• The National Music Publishers' Association has joined a class action lawsuit against Google and its YouTube division. The suit, originally brought in May by English soccer's The Football Association Premier League Ltd, contends YouTube facilitates copyright infringement of music videos and live footage. (Wall Street Journal)

• It's the year of the widget boom: Pandora has launched a Facebook widget. Users can log in with an existing Pandora account and the widget will contain previous user information like favorite artists and radio stations. (Listening Post)

• Microsoft's DRM lives on: Nokia's S60 mobile operating system will use the PlayReady DRM that will allow users to share music, videos and games. PlayReady was unveiled in February. It requires users to register different devices under a domain, and PlayReady content can be played under each user's domain. (Billboard.biz)

• A profile on Anywhere.FM, an online music service that does the usual online music storage locker and music discovery stuff. It has 3,700 registered users in just five days and is part of the Y Combinator start-up incubator program. (John Cook's Venture Blog)

• A U.S. judge overturned a $1.75 billion ruling against Microsoft that dealt with the company's use of a disputed MP3 technology. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the creator of the MP3 format and now owned by Lucent, had argued that Microsoft infringed on two of its patents. (The Age)

• Music attorney Chris Castle asks, Why does the EFF hate artists so much? "The issue is not whether society needs copyright to have a creative community, I would suggest that society needs copyright to protect the creative community from von Lohman of the EFF’s fellow travelers at the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Electronics Association who would free ride on our backs." (Music Technology Policy)

• Commodore (remember that brand?) has released an digital media player. The Gravel C200 won't win any design awards, that's for sure. (Engadget)

Posted by Glenn at 8:23 AM | Link
|DRM||Legal||Music 2.0||Portable Music Players|

• Hip hop magazine The Source has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (SOHH)

• The NARM website has a link to NPD Group's PowerPoint presentation at the NARM conference a few days ago. "Digital has created new opportunities for discovery and commerce but it may have a dark side," says slide 30 of the presentation. One result is said to be "over stimulated consumers with less need to buy, or delayed buying." (Consumers and Music Discovery)

• Musician Peter Gabriel is one of the financial backers of ad-supported, DRM-free music service We7. Ads will be put right into the music files. The one song I downloaded had only a brief We7 ad at the beginning. (Digital Media Wire)

• "We are essentially a technophobic business," said Atlantic Records Group's Andy Karp at the Musexpo in Hollywood. Jokester Jason Flom of Capital Music Group put free in perspective. "The whole competing with free thing is tricky, it works well in the water business but it's hard everywhere else." (Digital Music News)

• There have been positive reviews, but when the newspaper with the nation's second-highest circulation talks about the Sansa Connect music player, it's worth taking note. Wrote Katherine Boehret for The Mossberg Solution column, "It forced me to look at my portable player as an evolving, untethered device that introduced me to lots of songs. When it wasn't connected to Wi-Fi, I was disappointed to not be downloading new songs. My iPod suddenly seemed old-fashioned." (Wall Street Journal)

• Sirius Satellite Radio cut its Q1 loss to $144 million from $458 million last year. Revenue grew 61% on revenue of $204 million. (Press release)

• An industry blog to add to your blogroll: TALENTfilter, one of those rare music-related blogs actually written by someone closely involved with the music industry.

Posted by Glenn at 10:16 AM | Link
|Legal||Online Stores/Services||Portable Music Players||Weblogs|

• Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff offers five points on Viacom's lawsuits against Google. #3 says that the Grokster decision will "embolden" Viacom. #4 gets to the most likely result, in my opinion: a settlement that includes some sort of copyright protection via fingerprinting or filtering. This isn't about money. (Groundswell Blog)

• The European Union's consumer chief backed away from her harsh statements on Apple's closed iPod/iTunes system. She simply wanted to start a debate about developing the nascent digital music market. Job well done. (Reuters)

• Willie Nelson has partnered with his manager and producer James Stroud to launch Pedernales Records. After Nelson's final Lost Highway album (due out March 20), he plans to record for the label. (Billboard.biz)

• Meet Slacker, a free web radio product that is supported by video ads. The company will also offer a portable radio device that works through unused commercial satellite radio signals and will support MP3, WMA, WMV and MPEG-4 files. (News.com)

• BurnLounge unveils new digital download software and BurnPages, a social networking service. (Press release)

• The Village Voice's Chris Parker has an article on payola settlements and an agreement by broadcasters to play more indie music. My thoughts: Last year, Spitzer's payola investigations were supposed to open the indie floodgates. This year, it took a pledge by broadcasters to get indie artists some airtime. In effect, the free market did not materialize and indies have received a subsidy instead. (Village Voice)

Posted by Glenn at 10:18 AM | Link
|Indies||Portable Music Players||Radio|

CES, the annual electronics convention in Las Vegas, is always a time for companies to reveal new products and announce new partnerships. For the music industry, yesterday's announcements showed that no one company can go it alone. As services and hardware become more integrated, we're going to see palpable shifts in how consumers -- all consumers, not the early adopters who dive head-first into any new gadget -- enjoy music. Here are a few of the key announcements thus far.

• Apple and Cingular. The Wall Street Journal reported Apple is launching a mobile phone service and a phone. Cingular will be the network provider.
• Microsoft and Clear Channel. Clear Channel will supply the HD radio content for Microsoft's MSN Direct service.
• Microsoft and Motorola. Motorola's new mobile phone will use Microsoft's Windows Media DRM to allow users to play music from such services as Rhapsody, Napster, Yahoo! Music and URGE.
• Morotola and Warner Music. The global agreement puts Warner Music content exclusively in Motorola mobile services.
• Rhapsody and TiVo. Later this year, the Rhapsody music service will be integrated with TiVo so three million songs will be accessible on consumers' televisions.
• Rhapsody and iriver. iriver announced two new Rhapsody-enhanced portable music players; one of the devices (pictured) will download music over the air from the Rhapsody music service. Both devices will be available by July 2006.
• Rhapsody and Logitech. Next week, users of Logitech's Squeezebox and Transporter players will be able to access Rhapsody without using a PC. The service will be priced at $9.99 per month.

Posted by Glenn at 9:40 AM | Link
|Apple||Digital Music||Mobile Music||Portable Music Players||RealNetworks||Rhapsody|

Yesterday Digital Music News posted about the Rhapsody campaign that features a television ad starring Eric Clapton (watch at YouTube). The ad tags his new album with JJ Cale as well.

Oh yes, the runner-up sweepstakes is in full bloom. The holiday advertising season finds the non-iPod competitors seriously ramping up their campaigns. The December '06 issue of Spin is a good case in point. Between a two-page Zune ad on pages 8 and 9 there's a Zune iron-on decal (which doesn't mention Microsoft). Page 17 is a one-page ad for Verizon's VCast and the MotoKRZR mobile phone. On page 37 there's a full-page ad for the Samsung MP3reedom. Page 45 is a full-page ad for Napster that touts a free MP3 player with purchase of a three-month subscription of Napster-To-Go. Page 53 is a full-page ad for Rhapsody that pictures the Sansa e2000R Rhapsody MP3 player. On page 57 is an ad for the SanDisk Sansa e200. Across the bottom of pages 98 and 99 there's an ad for the Best Buy digtal store that pictures the Sansa e250R Rhapsody player.

iPod ads? None.

Posted by Glenn at 11:45 AM | Link
|Portable Music Players|

• Hits predicts a massive first week for Jay-Z's Kingdome Come...in the 850,000 range. All in all, it looks like abum sales are surging upward just as they do this time of year. (Read article at Hits)

• EMI Music signed a licensing agreement with mobile music company Jamba, which has launched only in Germany thus far (it is known as Jamster in other countries). Tracks will be available for downloads and subscriptions for both the PC and mobile phone simultaneously. In September of 206, News Corp. purchased 51% of Jamba. The company plans to combine Jamba with Fox Mobile Entertainment. (Read press release)

• More EMI: EMI Music UK inked a deal with PSP-Playlist to allow its catalog of music videos to be downloaded onto the Sony PSP device. Videos will sell for between £1.89 and £2.19. (Read article at New Media Knowledge)

• The FCC will finance ten studies on media ownership: How People Get News and Information, Ownership Structure and Robustness of Media, Effect of Ownership Structure and Robustness on the Quantity and Quality of TV Programming, News Operations, Station Ownership and Programming in Radio, News Coverage of Cross-Owned Newspapers and Television Stations, Minority Ownership (two on this topic), Vertical Integration and Trends in Ownership, Format, and Finance. (Read article at Radio Ink)

• The U.S. Copyright Office has allowed a few new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. One is the ability to reverse engineer the DRM on audio CDs for security purposes. All exemptions will take effect on Monday, November 27 and will last three years. Where did such an exemption come from? Why, the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco, of course. (Read article at Security Focus)

• RIP Robert Lockwood, blues artist. (Read AP article)

Posted by Glenn at 2:27 PM | Link
|EMI||Licensing||Portable Music Players||Radio|

• Seems like forever since I read a Jeff Leeds article. Here's one, "Ads Test Payola Case Settlement," about an Entercom program called "CD Preview." The program allows labels to buy ads in which to showcase their music -- and the plays count as a spin on radio charts. Given the recent payola lawsuits, Eliot Spitzer is certainly taking a look by now. (Read article at New York Times)

• Hmm...an article at a marketing website about the viral campaign for John Legend's upcoming album, Once Again. Not much of it is particularly interesting (been there, done that) except for the mention of Sony's recruitment of "fan advocates" to create a word-of-mouth campaign. That must be the grown-up word for "street team." This stands out because Legend has eight Grammy Awards and 2.6 million in album sales -- more than the usual "word of mouth" artist. Also, street teams are just so old school. Hey, when it works it works. The Internet can't do everything. (Read article at Brand Republic)

• Consumer Reports surveyed its subscribers on digital music habits. It found 60% of first-time MP3 player buyers are listening to more music than they used to, and 50% are listening during activities that were previously music-free (not a shock). Here's a comforting stat for you paranoid types: only 8% responded that the purchase of an MP3 player prompted them to use P2P networks to acquite music. (No word on how many already used P2P networks and store songs on their computers.) (Read article at ConsumerReports.com, via Digital Audio Insider)

• What has former Virgin Records head Matt Serletic been up to lately? Producing the debut album by "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks. The so-far-untited album is due out December 5th, the same day as the sophomore album by Gwen Stefani. (Read at Hits Rumor Mill)

• Source magazine and its founders are back in the news, this time for the $14.5 million decision in favor of a former editor who filed a sexual discrimination suit. (Read article at NY Post)

Posted by Glenn at 7:56 AM | Link
|Marketing||P2P||Payola||Portable Music Players|

The Consumer Electronics Association will announce its holiday survey tomorrow, reports a article at the Sydney Morning Herald. The survey predicts a 27% increase in holiday electronic device spending. Digital cameras and DVD devices will be the most in-demand products, followed by mobile phones and portable media devices.

In early October the CEA released the findings of a survey on tech enthusiasts, those early adopters who account for 50% more spending on portable entertainment devices than later adopters. What do early adopters care about? Battery life is the most important aspect. "Like most consumers," said the press release, "they'd also like to see lower prices for digital media files in the future."

Interoperability is another key feature mentioned -- not that all CEA members are listening. I'd expect lower prices for digital media before any signs of greater interoperability. CEA member Apple has succeeded with a close iTunes/iPod system. Microsoft and RealNetworks, also CEA members, are working on their own media/player systems. Microsoft will launch the closed Zune in mid-November. RealNetworks has its branded Sansa line of players that will play most, but not all, popular audio formats and is built to work best with its Rhapsody music service.

More reaction to closed systems is found in today's USA Today article, "Closed Systems Leave Buyers Out In The Cold." Said former EMI exec Ted Cohen of Microsoft's closed Zune system, "This goes against the grain of everything Microsoft has been telling consumers for two years. I'm stunned." But Microsoft has noticed that for most consumers ease of use trumps DRM.

Posted by Glenn at 7:54 PM | Link
|DRM||Portable Music Players||Zune||iTunes|

Microsoft released a press release this morning with details on its Zune portable media player and the complementary Zune Marketplace store.

The Zune will be released on November 14th and will have a price tage of $249. Price is key, but I'm more interested in the preloaded content and specifics about the Zune Marketplace. The preloaded content is heavily slanted toward indies like Sub Pop (Band of Horses, CSS, Chad VanGaalen), Astralwerks (Small Sins, Darkel) and V2 (The Adored, The Rakes). The device will come stocked with nine tracks, 12 videos and three film shorts. That's about $25 worth of content. Few, I suspect, will take that into account when assessing the price of the Zune -- but free content never hurts.

The Zune Pass, a subscription service akin to Rhapsody and Napster To Go, will cost $14.99 per month. That's a standard price for a subscription. Individual tracks will cost 79 "Microsoft Points" each. While I'm personally not a fan of prepaid accounts (I would prefer to have each purchase charged against my credit card), a post at Joystiq sings the praises of Microsoft Points as used for Xbox purchases. Joystiq wrote that one US dollar buys 80 points (which means each song at the Zune Marketplace would cost a fraction of a cent more than $0.99) and the Xbox marketplace "makes spending so much easier than any other shopping experience most of us have ever experienced."

Engadget already has a post on the press release, so stop by and read the always entertaining comments.

Posted by Glenn at 9:48 AM | Link
|Portable Music Players||Zune|

• Hits predicts Justin Timberlake's album should have done about 700,000 in its first week of release. John Mayer, who is getting some unexpected blog love, is looking at 240,000. Bob Segar should come in under 100,000. (Hits Rumor Mill)

• Qtrax continues to get more press than it is likely to get customers: The yet-to-be-released, ad-supported P2P service has inked a licensing deal with Warner Music Group. EMI and TVT are already on board. The iPod and the Zune, however, will not be on board. (Digital Music News)

• Maybe this is old news, but it's the first I saw it: Epic Records has dropped INXS in the U.S. (The Daily Telegraph)

• The biggest part of the news about the Rhapsody/Sandisk partnership that will create a portable music player that will be integrated with the online music service? Rhapsody is ditching Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM for its own technology. And why not? PlaysForSure doesn't work with the iPod, and it won't work with the Zune. (Press Release)

• Jupiter Research finds that 83% of all iPod owners do not buy digital music at least once a month, and only 5% of the music on the typical iPod came from an online music store. (BBC News)

• Entertainment Weekly lists 25 albums it can't wait to hear. Topping the list is Jay-Z's Kingdom Come. (Entertainment Weekly)

Posted by Glenn at 9:13 AM | Link
|Portable Music Players||Rhapsody||Sony BMG||Warner Music Group|

Last week, at the invitation of Microsoft, I was one of a handful of bloggers who had a chance to see Microsoft's Zune media player and music store. (Disclosure: Microsoft paid for all travel expenses to Seattle.) Part of the afternoon was spent talking to key employees who work on the Zune project. The other part was spent hands-on with the device and watching a Flash presentation of the Zune's interaction with the software and online store. (The device I saw was not the final version and did not have wireless capabilities.)

Here I'll talk about the Zune device, its user interface and a bit about the software. Tomorrow I'll post about its wireless capabilities that allow Zune users to share content. Also, I'll post separately about the company's marketing strategies and my thoughts on its overall vision.

What were my initial impressions of the Zune? It's a sleek piece of craftsmanship that's simple and functional. It doesn't have the sexiness of the iPod, but it does have a graceful utilitarianism. It comes in three colors: brown, black and white. The brown is an attractive, earthy shade and was my favorite of the three. (It looks much better in person that what is represented by the stock image seen above. No pictures of the Zune were allowed during my visit.) The black is more like a gray, actually, and the white has a full color to it. Each comes with what is called a "doubleshot," or a combination of a main color with a complementing trim. For example, when the power is on, the brown Zune sports a just-perceptible green trim. The device is heavier than I expected it to be. That could be a negative, but there's feeling of craftsmanship that goes along with the weight.

The Zune device and store will be a closed system, which Microsoft feels was the way to create the best total product and user experience. Tracks purchased at the Zune store can be played only on the Zune device. Those files will be 192kbps protected with WM-DRM. Supported audio formats will be MP3, unprotected WMA and unprotected AAC. Supported video formats will be MPEG-4, WMV and H.264 (Apple's video codec). In the Zune softare, tracks can be burned to CD. Content owners may place restrictions on the protected Zune files, though. Details on that are loose at this point.

Continue reading "Microsoft's Zune: In Person" »

Posted by Glenn at 11:45 AM | Link
|Digital Music||Portable Music Players||Zune|

• Jeff Leeds has details on an expected profit-sharing deal between rap mogul Irv Gotti and Universal Music Group's Universal/Motown. "Under the three-year deal Universal will commit roughly $10 million to Mr. Lorenzo in an advance against future profits and payments to cover overhead ... The deal also includes a provision that could allow Mr. Lorenzo to buy ownership of Murder Inc.’s master recordings. ... While the new structure means he will have to share more of the profits than if he owned the label himself, he said he was content to be back in business without a legal cloud overhead" (NY Times)

• Sansa just announced a new MP3 player, the e280, that has an 8 GB, flash-based capacity for only $250. Meanwhile, use of the phrase "iPod killer" soars. (Engadget)

• Entercom has purchased 15 radio stations from CBS Radio and one from Radio One. The deal requires the company to sell off two stations (in Rochester) to meet FCC regulations. The company now has stations in 22 markets. (Press Release)

• The Darkness say that contrary to rumors, they were not dropped from Atlantic. The label has "taken up their option with the band" and will release a new album in early 2007. (Yahoo! News)

• RIP Joseph Hill of reggae group Culture, who died Sunday in Berlin, Germany while on tour. (SunStKitts.com)

• RIP Dave Nives, Koch Records VP of Production and Catalog. (Hits Rumor Mill)

Posted by Glenn at 7:39 AM | Link
|Portable Music Players||Radio||Universal Music Group|

Microsoft's Zune, its response to the iPod, is now official. So official, in fact, that a publicist is emailing websites such as Coolfer to officially announce Zune. Rumors are just rumors, but publicists mean serious business. There's also an esoteric teaser site.

An important read is Billboard magazine's exclusive interview with Chris Stephenson, Microsoft's new GM of marketing. He offers information on the Zune'e capabilities and functions.

Jupiter analyist Michael Gartenberg (link via paidContent) outlines three things Microsoft will need to do to create a competitive product: create a technically competent challenger, create a lifestyle device and create a platform. He also points out that Microsoft will soon be competing against the companies that licenses its technologies. Digital Music News talks about that technology, PlaysForSure, and Microsoft's plans for a "closed ecosystem paired with a branded device."

Of course, music execs are probably thrilled that Apple is going to have some serious competition in the digital music business, though just how much market share the Zune platform will capture is anybody's guess. Apple held steadfast to its flat pricing system even though some labels are outspoken in their desire for variable pricing. Word has already leaked that Microsoft will incorporate variable pricing in some capacity. It should make for a worthwhile study of contrasting models.

Engadget has been posting away on Zune. If you have some time browse through all their posts on the subject.

Posted by Glenn at 11:43 AM | Link
|Portable Music Players|

• Clive Davis signed fourth-place "American Idol" finisher Chris Doughtry. His album, which is in the writing process ("with A-list collaborators") is due out before the end of the year. (CourtTV.com)

• Rapper Nas has signed with Creative Artists Agency. (Billboard.biz)

• Endemol, the Dutch television production company behind hits like "Big Brother" and "Fear Factor," has signed a deal with BMG Music Publishing to represent the music catalog of its programs. (Reuters)

• Universal Music Publishing has signed Dashboard Confessional frontman Chris Carrabba to an exclusive, worldwide co-publishing deal. The band's latest album, Dusk and Summer, debuted at #2 on the album chart. (Top40-Charts.com)

• Engadget posted a picture of Microsoft's heavily rumored answer to the iPod, code name Project Argo. Gizmodo says the final name of the product will be Zune. Digital Music News reports that some music execs who have seen it aren't all that impressed.

• An EMI spokesperson on Adam Klein: "Adam has done a great job in helping shape the global digital strategy. But given the development of the digital music market, EMI has adjusted its internal structure and approach both centrally and at a national and regional level." (The Telegraph)

• The Telegraph calculates offer prices of 370 pence per share for EMI and $33.50 per share for Warner Music Group. (The Telegraph)

Posted by Glenn at 10:25 AM | Link
|EMI||Portable Music Players||Publishing||Sony BMG|

• Creative's new Zen V/V Plus (pictured) gets an 8.3 from CNET, noting its toylike design, the photo and video playback, its easy menu navigation and good battery life. Points came off for the joystick -- which is "tiny and seems prone to collecting dirt or sand around it." (CNET, via Endgadget)

• Content owners will gasp when they hear about the Google hack G2P. Word certainly flew across the Internet. But not to fear. While it does use the familiar and simple Google search engine to search for MP3s, it's far from the streamlined user experience of a P2P application.

• Internet radio station Pandora has added a feature called BackStage that uses the All Music Guide database to access artist information. (Lifehacker)

• See the (few) guts of a $6 MP3 player. (Make)

Posted by Glenn at 4:07 PM | Link
|Portable Music Players|

• CNET writes about the new Microsoft Media Player 11 -- which has received some very good reviews -- and how Microsoft is now better in sync with its vendors. iRiver's new and well-received Clix (pictured) was built to compete with the seamless iTunes/iPod combination, and MTV's URGE is integrated into WMP 11. If it slays the iPod it won't happen overnight, but Microsoft appears to have put itself in a more competitive position. (CNET)

• How to get better audio quality from an iPod. (Wired, via Digital Audio Insider)

• Pitchfork's Chris Dahlen profiles music recommendation programs -- Last.fm, Pandora, et al -- which comprise one of the most anticipated segments of all Web 2.0 companies. (Pitchfork)

Posted by Glenn at 2:30 PM | Link
|Portable Music Players||Web 2.0|

• That report that DRM was the bane of your MP3 player's battery life? Might not be so true after all. Another test had far better results, though it was only with one Sansa e260 and not a representative sample of players. (Engadget)

• Coolfer will probably link to it tomorrow, but if you go to Stereogum now and check out the beautiful new video for Boards of Canada's "Dayvan Cowboy" you'll also find an MP3 link to a (not new) song by Warp's newest signing, Grizzley Bear. (Stereogum)

Posted by Glenn at 8:53 PM | Link
|Indies||Portable Music Players|

• Analysts point to France's bid for digital interoperability as a possible gateway to further growth. This factoid sticks out: A European study found that consumers are prepared to pay twice as much for a song that can be moved freely between devices. (News.com)

• Sticking with the same topic, the NY Times quotes a London-based analyst as saying Apple could pull out of France altogether if the country passes legislation requiring the iPod to play music from competing services. "My gut feeling is that Apple will simply pull out of France if these amendments get through. Weighed against breaking their business model for all markets, it doesn't make sense for Apple to continue operating with the iPod and iTunes in France." (NY Times)

• The latest on Microsoft's iPod killer: it will combine video games, music and video, and it may not be out until 2007. (A&R Interactive)

• Hypebot lists a group of Web 2.0 companies that are putting together music software/applications, such as Bebop Mercora and Odeo. (Hypebot)

• ECast, a digital jukebox company, raised $5.2 million in funding. (paidContent

• Groove Mobile, a mobile music technology provider that powers Spring's over-the-air download service, ha raised $8.5 million in a second round of financing. (Digital Music News)

• Lifehacker readers suggest where to find new music online. eMusic was mentioned most often. (Lifehacker)

• Archos unveiled a new 4 B 104. It has a $149 price tag, works with Microsoft's battery-draining PlaysForSure and is a bit thicker than an iPod Nano. (Engadget)

Posted by Glenn at 1:28 PM | Link
|Digital Music||Online Stores/Services||Portable Music Players||Venture Capital||iTunes|

A CNET study shows Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM, which enables tethered downloads to be transferred to portable music players, consumers more battery life than MP3 or AAC files.

"Music rented from these services arrive in the WMA DRM 10 format, and it takes extra processing power to ensure that the licenses making the tracks work are still valid and match up to the device itself. Heavy DRM not only slows down an MP3 player but also sucks the very life out of them."

A Creative Zen Vision:M went from 16 hours playing MP3s to 12 hours playing PlaysForSure. The Archos Gemini 402 Camcorder had a similar drop-off -- to nine from 11. The iRiver U10 dropped to 27 from 32.

All bad news, but Coolfer has a feeling that subscribers to Rhapsody, Yahoo and the like will be begrudgingly loyal to the services and their non-iPod players.

(Via Engadget)

Posted by Glenn at 11:02 AM | Link
|Portable Music Players|

The geeks are buzzing over word that Apple is going to introduce a new music product at a closed-door session on Tuesday. A post at MacRumors says tomorrow's presentation will include an Intel Mac mini and an iPod boombox. Check IceRocket to track the explosion in blog posts about the iPod boombox.

There's buzz, although a bit less of it (given it's not about an Apple product) over rumors about a new Microsoft media player. Today Engadget recaps the weekend's developments on Origami. "Cryptic hints," as NY Times writer John Markoff, are left on a web site recently. The latest word seems to be that the company will unveil on Thursday a technology, not a finished product. For a look a the product (pictured), here's a streaming video/long commercial that shows the media player to be an mutli-purpose tool that plays games and music (and videos, one would assume), uploads photos and sends emails or instant messages. What a slick, the-future-is-so-convenient commercial. Technology meets American Apparel.

In boardrooms in New York, LA and Nashville, music execs must be cheering for a Microsoft success. Not only would it give them a desired iPod killer, but it would provide momentum for further adoption of suscription services. (If we're ever going to find out if people will buy into subscription services, people will first need to be weened off the iPod.) There has been no iPod killer to date. Could this multi-tasking device be the first serious competitor?

Posted by Glenn at 2:24 PM | Link
|Apple||Portable Music Players|