, but the time it takes to download a track varies with the mobile phone technology used. With GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), it can take several minutes to download a track, to the point where the airtime charges could exceed the cost of the music. 3G brings that down to around 1.5 minutes to download a track, Mir said, while 3G+, SFR's name for the HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) technology used in its latest mobile phones, will cut the time taken to download a music track to around 20 seconds.

Bollywood leads music downloads in India

Music downloads in India are gaining in popularity, thanks to wider availability of cell phones -- and the thousands of songs produced each year by the country's booming film industry.

Demand for music, including ringtones, from Indian consumers has been a boon for Soundbuzz Pte. Ltd., which counts India as one of its biggest markets. "It's huge. Our business is solid in India," said Sudhansy Sarronwala, the Singaporean online music seller's chief executive officer.

"About 90 percent of the music that we sell is Bollywood," Sarronwala said, referring to the country's film industry in general. "About 5 or 6 percent is regional music, meaning non-Bollywood but Indian."

Indian demand for digital music has grown quickly, extending beyond the country's biggest cities, such as Mumbai. "You still have a concentration in the top eight cities, but the next layer of 13 cities is very mobile," Sarronwala said.

Cellular use in India has exploded in recent months, with the number of subscribers doubling over the last year, to 130 million by the end of September, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. That number continues to grow at an impressive rate. September saw more than 6 million new subscriptions, up from 5.9 million new subscriptions in August, it said.

Sarronwala expects this growth to accelerate, driven by low calling rates. "It's less than one cent per minute," he said, adding that operators are also waiving GPRS (general packet radio service) fees since they are selling a lot of content.

By the end of next year, he expects India to have between 250 million and 300 million cellular subscribers, putting the country close to a 30-percent penetration rate.

"Music is the single largest value-added service," Sarronwala said.

With around 1,000 movies released each year, India's film industry is producing plenty of music to fill this demand. "There is an average of three films per day released in the country with an average of about seven songs per film," Sarronwala said. "You're talking about 7,000 songs per year."

While demand for digital music in India primarily comes from cell phone users, Sarronwala expects PC users to account for more demand as broadband penetration rates climb higher in the coming years. "That could be quite interesting. That's a big market in and of itself."

Net music downloads drop in Japan

Legal downloads of music in Japan continued to grow in the third quarter of the year although that growth appears to be slowing.

The total number of downloads was 91.9 million during the July to September quarter, according to figures published by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) on Tuesday. That's 23 percent higher than the same period last year but only 2 percent above the second quarter of this year.

Music obtained by cell phone, which includes full tracks, ringtones and ringback tones, still dominates the Japanese market and accounted for the vast majority of downloads.

The number of downloads from Internet sites, like Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes and the Sony Corp.-affiliated Mora site, totalled 5.7 million during the quarter, which is an increase on the same period last year but a drop from this year's second quarter. The number of Internet downloads has been little changed for each of the last three quarters.

For the first time the RIAJ broke down the Internet download figures by type of download. Of the 5.7 million downloads in the third quarter about 5.4 million downloads were of singles. There were 260,000 downloads of albums and 86,000 downloads of other paid content, which was mainly music videos.

By value, Internet downloads were worth a total of ¥1.2 billion (US$10.3 million) during the quarter while those downloaded through mobile platforms were worth about 10 times as much at ¥12.4 billion.

Yahoo Music continues DRM free download experiment

Yahoo put another music track without digital rights management on sale through its Yahoo Music service Tuesday.

The Norah Jones single "Thinking About You" sells for 99 cents, in MP3 format on Yahoo's music store, and in DRM-encumbered AAC format on Apple's iTunes Store. Both formats will play on PCs, Macs and the market-leading iPod portable music player, but only the MP3 version will play on other portable music players.

DRM technology is used to set limits on how, when, how many times and on what devices a file may be played. While DRM can be applied to music in AAC, ATRAC or WMA format, it cannot be introduced into MP3 files.

Yahoo first experimented with selling MP3 files without DRM in July, when it offered Jessica Simpson's "A Public Affair" as an MP3 file for $1.99. While that track was not tied to a particular PC or music player with DRM, the audio track was personalized to contain a first name of the purchaser's choice, picked from a list of hundreds of prerecorded names, limiting its interest to other listeners.

Since then, Yahoo has sold an entire album by the artist Jesse McCartney in both MP3 and the DRM-encumbered Windows Media Audio format, but has not published sales figures for the two formats.

Some see the release of tracks in MP3 format, without DRM, as a big gamble for record labels, as nothing prevents buyers from uploading them to file-sharing networks.

In reality, DRM does little to stop such behavior, but makes life harder for legitimate music users, said analyst Mark Mulligan, a vice president at Jupiter Research in the United Kingdom

"Most of the DRM in place is not going to stop piracy. You've got limits on CD-burning, but all of that is cracked immediately if you burn it onto CD and rip it back in again. Anyone with an ounce of tech-savvy is going to know how to get around that," he said.

But the fact that there's nothing to stop listeners copying and sharing MP3 files could work to record labels' advantage, Mulligan said.

"It's going to be implemented more as marketing than anything else," he said.

Blue Note Records, the record label promoting the Jones track, is only releasing the single, not an entire album, in MP3 format for now. If Mulligan is right, it could be just a marketing gimmick to build awareness of the album, which will go on sale in January.

Major record labels are starting to look more seriously at MP3 distribution because of the success of eMusic.com, which Mulligan says is the second-largest online music download store in the United States, after that of Apple. EMusic sells music from independent record labels in MP3 format.

EU investigates music copyright assocations

Societies responsible for collective licensing of music copyrights for online use could be next in the anti-trust sights of the European Commission, the regulator said Monday.

Sixteen collecting societies around the European Union may be in breach of anti-trust rules because the cross-licensing arrangements they have made to distribute royalties to lyric authors and songwriters may lead to an effective lock-up of national territories, the Commission said.

If proven to be the case, this would transpose into the Internet the national monopolies that these societies have traditionally held in the offline world, the Commission said.

There should be competition between collecting societies to the benefit of the companies that offer music on the Internet and to the consumers that listen to it, the Commission said.

The 16 collecting societies notified the European Commission of their agreement to cooperate in the online world in April 2001. The agreement, known as the Santiago agreement, was initially signed by the collecting societies of the U.K., France, Germany and the Netherlands. All other collecting societies in the E.U., except the Portuguese society, as well as the Swiss society, subsequently signed up to the Santiago agreement.

The purpose of the agreement is to allow each of the participating societies to grant to online commercial users such as Apple's iTunes one-stop shop copyright licenses, which give the online music traders access to the music repertoires of all collecting societies in all the territories.

The loss of territoriality brought about by the Internet and the digital format of products such as music files are difficult to reconcile with traditional copyright licensing schemes based on national procedures, the Commission said.

Once made available on the Internet, a musical work is accessible from almost anywhere in the world, yet the traditional way of licensing music requires a commercial user to sign a copyright license for each territory in which it has customers.

The Santiago agreement is intended to adapt this traditional framework to the online world to allow the legal downloading or streaming of music onto people's computers. The Commission said it supported this aim, but it considers that such crucial developments in online-related activities must be accompanied by an increasing freedom of choice by consumers and commercial users throughout Europe in order to create a genuine Europe-wide single market.

The structure put in place by the parties to the Santiago agreement results in commercial users being limited in their choice to the monopolistic collecting societies established in their own member state, it said.

Apple has been forced to delay launching iTunes in the European Union because it has been unable to strike a workable arrangement with the collecting societies.

"The collecting societies are the main reason why European citizens still do not have a legal Europe-wide way of accessing music through their computers," said a person from the computer industry who asked not to be named.

Digital music sales triple

TREND OF THE WEEK: The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reported today that digital music sales worldwide was approximately $790 million in the first half of 2005, compared with $220 million in the first half of 2004. The IFPI says that digital music sales now represents 6% of the total record industry sales. Physical sales of records fell 1.9% in the first half of 2005, with $13.2 billion compared to $13.4 billion in 1H 2004.

The group says the decline in physical factors was attributed to many factors, including lower retail prices for CDs, a small decline in DVD music video sales, the impact of illegal downloads and CD burning, and other factors, including release schedules, commercial piracy and competition from other entertainment sectors.

GADGET OF THE WEEK: Disney Consumer Products has launched a series of MP3/WMA digital audio players geared towards kids and teens. The USB-based Disney Mix Sticks will cost $49.99 and come in four different versions – Disney Chrome, Forever Princess (pink/purple), Tinker Bell (purple/green, pictured) and a "That's So Raven"-branded device. The Mix Sticks will include 128M-bytes of storage (about 60 songs), but an additional SD/MMC card slot will allow for storage of up to 1G-bytes. For users without computers, Disney plans to sell Disney Mix Clips – cards that include music from Walt Disney Records already on it. The Mix Sticks will include a 10-hour, built-in rechargeable battery, stereo earbuds and a USB 2.0 connector. The devices will go on sale in mid-October at retailers and at the Disney Shopping Web site.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The phishers keep getting smarter – instead of just casting out a wide net in order to capture detailed information from unwitting recipients, they're now taking a direct marketing approach to specify attacks on groups of individuals. The new trend is called "spear phishing," and it's a new threat you should be aware of. Check out this story from PC World about the new attack method.

Sonos My kind of network music system

Sonos certainly isn't the first company to have a networked digital music player, but it's the first one to understand networking.

his became obvious when I loaded the software on a PC and it gave me the option to play music stored on a network share - in my case, a LinkStation network-attached storage (NAS) device from Buffalo Technology. Other systems might let you play music off a NAS, but only the Sonos Digital Music System lets you do it so elegantly.

Elegance is the name of the game for the Sonos system, from its shoe box-sized ZonePlayers, to its sleek ZoneController two-handed remote control with color LCD screen that lets you play different songs in different rooms, or the same music in every room simultaneously.

The second indication I was in friendly network territory was when the instructions recommended a router. Every other system takes the lowest common denominator route, by assuming you have only one computer.

Installation of a ZonePlayer involved connecting two speakers, plugging the Ethernet cable into the router, and plugging in a power cord. After that, a quick software install onto a PC got us up and running. You don't have to install the software. Instead, you set up everything through the remote control. However, using the software was easier than running through the ZoneController menus.

Only one ZonePlayer needs to connect to the router. More ZonePlayers will communicate with it via a proprietary wireless mesh network (2.4GHz). But they need to plug into a power outlet.

With everything installed in less than 15 minutes, you'll spend the rest of the time learning the intricacies of the ZoneController remote control and the DesktopController software. Depending on the number of ZonePlayers installed, you can use either the remote or the PC software to pick which songs to play in which zones. Playing a song or switching zones was instantaneous. We experienced no delays any time we switched.

As a bonus, Sonos bundles many Internet radio stations. After a bit of searching, I easily added several streaming radio stations to the system.

My only gripe with the system was its method of loading songs to play: The software requires you to create a queue (playlist) of individual songs. When you select an album with the Sonos system, it only plays the first song unless you queue up the entire album manually.

The other potential stumbling block is price. A starter kit with two ZonePlayers and the ZoneController costs $1,200, and extra ZonePlayers cost $499. Speakers are extra (Sonos provided us with two sets of $150 speakers, but you could use your own). Once you get hooked, you'll want to outfit several rooms with ZonePlayers, which could ring up a hefty bill.

Nokia intros phones and music recommendation service

Nokia has introduced several phones and also announced a music recommendation service that hints at the potential for a full-blown music store from the company.

The N75, announced Tuesday, is Nokia's smallest multimedia phone and is targeted at the U.S. market. The new phone includes a camera, a music player and Internet access.

Nokia has been under pressure to release new, attractive devices in the United States since it announced in June that it will stop making Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) phones, which are widely used in the United States.

"We don't rest until we make it here in the U.S.," said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president and general manager of multimedia for Nokia, during an event in New York that was Webcast. "The N75 will be my tool to get that going."

Nokia also introduced the N95, a phone that includes a 5-megapixel camera, GPS capability with mapping applications and 3D graphics.

The N95 will operate on broadband wideband CDMA and High Speed Downlink Packet Access networks in Europe and Asia. It will also include Wi-Fi.

The phone is based on Nokia's S60 software and the Symbian operating system and comes with Nokia's Web browser. Users can insert microSD cards for extra storage on the device and connect via mini USB for data transfer.

The N95 is expected to become available in the first quarter of 2007 for €550 ($703). The N75 will cost between $350 and $390 and should be available by the holiday buying season.

Along with the phones, Nokia announced a music service that will become available worldwide by year-end.

Registered users of the service can browse a Web site to read music recommendations. Nokia has lined up 40 recommenders who are independent music enthusiasts working for well-known record shops around the globe. Nokia has also signed on musician David Bowie to contribute a monthly feature or podcast about new music that he has discovered. Visitors to the site will also be able to listen to music clips and read artist interviews.

The site will be launched first in the U.K. and Australia, although music fans around the world will be able to sign up to those sites when they're launched. Access to the site will be free.

Vanjoki hinted that the site might be expanded based on technology Nokia expects to acquire through the purchase of Loudeye. That acquisition, announced in August, hasn't closed yet so Vanjoki said he couldn't provide further details on how Loudeye's technology might be relevant to the new music recommendation site. He called Tuesday's announcement a "precursor" of things to come.

Nokia also introduced music editions of three existing phones, the N70, N73 and N91. The phones include dedicated music access keys, additional storage capacity and new software to make synching easier.

Microsoft to change IE default in music feature

Microsoft will change its "Shop for Music Online" feature in Windows XP so that it does not automatically invoke the Internet Explorer Web browser, thus complying with a Department of Justice mandate. The Justice Deparment had complained that this use of IE violated the company's anti-trust consent decree with the government.

Right now, when an XP user selects Shop for Music Online, located by default in the My Music folder, Microsoft's IE browser pops up and directs the user to Microsoft's Windowsmedia.com site, even if the user has chosen a different default browser such as Netscape or Opera. Windowsmedia.com includes music for downloading and links to online music retailers.

Microsoft had already planned to change the feature as it revamped its Shop for Music Online offering for "business reasons," said Stacy Drake, a company spokeswoman. A Windows update released in February or March will remove IE as the music service's default browser, she said.

Further revamps of the music service Web site are in the works, Drake said. In November, Microsoft announced it was planning to launch its own music download service during 2004.

The Shop for Music Online feature had been a point of contention between Microsoft and the Justice Department since late last year. Government lawyers had complained to a judge that the feature could be "inconsistent" with the anti-trust settlement approved by a federal court in November 2002.

"While we differed in our interpretation of the consent decree, we are pleased the changes we'll be making also address government concerns," Drake said."It's an issue that's resolved to the satisfaction of both parties."

Asked if the decision to revamp the music service and change the default browser came after Justice Department complaints, Drake said she wasn't sure if the decision was made after the complaint or simultaneously. The decision was "on a separate track" from the Justice Department complaint, she added.
Related links

The Justice Department issued a statement Thursday saying it was pleased with Microsoft's decision to remove IE as the default browser, even if Microsoft did not agree with the agency that the music feature violated the consent decree. "Regardless of the reason for the change, the Department is pleased with the removal of the override and firmly believes that it is the appropriate outcome," the Justice Department statement said.

Microsoft's music site was built using ActiveX controls optimized for use with IE, Drake said. The revamped site will use a different programming technology, although she declined to name it.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Musical instruments for your children

Music is the essence of life and I think that no one is untouched with this beautiful gift given to mankind. Even children also love to play music and enjoy it when they get a chance to do so. For this, you require various expensive musical instruments but what if you make your own music instruments at your home with little efforts? It is a fun and inexpensive idea to make Gongs, xylophones, hummers and triangles for children to play.

1. To make a Gong you need an old pie tin or a lid of a large metal popcorn tin, a metal table knife or spoon for a mallet, a hammer and nail, a string. You have to pound two nail holes on the edge of the pie tin or on the side of the popcorn lid two or three inches apart. Thread the string through the holes and tie a knot. The string should be about 1 ½ to 2 feet long enough so that you can easily hold it without touching the pan or tin. Hit the pan with the spoon or knife and you have a loud sound. To soften the sound, you need to wrap the knife or spoon with a piece of cloth and then use a child socks to cover the knife or spoon.

2. To make a Xylophone you require glass pop bottles of same size and then shape work best for a homemade xylophone and for this purpose, water glasses shall also work. Fill the glasses with different amount of water whereby one bottle should be almost filled to the top and the other one with very little water. The other bottles should vary somewhere in between the two. You can use as many or less bottles as you like. A knife or spoon would wok well as a mallet. Hit the side of the bottle or glass gently as each one shall make a different sound. You can even experiment with different levels of water to decide which note pitch you would like most. If you have a piano or other musical instrument that shall make various pitches then you can tune your bottles or glasses to the instrument.

3. Making a hummer is also very easy where you need to have an empty cardboard toilet paper or paper towel tube, a rubber band and a wax paper. Cut a round piece of wax paper that is larger than the ends of the tube. Cover one end with the wax paper and hold in place with the rubber band and make sounds into the opposite end of the tube.

4. You can also make a triangle with the help of a horseshoe or 4 to 8 inches of metal pipe, string and a knife or spoon. Loop the string at the curve of the horse shoe or thread it through the pipe. Tie a knot at the top and hit the horse shoe or pipe with the knife as soon as it dangles from the sting. Make sure that the string is strong enough to hold the pipe.

Refresh Yourself With Spa Music

Life’s pace speeds up day after day that requires us to make greater effort in studying, working and in many other things. Thus, people also face some stress problems. The result from a scientific survey shows that everyone lives under some kinds of stresses. Sometimes you wonder what the toughest stress in life is. The answer differs from everyone. The stress that students face at school is probably as tough as the stress work is putting on the adults. However, no one can deny the fact that stress involves in our body as well as our mind. There are some feelings that often come from stress that any of them can apply to you some times:
- insomnia
- headache
- nonchalance
- distraction
- fear
- etc.

The problem now is learning how to let it stay in our control and manage it in the way we want. Nowadays, many stress therapists ask for spa therapies to help their patients overcome their problems. However, the matter is how we use this therapy to get best effects but low cost. One of my suggestions is creating your self-created home spa.

You can collect spa magazines, spa books from a bookstore or from the Internet to begin your home spa. You can apply spa cuisines, Yoga exercises, body massaging, spa bathing. However, to get best effects, you should combine spa music with these therapies above.

What is spa music and why do we have to use spa music to control our stress?

Spa music is the kind of music that brings to listeners the feeling of peace and relaxation. This also means that spa music is conductive to our mind so it helps us get better results from other body practices. Yoga helps you have proper breath; body massaging encourages your muscles to come at ease; spa cuisines bring you good nutrition while spa music awakes your peaceful sense to balance your body, mind and spirit.

Today, there are more and more spa music products. You can find your favorite ones from my suggestion such as Hawaii, Barnes & Noble, Laura Nashman, etc. It’s easy to recognize that the common point of spa music is slow tempo, less beat tracking, using many natural sounds such as bird voices, running water sounds, etc. Today, thanks to the development of many high-tech tools such as music editor, music morpher software, you can produce as many spa music disks as you want. With AV Music Morpher Gold, you can enrich your spa music library so your spa therapies are refreshed every day. With some simple performance as extracting the vocal, reducing the song’s tempo, removing hard beat tracking, or applying some audio effects, you will collect many basic spa songs. Then, you can skillfully add any sound you like such as bird voices, sounds of running water and blowing wind or surf thanks to its multitrack session.

It's important to find the way to counter stress. Some people cannot find out a lesson in their whole lifetime, but you can learn to relieve from stress if you want to. Start from now to make your mind and soul at ease with spa music.

Shopping for Promotional Items That Are as Distinctive as Your Company

Do you get stressed when you see a company logo printed across the front of a spherical stress ball at a trade show? Do you feel that there just has to be something else out there in addition to calendars to send to your customers and clients as a thank-you around the holidays? Do you want to find the perfect giveaway item that’s as unique and distinctive as the company that you created, nurtured and watched mature into what it is today? Believe me when I tell you that unique items are out there, you just need to know where to look.

One thing that you need to keep in mind while shopping is that all companies, just like yours, do what they do for one reason, and that’s to make money. Unfortunately there are many companies that hide fees and conceal additional charges in the fine print. Any company that engages in these types of practices, no matter how extensive their selection of promotional items is, is not the company for you.

Now, onto picking out your company’s unique promotional item!

You’ll need to come up with a budget before picking out your items, so first you’ll need to decide on the purpose of your order. A holiday thank-you for employees or clients and tradeshow giveaways are just a few general reasons for purchasing such items, each requiring a significantly different quantity ordered, and therefore, a different overall budget.

If you’ll be setting up for a tradeshow, you’ll want to pick out a relatively inexpensive item that is still different from that of your competitors. Adhesive bandages (both plain and tattoo styles) make a unique giveaway no matter what business you’re in, as everyone needs a band-aid every once in a while. Magnets not only come in a variety of styles, shapes and designs to coordinate with your company, they are also a practical promotional item that will remind future customers of your name each and every time they look at the fridge.

On the flip side, more expensive promotional items can be given to your employees and top-notch customers. Custom analog watches, contemporary desk organizers complete with a thermal coffee mug, and unique photo frames to sit upon the desk of those who you appreciate will remind them how much a part of your success they are.

If you’re looking for something unique that’s somewhere in the middle of all of these distinctive and memorable items, maybe lip balm is more soothing to your needs, or a thermal insulated travel mug is more your cup of tea. Whatever you decide on, don’t forget to search the World Wide Web to compare products, prices and value.

LG U400 The Music phone

The LG U400 mobile phone has everything you need from a modern phone. You can listen to your favourite tune via the built-in MP3 player. The U400 also features dual cameras that allow you to take quality pictures and shoots still images and video footage. As the U400 features MP3 controls on the front, the phone successfully stakes its claim as a true MP3 hybrid. The LG U400 has got an internal memory of 70MB, and a MiniSD slot which can expend it by a further 1GB. The back of the U400 boasts a 2-megapixel camera with an LED photo light and at the bottom there's a charging port that doubles up as a USB and headphone port.

To listen to music wirelessly, you can also use a stereo Bluetooth headset as the U400 supports A2DP. You can transfer data on to the phone from the USB cable that comes with the phone. The phone also supports 3G connectivity, so you can make video calls and browse the Web faster than on a GPRS connection. The U400 mobile phone? allows you to multitask like tunes can be played through music player at the same time as surfing the web at full 3G speeds. The slim line 3G slider phone also has an external scroll wheel which allows easy navigation through a multitude of cutting–edge features. The U400 also supports video calling, Quad band connectivity, a QVGA 2.0-inch colour, 262k TFT -LCD display, scroll-wheel navigation, Bluetooth, and stereo speakers. The LG U400 also boasts a Jog Wheel that lets you navigate through the handset with speed and ease as well as operate one of the handset's coolest features, the DJ-ing mode. MP3, AAC, AAC+ and WMA file formats are supported by the handset. The VGA camera of the LG U400 is ideal for video calling your friends and family and taking photos or video of yourself. In all, the LG U400 is luxurious to the touch, something you won't want to let go off your hand.

Get Great Sixties Music Cheap

Imagine building up a collection of the great singers and groups of the “Swingin’ Sixties”, cheaply and economically – savings ££££ s or $$$$$ s in the process!

This process is simply about selecting the best collections in the market, and choosing the best sources – in the high street or on-line, so that you get the best possible product, at the best possible price!

Tips to ensure you get the best there is for the least outlay !!

1. Don’t get sucked in to the latest marketing programme. With Christmas coming up, this is doubly important, because this is the time when ridiculous sums of money are asked for, for compilations that have been on the market for years – at much lower sums. Ignore ALL such promotions, and use the tips in this article!

2. Consider buying second hand. I know there is a delight in unwrapping the cellophane of a new purchase. Actually, that is the one thing I DETEST about buying new, as I can never get the wretched wrapping off, without the aid of a sharp knife or scissors, when I often scratch the CD case in frustration. As soon as you play your DC or DVD, it is officially second hand, so what have you gained. I have only once found a second hand product to be even slightly faulty, and on e-bay you will almost certainly be able to get a refund.

3. Take care to look at the small print on the cover of a CD. IGNORE all CDs with the words “tracks by original artistes, although some may have been re-recorded featuring some or all of the original artistes. You may get some tracks as originals, or even a version that is superior in many ways to the original. But don’t bank on it. If you can get it for £1.00 or a couple of dollars, you may want to take the chance. But better not!

4. Use ebay to search for the best compilation of tracks of your chosen artiste. For sixties artistes, it is relatively common to acquire a “best of” CD featuring 20, 30, 40, even 50 original tracks on a single CD or CD box set.

5. Even better, choose a CD compilation with a clear theme. This could be all the EP tracks, or all the “A” and “B” singles over a given period. This ensures that there is no fillers of dubious quality tracks to pad out the CD.

6. Compare prices on ebay with Amazon. It can be amazing how much prices can vary for the same product – either new or second hand, between the two sites. Sometimes Amazon is best option – especially as there is no bidding involved, and sometimes ebay wins hands down.

7. Use Amazon to check out the quality of the compilation. Reviewers will give hard hitting honest appraisal of the CD or DVD, identifying those dodgy re-recorded tracks mentioned above, or where the tracks are not representative of an artiste’s best work.

8. If bidding on ebay, bid low and late. You can get an idea of the average price by going to “completed listings”, but I prefer to wade right in. Once I have identified a great product, I assess my top total price (including postage and packing!), then make my bid about 24 hours before the end date at about half my target. I log in again about half an hour before the end of auction, and get ready to make a late (and final) bid. Don’t exceed you top bid. There will be another one along tomorrow!

9. And for special individual tracks, why not use the Internet to download songs as MP3 tracks!

Five Best Things Ever To Happen To Online Music

The bloom of computers is so supermassive that computers do not only dominate the field of IT, they have also stretched their wings to arts and entertainment, especially music.

Back in our parents’ day, they didn't have any iPod and ringtone and music download. They didn't have the luxury and convenience of our music blogs and snazzy stuffs like that. E.g., when they wanted to seize the new Duran Duran album, they couldn't just troll the Internet for it, they had to do it the old-fashioned way -- by hiking to the store, standing in line, waiting under blazing sun or pouring rain. That’s why we youngsters don't appreciate that so-called real value of music. Or Duran Duran.

That’s why I call this age the era of digital music and iPods (also iTunes). iPods with iTunes can be considered two best things ever to happen to online music, legally. But if you can’t afford legal music, memorize LimeWire, and any file sharing programs. In my humble opinion, LimeWire is the third best thing. However, just like Napster and Kazaa before, the company behind LimeWire is now being sued by the RIAA.

YouTube ranks fourth in my list. When I relate music to music videos, YouTube is my best choice in the digital world. You can watch many music videos of all time easily. But who knows if it will be sued someday! Or maybe in the next years to come, it will be the best thing ever to happen to online music, and movies as well.

What if you are one of those who love music to the core and wish to compose and edit music of theirs own?

Nowadays, programmed music softwares in the market render all your requirements to compose and edit music. They are the last but not least thing to change the online music world. One of the music editors is called Music Morpher Gold, the most advanced audio editor available in its price range.

Music Morpher Gold version 3.0 is meant for professionals. It includes all of the common audio editing commands and effects. It has tools such as Voice Removal, Vocal Extractor, Wave Editor, CD/DVD burner, CD creator all in one easy-to-use audio editor for professionals and home users (for Windows). It provides a powerful and user-friendly editing environment for novice users. Anyone (with a PC) who needs to edit, convert or manipulate Audio/MP3 sound can do with this software

SOLWAY MUSIC RESOURCES

SOLWAY MUSIC RESOURCES -was set up in October 2004, is based in the far north west of England. It is a multilayered operation and provides a number of services . It is run by Brian Melville a professional educator with experience spanning more than thirty years. He is using his expertise and involvement in music to provide a support service for schools and the local community.

Support is available to schools in a variety of disciplines. Keyboard tuition is available at all levels from beginner to advanced levels. Guitar teaching is available for any pupil who requires a thorough grounding in the basics before proceeding to more advanced work. Brass instrument tuition is possible from beginner to intermediate levels with a wealth of experience in this area.. Vocal tuition is available and is delivered to large and small groups inside or out of the classroom. Vocal work, which is an integral part of music provision in schools, forms a large part of the work undertaken by Solway Music. At this very moment, a number of schools in Allerdale, are participating in a project for Christmas all co-ordinated by Solway Music. Composition work to any level is possible where use is made of the latest composition software. This is also connected to Information Technology provision which is another area where Solway Music has invaluable experience after working for many years in that area. A number of schools in Allerdale, are at the moment recipients of Solway Music expertise in all the areas that have been outlined .

Record X is a recording facility which is an integral part of Solway Music and is available for recording projects large and small. A variety of recording programs is available including, Logic Audio, Steinberg Nuendo and Cubase VST. Recording projects may be undertaken “in house” or on location. Working with Our Lady and St.Patrick’s junior school in Maryport, Solway Music in collaberation with Loose Records, in 2005 issued a CD entitled “Mam, I’m Here”. It featured the pupils of St.Patricks on 18 tracks of popular songs and proved a great hit with pupils, parents and teachers. A recent release, on Loose Records and recorded at Record X, is a nursery rhyme CD...”Diddle Diddle Doodle Doo“ - 22 traditional nursery rhymes and children's’ songs in modern settings all sung by Caroline Sweeney. A second album of nursery rhymes is in production at the moment and will appear in 2006 . It will include some little heard and unusual tracks and will again feature vocalist, Caroline Sweeney.
Look for a new release in 2006 - “Touchdown from Tokyo” which will be an album of original ambient jazz compositions by Brian Melville on Loose Records. In addition, look for an album of arrangements for sequence dancers to add to the album of Christmas songs which was mentioned earlier.

Music for the On the Go Lifestyle

Let's face it: Nowadays, we do everything on the go! We eat our meals while we are on the road. We talk on cell phones while we wheel grocery carts down store aisles. We listen to music while doing our day-to-day activities. We even listen to music while we are working at the office.

The arrival of the ipod, the latest technological invention, came at the right time for the average consumer. This little invention does some pretty big things! Ipods allow the user the freedom to take music wherever they go. They fit in perfectly with the “multi-tasker's lifestyle. Just about the size of a deck of cards, the ipod is one of the “must haves” of this generation. They fit neatly in a pocket, a backpack, purse, or plugged in while driving. With many special features, various styles, and trendy carrying cases available, ipods can store an incredible amount of songs. Stylish and fun, these musical devices make great gifts for anyone.

The way we listen and interact with music in today's culture has changed, but people's desire for music of a particular genre has not changed much over the years. With the ability to burn a personal compilation CD of favorite tunes, the listener enjoys the option of making their own personal music playlist instead of listening to a pre-picked, often dull and predictable radio playlist.

The convenience and affordability of the compact disc player has enabled people of all ages and incomes to own one. Some even have a small portable CD player at their desks while they work. Others have one in each room of the house.

With so many options out there today for the avid music listener, the need for more and more innovative technological inventions in the realm of music will certainly never go out of style.

Wedding Music Not Just Music It Is Music Music Music

It is party time, party music, well, not just yet. Your wedding music takes on several styles of music. There is the music for the ceremony, then the music for the more formal part of the wedding reception and then the party time of the reception.

In the majority of countries this seems to be how the wedding music is selected, by these three areas, The ceremony, the formal part of the wedding reception and the party-time of the wedding reception.

For the wedding ceremony, it is best to check with the church co-ordinator, Priest, Minister, Pastor or Marriage Celebrant and get the guideline as to what is acceptable. Often times they can supply a choir or singer and organist/pianist or will allow you to have your own.

There is an order of placement for music in the ceremony and the type of music that is suitable. A song that is special to the bridal couple will always be able to be included somehwere in the ceremony. Ask for the ceremony guidelines from the church co-ordinator and if they have a selection of songs or hymns that you can choose from.

For the early part of the reception, the music will need to be background type music, soft, that will not interfere with introductions and conversations. This style of music should continue through out the wedding feast and between toasts and speeches.

Depending on the theme of the wedding, a string quartet is ideal for this or a pianist playing soft dinner music. You can also choose to have taped music too.

After the formalities comes the party time and here to get everyone up and dancing, you may wish to hire a live band or DJ.

With weddings, normally the age group of the guests is wide, so the variety of music needs to be wide too. By including several music styles in the program, your guests will really get into the swing of things and set the party mood.

Check with the band or DJ before booking them as to how much variety they can play. Give them a list of the type of music you would like played and make sure they can accommodate your wishes.

If certain music or songs are suggested to you and you are not sure, take yourself along to a music store, pop on the headphones and have a listen. Some of the music styles are pop, rock, classical, jazz, blues, dance, disco, the list is long but not all music styles will be sutiable to be your wedding.

Your music should appeal to your guests, it should be in the background when conversations are happening and then get the toes tapping when you want your guests to be up and lively on the dance floor.

If you choose to have a wedding DJ at your wedding reception, then make sure he/she can supply the music styles your want, pre-dinner, dinner and dance, so you would be able to help your wedding budget by only hiring the one source of wedding music. A DJ can also act as an MC for you and this will keep things flowing and remember to include your favorite song or songs.

If your choice is a live band then as with the DJ, make sure they can accommodate your chosen music styles. A good idea is to choose a band with a pianist or keyboard player and a singer who can help out with the announcements and step into the role of MC. By choosing a live band with a keyboard/piano player, this will cover the soft style of music during the earlier part of the reception.

There are live bands who specialize in providing music for wedding receptions and wedding parties, the same goes for DJs, you will be able to find a specialist wedding DJ, look for both under the wedding category in your local yellow pages.

If you have a Bridal Expo or Wedding Expo in or near your area, make sure you get along to them, this is where you will find so many contacts to help with planning your very special day.

Choosing your wedding entertainment can be a fun time of your wedding planning, try not to do it all at once, your head can get into a spin with information overload, so spread it out and enjoy the music.

10 Characteristics of legal Music Download Sites

1.Pay for use

The major issue facing the recording industry is how to get paid for all the music that is being downloaded, swapped and sold online. If you are using a legal music download service, there should be a fee per song, per month or per year to have continued access to the service.

In keeping with the spirit of the internet, most of the major legal music sites are offering free mp3 files just for signing up, for keeping your subscription current and in general obeying the rules of the site.

Note: Usually, there is an extensive trial period. If you really want free music, you can sign up for multiple sites and get access to hundreds of free mp3 downloads for little or no money up front.

2. Size Limits

The legal music download sites mostly distribute music from reputable labels and artists. This means, that you won’t find extensive mixes, and custom files that will slow down your connection and take forever to download. Also, the relatively small files gives some assurance to the music retail industry that a site is actually selling music files and not illegal video games or movies which can be hundreds of times larger.

3. Volume limits

Legal music download sites usually distribute their material on a per song basis. One of the major advantages of buying your music online is that you don’t have to spend $17 for an entire album if you only want 3 or 4 songs. The legal sites will set up song volume limits as well as file transfer limits. This prevents unscrupulous customers from setting up their computers to copy hundreds of files in a few hours.

Note: even if you are music fan – Really, why would you need 300 songs at once?

4. Larger databases, Larger costs

One peculiarity of the legal music download stores and file sharing services is that variety comes with a price. The larger, more established services will give you access to hundreds of thousands of song, but it will cost you. Expect to pay an average of $1-$3 per song. If you work it out, the average album will probably cost a little bit more than a CD from Wal-Mart or Target.

Keep in mind, that legal music download sites must give a portion of their fees back to the recording industry. Also, the songs are not disposable since the sound quality probably won’t degrade over time. Even CDs can get scratched and lose their quality after a while.

5. Limited Choice

Most of the legal music download sites don’t have the capacity or copyright authority to distribute hundreds of millions of songs. The songs are stored on servers with a finite amount of space unlike the tangled web of computer to computer file transfers from the illegal sites.

Another reason for the limited choice is that, it is highly unlikely that they will get an agreement from every single record label to distribute their music online.

The quality of every online music catalog depends on the Music Studios that are providing the material. Established, and therefore popular artists usually switch labels at least once during their singing career. So you might have access to their newer materials, but not the older songs, or vice versa.

6. No adware, No Spyware

Legal music download sites like their offline retail counterparts are getting an actual fee for their service. They don’t want to scam or upset their customers by placing dangerous and annoying spyware and adware programs on their computers. The industry has even trouble getting payment from consumers so they won’t tamper with anything that leads a trail of cash behind.

7. Music Only

You will have access to music files only. No free movies, games, clips, promos etc. are allowed without paying an extra fee. These items also require copyright approval before they can be distributed online. All fees, even a monthly subscription fee will not lead to an entertainment free-for-all.

8. Copyright Notice

A clearly written copyright notice should be provided on the stating
a) The nature of the site owner’s authorization to distribute legal music files online
b) what you can do with the files once you have paid for them
c)and any limitations on either party as far as use and distribution of the files.

9. No file sharing allowed

You are only allowed to use the files for personal use. Unlike a CD (physical product) you cannot purchase songs, use them and then sell them to another party or distribute them free of charge to friends, family, web surfers etc.

10. Backed by a big label?

Most of the legal music download sites are backed by at least one major music label. People are looking for songs that are hot, on the radio, playing in the clubs or on MTV. All of that commercial material comes out of the studio system. If the label does not provide the material, subject to fees, taxes and copyright notices, then the site cannot legally distribute them.

Web for Musicians

Get it right - and your business could outperform world-leading brands.
Anokis Productions has specialists in Music Production ready Websites. Musicians are well aware of the Internet's potential for reaching a worldwide audience with music. If you want to move your career forward, be competitive and popular, presentation is imperative. Let your site be a powerful advertising tool, that has the right information and ease of navigation.

A Musician Website should reflect your Music Production. It should have a creative, unique and special design. Anokis Productions believes that only a custom site designed to your exact specifications can truly show your originality and personality.

Anokis Productions also has the skills and experience needed to create great looking, great sounding and effective sites that will connect you with your fans. In addition, we can provide you with an administration site that will allow you to easily:
• update news
• show dates
• photos
• video on the web and many more.

Creating and maintaining the "buzz" is what separates a struggling band from a successful band. An interactive website is often the best way for a band to make this happen.

A website with regularly updated new pages:
• Streaming Video
• Photo Gallery [with pictures from shows]
• Show Dates page
• Guestbook
• Forum

will all keep your fans coming back again and again to your site.

Gift Ideas for Music Lovers

Do you know someone who loves music? Well, there are some fantastic items on the market right now for the avid music fan.

Mp3 players make great gifts for everyone. This fun and trendy technological invention allows the user the freedom to make and store his or her personal choice of songs for listening whenever or wherever they go. Also on the market are docking stations for Mp3 players for listening in the area of your choice. These items are very popular with the young set; but would certainly be appreciated by anyone who listens to music on a regular basis.

CD players always make great gifts for anyone. Portable, stand-alone, and mini versions of this item are available. Easy to operate and affordable, you can have one in every room of the house. Most players have the capability of playing CD's in all formats, but make sure you purchase one that plays mostly all the formats available especially if the recipient likes to record music from the computer to blank CD'R's. I personally love to create compilation CD'R's of my favorite tunes.

When it comes to stereo headphones, it is important not to scrimp on this item. The best stereo headphones to buy for the music lover are closed-end headphones. This type of headphone prevents outside noise from distracting the music listener and works best when recording music. A good pair of headphones can be pricey, but are well worth the investment. (This item is on my Christmas wish list).

Children, as well as teenagers can value tremendously from learning a musical instrument. How about an electronic keyboard for the budding musician? Electronic keyboards run anywhere from a $100.00 to thousands of dollars. Depending on your budget and the musical ability of the person, music keyboards are incredibly versatile, functional and a lot of fun. Even older adults that never got a chance to learn an instrument when they were young would appreciate a keyboard. Easy to play, especially for the beginner, some keyboards are interactive and provide built-in learning tools. Many electronic keyboards also include a stand, microphone, built-in recording capability, lighted keyboards, and touch-sensitivity. Many also include DVD's for instruction on playing the keyboard. “Key” based instruments such as electronic keyboards, piano, synthesizers etc. are best for the beginning musician.

With so many choices for the music lover at our disposal, what better gift to give than something one can appreciate and enjoy for many years to come.

Monday, December 18, 2006

MP4 Music

MP4 music downloads is an excellent choice for getting the latest songs quickly and without the hassles of traveling to the music store. There are many locations right on the web that can provide you with the best of the best for much less. There are several locations that do offer a wide range of choice when it comes to mp4 music downloads. Some offer more than others or they offer a better quality product. It will take a little looking to find the most affordable choice that is also the one that has what you would like to download.

Once you find the right location for your mp4 music downloads, you can easily and quickly (it seems almost instantly) download them to your PC, your notebook, or you can check out mp4 music downloads as well. There are specific services that are available to provide you with the ability to get great quality songs on your mp4 player or pc. If you choose mp4 music downloads, you can find the right location to download from on the web to your player, take the music with you wherever you decide to go and, if you like them; you can even burn them to CD.

No matter if you choose mp4 music downloads or find a few great songs to download to your PC, there are many services that are providing this ability to you. If you are skilled, you can even find a few free mp4 music downloads. Of course, to get the best products available, you may want to go with a paid service. It also pays for you to take your time in checking out a few of the services for their fees and their membership details. With so much competition out there, you are sure to find a great deal being offered to new members.

5 Tips For Choosing The Right Electric Guitar

Purchasing an electric guitar is very exciting and fun. The process can be made more efficient by following several basic guidelines and using several tips provided below.

Are you new to guitars and ready to make your first electric guitar purchase? Are you a seasoned player who owns several guitars and you find yourself adding to your guitar collection? No matter which category you find yourself in, getting the most from your instrument purchase is very important. It is also important to understand the types of electric guitars available.

The choices include:

1. Solid Body Electric Guitars
2. Hollow Body Electric Guitars
3. Semi Hollow Body Electric Guitars
4. Acoustic/Electric Guitars
5. Pedal Steel Guitars
6. Hawaiian Style Lap Guitars

Guitars, and particularly electric guitars are not created equal. There are many brands of electric guitars to choose from. Making the right choice when purchasing a guitar will depend on some basic factors, including:

1. Your particular situation

2. The specific application when using the guitar.

For example, if you are a beginner, there is little reason to consider investing several thousands of dollars into a pro level guitar such as a custom Les Paul or a Paul Reed Smith. Another example regarding a specific application would be if you are a traveling musician. Traveling guitarists may want to consider a slightly less expensive guitar to take on the road while saving their finest instrument for a studio environment. Regardless of your situation or the application, the bottom line is there are several factors to consider. Understanding your position as a potential guitar buyer will help you make the right decision and ensure that you make an informed purchase.

Here are 5 tips to help you in choosing the right electric guitar.

Tip 1. Evaluate your level of committment to the instrument and the art of music.

Before you choose your electric guitar be sure you understand the level of committment that you are prepared to invest into the instrument. Electric guitars can be expensive and understanding the level of dedication you plan to invest in the instrument should play a vital role in choosing your guitar.

Tip 2. Identify your particular application for the instrument.

If you are a beginner and just learning to play the instrument, your application will be quite different from an intermediate or advanced guitarist who is adding to their collection. Determine your particular situation and application for the guitar you will purchase. Consider whether or not you will be keeping the instrument at home or frequently traveling with it. For example, if you plan to keep the instrument at home for recreational use, you may want to consider including a less expensive case for the guitar. Road cases can be costly and will not be neccesary if you do not travel with the guitar.

Tip 3. Identify your budget and include patience regarding your guitar purchase.

Many aspiring guitarists have wandered into the local music store only to be overwhelmed by the vast choices and different price ranges of guitars. As with any purchase, pre-planning and understanding your budget is critical. Prices for electric guitars range from a few hunderd dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. If you are serious about playing the guitar, selecting your instrument will be one of the most important decisions you make. Be sure to take ample time during this stage of the process. Patience is more than a virtue when selecting your guitar.

Tip 4. Consult a professional to get tips on guitar quality and performance.

It is a good idea to take the time to visit several musical instrument dealers in your area. Retail
guitar shops will be more than happy to help you understand what to look for when buying an electric guitar. Get several opinions if you are new to guitars. Most guitar outlets will have seasoned players on staff who will be happy to impart their experience and wisdom. Ask questions. Find out what you need to consider when selecting an electric guitar. Getting several opinions in this area will shed light on the overall picture and will be very beneficial information when it comes time to buy.

Tip 5. Include additional items and training resources to help you get started playing the guitar.

Once you have made the right guitar purchase, be sure to have additional items on hand that will be vital to the process of learning. You will need an extra set of guitar strings, some extra picks, a tuner and a stand for your guitar. It is also very important to purchase some beginner books that include chord charts, guitar tab and chord progression exercises.

Learning to play the electric guitar is fun and exciting. There are few things in life that will provide the relaxation and feeling of accomplishment you can experience by becoming proficient with guitar chords, guitar tabs and guitar chord progressions. Applying the knowledge you gain from the right learning resources to your favorite style of music is very rewarding. Carefully select your electric guitar. Be sure to practice to develop skill, musical knowledge and basic music theory concepts. Apply what you learn on a daily basis and you will be amazed at the progress you will make with your new electric guitar.

Funny Music Videos and Songs

A music video is a video that accompanies a complete piece of music most a song. In present world music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device to promote the sale of music recordings. The popularity of music videos started only in 1980's due to MTv (Music Television) Channel. music video, videotaped performance of a recorded popular song, usually accompanied by dance or a fragmentary story and sometimes employing concert footage. Download Music Video, Video Tapes, TV Shows, MTV Shows and Funny Music Videos

The concept of music video start in 1920s when Oskar Fischinger made short animated films to advertise Electrola Records' new releases, making these films possibly the first music videos.

While experimenting on filming real, actual events in 1929 Dziga Vertov the Russian film revolutionary made a 40 minutes film called Man with the Movie Camera. The film totally was backed by live orchestra music without any vocal. The film was highly regarded for setting principles of the documentary. Download Music Video, Video Tapes, TV Shows, MTV Shows and Funny Music Videos

In 1938 Alexander Nevsky film by Sergei Eisenstein's (extended scenes of battle choreographed) has set new standards for the use of music in film . This film was also described as first music video.

Max Fleischer introduced Screen Songs which invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball". Early 1930s entries in the series featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoons.

The early animated efforts of Walt Disney, his Silly Symphonies, were built around music. The Warner Brothers cartoons, even today billed as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brothers musical films. Live action musical shorts, featuring such popular performers as Cab Calloway, were also distributed to theatres.

In 1940, for Panoram visual jukebox "Soundies " were made which were another early form of music video (one-song films). Soundie made the music the star and virtually all the name jazz performers appeared in Soundie shorts. The Panoram jukebox with eight three-minute Soundies were popular in taverns and night spots, but the fad faded during World War II. In 1940, Walt Disney released Fantasia, an animated film based around famous pieces of classical music.

The Serpentine in Hyde Park, London and "Stranger in Paradise " featured by Tony Bennett in 1956 which were distributed and played in US & UK television stations were claimed by Bennett to be the first music video.

In 1961 Ozzie Nelson filmed and edited the video of "Travelin' Man" by his son Ricky Nelson. It featured images of various parts of the world mentioned in the Jerry Fuller song and Ricky singing. It is believed to be the very first rock video. The Exciters "Tell Him" the pioneer of full-colour music video in 1962 greatly influenced the music viedo generation.

Nokia 5300 Sporty design and great music features

Truly a music phone—the Nokia 5300 is one of the latest mobile phones from Nokia and comes with a sporty look, stylish finish and compact touch. The device boasts a number of music features such as Music player with support for different music formats, dedicated music keys, FM radio and MP3 ringtones. Groove the music on the go. It has other latest features like camera, Java games, Bluetooth connectivity, mobile Internet and tri-band network.

Music all the way—the Nokia 5300 comes with great music features and dedicated music keys. Touch the key and get ready to move your legs with music tunes. The music features are very user-friendly and effective. The dedicated keys can be used to play, fast forward, rewind and pause the music. The handset is also boasted with a built-in FM radio that allows you to enjoy latest music from your favourite music station anytime-anywhere.

The Nokia 5300 comes with an integrated 1.3 mega-pixel camera and 8x digital zoom. Shoot the moment on the go and share with your friends. It has camera and landscape mode that allows you to take picture with ease. Record video clips using video player and recorder. Save it on your phone. The phone comes with a 5MB of internal memory plus MicroSD memory card for additional storage.

The Nokia 5300 apart from the music and camera features also provides good messaging features. The mobile phone provides features such as SMS, MMS, audio messaging and instant messaging services. On the wide screen display, you can view clear texts, send images, texts and video clips using MMS and instant messaging feature allows you to connect directly through Gmail, Yahoo and AOL.

Connect the Nokia 5300 to any of the compatible devices without using a wire. Bluetooth technology allows you to go wireless. Browse the web using XHTML browser. Send and receive email on the go. What else, with Nokia 5300, you can stay connected anywhere you go with tri-band connectivity.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Are you going to buy an MP3 player

If you wish to buy a Mp3 player then you should be clear as what you are going to bring in home. Mp3 player is an effective tool for them who have moved their music collection to their computers because they are digital without any movable parts.

While shopping you should take care of the following:

1. Mp3 players can range anywhere from $60 to $500 for example Apple iPod. There are many popular Mp3 players available in the market such as Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic.

2. You should go for a player with storage that you can easily afford. Player with more storage capacity can hold more music. Since one minute of Mp3 music takes approximately one megabyte of memory therefore 128 megabyte Mp3 player can hold two hours of tunes. In small Mp3 players storage is made of flash memory chips.

3. To make your player purchase worth you should make sure that your player works with your computer because many mp3 players don't work with Macintosh computers.

4. You should try all controls of the player you are going to purchase. Inexpensive players have control panels that work minimum.

5. Get an idea of the size and weight of the player so that if you want to carry it in your pocket or belt you can easily do so.

6. You should check the life of the battery as advertised because the claims made by the manufacturers are not exact very often.

7. Choose an mp3 player unit with a USB connection or Fire wire instead of parallel connection to your computer. This is because Fire wire is fast and flexible.

8. You can also choose from a player having a radio fm receiver so that you could easily download music from the radio and identify the music and artist each time you connect the player to the computer.

9. Give preference to players having expandable storage such as Compact Flash, Secure Digital, and Memory Stick. There are also new models available with extra storage that can store more computer data.

10. Listen to the Mp3 player and also use stereo headphones. If you don't like normal headphones you can choose from wide variety available.