snapshot 5/15/07

MySpace to launch online TV channels
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070515/wr_nm/myspace_tv_dc_1;_ylt=AumIlxWOHxib42fH123Y2NdkM3wV
Popular Internet social network MySpace said it planned to launch online television channels from news and entertainment networks that include The New York Times Co., Reuters and National Geographic. The new channels will also include programming from "lifestyle" media companies that will offer animation, night life, video game shows and music.


Songwriter license firm backs music-tracking tool
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070515/wr_nm/harryfox_audiblemagic_dc;_ylt=Ar0huJ19aBIUGlLg5DHoVqJkM3wV
Music publishing licensing organization the Harry Fox Agency will start using new copyright tracking tools to improve the process of identifying songwriters' and publishers' information for programming uploaded by regular users on the Internet. Harry Fox will be using Los Gatos, California-based Audible Magic's "fingerprinting" technology to identify digital versions of music and videos, used by media and technology companies to combat piracy of copyright-protected content uploaded by users without permission.


TiVo expands search capabilities to encompass Net
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20070515/tc_usatoday/tivoexpandssearchcapabilitiestoencompassnet;_ylt=Av4Yih5kTVH9WJH_dItRQtdkM3wV
TiVo will narrow the gap between Internet video and conventional TV viewing today by introducing what it calls the first "TV-centric on-screen search tool" to find programming in both realms. The DVR pioneer's system, called Universal Swivel Search, will let its subscribers who like a TV show or movie search for other programs they might like based on elements in common, including the title, actors and subject matter - as well as suggestions from other fans.


Paul McCartney album exclusively on iTunes
http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/05/15/mccartney.on.itunes/
Apple today announced that Paul McCartney's new album, "Memory Almost Full" is available for digital pre-order beginning Tuesday exclusively on the iTunes. iTunes customers pre-ordering the 13 track album in the US will receive the "Dance Tonight" music video when the album is delivered and the single "Ever Present Past", immediately upon pre-ordering the new album. Additionally, Paul McCartney's full catalog of 25 solo albums will be available for the first time digitally on iTunes later this month.


What is Amazon up to with Lab126?
http://uf911.blogspot.com/2006/01/what-is-amazon-up-to-with-lab126.html
I ran across a document a few months ago that referenced "Lab126, an Amazon company", which piqued my interest. To call the information posted on lab126.com 'sparse' is a bit of an understatement. From what I can gather, they are focusing on digitial media for consumer electronics devices. Judging from their logo, it appears that music will be a big part of their value proposition. It's not clear yet whether they will be delivering an application, platform, or service, but there are some interesting, fairly strong signals that seem to indicate that their solution may include more than just software, and may focus on mobile devices. And its president is Gregg Zehr who was VP of Hardware Engineering at PalmOne, VP Engineering at VA Linux and VP PowerBook Engineering at Apple.


Download services stuck between CSS and a hard place; no download-to-burn
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070514-download-services-stuck-between-css-and-a-hard-place-no-download-to-burn.html
One of the big problems with movie download services in their present incarnation is their lack of support for DVD burning, leaving subscribers with few options for watching downloaded content. Allowing consumers to burn DVDs from downloaded movies they have purchased has been a holy grail for the services, but efforts to tweak the CSS license to enable burning have run into problems.

According to Video Business, talks between the DVD Copy Control Association and the download services have hit a snag. The DVD CCA administers the CSS license and must sign off on any changes to it. Currently, use of CSS technology is limited to commercial manufacturers, but to assuage the piracy fears of the movie studios, the download services want their customers to be able to burn protected DVDs.


Napster music to be available on Motorola phones
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070515/tc_nm/motorola_napster_dc_1;_ylt=AourpZrA9xCPCctsxdbAB0lkM3wV
Napster Inc. said on Tuesday it agreed to make its music subscription service available on Motorola Inc.'s mobile phones. Napster and Motorola will develop promotional efforts for North America, the United Kingdom and Germany designed to let consumers listen to Napster's music on many Motorola music-enabled handsets.


Archos roadmap reveals fifth generation plans
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/15/archos-roadmap-reveals-fifth-generation-plans/
The folks at Archos Lounge have managed to get a peek into the future of their raison d'être, turning up Archos's roadmap for their fifth generation of products. As you can sorta see above (a bigger version's available at the link below), the company has quite a few things in store for its ever-expanding line of portable media players, including support for BitTorrent, Flickr, and YouTube, which would also seem to make Flash support all but confirmed. From the looks of it, the 5G devices will also boast some VoIP capabilities courtesy of Skype and, most importantly for some, they'll even let you get your MySpace fix on the go. If that's not enough to whet your appetite, you'll only have to hold out a bit longer to get the complete rundown on the new devices, as Archos has already pegged June 14th as the date for the official announcement.

Of interest, the picture indicates that users will be able to download music as well as audio books from Amazon.com.

Gates: 40 million Vista copies sold
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9719409-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Microsoft has sold more than 40 million copies of Windows Vista so far, Bill Gates told a crowd of hardware developers Tuesday. That's more than the total install base of Windows' largest competitors, Gates quipped as he began his keynote at the Windows Hardware and Engineering Conference (WinHEC) here. "As of last week, we've (sold) nearly 40 million copies," Gates said. "That's twice as fast as the adoption of Windows XP, the last major release we had."

CEA announces connection standard for portable media players
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/15/cea-announces-connection-standard-for-portable-media-players/
The Consumer Electronics Association's Mobile Electronics Committee looks set to shake up the portable media player industry a bit, today announcing a new connection standard for PMPs that'll extend to vehicles in addition to in-home use. While details are somewhat light, the standard (otherwise known as CEA-2017) describes a single connector that'll let you both play and charge a portable media player in conjunction with any in-home or in-vehicle audio/video device sporting the same common connector. From the looks of it, the newly-standardized connector would also seem to be well on its way to acceptance, with more than 100 companies having a hand in its development, which apparently includes a number of automakers and accessory-makers in addition to PMP manufacturers. Not so clear, however, is when we might actually start seeing devices with the connector, although we're guessing that it'll still quite a while before it truly becomes "standard."

The Rise of "Hybrid" Vinyl-MP3s
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/15/1942207&from=rss
Khyber writes to let us know that First Word Records, a U.K.-based record label, is now selling vinyl records that come with codes that allow you to download a 320-kbit MP3 of that record's content. The article mentions another independent label, Saddle Creek, that also offers DRM-free downloads with some vinyl records. The co-founder of First Word is quoted on why they didn't DRM the download: "Making a legal, paid-for version of the file less useful than a copied or pirated one doesn't make sense."