Boffins behind the original MP3 and MPEG4 codecs have come up with a new audio format which could make CDs obsolete.
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS say the new HD-AAC codec delivers better-than-CD-quality sound in file sizes that are small enough to be offered online - like on Apple's iTunes Store, for example.
On Thursday, Warner Music Group began selling music on Amazon in the MP3 format without the digital rights management that hampers many of the files sold in iTunes and other online music stores.
MTV Networks plans to make every clip from every episode of hit animated comedy South Park available for free online next year as part of a strategy to reach consumers everywhere. The decision from the biggest division of media conglomerate Viacom follows on the heels of the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, whose popularity online has helped boost television viewership. MTV Networks' Comedy Central network began offering in October some 13,000 Daily Show videos dating back to 1999.
There are plenty of sites where people can infringe copyright by trading music, movies, “cracked” software programs and other files -- but none of them have quite the same joie de vivre as a site called The Pirate Bay.
Based in Stockholm, the group of hackers behind the site seem to take great pleasure in writing nasty letters to the lawyers who threaten them with all kinds of penalties for their behaviour, knowing full well that the site is out of reach of most of those laws. Oh yes, and the front page features a dashing image of the Jolly Roger.
Led Zeppelin, one of the last major acts to resist digital distribution, are releasing their back catalogue online.
Led Zeppelin said their songs, including Communication Breakdown, Whole Lotta Love and Stairway to Heaven, will be available from online music stores Nov 13. The band is due to release a two-CD retrospective, Mothership, the same day.
Google on Monday unveiled a new system for identifying pirated video on YouTube as it gets uploaded, but the system puts the burden on movie studios and other content owners to provide YouTube copies of the content first.
Content owners provide the video to YouTube and specify whether they want to block anyone else from uploading copies of it. They can also ask YouTube to allow others to post it and put ads next to it or otherwise promote it on their sites, David King, YouTube product manager, told reporters in a briefing at YouTube.
Innovative peer-to-peer-based internet television service, Joost, has opened up for business following an extended beta-testing period.
Joost is an internet TV service for Macs and PCs which has reached deals to distribute programmes from various small to medium television channels. The software - which uses a peer-to-peer network to distribute shows - has been made available as a free download.
A man has been arrested in Australia on suspicion of filming The Simpsons Movie in a cinema on his mobile phone and uploading it to the internet. The unnamed 21-year-old from Sydney has been charged with copyright theft and could face up to five years in jail.
A recent report from The Carmel Group entitled "Getting a Free Bird" estimates that more than 2 million homes in North America are now pirating Bell ExpressVu and Dish Network Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite television signals.
Digital Home reviewed the findings of the report and believes them to be accurate thanks to the novel approach the research company took to derive the numbers.
Earlier this year, Netflix began rolling out a movie download service, vaguely named "instant viewing" or "instant watching" or "watch instantly," depending on what part of the Netflix website you are looking at. Every Netflix subscriber is provided with a number of hours of video per month based upon the cost of his or her rental plan. Even if they are unable to use the service.
