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.
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.
Sony Electronics missed an opportunity when it nodded off with the emergence of digital audio players, but it hopes to right its wrongs to better compete with rivals such as Apple Computer.
Sony has released the first of its digital audio players to support the popular MP3 format, marking a significant shift in its music strategy.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Apple ventures into new territory with its music service. But can it make the balance sheet sing?
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 a lengthy delay Sony has finally released the latest version of its Network Walkman, the NW-MS9, in Australia. Sony, which has operates in both the consumer electronics and music distribution industries, has a natural obligation to ensure that their digital audio players help protect rather than infringe digital music copyright. Unfortunately, forcing Sony's digital audio players to walk the line between technology consumers and the law leaves them with a significant handicap.
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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