As Napster alternatives begin to proliferate, they are already jockeying to differentiate their products from one another with clever options and new services. FileNavigator is one recent example. The company just released FileNavigator Builder 1.0, a program that allows the user to create a custom version of FileNavigator 2.8, which also came out this week.
Under the agreement, Bertelsmann's Sonopress will use Midbar's technology, dubbed Cactus Data Shield, to thwart potential pirates attempting to illegally reproduce music. The technology comes in three versions. Albums containing CDS-100 can only be listened to via traditional CD players, while those with CDS-200 can be played on CD players and PCs. The third version, CDS-300, can be played on both types of devices; it also lets people download music stored on the CD to a computer hard drive.
Despite being the starter model, the K@zoo might soon have a special ability that will make it stand out from other digital music portables. We say might because as of this writing RCA is still conducting tests on the player to confirm it is capable of this new chore. According to RCA representatives it looks like a simple firmware upgrade may allow the K@zoo to become the first player to read and playback MP3Pro files.
Michael Robertson, the man who purchased the mp3.com domain for $10,000 to turn it into the number one digital music site on the Net has ceded his position as CEO of the company.
Except for RCA, who co-developed the MP3 format, and Sony, who developed the ATRAC3 format, no other major electronic manufacturer has sought to develop its own desktop player for a market already dominated by the likes of Winamp and MusicMatch. Now comes ultra high-end stereo manufacturer Bang and Olufsen with BeoPlayer 1.0.0.
Selling for $99, the Rio One is really just an updated version of the first Rio, the PMP 300, hence the "one" moniker. Aimed to be the Rio lines starting price point, the refresh of the original Rio keeps costs down and therefore allows SONICblue more flexibility when competing with the slew of sub "C" note players expected to hit the market for the Christmas season.
Taking a cue from GNU GPL, Daniel James has applied this to the distribution of digital music files as a way of keeping artists in the loop monetarily. The Personal Music License (PML) allows artists to release digital music files on the Net without putting listeners into a legal grey area, but that reserves commercial exploitation of the music for the copyright holder.
Last July Philips was looking for beta testers for an MP3 boombox they had developed. Now Philips is looking for 50 individuals to test another MP3 product, the Expanium eXp401 8cm MP3-CD player, a player that uses the smaller 8cm discs over the standard 12cm CD. There is a link to apply to test the unit.
The major record companies would like to control the way people listen to music, and they are going to use both software and the hardware that people buy in future. 'Content', known as music and movies to most of us, is a global industry, worth $billions every year.
The Rio Receiver is another product released to address a simple need that has arisen out of the growing popularity of ripping and trading MP3 files. That need is to somehow liberate hundreds, even thousands, of music files from our computer systems to other areas in our homes and offices.
