When you put an audio CD into your web connected computer and it fetches the track information, you can thank Gracenote. Sony is buying Gracenote, the digital media company for about US$260 million “plus other consideration,” reports TechCrunch.

Seems Microsoft was not satisfied screwing over its “PlaysForSure” partners. Now it will leave the users who were unfortunate enough to have purchased music from their now-defunct MSN Music store realizing the there is NO way all the music they bought will “PLAY AT ALL.” I am sure many of these customers never thought they were just renting these tracks they paid good money for.

Microsoft will be shutting off the license servers that authorize customers computers to play these DRMed tracks. MSN Entertainment and Video Services general manager Rob Bennett sent out an e-mail this afternoon to customers, advising them to make any and all authorizations or deauthorizations before August 31.

Continue reading Microsoft Pulling the DRM plug on MSN Customers…

Techspansion the developer of VisualHub, one of my favorite video conversion tools for the Mac has introduced a new app called AudialHub 1.0 that converts audio files between different format.

Continue reading AudialHub 1.0 Introduced for the Mac…

Rogue Amobea has released Airfoil version 3.1.1, an update to its utility for streaming audio to one or more AirPort Express units or Apple TVs. Along with this update is an update to Airfoil Speakers which allows your Mac to be used as receiving unit for the AirFoil stream.

AirFoil 3.1.1 is free to current users and can be downloaded and installed from within the application’s update feature, adding the following features and fixes:

• Improved performance with Airfoil Speakers.
• Added On/Off checkbox for Effects, for use with DTS audio.
• Many other minor bug fixes and improvements.

Airfoil is great for streaming any app or audio from your Mac such as Pandora from Safari. Airfoil 3.1 retails for a US$25 shareware registration fee and requires Mac OS X 10.4 to run. Airfoil 2.0 is available for Windows XP.

I am a big fan of Pandora, the personalized Internet radio station where you control what you hear by selecting artists or songs you like. Pandora then matches your choices with old and new tracks that match your choices. I have written about several applications that allow you to listen to Pandora without the need to keep your web browser open all day like PandoraJam, PandoraBoy and PandoraMan, all for the Mac. I thought I would recommend to Windows users the recently updated Pandora’s Box (donation-ware).

Amazon announced that it will acquire Audible, the audiobook company in a share buyout deal worth about $300 million. The agreement effectively gives Amazon control of Audible’s audiobook collection and is described as an effort to develop and expand the audiobook forrmat, which has been largely dominated by Audible.

Amazon has not announced any of its immediate plans for Audible but is likely to have a major effect on the audiobook industry. The former’s Kindle e-book reader is currently focused on text and only supports MP3s for audio, preventing it from supporting Audible’s proprietary, copy-protected format for audiobooks. However, whether Amazon will add support to the Kindle or alter the store to support MP3s (similar to its music store) is unclear. Amazon has also declined to say whether Audible will continue to support third-party companies such as Apple, who have integrated the Audible format into devices such as the iPhone and iPod.

FlyTunes.fm was introduced at CES 2008 and looks like a nice service for iPhone users. Forget satellite radio this free Internet based radio service can “cache” music on your iPhone so it plays when you are not connected to Wi-Fi. FlyTunes 1.0 for iPhone/Touch will be released on January 21, 2008. Look for a review on ReelSmart real soon.

Amazon has announced that DRM-free MP3 music downloads from Sony BMG Music Entertainment will be available to customers on Amazon MP3 store later this month. All the tracks on Amazon MP3 online store are DRM-free and iPod compatible.

Of course you may be wondering if Sony BMG DRM-free catalog will be coming to iTunes? We will have to wait to see if there is an announcement from Apple at the MacWorld Keynote on January 15th.

Sony may be on their way to victory in the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD format war. But when it comes to digital music Sony BMG STILL truly does not get it. They are moving to DRM-free music in the dumbest of ways imaginable. John Scalzi does a nice job explaining what will probably be Sony’s downfall with its new MusicPass idea. Check it out!

Slacker’s portable music players are set to be available on their website on January 31st with 4GB ($199) and 8GB ($299) versions. Slacker is based on customizable streaming radio stations with the basic version being free. A Premium Service includes all the features of basic Slacker Radio, and adds unlimited skipping, and the ability to save radio songs to your Slacker device library and play them whenever you want for $7.50 per month. See demo video on Slacker Portable player. This is the lazy person’s iPod alternative.

FlyTunes is a free music service that is designed for today’s highly integrated and 3G capable cell phones and media players, such as the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch (via Safari). Offering a music experience that you can personalize (a bit like Pandora) making it better than satellite radio. Featuring thousands of high quality music channels to enjoy on your iPhone any time, anywhere you go, without limitations, and without fees.

FlyTunes can queue up to a half hour of music should you want to listen for awhile after leaving an EDGE / WiFi-covered area!

Napster has joined DRM-free MP3 party, by dumping Microsoft’s Windows Media format for DRM-free as it plans to offer copy protection-free music downloads by spring. The DRM-free tracks, will only be available purchased music. Napster’s subscription customers must of course deal with DRM copy protection while also getting a price hike in their monthly service fees! Obviously, another nail in the coffin for DRM, but is this the beginning of the end of subscriptions?

Well to be truthful DRM is far from dead, but at least it is moving that direction as far as music downloads anyway. BusinessWeek is reporting that Sony BMG will now join the other major labels, offering part of its catalog DRM-free.

Sony BMG would become the last of the top four music labels to drop DRM, following Warner Music Group, which in late December said it would sell DRM-free songs through Amazon digital music store. EMI and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group announced their plans for DRM-free downloads earlier in 2007.

Adobe has released a Premiere Pro 3.1.1 update and a Leopard compatibility update for its Soundbooth CS3 applications. It is highly recommended for all Adobe users. Premiere Pro and Soundbooth CS3 require an Intel Mac with Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later.

DJ-1800 3.0 turns your Mac into a self-contained professional DJ system. All you need to add is amplification and the music.

DJ-1800 3.0, $80 ($20 for registered users and free trial available) includes four emulated CD players, cueing, pitch shifting and bending, four channel mixer, song scan and search, song library management, and other features.

Continue reading Own a Mac? Become a DJ…