Not many in the music business have heard of Cirrus Logic's Matthew Perry. But he just might have as much influence on the shape of digital music as Napster's file-swapping service or any of the music studios.
Napster will open its long-promised portable music subscription service Thursday, which will make it the first company to put muscle behind a new music "rental" model aimed at undermining Apple Computer's digital music dominance.
Plans to hard-wire copy protection into popular digital music and video devices are being shelved as the consumer-electronics industry grapples interminably with antipiracy policies, standards and consumer rights.
With Apple Computer's dominance over the digital music business growing, Microsoft is planning to bolster its own online song store with a new subscription service later this year, sources familiar with the plans say.
Analysis: For all the glitz surrounding the unveiling Monday of Apple Computer's new music service, a quick look suggests that it's a solid, but hardly revolutionary, addition to the market.
A group of technology heavyweights is expected to take the wraps off a secretive effort to secure music and video on wireless devices, according to sources familiar with the plans.
Microsoft's Technical Beta release of Windows Media Player 10 features a redesigned interface that provides easy access to online media stores. It also syncs better with portable devices.
Version 8.0 of this six-year-old jukebox isn't exactly revolutionary, but it features some notable improvements.
Do you think you can tell the difference between an MP3 file encoded at 128KB and a WMA file at 96KB? Are you curious about how digital compression works? What bit rate should you use when encoding files? Take the aural challenge and see if you can hear the difference between a variety of formats!
Analysis: For all the glitz surrounding the unveiling Monday of Apple Computer's new music service, a quick look suggests that it's a solid, but hardly revolutionary, addition to the market.
After much gossip and speculation, it looks like Apple is indeed working on a portable video player. But creating a device that's as easy to use as a music iPod won't be easy.
Microsoft slams Google on privacy
Google's approach to privacy is a decade behind Microsoft, the Redmond software giant's chief privacy strategi… Watch it now
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