snapshot 7/12/07

Why New Music Doesn't Sound As Good As It Did
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/33549
It's part of the music industry's quest to make music louder and louder, and it's been going on for decades, at least since the birth of the compact disc

The key to the problem is that, in making the soft parts of a track louder (in the process making the entire track loud), you lose detail in the song: The difference between what's supposed to be loud and what's supposed to be soft becomes less and less. The result is that, sure, the soft parts of a song are nice and loud, but big noises like drum beats become muffled and fuzzy.


Get set for Apple's Yellow Submarine Beatles iPod
http://techdigest.tv/2007/07/get_set_for_app.html
However, according to music industry consultancy Music Ally, the Yellow Submarine iPod may be back on Apple's roadmap, now that the iPhone launch is out of the way.
What's more, it'd be launched to tie-in with Beatles tracks finally going on sale on Apple's iTunes Store, possibly as a one-month exclusive before becoming available through rival digital music services. Kat's mocked up an image of how the Yellow Sub iPod might look – would you buy one?


Microsoft patent application reveals plans for paid Zune sharing
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/microsoft-patent-application-reveals-plans-for-paid-zune-sharing/
It looks like Microsoft might be considering shaking up its Zune Marketplace a bit, with a recent patent application revealing its plans for "off-line economies for digital media" or, in effect, paid Zune sharing. Basically, users would be paid a sales commission for sharing songs with other Zune users -- only if that user actually ends up purchasing the track after the usual three free plays, that is. What's most interesting, however, is that the system could potentially work with "pirated" music as well, with the application specifically stating that "even resale of pirated media content benefits the copyright holder." Of course, there's no indication as to when or if the system may actually be put in place, though it would certainly seem to go some way towards making the Zune more "social" -- in a bugging your friends to join Columbia House sort of way.


Warner streams entire catalog of music for free on imeem
http://venturebeat.com/2007/07/12/warner-streams-entire-catalog-of-music-for-free-on-imeem/
Warner Music Group is offering its entire music and video catalog for free streaming on imeem, a Web site focused on letting users share music playlists. Now imeem users can make playlists with Warner music. Warner, in return, will get a piece of imeem’s ad revenue.

This partnership is significant because it is the first time a major label has offered free ad-supported access to it entire catalog of music and video to such an online sharing site. It is also remarkable because Warner (along with other labels) had sued imeem less than two months ago for copyright infringement (our coverage; scroll down). See suit here.


Digital Audio Provider MediaBay Closing Down Operations
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-digital-audio-provider-mediabay-closing-down-operations/
The struggling audio book company MediaBay, once trying to compete on the digital side with Audible, is finally closing down, after trying and failing to find a buyer. It retained a banker in February last year, but nothing came out of it.
The company issued a terse statement: It has “been unsuccessful in its attempt to sell the company and has no viable alternative, except to cease operations and liquidate its assets. MediaBay intends to wind down its operations in an orderly manner and seek to sell its assets at auction and distribute its remaining cash to its creditors. It is anticipated that this process will conclude by early September 2007.”


Court declines to postpone Internet radio royalty hike
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070712-court-declines-to-postpone-internet-radio-royalty-hike.html
Internet radio broadcasters' best hope to avoid the onset of higher royalties beginning Sunday, July 15, fell by the wayside as the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit denied a motion to postpone the onset of the new royalty regime. In a brief order, the court said that the issues raised by the webcasters did not satisfy its "stringent standards."