It looked like curtains not too long ago for the Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA). Acquired in September of 1999 by EMusic, the oldest Net music site (going back to 1993) watched as EMusic burned through its cash stockpile and then semi-close IUMA to save money, leaving the site up but not updating it. Friday, IUMA was saved.
The Audio Mill has applied the VCR concept to Internet radio. Their new product, released as a beta this week, is called the RadioActive Bitbop Tuner and allows users to search thousands of Internet radio stations for their favorite artists and record songs to their computer. More here.
EMusic announced today that it has launched proprietary monitoring software that continually searches Napster's network for EMusic MP3s made available on the service. The software not only seeks out these files, but it automatically reports the infringing track names to Napster Inc. for filtering.
Read More here.
As Net music companies search for more ways to generate income, services that were once free will now incur a charge. One of those free services, MP3.com's unique Payback for Playback service for its artists will soon go that route.
I can't say I'm saddened by this news, since I've never personally used this service/feature before, but I guess I'm not surprised by the news, considering it seems to be the 'trend' (to start charging)... where MP3s and online-music is concerned anyway.
Here is MP3 Newswire's detailed review on the new Nike MP3 player that was designed specifically for joggers and the gym set. Definitely worth a read if you are looking for a player and haven't settled on one yet.
Check it out here.
The chairman of Bertelsmann media group says if a new, legal Napster can't be launched by July 1st, the whole service should be shut down.Read more.
EMusic is offering a free music downloads in a promotion to steer displaced Napster users their way.Whether or not this is going to work, remains to be seen. Linkage is here.
There's an interesting writup here on why the idea of hosting an offshore OpenNap server on Sealand won't work. It looks like the idea of offshore hosting isn't all it's cracked up to be, I wonder if there are any ways around this.
Saw this pretty interesting article on a Canadian named Matt Goyer, who plans to set up a clone of Napster off the shores of UK on a sovereign island. The company he has in mind to cater for the hosting is HavenCo Ltd. which rents computing
As the Rio brand's third generation portable, the Rio 600's backpack system marks the evolution of these players with a genuine attempt to protect them from the quick obsolescence that face any electronic product in its formative years. Time will tell how well this strategy will work, but at USD 169 list price, we find the Rio 600 to be a fine and very competitively priced player.
