Search Results for: GERMANY

The music industry is now testing different copy protection systems on mass market chart CDs, with copies of NSync’s Celebrity on the Zomba label being sold in at least three different versions. Those available in Germany have draconian protection, a slightly weaker system is used on the US disk and there is no protection on the UK version. The only visible clue is small print on the German release which warns “this CD is not playable on computers”. Sony will not comment on the NSync disc but a spokesman says: “We continue to test available copy protection technologies, and our… Read more »

NetSilicon, Inc., Germany-based Micronas GmbH, and FS FORTH-SYSTEME GmbH announced their cooperation in developing a high-performance MP3 Internet radio application, called NetworkAudio. “The innovative NetworkAudio Web radio is a result of the seamless cooperation among three leading edge companies with vast expertise in embedded networking and digital audio technology,” said Michael Evensen, EMEA vice president, NetSilicon. “Electronic product OEMs can now leverage a complete, off-the-shelf reference design and development kit for very low bill-of-materials costs, allowing OEMs to begin product development immediately. The NetworkAudio reference design can therefore drastically reduce OEMs’ designs risks, cost, and time-to-market.” NetworkAudio allows access to… Read more »

Gorillaz, the cartoon indie-beat band formed by Damon Albarn of the rock band Blur, picked up six nominations, including best group, in the eighth annual MTV Europe Music Awards noms, announced here Tuesday. Gorillaz will compete with Destiny’s Child, Limp Bizkit, R.E.M. and U2 for the best group prize in a ceremony to be aired live Nov. 8 on MTV’s worldwide channels from Frankfurt, Germany. Additionally, Gorillaz’ international hit single “Clint Eastwood” is up for best song. Nominees in the female act category include Dido, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna and Mariah Carey, while Robbie Williams, Eminem, Ricky Martin, Shaggy… Read more »

Waves, Ltd., a leading supplier of audio signal processing solutions for the professional audio and multimedia markets, has today announced the release of the Restoration processor bundle for Native (PC and Macintosh) platforms. Removal of unwanted background noise and disturbing signal transients without affecting the original sound has always been a major challenge in audio postproduction, remastering, broadcasting, video, film and forensics. Waves audio processing Plug-Ins are the quality standard for thousands of top audio professionals all over the world. Waves new Restoration bundle has addressed the increasing demand for real-time noise and transient elimination tools. It establishes a new… Read more »

Teenage pop idol Britney Spears has canceled her promotional tour of Europe and South America, Australian Associated Press reported on Saturday. “After much thought and deliberation it is with great regret that I have decided to cancel my planned European and Latin American promotion trips,” AAP quoted a weekend statement from her record company Jive as saying. Spears arrived here last week on the last flight to leave the United States for Australia just before the devastating attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Her announcement meant she would not take her promotional tour… Read more »

The video for “Ich Will” (English translation “I Want”) was made over the weekend in the office of East Germany’s former leader Erich Honecker which is really in the heart of Berlin, one of the hot spots for tourists. Heiko Schoenborn from entaine.com tells Undercover news that “the Rammstein guys all wore suits and looked very official. When they left the building a police special task force stormed and arrested them. The guys didn’t want to say much about the video but it looked like Rammstein were robbing a bank”. ‘Ich Will’ is from Rammstein’s album ‘Mutter’. U2 have also… Read more »

BMG Entertainment said Monday it will work with security technology provider SunnComm to create copy-protected CDs, one of a growing number of efforts by the record labels to combat alleged Internet piracy at the source. Under the deal, SunnComm said BMG will use its technology, dubbed MediaCloQ, which prevents people from being able to “rip” songs directly from a CD onto a computer. BMG said it is testing SunnComm’s technology and is starting to implement it on promotional CDs. BMG said it will decide later whether to use SunnComm’s technology for commercial releases. The announcement comes as major record labels… Read more »

Macy Gray picked up more than postcards and passport stamps during her world tour supporting On How Life Is – she also brought home inspiration for her second album, The Id. The charismatic songstress says her world travels supporting her 1999 breakthrough exposed her to an eclectic mix of styles and sounds that inspired her to get wild in the studio. “You go to France and African rhythms are really big over there and then you go to Germany and you’ve got like German hip-hop,” Gray said Wednesday. “And then there’s all kinds of techno clubs and drum’n’bass and jungle… Read more »

Microsoft Corp. said Monday it is enlisting three companies to sell plug-ins to enable its upcoming media player software to record music in the MP3 format and play DVD movies. Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, a new version of which will debut in the software giant’s new Windows XP operating system in late October, has not supported high-quality music recording in MP3, the most popular format for storing songs and CDs as digital files on a computer. Critics have said lack of MP3 support was evidence that Microsoft was trying to drive users to its own format, called Windows Media Audio,… Read more »

BeMusic, the world’s largest music services group owned by Germany’s Bertelsmann, unveiled a new structure and management team on Tuesday that will oversee the group’s joint venture with Napster. Bertelsmann’s eCommerce arm, which agreed an alliance last year to help build a legitimate version of online rebel Napster, said its Chief Executive Officer Andreas Schmidt would take the top post at BeMusic, home to the world’s largest music club and online CD retailer. Bertelsmann is developing BeMusic as a one-stop music shop, bringing together its online music store CDNow, music club division BMG Direct, recently acquired online song-storage company Myplay… Read more »