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A New York District judge has dismissed EMI’s copyright infringement lawsuit against MP3Tunes CEO Michael Robertson.  In November, 2007 14 record labels affiliated with the EMI filed the suit, claiming MP3Tunes’s internet locker service encourages copyright infringement.  The service, which has 150,000 customers, provides personal, password protected accounts known as lockers that allow all music stored in them to be shared between PCs, game consoles, DVRs and cell phones.
The judge has allowed the suit against the company itself to proceed.  It will eventually determine if it is permissible for music to be stored in cloud services the way documents and photos are.  Interestingly enough, EMI has not sued the similar services offered by Microsoft, AOL or BT.  Robertson believes that the reason behind that is that EMI decided it would be easier to make an example out of his small company.

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Sections: Web, Downloads, Web 2.0, Websites, Online Music/Video

Well, apparently SanDisk feels Joe Public likes their music hands on.  This thinking may well be what led to their new line of music-filled microSD cards. They managed to pull in all the big record labels like Sony BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner.  Although, I’m not sure what the labels were thinking with this one. The songs on the 1 GB cards will be DRM-free MP3s that are encoded at 320 kbps for the record.

The first stores they have in on the deal are Wal-Mart or Best Buy.  So, you simply stroll into one of those two stores, nab your rockin’, grooving, bopping-loaded slotMusic, and pop it into your phone, and voila…you’re set.  However, if you are one of the millions who would simply rather get your music by downloading it, then this little slotMusic thing is pretty useless.

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Sections: Audio, Accessories, Audio Receivers, Portable Audio, Communications, Accessories, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Peripherals, Storage, Web, Downloads, Web 2.0, Websites, Online Music/Video

Nokia is poised to release its new “Comes With Music” phones on October 17th in Britain.  The phones will come with a subscription music service that will allow users to keep any song they obtain through it for 12 months.  The service will come with every phone, with nothing mentioned about payment.  So far, three major studios have signed on for the project: Universal, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group.  Seems like a fairly good push to start with.

According to the Reuters reports, the music companies are hoping this will diminish the popularity of Apple’s iTunes Music Store.  I don’t see why, but music publishers don’t seem to really like Apple too much lately.  Maybe they don’t like making slightly less money?  iTunes is the biggest music seller out there at the moment (well, in America at least, not too sure about worldwide), but this Nokia subscription plan may take a bit away from that.  If the iPhone and other lower-end phones have shown anything, it’s that people don’t mind listening to music on cellphones.

There are a few problems with the service that can be a bit off a turn-off with the service, though…

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Sections: Audio, Portable Audio, Communications, Cellphones, Web, Online Music/Video

“The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.“  So says the warning on all movies released since early 2004. Well, granted many get a bit of a chuckle every time they pop a movie into their player and see that flash across their screen knowing they’ve just downloaded it from somewhere on the ‘Net, but still…it’s the thought that counts. And apparently, the thought of RealNetworks is that they want to make it a little easier for their customers to burn those dvds; since they are coming out with a new product called RealDVD which allows users to burn a digital copy of the movie of your choice…ummmm..legally?  Guess that remains to be seen.  Because there hasn’t been enough chatter about the whole piracy/fair use thing lately.

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Yahoo! has announced that it will be shutting down it’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) servers on September 30.  As a result, all music purchased from Yahoo! Music will no longer be able to transfer to computers or devices they are currently on.  This all goes with Yahoo’s migration of services to the Rhapsody music service.

The move isn’t all that bad, however.  Yahoo has announced that it will “compensate” anyone who has bought DRM music files though Yahoo! Music.  The company will give reimbursements on a case-by-case basis.  These reimbursements can either be through repayment of the money spent for the files, or through MP3 files without DRM that will play on any computer or device.  It’d be nice if the customer can choose on a file-by-file basis, so you can be refunded for the album you thought you’d like, but hated after finally listening to the full thing a few times.

For customers of Yahoo! Music, the service will be transferred over to Rhapsody which offers “the same service at a similar price.“

Read [Information Week]

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Sections: Audio, Portable Audio, Web, Downloads, Online Music/Video

Apple’s iTunes Store better watch it’s back, because here comes Napster with not just another online music service, but one that now offers a whooping 6 million DRM-free music tracks. With this number of available tracks Napster has now become the world’s largest major label MP3 catalog and the largest library of independent music worldwide.

Beginning today, all digital music that is downloaded from Napster will be a DRM-free MP3 that is compatible with any MP3 player or music phone, including yes you guessed it right, the iPod and the iPhone. Downloaded music will remain at 99 cents for a single track and $9.95 for most full albums. Most of Napster’s digital music is encoded at a 256kbps bitrate and shall include album art. In addition, users can freely browse Napster’s catalog without any obligation or commitment to purchase. Napster is also offering a web-based on-demand streaming service which users can access from anywhere using computer with Internet connection.

Read [Business Wire]

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Sections: Audio, Web, Online Music/Video

Because of Microsoft’s undying love for all of its loyal PlaysForSure customers, it recently shot out an email to everyone with some very disturbing news. They will be killing their PlaysForSure licensing servers officially on August 31, 2008. What does this mean? If you’re a happy iPod or Creative MP3 user, nothing much. But for those who were smart enough to purchase music through the MSN Music Store, you’ll be demeaned to kingdom come by the silence of your non-playing tracks on August 31.

Of course, this would only happen if you think of transferring your music files to other devices, such as another computer or music player after August 31. Which would not be unlikely, but could still work well for a few people. Microsoft’s email couldn’t even offer so much as a statement of sympathy, saying “As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers.“

Clearly, a lot of people are not going to like this. But you knew that this would happen when you first signed up for PlaysForSure, right? Right???

Via [Wired]

• Halo Trilogy 5-disc soundtrack set to be released tomorrow
• Slacker 2GB WiFi player just $49 today only
• MP3 becomes official king of music

Sections: Audio, Portable Audio, Web, Online Music/Video

Just four and half years after its launch, eMusic is reporting that it has already sold around 200 million digital songs through web downloads. What makes it even sweeter for eMusic is that it has achieved the feat without too much tie-up with the major record labels. eMusic managed to sustain sales growth through its cooperation with independent digital music content providers.

eMusic is also attributing the growth of its web-based music service to the launch of rival Amazon MP3 which said to have led to the increased in awareness of eMusic. Amazon MP3 contributed to around 40 million of eMusic’s download statistics. Since Amazon MP3’s launch in September 2007, eMusic has sold around 7 million tracks monthly.

eMusic’s success can also be attributed to the increasing popularity of DRM-free music online. eMusic was among the first online music store which offered DRM free songs. It has been Amazon’s secret and has catapulted it to being the second online music store next to Apple’s iTunes despite higher per-song cost. eMusic would have had higher figures if it had established tie ups with major labels as well.

Via [electronista]

• MP3 becomes official king of music
• Halo Trilogy 5-disc soundtrack set to be released tomorrow
• Slacker 2GB WiFi player just $49 today only

Sections: Audio, Web, Downloads, Online Music/Video

AT&T has announced two new music applications; mSpot’s Make-Ur-Tones and mSpot Remix. Likewise, AT&T also announced its plan of expanding the Napster Mobile service it gives under the AT&T network. All three music applications provide mobile music lovers the freedom to choose the music they want to listen to and use in their AT&T mobile phones.

Available for a monthly subscription of $6.99 for three ringtones, the mSpot Make-UR-Tones allows customers to search for music tracks from the AT&T Media Mall, cut a 30-second part of the song using the a built-in editor, preview the output and then download the personalized ringtone to their phone. Unfortunately, mSpot Make-UR-Tones will only work with the Samsung SYNC, Samsung A737, Samsung A747 and the Motorola V3xx.

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Sections: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Mobile, Web, Online Music/Video

Immediately after USA Today published a report declaring that Amazon’s music store is now the number 2 online seller of digital music, eMusic CEO, David Pakman disputed the report and said that eMusic is the number 2 online music seller and not Amazon.

“This morning I read with some surprise in USA Today that Amazon is “No. 2 in digital [music] sales since opening nearly six months ago.” Amazon’s entry into this market last year was an important milestone in the continuing irrelevance of DRM and the overly restrictive and anti-consumer policies that the music industry has foolishly wielded in this new, digital age. But let’s get one thing straight: outside of iTunes, no one sells more music digitally than eMusic, and we don’t plan on giving up that title anytime soon.“

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Sections: Web, Online Music/Video