Catching Up On Some Music-Tech News



I've been saving these articles to share with you, as well as some of my thoughts...

MTV gets first crack at Windows New Music Service
This is seriously disappointing. Currently, most any multi-media you want to experience at MTV.com has to be on the Windows platform because they utilize the Digital Rights Management (DRM) built into the Windows Media Player (WMP). They have a statement on their website that when DRM is available through WMP on the Mac, that they'll provide service... however, it was announced just recently that Windows Media Player is going away for the Mac.

Music Stops for Mac Windows Media Player
The one good point in this article is that there's a solution. Flip4Mac is a utility that will allow you to play WMP files through Quicktime. However, this doesn't always work for sites that embed WMP files in their sites.

Sony Reorganizes Struggling Connect Service
This article demonstrates the effect that Apple's iPod & iTunes combination is having on the digital music download business. By tightly integrating the two, it provides for a much more pleasant service for those who aren't really MP3 / Tech saavy... It's also interesting to see how others are entering the music sale business... One of the cooler ventures I've seen is the Songbird application.

Songbird, the "Open Source" iTunes Killer" Flies Today
I guess if I see any competitor to iTunes, it would be this. I really like the concept, however since it's not made for the Mac (yet) it'll be a while until I can give you some better feedback on it. Check out the screen shots...

Jobs' New Disney Role Raises Conflict Concerns
In case you haven't already heard, Steve Jobs is now the single largest holder of Disney stocks, thanks to the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. While I wasn't crazy about the idea of Pixar being swallowed by Disney, this does present some pretty cool opportunities. I'm not sure why I've always been anti-Disney... but with a situation like this, it would be cool to see how this could change the distribution of media (note that some of the Disney owned content was the first to make it to the iTunes Music Store for download). And this already seems to be paying off...

Networks' iTunes Gamble Paying Off

Posted: Wed - February 8, 2006 at 11:29 AM           |

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