Search Results for: oso oso

The Zune, Microsoft’s portable music player that attempted to wrestle away some of Apple’s digital music dominance, may be ready to “throw in the towel.” The Financial Times spoke to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who said the company might discontinue the device after it failed to achieve a fraction of the popularity the iPod has attained. Instead, Bill Gates and co. will focus on developing a “general purpose” device, kind of like an iPhone or that Blackberry we see so many commercials for. The Zune arrived with high hopes in November 2006, boasting Wi-Fi capability and FM radio –… Read more »

The internet is awash with reports that the 30GB Zune is committing suicide across the planet. Not just one of them, either. It seems that some weird bug is simultaneously causing the music players to kill themselves, like lemmings leaping from a cliff. While the Zune is a distant also-ran in the MP3 market, which is dominated by Apple’s, the Microsoft-made device has gained critical approbation with its most recent, version 3.0 models, whose features are quite competitive with the iPod line. Many users appreciate the player’s built-in FM radio and “Zune Social” features, which facilitate the communal sharing and… Read more »

He had one of the biggest opening sales weeks of 2008, and now, Lil Wayne is the year’s most-nominated Grammy contender. Wayne and his latest LP, “Tha Carter III,” lead the pack with a total of eight nominations, while one of the year’s other biggest sellers, Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends,” garnered seven nods. Jay-Z, Ne-Yo and Kanye West each earned six nods, while Alison Krauss, John Mayer, Robert Plant, Radiohead and Jazmine Sullivan received five each. Adele is up for four – including Best New Artist – as are Lupe Fiasco and T.I. The… Read more »

If you’ve ever dreamed of running away and joining the circus, December 1 is your night. Assuming, that is, you’re near New York’s Times Square and you are a Britney Spears superfan. A post on Brit’s MySpace page invites her supporters to be part of “Britney’s Greatest Fan Contest & Birthday Celebration,” asking them to congregate outside the Virgin Megastore in Times Square to celebrate the release of Circus, which hits stores December 2. At the event, Britney will be looking for her biggest fan, so contestants are being encouraged to “sing, dance, imitate or even profess their love for… Read more »

VATICAN CITY — Vatican media are praising the Beatles’ musical legacy and sounding philosophical about John Lennon ‘s boast that the British band was more popular than Jesus. Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano recalls that Lennon’s comment outraged many when he made it in 1966. But it says in its Saturday edition that the remark can be written off now as the bragging of a young man wrestling with unexpected success. The newspaper as well as Vatican Radio last week noted the 40th anniversary of the Beatles’ “White Album.” It said the album demonstrated how creative the Beatles were, compared with… Read more »

For those about to rock, AC/DC salutes you. Unless, that is, you want to buy the Australian heavy metal group's newest album, "Black Ice," on iTunes, or anywhere but Wal-Mart when it drops in record stores on October 20. "Maybe I'm just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless 'em, it's going to kill music if they're not careful," lead singer Brian Johnson, 61, told Reuters. AC/DC, formed by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young in 1973, is among only a handful of musicians to refuse to put their music on the popular download website in a move that Johnson defended… Read more »

Blink-182 and Morrissey producer Jerry Finn has been taken off life support after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage last month. According to a post on the Prosoundweb forum reprinted on Morrissey-Solo.com, Finn’s family made the decision on Saturday. “Even though he did make snail-like improvement these past 31 days, he is not any better for words and has not had any consistency in the tests that the medical team have done for him,” a close Finn friend wrote on the forum. “At this time the hemorrhage has done massive damage to his body which will leave him severely disabled and… Read more »

Apple just got some new competition from online music provider Rhapsody, which is now making its music library available in MP3 format through a brand-new music download store, meaning songs can be transferred to an Apple iPod. “We’re no longer competing with the iPod,” Rhapsody Vice President Neil Smith said. “We’re embracing it.” The move takes direct line at Apple’s immensely popular and profitable iTunes online store. The new Rhapsody site matches Apple’s 99-cent a song download charge, or $9.99 album pricing. But it allows users to listen to an entire song before purchasing, compared to Apple’s 30-second preview. The… Read more »

The much-awaited iPhone with 3G is coming in May, according to a report by the Bank of America. Both Apple and AT&T, its exclusive carrier partner in the U.S., have said a higher-speed version of the popular device is coming, but they haven’t set a date. The BOA’s research report was authored by analyst Scott Craig and cited Friday by the Reuters news service. Three Million in May Craig told Reuters that there will be “an initial small build in May,” and “significant production” in June. Despite the report, AT&T and Apple declined comment. But June would be a good… Read more »