Search Results for: soft play

A new batch of compact discs designed to defeat Napster-style piracy is coming soon to record-industry insiders. BMG, one of the world’s five major labels, said on Monday it would start issuing promotional CDs – the free discs distributed to critics, retailers and other insiders weeks before the official release – with technological countermeasures to prevent copying. The major labels, which include Vivendi Universal, Sony Music, EMI Group, AOL Time Warner’s Warner Music and Bertelsmann AG’s BMG, hope that copy protection measures will prevent users from “ripping,” or copying the music into the easily traded MP3 format. “The first benefit… Read more »

“One-man band”: when you hear that phrase you probably picture a dude on a street corner with a pair of cymbals between his knees, a drum on his back, some kazoos in his mouth and a guitar case full of quarters. Think again. While naming a band after yourself is fine and good for guys like Dave Matthews and Jon Spencer, some band names are actually just cryptic pseudonyms for a single, mad studio genius. The past year has seen an explosion of do-it-yourself-ers, including ex-Eels bassist Tommy Walter with his band Abandoned Pools, stone alone emo-ter Chris Carrabba of… Read more »

Anticipation for the Talking Heads’ arrival backstage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony last night was high; reporters hung around waiting until well past midnight. And when David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Jerry Harrison and Chris Frantz finally showed, there was only the briefest of silences before the question came up: “How did it feel to play together and are there plans for a reunion?” “One thing at a time,” Harrison said, diplomatically. “It was great tonight.” The band addressed the issues that had kept them from performing together for eighteen years, claiming that reports of acrimony… Read more »

Facing a fusillade of legal attacks from an irate entertainment industry, free file-sharing Netco Streamcast Networks – like Napster before it – is seeking legitimacy by reaching out to independent artists with technology to help them distribute their music themselves. Franklin, Tenn.-based Streamcast says its new digital rights management software, dubbed Content Into Application, or CIntoA, will let artists choose the level of access that users will have to songs that they upload into the company’s Morpheus file-sharing network. The tracks can be programmed to offer a limited number of plays before a fee is required, or only a snippet… Read more »

Music CDs equipped with copy protection will, if Rick Boucher gets his wish, soon be as obsolete as eight-track cassettes. The feisty Democratic congressman from Virginia says he plans to introduce legislation banning, or at least regulating, compact discs outfitted with anti-copying technology. Few discs sold in America currently feature the controversial scheme – but the recording industry expects that as worries over digital piracy grow, the technique will become widespread. “Suffice to say, there probably will be a legislative response to ensure that consumer rights will be protected,” Boucher said in an interview. Boucher’s complaints are twofold: Americans may… Read more »

If you’ve tried to download a song using Morpheus lately, you probably know that the most popular file-swapping software doesn’t work. Although an operable preview of a new version was made available Saturday, the shuttering of Morpheus on February 26 shattered the commonly held belief that file sharing without the use of a central server couldn’t be stopped. Software like Morpheus, Kazaa and Grokster was thought to be shielded from the kind of plug-pulling that brought down Napster in July. Unlike Napster – which cataloged its available files on a central server that, if disabled, rendered the program impotent –… Read more »

Steve Jobs is pleased to have been awarded a Grammy by the recording industry last Wednesday night, for technical achievements in music for Apple Computer. But that doesn’t stop him from criticising record labels’ efforts in digital distribution. Jobs complained that the digital music services backed by the labels don’t make it easy for consumers to burn tracks from CDs they buy. “No one is going to use such services,” Jobs says. “If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own.” The lesson of Napster, which popularised unauthorised… Read more »

Apple Computer chief executive Steve Jobs will be feted with a technical Grammy Award Wednesday night for the Cupertino-based company’s myriad contributions to the advancement of digital music technologies. The award – the first given to a computer maker – lauds Apple’s innovation in user-friendly hardware and software that has catered to the creative industries, including music, publishing, graphic design and computer animation. The original Macintosh computer, first sold in 1984, was the first PC to offer built-in audio. The company’s computers have since become standard equipment in most recording studios worldwide. On the consumer side, Apple has recently drawn… Read more »

The record industry’s campaign to wrest consumers away from pirate internet music services has been a failure, with increasing numbers of technology-savvy fans turning their back on legitimate sales and downloading singles and albums free. An report to be published today reveals that sales of legitimate downloads brought in only $1 million last year, despite expectations that music would lead the way in recouping the $4 billion invested across the entertainment sector to capitalise on the expected boom in digital content. In contrast, up to 2.7m people at any one time are now logging on to free file swapping services,… Read more »

Liquid Audio, Inc., announced today that it has reached a settlement with Intouch Group in a patent litigation suit filed against the company in March 2000. The suit was originally filed in Federal Court in the Northern District of California (Case No. C-00-1156 DLJ) against Amazon.com, DiscoverMusic, Entertaindom, Liquid Audio, Inc., Listen.com and Muze. Terms of the settlement with Intouch remain confidential. Liquid Audio and Intouch have now resolved all outstanding legal disputes. “We feel the settlement reached with Intouch was warranted in light of the risks and costs inherent in any litigation,” said Gerry Kearby, President and CEO of… Read more »