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Whenever you buy a PC, you probably are annoyed with all the programs that are installed on it; some of which you just leave on because it’s a hassle to remove.  Dell seems to think that people would like to have music preloaded on their PC for only a little bit extra. 

By teaming up with giant music company UMG, Universal Music Group, Dell has been able to recently load computers with music of your choosing.  Starting at $25, you can opt to receive either 50 songs or 100 songs for $45.  The nice thing about this pre-loaded music is that it’s basically half the price you would normally pay for the same amount of music, so it’s a pretty sweet deal.  All music comes DRM-free and will be able to play as soon as you start up your PC. 

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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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Sections: Audio, Web, 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

Universal Studios is preparing for its entry to the Blu-ray market with a plan to release 40 movies during the second half of 2008. The first Blu-ray titles from Universal will be available on July 22 and include “The Mummy,” “The Mummy Returns” and “Scorpion King.” After which they plan to follow up with “The Incredible Hulk,“ “Wanted,“ “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”; “Mamma Mia” and “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” during the summer.

Along with the current and new releases, Universal will also release some of their back catalog on Blu-ray, which will include such titles as “American Gangster,” “Knocked Up,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,”  “Miami Vice,” “End of Days,” “U571” and “Land of the Dead.” Prior to the demise, Universal had been the biggest backer of the HD DVD format, they will of course continue to release titles on standard DVD as well.

Read [Reuters]

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In a move that truly does not come as much of a surprise, Universal has followed in the path of Toshiba and announced they plan to drop HD DVD and pick up Blu-ray as their next generation format of choice.

“The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear,“ stated Craig Kornblau, President, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms.

No word on when we will begin to see the Universal Blu-ray discs to hit the store shelves. Currently it seems HD DVD is all but a format of the past, Paramount is the sole remaining studio without a Blu-ray announcement, which is rumored to be coming before the week is over.

Read [Hollywood in HiDef]

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