Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

HD music is different than normal music which you listen to daily, HD music is encoded in the highest quality and produced the way the artists wanted it to be heard.  The people who founded Chesky Records recently developed an online store that sells high-resolution music, HDtracks.  Every song comes with the complete album artwork and PDF liner notes.

The music they offer are available in FLAC format and 96kHz/24 bit rate, which is a lot higher than music on a CD (44kHz/16 bit rate).  HDtracks’ content comes from audiophile labels such as Chesky, 2L, and Reference Recordings.  HDtracks claims that they will be adding new artists and their music in the 96/24 format every day.  More after the break.

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Having converted to smartphones with a candy bar form factor years ago, I was certain I couldn’t be swayed by this cute, light, small Pantech C610.  That was until Pantech sent me one.  Not only does the phone feel great in hand, its list of features would make my smartphone drool.

Check out this smart flip phone - hit the jump for follow.

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A few days ago, our friends over at Appletell reported on a possible increase in royalty rates that could spell out a problem for iTunes, and possibly other digital music stores.  A meeting took place on Thursday, and royalties were set on digital downloads and ringtones for the first time ever.  The good news for those who buy songs and albums online: prices probably won’t be going up any time soon, at least not because of this.  The Copyright Royalty Board set the royalty rate for songs on albums and songs downloaded online at 9.1 cents, or the same rate it was.  This rate will remain into effect into 2012.

The interesting rates announced were actually those of master tones.  That rate is a comparatively astounding 24 cents.  Yeah, you read that right, 24 cents.  More after the break.

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Today, MySpace unveils the all-new MySpace Music alongside new BFFs: EMI Music, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group (NYSE:WMG), and Sony ATV/ Music Publishing. 

Users can do all the playlist making, swapping, downloading, streaming, etc. to their hearts’ desires.  Expect to be enticed by MySpace Music partners McDonald’s, Sony Pictures, State Farm, and Toyota.  We can expect free downloads from Mickey D’s, State Farm playlists and Toyota Tuesdays where anything can happen.

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Alltel, the owner of the world’s America’s (meaning USA) largest wireless network, announced today they will be offering the nuTsie service on select phones bringing customers their iTunes music wherever they are, just like an iPhone.  nuTsie says they’ve got over 1 million happy users and the Alltel deal gives them direct access to even more.  Alltel will become the first wireless carrier to offer the service to their customers. 

Forget syncing, nuTsie works via low-bandwidth streaming.  No downloading, sideloading or waiting.  Seems like a simple idea.  In addition to offering access to users iTunes music, a clever “Serendipity Slider” allows music recommendations to be be played as well opening up users to new music.  Customers can also share playlists, check out lyrics and view YouTube videos, if the phone supports these features.  Alltel is offering the service for $5 per month or $19 per year.

Find out if this deal is for you, click more…

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Seems folks like a bit of music with their mobile phone, who knew?  Sony Ericsson ("SE") announced they will join the growing list of manufacturers that offer some kind of music service with their phones.  Designed to compete with Nokia’s cleverly named “comes with music,” SE plans to begin the service in Sweden, then expand to Western Europe.

The service will be an all-you-can-eat unlimited music subscription and should roll out mid-way through 2009; Rome wasn’t build in a day.  Nokia’s service starts up next month in the UK.  Nokia’s plan is expected to cost 70 pounds extra, though there is some belief the cost will be rolled into a contract price.

Manufacturers chase customers

Hit more to see if this phenom is coming to the US

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Because there isn’t quite enough hoopla today surrounding the news of the Android G1...Amazon comes out and adds their version of the cherry on the cupcake. They confirmed today that a music store for Android-based cellphones does indeed exist, and it comes pre-loaded on the G1. (yes, Virginia..there is a Santa Claus).  With it, users have 6 million DRM-free songs to pick from, coming from all four of the top record labels.

You are able to browse and preview no problem anytime you’re connected to the T-Mobile network; but when it comes time to buy and download, you’ll have to have a Wi-Fi connection.  No, the songs aren’t free, (although wouldn’t that be a bonus?!), but they also don’t rack you with any extra “convenience” charges. It will still cost the same 89 cents per individual song download, unless otherwise indicated.

In their official press release, Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President for Digital Music and Video says

“Amazon wants to make it easy for customers to discover, buy, and play their music wherever they happen to be–whether sitting at their computer or on the go. We look forward to the release of the T-Mobile G1, which will put Amazon MP3’s vast selection of low-priced DRM-free music at the fingertips of even more customers in more places.”

Music that is downloaded from the site onto the T-Mobile G1 can also be played on PCs, Macs or any other MP3 music player.

via [techmeme]

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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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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Philips showcased their new home theatre device recently at IFA 2008.  Granted, it kind of looks like a cross between a pet’s feeding dish, a humidifier, and a soccer ball...and one might think “what can this really do?”...but it’s getting some decent feedback.

The CinemaOne is one of the smallest home theatre devices out there.  It contains a DVD player, a CD player, an iPod dock, a five channel amplifier, four speakers (featuring the same soundbar technology found in their Ambisound line) and a subwoofer which is built into the base.  It can output in just about any kind of format, including DivX and WMV, and you can control the iPod with the included remote. There is also a USB 2.0 port. The DVD player comes with 1080p scaling and Dolby Digital and DTS support as well. Not bad.

No confirmed release dates seem to be out at this point. I’ve seen rumors of September through January. Keep an eye out for updates of confirmation and pricing.

via [techradar]