All You Can Download Music Coming To iTunes

This is what I'm talking about Apple!!!!

Financial Times is reporting that Apple is in deep talks with music companies about an all you can eat music service, this from an anonymous executive. The article suggests that customers would pay an extra $100 for an ipod, and would get free downloads for the life of the device, or pay a monthly fee of $8.

Now this is what you do to combat piracy and completely dominate the music industry. All you can download for $8 a month? Where do I sign up Apple!!!

[FT via Gizmodo]

RIAA Comes Up With Fake News Segment

Boy you just can't make this stuff up!!!

The RIAA has launched a new campaign in the fight against pirated music, this time by creating their own fake news segment. taking on the apperance of a local news segment, the RIAA warns consumers that record companies do not sell CD's on street corners, that pirated CD's sound "atrocious" even though it's a digital to digital copy, and my favorite; watch for CD's with too many good songs on them.

WATCH OUT FOR CD'S WITH TOO MANY GOOD SONGS ON THEM?

That last one might be the reason that the record industry is losing money RIAA. Perhaps you might want to try the idea of putting a lot of good songs on a CD, consumers might even buy them. That statement sums up the record industries total mind set.

RIAA Fake News! [Live Leak via Crunchgear]

Edgar Bronfman: Music Industry Partly To Blame For War With Consumers

Finally, someone within the music industry has taken some ownership of why the music industry is struggling. Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr admitted that the music industry is partly to blame for the problems that it is experiencing, and that they are "at war" with their own customers. Check the quote:

"We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won."

It's amazing that someone within the industry DOES get it. Instead of embracing a new way of music interaction and distribution, they've chosen to grip tightly onto their old ways of doing business. Stating that they're loosing money only because of piracy is not looking at the whole picture. The truth is is that artist (if you can call them that) are not as good as they've been in the past. With iTunes and other outlets like it, people are not forced to buy an entire album if only one good song exists on it. Unlike in the past, artist and the music houses can't have one good track and 10 tracks of filler, and expect the album to do well.

That is a good thing!!!

This forces the both artist and the music homes to WORK on putting out a good product, and not expecting one song to carry the album. If the music industry channeled the same effort that they use going after college students, single moms, and grandmothers, imagine how good the quality of music would be out today.

Trent Reznor Was A "Onik" User

I never got the chance to really check out the site "Onik" before it was taken down, but it sounds like there were quite a few people who liked it. Not just for the obvious reasons for free music, but many people liked the feel of the site and how it had high bit-rate music. Trent Reznor from "Nine inch Nails" was just one of those users who is disappointed to see it gone.

In an interview in New York Magazine, Reznor said that Onik was “world’s greatest record store” because of its content and quality. Said Reznor “iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don’t feel cool when I go there. I’m tired of seeing John Mayer’s face pop up. I feel like I’m being hustled when I visit there, and I don’t think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc.”

It's interesting that someone who is accomplished in the music industry would feel this way about a site that according to the record industry stops just short of terrorism. I would like to see this site come back in some form, perhapses with a monthly fee for all the music you can download. Having high bit-rate music would be good for all users, not matter where it comes from.

Trent Reznor and Saul Williams Discuss Their New Collaboration, Mourn OiNK [NY Mag via Crunchgear]

A Different Look At The Music Industry

In the most provocative, innovative, and forward thinking article I have ever read about the RIAA and the music industry, Rob from Demonbaby gives his take on the take down of Oink. If you don't know what Oink is, it was one of the top music donwloading sites before the lawmakers and the RIAA brought it down. But before you form your opinions about the former site, I highly recommend that you read this article that Rob posted.

Rob use to work for the big labels in the 1990s and into the 2000s, and his insight might have you rethinking everything you know about the music industry. And you would be surprised about how he feels about how and what the music industry has evolved into. Please understand that I really don't like long articles, but this one is so necessary for any music fan, that it should be mandatory reading for anyone who's ever purchased a song.

Please!!! Take the 20 minutes and read through this one.

When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide [Demonbaby via Crunchgear]

Hoomer's music slot: 9/20/07 The Virgin of Boston

September 14th 2007, a white clad virginal maiden graced the stage. One audience member shouted "Where's your unicorn." The ethereal voice of Marissa Nadler ushered forth wrapping the entire room in a soft cocoon of candy floss. Marissa Nadler played for thirty minutes playing a wonderful set. The highlights were probably her cover of Famous Blue Raincoat (Leonard Cohen) and her musical rendition of EA Poe's Annabel Lee (see above video)

If you do not know Nadler I recommend checking her out. Her new CD (Songs III: Bird on the Water) is out now and she is on tour. If you buy the CD you actually get access to a download of 4 free additional tracks including a wonderful cover of Neil Young's Cortez the Killer.

http://www.marissanadler.com/

My Space

Tour

More Streaming Music

Trent Reznor: Steal My Album!!!

Talk about being pissed off at a record company.

Head man Trent Reznor of 'Nine Inch Nails' states that high prices of CD's are hurting his bands sales. And he thinks that his record label 'Universal' isn't doing anything about it either! So Trent has decided to take a different approach. Check the quote that Trent recently posted on theninhotline.com:

"Last time I was here, I was doing a lot of complaining about the ridiculous prices of CDs down here, And that story got picked up and got carried all around the world and now my record label all around the world hates me, because I yelled at them, I called them out for being greedy f**king a**holes. I didn't get a chance to check, has the price come down at all? I see a no, a no, a no... Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means - STEAL IT. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'. Because one way or another these m*therf**kers will get it through their head that they're ripping people off and that that's not right."

Uh....Wow!!!

[NIN says: “Copy our music because CDs are too expensive” via G4TV]

'SpiralFrog' Free Music and Movie Downloading Site

SpiralFrog is a free music and movie download site that is ad-supported, and is out of beta and is finally live. It has the user put in their personal information (age, gender, zip, ect.) and it targets ads to your demographic. The files on SpiralFrog are copy protected, so you cannot burn them, but you can transfer to two portable music players and or compatible phones (sorry, no Apple devices).

You have to login to Spiral Frog at least once a month or the files that you've downloaded will be lost. None of the Major labels have signed on with SpiralFrog but it claims that it will hit the 2-million music track mark within a few months.

Free online music service launches [Yahoo! News/AP via Crunchgear]

Customer Ringtones On iphone For Free

Many iphone owners were pissed to find out that Apple was charging .99 cents to cut up MP3 songs into ringtones. Well a blogger has figured out a way to make it happen, at the great price of free. It requires iTunes 7.4 and you must convert MP3 files to AAC, which iTunes will do. Check it out below:

gryphondwb's method:

1. To add a ringtone to your iPhone, using Windows Explorer or the Finder just duplicate and rename any AAC file to be "M4R", then double-click on it. This file will be added to your iTunes library automatically.
2. Now, click on your iPhone in iTunes, and go to the ringtone section. You should now see your new ringtone. If you want to be sure about the sync, feel free to click "selected ringtones" and check off the file explicitly, though this shouldn't be required.
3. Now SYNC your phone. You're Done!

Not bad.

iPhone / iTunes - How to Add Ringtones for Free [gryphondwb's Xanga via G4TV]

Microsoft Cuts Price of Zune: And No One Cares

In an effort to head off all of this Apple media hype, Microsoft announced that they will be dropping the 30GB Zune to $199. Microsoft said that the $50 price drop was planed for months now, and they just waited until today to drop the news.

Way to go Microsoft!!!

You really upstaged Apple today with that one!!!

Microsoft cuts Zune music player price by $50 [Reuters via G4TV]

Bug In Vista Slows Network Speeds

Microsoft certainly makes it hard for themselves!!!

Most of the time Microsoft has had to deal with security flaws or patches, but this classifies as a big ass bug!!! In this episode, Microsoft's Vista is front and center of a drop in transfer speeds. Apparently whenever a Vista user listens to music and downloads anything, there's a drop in transfer speeds, with some users seeing their network cards use only 5% of a gigabit network device. The same users report 50% usage while using Windows XP under the same conditions.

Of course Microsoft is working on a fix, but for right now Vista users might what to turn off their music while downloading.

Vista Network Degradation Bug Linked to Streaming [StreamingMedia.com via G4TV]

Franz Ferdinand: File Sharring Friendly

Amazing concept....

When singer/guitarist Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand was asked about illegally downloading music, he said…

“I like the idea that, because of downloading, people are going to buy songs only if they are good. I think that’s a positive thing. It means lazy bands aren’t going to get away with giving you one hit single and an album full of filler. We like the idea that every song should stand up in its own right so you don’t have to listen to a song in the context of an album to understand it. I suppose that’s why I’m sympathetic to the download environment.”

According to Crunchgear.... 'the band went so far as to explicitly encourage fans to download their new David Bowie cover via file sharing services. I’m not sure how their record label feels about these recent comments, but I seem to remember back in 2000 that The Offspring tried to make their “Conspiracy Of One” album a 100-percent free download and Columbia Records blew a gasket.

Just goes to show you that although the labels are against free music downloads, the bands themselves don’t always feel the same.'

Thanks to Crunchgear for this article and information.

Franz Ferdinand Encourage Fans to Pirate New Track [TorrentFreak via Crunchgear]

$40,000 iPod Shuffle: For The Rich And Stupid

Lets face it, you're rich!!!

But your self esteem is in the toilet, and need to buy something that the normal peasant person couldn't afford.

Here is the perfect thing for you!!!

Pick up a new custom iPod shuffle that's decorated with gold, diamonds, and a price tag of $40,000.

Proving once again that you have more money than taste.

Blinged out iPod Shuffle doesn't come cheap via Engadget

Google, Universal Team Up With gBox: iTunes Killer?

In an effort to shift power away from Apple, Google along with Universal has teamed up with gBox to offer DRM free music on-line. Starting August 21, gbox will offer DRM-free music tracks via Google search results.

Tracks will cost .99 cents, which undercuts iTunes by .30 cents for DRM-free music. The move is huge for gBox which will benefit from Google's search advertising. A month ago, Universal informed Apple that they would not renew a new long-term contract to sell music through iTunes. This seems to be the next step in shifting power away from Apple.

Read the entire article after the jump. [readwriteweb.com]

Concept Combo CD/MP3 Player: Cool!

So you have a huge CD collection in your car, but you also have a sweet MP3 collection at home that you'd like to take with you. Well now you've got the best of both worlds with this combo CD/MP3 player.

This Dual Music Player (DMP) combines great looks, CD player, and MP3 player in one form. It's only a concept, but it's one of the best looking designs that I've seen on a MP3 player.

Check out more pics after the leap.

Dual Music Player That Plays Your MP3 Collection & Your CDs [Yanko Design via Crunchgear]

Ultimate Ears 11: Stick em' Up!!!

You want to impress your friends and show them how much you can spend on a pair of headsets? Do you feel that you have to have the best of everything to prove your self worth? Do you need to show the world that not only are you inadequate in bed, but you have the headsets to prove it?

Well my friend, your headsets have just arrived. The new Ultimate Ears 11 are one of the most expensive in ear headsets on the market. Coming in at a cool $1150, you get 4 individual speakers inside each ear bud, and they can be custom made to fit the exact shape of your ear.

$1150 for headsets?

Check the insanity out here. Product Page [Ultimate Ears via Crunchgear]

Eminem Goes After Apple: Again!

Man I tell ya, Eminem makes me laugh sometimes.

Eminem is suing Apple once again, for selling his music on iTunes with out his permission. If you remember he also filed a lawsuit against Apple for using his song 'lose yourself' in an unaired Apple TV commercial. The lawsuit this time centers on if Universal (the label who Eminem is on) can cut a deal with Apple to sell his music without his consent.

It looks like Eminem is looking for a larger cut than what Apple is paying Universal for his music. I think it's a little strange that he's going after Apple, and not after his label who brokered the deal in the first place. In all fairness though, I really do think that Apple should disclose how much of that $.99 goes to the artist.

Hit the jump to read the article. [Detroit News via Crunchgear]

Bang & Olufsen MP3 Player: Awe..Come on!

I'm still wondering why someone would put lots of money into something that could be had for a quarter of the price. But if you're a Bang & Olufsen fan that needs to show the world that you have money, than this is for you.

The Beosound 6 is a MP3 player that has 4GB and 24 hours of battery life. No word if it comes with and arm and leg.

Hit the jump to read more. [Electronista via Crunchgear]

Live Earth(Concerts for a Climate in Crisis.) 7/7/07!!

Hello Cow Bell Techies! Today there is concert you need to be aware of happening all day long, On your computer! Live Earth a 24 hour music marathon spanning seven continents is happening NOW!!! Go on line now and enjoy Music from more than 100 of the biggest names in music. The Concerts are backed by Al Gore, whose campaign to force global warming onto the international political stage inspired this event. Hurry up and log on after the Jump!!

Prince Tells Music Industry To Bit Me

I love Prince!!! In a manly way though.

He's never saw eye to eye with the Music Industry for decades, and now he gives them the ultimate middle finger. Prince plans on giving away a free CD in a national British newspaper, to the dismay of many executives in the music industry. One Entertainment Retailers Association spokesman Paul Quirk stated:

'The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores. And I say that to all the other artists who may be tempted to dally with the Mail on Sunday' he went on with this statement: "It would be an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career,"

What? I didn't know that the record stores were doing Prince a favor by selling and making money off of his talent. I love it when an artist says (I've got enough money, I'm going to give back to the fans who have supported me for a change).

Read the rest after the jump. [Guardian Unlimited via Slashdot.org]