MP3 Players - Opinions

Are Music CDs Already Passe?

Are plastic music CDs destined to join vinyl records as obsolete? Perhaps they already have.

Nine Inch Nails Gets Online Music Right

Nine Inch Nails has surprised the music industry by coming out of nowhere with a new album release with a different variety of online purchasing options. The album is entitled Ghosts I-IV and is a 36-track instrumental album.

Top four reasons Blu-ray Disc will tank

And then there was one: Blu-ray.

Steve Jobs, Slayer of DRM

Courtesy of Mac Rumours comes this memo from Steve Jobs on FairPlay, the Digital Rights Management (DRM) anti-piracy technology with which Apple encodes downloaded music. DRM limits where and how digital music can be played.

Blog chatter can triple music sales

Do bloggers matter? Yes, a new study suggests bloggers really can be influential regarding buying decisions and reputation (which explains why PR professionals have started targeting bloggers with their pitches).

Dilbert, the DMCA and the Internet bubble video

Radiohead recently rocked the music industry by making its latest album downloadable for free, or more accurately, for "whatever fans wanted to pay." The band was lauded for ushering in a new business model that disintermediated record companies and ...

Happy new ear! My picks among Bluetooth headsets

In my September roundup review of mobile devices, I neglected a vital category of technology: Bluetooth headsets. It's a given that no one wants to hold a bricklike cell phone or PDA to their ear, and with so many blister-packed headsets hanging from...

Opinion: The Technology Coming to a Gadget Near You

When it comes to the "next big thing", I'm usually pretty skeptical. (It's from all those years I've spent trying to get gear to work as advertised.) But in 2008, we will see some long-promised technologies - like the connected home, truly smart "sma...

Big device offers strong media player value

In a world in which gadgets are getting ever-smaller, SanDisk's new Sansa View is, strangely, significantly larger than both its competitors and its own predecessor, the company's Sansa e200 line of media players.

Google vs the telcos: the new industry Food Fight

There is nothing we industry pundits love more than a good food fight. Cisco vs. Lucent. Google vs. Microsoft! Intel vs. AMD! Cable vs. Satellite! SAP vs. Oracle! But the Fight of The Future is what is going to happen on your mobile phone and in your...

Zune is much improved, but still catching up

The first-generation Zune media player that Microsoft released last year was a me-too product with a few nice touches. So the question with the new, second-generation Zune is whether Microsoft is ready to surpass its competition, most notably Apple a...

Movie Site Sells DRM-Free Downloads of New DVD Releases

I hear so much about music and movie piracy I've become a bit numbed to what's at stake and the real challenges facing copyright holders.

Warner Music CEO: We Went To War With Consumers

Maybe for the first time ever, somebody in the recording industry has admitted in public what a colossal screw-up the labels' approach to the Internet and digital media has been.

Rcrd Lbl offers DRM-free music for nothing

Downtown Records has teamed up with technology entrepreneur Peter Rojas to form a new company called Rcrd Lbl, which plans to give music away for free - and without DRM - supporting its business model entirely via advertising.