Mobile music downloads are too complex, execs say
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InfoWorld - Buying digital music from a mobile phone is too difficult and the music and mobile phone industries need to improve the process to meet demand, the chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group Corp. said on Wednesday.
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Apple is facing questions over user data placed in DRM-free tracks sold through iTunes.
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Rival technologies that baffle consumers  will run more companies out of business in the nascent music  download market than will head-to-head competition, one of the  lead creators of MP3 playback technology warned on Wednesday.
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A mobile music service that enables users to download music to many cell phones has been launched by a British startup.
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The legal downloading of songs has increased tenfold, and the money is rolling in at last. Also:  Toshiba software will let you edit documents from a phone & hellip;.  Sony head admits to mistake, calls for innovation & hellip;. and more.
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U.S. software company Beatnik Inc. is approaching mobile phone operators with a new music download system that compresses songs up to 10 times more than the MP3 format, allowing for faster downloads on lower-end mobile phones equipped with the company&#39;s software.
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Consumers may not be getting what they think when they pay to download music. After years of resisting the inevitable, the music industry has responded to the music download phenomenon by offering music in digital formats through online stores.
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LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - The music industry, searching for   ever-expanding ways to promote acts and generate new revenue   streams, is getting increasingly creative in its use of mobile   technology.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. software company Beatnik is approaching mobile phone operators with a newÂ music downloadÂ system that compresses songs up to 10 times more than the MP3 format, allowing for faster downloads on lower-end mobile phones equipped with the company's software. Mobile music download services are typically only usable by those who have more expensive smartphones using 3G (third-generation) networks, which have higher download speeds than GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), said Jeremy Copp, chief sales officer for Beatnik. Beatnik's software compresses songs by taking common elements or repeated sounds and only replicating them once in the compressed file. The music player, on the client handset, can recreate those sounds in the right place during playback, Copp said. The decreased file size means songs download much faster over the same bandwidth, allowing users to start listening to the song as the rest of it is downloading, Copp said. Beatnik hopes the system will make music download services more appealing in developing markets such as India and Latin America. The faster download capability it offers is good for markets that haven't upgraded to 3G and where users have less expensive phones, Copp said. Compared to the broadband service offered by 3G networks, "There's still a huge proportion of the market that doesn't have access to that kind of bandwidth," he said. For the system to work, operators must convert their existing songs to the file format Beatnik uses, Mobile XMS. Beatnik's software also has to be installed on handsets by the phone manufacturers, Copp said. The company is in talks with operators, handset manufacturers and content providers about adopting the system and expects to announce a partnership in a month, Copp said. Â
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Police and firefighters need more accurate data on mobile callers. The FCC has some ideas--but fixes aren't cheap.
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The tune seems to be changing ever so slowly at some record labels when it comes to DRM. Both out of consumer demand and to some extent necessity, some have begun to offer digital downloads in the unprotected MP3 format.
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NEW YORK - Now that digital music players have evolved beyond the ability to store 20 gigabytes worth of music, storage capacity memory is no longer the only factor to consider before buying.
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Reg review Mobile phone styling comes to the MP3 world
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NEW YORK (Billboard) - The outlook for mobile music in 2005  can be summed up in one word: more.
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Last week, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs called for an end to anti-piracy software on digital music as a way to let customers listen to their downloads on any device. The record labels responded with a mixture of scorn and indifference to the idea, which would disrupt their security measures.
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DÃSSELDORF, GERMANY - Careful -- some mobile phone tunes could be hazardous to your health.
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&quot;As more and more retailers try to cash in on the online music scene, things are becoming increasingly befuddling for consumers -- especially for consumers who stray from the Apple iPod fold.