Category: iTunes

Podcast: Digital music – how the fans and the bands are revolutionising the music business

The mbites.com podcast this week looked at how digital music is impacting both on music fans and the artists themselves. The guests (pictured) were Laura Lee Davies, former editor of Time Out magazine in London and a music journalist of 20 years experience, and Ben Drury, founder and managing director of 7digital.com, which provides digital downloading services to many leading brands and artists’ web sites. Download the MP3 file here

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15% file share – 5% pay to download. Uh oh.

Some interesting new research from Jupiter: Jupiter thinks the European music industry is facing “a demographic time bomb”. In its report “European Music Consumer Survey, 2005” it says that European consumers who download music from illegal file sharing networks currently outnumber those downloading from legal services such as Apple’s iTunes Music Store by a factor of three to one. Some 15% file share while just 5% pay to download. Uh

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RIAA email spells trouble for amateur online stations

Streaming radio service Live365 is being scrutinised by the Recording Artist Association of America (RIAA) which is interested in user-generated stations that do not properly comply with various DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) statutes. The RIAA says it will “reserve the right to shut them down or otherwise restrict access” and Live365 has emailed its users with exactly that warning. What this means, of course, is that the glittering new

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Podcasting starts to lure advertisers

Is Podcasting turning into a viable media business? Maybe. Podshow this week add 30s shows to its network and plans a major marketing push to lure more podcasters into its fold, broadening the network of shows it can sell to advertisers. Meanwhile Paige Heniger and Gretchen Vogelzang, who’s “Mommycast” is about the joys of motherhood have signed a 12-month sponsorship agreement with Dixie paper products, worth more than $100,000.

Xbox 360 is iPod compatible

Microsoft’s XBox site has published a document that shows how to turn the XBox 360 gaming device into an iPod accessory: “We’re happy to report that the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system works with MP3 music files on Apple iPod portable audio players, right out of the box. Just connect your iPod’s USB cable into any controller port on your Xbox 360 console, then go to the Media

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Apple sued over iPod patent

[MacUser]: Apple is facing legal action of the alleged breach of two patents in its iPod, iTunes and Mac products. Illinois-based Premier claims that the Apple products violate patents which describe a system for creating lists of audio works – in other words playlists. Premier is seeking an injunction and damages, while Apple doesn’t comment on legal disputes.

iTunes 6 gets a once-over

Digital Music Weblog reviews iTunes 6: It concludes it is “functionally and cosmetically the same as iTunes 5 for the most part; the big difference, of course, is the presence of videos in the iTMS catalog. Music videos form the bulk of that catalog addition, but the most significant part of the iTunes 6 package is the TV section. It does not replace DVRs or revolutionize television habits, as iTunes

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A question about Apple

So, to wrap up from the Apple announcements. A new iMac G5, with nice DVD controls. iTunes with music videos (2,000 of them) to buy, and the ability to subscribe to video podcasts – plus user recommendations and collaborative filtering which will increase the “Long Tail” of the store. The new iPod plays video. A deal with Disney to time-shift 6 leading US TV shows (not a big deal, but

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