Tuesday, June 10, 2008

snapshot 6/10/08

Bertelsmann wants to sell Sony BMG stake to Sony
German media group Bertelsmann is in talks with Japanese partner Sony on the sale of Bertelsmann's half in their jointly owned music company Sony BMG, a newspaper said Tuesday. Each has owned half of the music publishing firm since 2004, and Sony has an option to buy should Bertelsmann decide to sell its stake, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper said, without identifying its source.


SanDisk buys MusicGremlin for music service
SanDisk today said it has bought out MusicGremlin for an undisclosed amount. The deal is meant to give the Sansa player manufacturer access to the smaller company's still rare direct-download subscription service, which allows members to download an unlimited number of songs each month to the player itself via Wi-Fi rather than first transferring them to a PC. The features will have a "key role" in future Sansa devices, according to SanDisk's Sansa Senior VP Daniel Schreiber.

The California company briefly tried offering a similar feature in the past through its Sansa Connect player, which tapped Yahoo's then-active unlimited music subscription service for nearly the same functionality. The closure of Yahoo's service this year will require SanDisk to search for a new partner for any future projects.
Such features have been considered one of the primary advantages of the MusicGremlin and SanDisk players over rivals; users of Apple's iPod touch can download songs but must pay by the track or album, while the Zune has had Wi-Fi since 2006 but has been limited to temporary song swaps between local users as well as wireless synchronization when the player is docked. Newcomer Chinese firm Haier's Ibiza Rhapsody is currently the only active player on the market beyond MusicGremlin's to allow direct subscription downloads.


DVD retailers increase game sections
DVD retailers are scoring with videogames, but some predict film merchandising may be squeezed as stores make room for the fast-growing category. There has never been a hotter period for the videogame industry, with the largest variety of consoles ever available at one time, note retailers. Next generation Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 bump elbows with handhelds Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, along with earlier generation PS2. First-quarter DVD spending was basically flat versus the same time last year. Total game sales are up 31% year-to-date through April over the comparable 2007 frame, according to NPD Group.

To get in on the action, several DVD specialists have expanded their game offerings. Virgin Megastores carved out special Microsoft-branded sections in 2007. Newbury Comics, which previously dealt only in used games, last year began selling new titles in about half of its 27 stores. Two years ago, DeepDiscount.com began with a small selection of ‘rated E for everyone’ games. More recently, it has expanded to games in all ratings.


No New Music Download Method On New iPhone
However, at least at this point, the device has no different method of buying and downloading music. Just like the original iPhone, the only way users can access and download music from the iTunes music store is via the WiFi connection. Downloading content over a wireless operators network—which the faster 3G iPhone would certainly allow—generally means sharing the price with the operator, something Apple has been less than enthusiastic about doing.


Stateside Albums: The Sales Story Keeps Getting Worse
US-based album sales are continuing to drop precipitously, according to recent Nielsen Soundscan data. The downward trend is being mirrored globally, part of a worldwide shift away from the physical disc. During the most recent reporting period, weekly sales moved to 7.24 million units in the United States, a 13.4 percent drop from the comparable period last year. The weekly plunge is not an isolated incident, as the year-over-year downturn now stands at 16.5 percent. The comparative data is based on a relatively depressed 2007, one that witnessed a 15 percent album sales decline. The United States represents the largest recorded music market, according to IFPI rankings.

No comments: