• One thing that's all over the news today -- on the Internet, at least -- is MP3tunes' Oboe Free. Oboe is the company's online music locker that allows users to listen their files from anywhere. Oboe Free is a free version of Oboe, which costs $19.95 a year for 2,000 songs or $39.95 for unlimited songs. Users can store up to 1,000 songs at no cost with Oboe Free. If you're interested in signing up, go to the Oboe registration page and select the free version. Using Obie requires downloading a program that will sync up the music on your computer to your Oboe locker. It's a process that takes one hour for every 100 songs.

• David from Digital Audio Insider moderated a panel at the Bandwidth Conference and wrote about the long tail discussion at this blog. He asks the important question: "Is the pie getting bigger?" Much of the long tail discussion I've read assumes a zero-sum game in which the outer-laying artist takes from the superstar. What I'm waiting for is the new digital technology that will increase the size of the pie. Until then new technology will simply allow people to replace one behavior with another without increasing the overall value of the market. (Digital Audio Insider)