Check out this tongue-planted-squarely-in-cheek news story from bbspot.com on Sony's move to DRM-free downloads. Click to read more at bbspot or check the digg story.
Category: Tech
Recording Labels to Offer New Online Music Options
I recently "dug" an Associated Press story from Wired.com, which spotlights a few digital models the major record labels are pursuing in 2008. Although MP3's have been around for quite some time now, in the coming months, you'll see all four major labels groups participating in the direct sale of MP3 in varying degrees. Recently, talk of Sony/BMG dropping DRM restrictions in the first quarter, has led the discussion around digital downloads and what effect DRM-free music sales will have on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Rhapsody, eMusic and other services. Read the AP story @ Wired.com or on Digg.com.
IE users beware: RealPlayer zero-day flaw under attack
Hackers are actively exploiting a zero-day hole in RealNetworks’ RealPlayer media player, a software program installed on tens of millions of Windows computers worldwide.
Microsoft unveils new generation of Zune – CNET News.com
Changes include a complete overhaul of the device’s software and a redesign of Marketplace, which will offer 1 million unprotected songs.Photos: Round two for Zune
Boutell.com: a great audio resource guide for hosting your audio or mp3 files on the web
I was surfing around today to find an online resource or tutorial to teach me how to host and then embed .mp3 audio files in my MySpace page. I came across a couple of websites with instructions. The best one I’d found at Boutell.com featured a well written FAQ with relational links to other articles within the site that were good tutorials on how to host and feature .mp3 audio on your website or MySpace page.
Check out Boutell.com’s audio FAQ for comprehensive instructions on embedding the Flash-based XSPF player into your web page and where to host your .mp3 audio files for free or a nominal montly fee. You can’t do one without the other, so make sure you find a host server for your audio files and that you have access to your web server to upload the necessary files.
Rane Serato Scratch Live Demonstration Video
A couple of days ago, my friend Wanita asked me if I could help out a friend of hers, who’s interested in picking up DJing. He was wondering if he should bypass vinyl and go to CD, then to MP3. Although I hate to say it, with the advent of MP3 DJing, both vinyl and CD are going the way of the dinosaur. Don’t get me wrong; I love vinyl, but the trade-off between carrying a laptop to a gig today or three crates or records? In my book, the MacBook wins. Ask any touring DJ if he or she wants to get searched by security at the airport, then have their records lost, broken or stolen. In today’s touring DJ world, you bring a book of CD’s, your laptop and a portable hard drive, and you’re all set to rock it.
I remember when I was at a DJ Times Expo (I think it was ’96 or ’97) and someone was demonstrating one of the first MP3 DJ mixing hardware and software combination. My man had to roll in a cart with a computer tower, 15″ monitor and other gear. I thought, oh lord, this is never going to happen. What DJ in his right mind will roll in a kitchen cart to a gig? 9-years later, laptop computers are more powerful than ever and the processing speed, combined with mobile storage, is incredible.
If you want to see how incredible, check out this Rane demonstration video posted to YouTube of 2003 DMC Champion, DJ CXL on the turntables. He is using specially encoded records that come along with the software, which allow the DJ to use traditional turntables and needles to trigger playback of MP3’s on an accompanying laptop, virtually without any latency. What is “latency?” It is the time for instructions you have input into the computer as you slide (scratch) the record back and forth, to reach computer to manipulate the MP3 exactly the way you would if you were using a traditional vinyl record. The software was written to mimic exactly the sounds generated by scratching the same song as if you were using vinyl. Pretty amazing engineering, I’d say.
Serato Scratch Live is a program that is so well written, the latency is undetectable to the human ear. Whereas I doubted DJing with digital files way back then, I now see the power of moving right to MP3, and bypassing CD, for anyone who is interested in learning how to DJ.
I’ve heard, but I can’t confirm, that Stanton’s Final Scratch product, although similar, isn’t as good as Serato. I don’t want to start any rumors, but most of the DJs I’ve seen scratching with MP3 use Serato and swear by it.
I agree with audiophiles who claim that we have lost so much fidelity by adopting digital recording over the warmth of analogue vinyl. But in the club world, when your next record can make or break the dance floor, having a library of hundreds of tracks to program in the mix is invaluable. Add in software like Ableton Live 5, which allows you to add other elements to your set, and you’ll become a legend overnight.
So, check out the video. I would love to get some comments on what people think of the difference between Serato and Final Scratch.
Tech View: Gizmodo's video review of the Sony Mylo
Hey! Check this out. The new Sony Mylo. Pretty cool if you ask me. It's a wireless device based on the PlayStation portable look and feel, that allows you to navigate the web with a version of the popular Opera web browser. It's got Google IM anlong with AIM and you can listen to music, play video and even talk over Skype using headphones and a built-in mic. It's definitely going to be hot on college campuses, where wireless connectivity is ubiquitous. I'd love to have one of these.
The only thing it isn't, is a mobile phone. But, you can use Skype to fill in the gap. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know how it actually rings if you have it in your pocket.
It's not an iPod killer, because it doesn't have the memory capacity to challenge the 30 or 60 GB iPod, but it's a step in the right direction for people who don't listen to as much music or video, or are comfortable swapping out media more than usual. The coolest thing is the fact that you can Skype on it, which gives you a unique way to communicate with others for free (as long as the other person has Skype). As we move into a wireless world, ala Sprint's decision to build a nationwide Wi-Max network, devices such as the Mylo are a logical next step in the right direction.
I almost forget, you can share music across the wireless network with other Mylo users, but you can't download from one Mylo to another. Basically, that means you an access a playlist on another Mylo from your own Mylo and it will stream over the wireless connection to your device. We do that all the time in the office here at StarStyle, but using the iTunes feature that allows you to share music across the network as sort of an impromptu radio, but its programmed by your colleague.
Check out the Gizmodo video review from YouTube below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koQFjKwVFB0
Beatport launches version 3.0
Leading dance music download web site, Beatport.com, launched version 3.0 "Fully Loaded" of its online music store serving DJs and dance music enthusiasts who download legal music files in MP3 and WAV formats. Since its inception, the company has become the leading resource for DJs, having secured tracks from over 2700 record label partners around the world.
Because of its strict adherence to offering downloadable files in the popular and widely supported MP3 format, which allow digital music to be played back across most digital music players and computers, major labels have not participated in th'e service. This is due to the major's adoption of proprietary DRM technologies, such as Microsoft's Windows Media, Apples AAC or Sony's A-Trac formats. In order to find major label remixes, DJs generally have to rip the remixed versions of popular dance tracks that appear on the Billboard Club Play chart from CD's or record the vinyl onto a computer using special software to eliminate analog noise. In some cases, DJs must turn to p2p networks to find the remixes their audience are asking for. If the remixes are available on iTunes, most DJs can't play them with the various DJ software products that exist today due to a percieved lack of support for the Apple format in the DJ software community.
One would think that by offering MP3 files for download, labels that participate in the Beatport service would be heavily impacted by files sharing. An argument can be made that because dance music releases appear daily from thousands of record labels around the world, it's harder to find hot dance tracks on p2p networks until well after their release on Beatport. In a way, dance music's minority status in the music marketplace helps by making it more difficult to find obscure tracks. Most dance music fans don't know the names of songs and p2p networks do not provide sound samples, but Beatport does, and in the wildly popular Adobe Flash format allowing for easier playback.
The other advantage Beatport enjoys is most people who post tracks to p2p services rip them from mix compilations, so the files are generally not the full song. Usually, if you try to download a popular track from a p2p network, it has a segment of the last record played in the mix over the first few seconds of the song you want. There are many dance music productions that have beautiful intro's leading into the main part of the song that are lost when the song is blended into another on a mix compilation. Losing those intro's makes a service like Beatport infinitely more valuable because you can find the entire song and you can play it across most devices.
According to a Beatport press release, "The upgrades in Beatport 3.0 are varied and substantial. Major improvements have been made to the navigation and the search engine allowing faster and more detailed access to the content library. Key new features include a section called My Beatport which allows a user to subscribe to their favorite artist, label, or genre. Once subscribed, the system notifies the user when one of their subscriptions has new music. Other shopping improvements include new community driven features such as Users Also Bought and Email to a Friend. Several new payment options have been added to better serve the international market."
The company says, " a premium design change for version 3.0 is the much-improved landing pages designed to better showcase the genres, artists and labels and their related content. Continued improvements have been made to the navigation adding several powerful filtering tools to improve shopping speed delivering measurable improvements to both our customers and label partners."
Version 3 "Fully Loaded" is also integrated with Native Instrument's Traktor DJ software , allowing DJs to purchase music directly from Beaport through the Traktor DJ interface bypassing the use of a web browser to login and download music files to the desktop.
Traktor DJ mimics the traditional DJ experience, giving DJs the ability to mix MP3 files using their desktop or laptop computer as one would using traditional turntables. With Traktor DJ, a DJ can add a variety of audio effects to a DJ session, mix DJ sets to MP3 for podcast or live web casts and even emulate scratching by plugging into the Final Scratch DJ software and hardware system in conjunction with traditional turntables.
My iPod Helped Me Rediscover My Music
So, I'm on the train last week and I realize, like everyone else has in the last two years or so, that our iPod's are just really helping us all push the boundaries of what we listen to.
I know that this has been written about over and over, but I still can't get over the fact that my iPod has helped me achieve musical paradise in that I am not constrained any longer by the physical limitations of a compact disc or cassette tape. And, now that I am really aware of this, I truly believe that this revolution in music consumption is going to open up doors for the music industry like never before.
As I looked across the aisle to a girl sitting in a seat directly across from me, I noticed her CD player and through my complete understanding of the transition from compact disc to MP3, I had this incredible feeling of power, that I had broken free of the chains that bound my musical consumption. I looked down at my own iPod and I thought to myself, this is just incredible. The fact that I can take all this music on the go with me, and I only have a 20 Gig. Wait til I upgrade. Or, even better, wait another 5 years when the limitations have become almost non-existent and the future is more than we imagine today.
Mobile Ring Tones: Where's the House Music?
Interesting thing about the move this time. It forced me to take a look at my communication options. Did I want to switch my standard ATT Home service to the new apartment, or should I just try and survive on the celly? With all the taxes and surcharges you pay for a home phone, plus long distance, it was costing me more a month for the phone in the house than the one I'm carrying around. I remember in the early 90's it was the other way around. Carrying a cell phone was much more expensive. How times have changed.