Apple Debuts iTunes Plus: Bye-Bye DRM
Thanks to its recent deal with big music publisher EMI, iPod owners will
now be able to download music without the dreaded DRM (Digital Rights
Management) copyright protection software. Of course, there will be a price to
pay in the shape of a 20p bump in price to 99p per download.
This is not so bad though since the DRM-free 
tracks are double the
quality of regular iTunes downloads. Tracks are encoded at 256kbps, versus the
usual 128kbps. In addition, iTunes users can upgrade any previously downloaded
EMI tracks or albums to the higher quality versions [20p per track or
around £2 per album] with a single mouse-click.
“Our customers are very excited about the freedom and amazing sound
quality of iTunes Plus”, said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We expect more than
half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end
of this year”.
Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group, commented: “This is a tremendous
milestone for digital music, Consumers are
going to love listening to higher quality iTunes Plus tracks from their
favourite EMI artists with no usage restrictions”.
apple news itunes DRM TV music
iPod Gets First DAB Radio Portable
Digital radio specialists Roberts Radio and Frontier Silicon have teamed
up to create what they claim is the first DAB/FM plug-in for iPods. It’s also
possibly the smallest DAB radio on the market. 
The small, egg-shaped device
measures 52.4 x 32.0 x 8.1mm and is based on Frontier Silicon’s Kino 2 DAB IC.
It can also be used to browse and control music stored on the iPod.
iPod owners – and there are millions of them in the UK - have often complained
that they cannot receive radio broadcasts. Now, both companies are hoping the
floodgates will open when the £50 DAB egg launches this October, in time for
the all-important Christmas rush.
“The iPod lets listeners take their music collection with them wherever
they go,” said Leslie Burrage, CEO of Roberts Radio. “With this accessory they
can now choose to listen to live DAB or FM broadcasts anywhere they take their
iPod – a must have for the Christmas present list!”
Anthony Sethill, CEO, Frontier Silicon added: “Our world-class
engineering team has designed a technology first – the smallest and
lowest-power DAB radio available. It’s
an exciting initiative that will bring a new generation of listeners to DAB
radio and greatly increase the penetration of DAB across Europe.”
Mordaunt-Short Sounds Out New Speakers
Mordaunt Short has unveiled details of a new family of high-quality, midrange
speakers for hi-fi lovers and has promised a home cinema version is coming
soon.
Due in September, the Mezzo range currently comprises the Mezzo 2 stand-mount
and Mezzo 6 floor-standing speakers. Mordaunt Short are already well regarded for
making excellent 5:1 surround packages that look good and don’t break the bank.
Taking centre-stage in the new curved 
speakers will be the company’s Aspirated Tweeter Technology, which comes from the high-end Performance series.
It’s represented by a 25mm aluminium dome tweeter with vents in the top that,
apparently, allow it to ‘breathe’ in audio terminology. The result is meant to be a wider and more detailed sound.
The Mezzo 2
and 6 speakers will be priced at £400 and £800, respectively.
Sonos Wireless Music System Gets Cheaper
The Bundle 130 is designed to let you play and control your music
wirelessly in two rooms. The company says the £699 bundle is a direct response
to European customer feedback demanding a cheaper introductory bundle. The
company’s products have received consistently good reviews but people have
always complained that they were too expensive. The new bundle is 20 per cent cheaper
than the price of the individual components.
The 130 comprises the Sonos ZonePlayer 80 (ZP80), 
one ZonePlayer 100
(ZP100) and one Controller 100 (CR100). You hook up the ZonePlayer 80 to your hi-fi
system or home cinema kit, while the ZonePlayer 100 can be connected to
speakers anywhere in the house. The remote controller can then be used anywhere
to access your digital music library, streaming the music to the speakers via
the ZonePlayer 100.
“Sonos strives to make it easy for consumers to purchase, set up and
enjoy music all over the house with our wireless digital music system,” said
John MacFarlane, CEO of Sonos. “This new bundle is the best value for a music
lover to enjoy music in two rooms and control it all from the palm of their
hand.”
Find out more about the Bundle 130 here.
The PSP Phone From Sony and BT
The PSP is
set to become a phone, Internet browser and video conferencing tool thanks a
new deal between Sony and BT.
BT and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
(SCEE) have signed a four year deal to help transform the PSP by adding
wireless broadband functionality including high quality handheld video calls,
voice calls and messaging. The announcement confirms rumours that Sony was planning to expand the
PSP beyond its gaming and entertainment roots.
There are
24 million PSPs around the world, 8 million of them in EMEA. A deal like this
is certainly going to give some Apple honchos something to think about, just a month
before the official US launch of the iPhone.
BT will be
Sony's lead wireless communications 
partner across 102 SCEE territories but the
UK – for a change – will be the first the to get the new PSP extras. Whenever
it arrives, that is, since no date has been set. The technology used will based
on BT’s IP-network, 21CN, and will add BT Broadband and other ’softphone’
products to the PSP.
Sony
recently launched its clip-on Web-cam, the Go-cam [pictured] and it’s now good to know
that the PSP with added wireless broadband features, will be able to do more than just capture that video.
Steve
Andrews, BT chief, mobility and convergence, commented: “The PSP is an
excellent device for both gaming and communications, because of its high
quality screen and audio capabilities. With over 8 million PSPs shipped across
Europe, we are very excited by the opportunity to give customers a whole new
communications experience, connecting and seeing friends across the world
through BT’s technology.”
LG Says ‘Touch Me’
Measuring 51.5 x 90 x 10.4mm, it’s a neatly sized and good-looking
player with a brushed aluminium finish and a touch-screen – a feature that is
becoming increasingly popular.
It supports playback of a wide 
variety of file formats, including
MP3,WMA and OGG music files, BMP, JPEG, and GIF photo files and MPEG4, WMV, and
H.264 video files. Videos can be displayed on the 2.4in LCD display with a
resolution of 320×240 pixels. LG’s Mobile XD promises to boost picture quality
by automatically adjusting colour, contrast and brightness. There’s also the
10EQ graphic equaliser with numerous presets.
It connects to the PC via USB 2.0 for file transfers and it has 4GB of
memory, which is average but nothing to write home about. There’s no price or
availability on this yet but you can see all the specs on LG’s site here.
Steinway Moves From Pianos To Hi-Fi
World-famous piano maker Steinway & Sons is to enter the world of high-end audio by launching a limited edition series of audio-video equipment.
The company has teamed up with Lyngdorf Audio to creata
lovely looking series of audio video products under the name, Steinway
Lyngdorf. The joint ventures says it will offer:
“Unsurpassed performance, exceptional
value and, most importantly, an extraordinary experience for discerning
clientele the world over.”
If £75,000 represents ‘exceptional
value’ then this Model D music system could be the brand for you. It comes with
a full set of speakers and a receiver that uses Lyngdorf’s RoomPerfect
automatic acoustic calibration system, so that set-up is easy in any
environment.
“We have sought for 
some time to expand the Steinway & Sons brand
into the high performance digital sound system market," said Steinway
& Sons executive vice president, Frank Mazurco. “In Peter Lyngdorf, one of
the audio industry's most respected innovators and pioneers, we have found a
kindred spirit in terms of an uncompromising commitment to excellence, incomparable
craftsmanship and quality. Steinway Lyngdorf creates products that are truly
worthy of the Steinway name, offering unsurpassed performance, exceptional
value and, most importantly, an extraordinary experience for discerning
clientele the world over.”
There are only 100 of these planned
so get saving now.
music speakers steinway home entertainment
Amazon To Dump DRM Music
The
company aims to open a digital music store in a few months that will sell
millions of songs in DRM-free format from 12,000 record labels. This is good
news for consumers, who will be able to burn them to CDs or transfer them
easily between different types of music players or computers.
Digital Rights
Management (DRM) technology was introduced to prevent piracy but prevents
people from doing what they like with the downloaded music they have paid for.
Amazon
will be dipping into the vast stores of record label EMI, which recently became
the first of the ‘Big 5’ record labels to dump copyright – albeit for a small
price through Apple’s iTunes.
“Our
MP3-only strategy means all the music that customers buy on Amazon is always
DRM-free and plays on any device," said Jeff Bezos [pictured], Amazon.com founder and
CEO. “We're excited to have EMI joining us in this effort and look forward to
offering our customers MP3s from amazing artists like Coldplay, Norah Jones and
Joss Stone.”
“Amazon has been an important retail partner of ours, and we are delighted they will be offering consumers EMI's new premium DRM-free downloads in their new digital music store.”
The
arrival of heavy-hitter Amazon to the DRM-free camp is a big boost and may,
hopefully, force the other major music labels to start offering some form of DRM-free
music downloads.
Pioneer’s Luxury LX01 Home Cinema
Pioneer has just announced the LX01 Home Cinema System, centered around
its 250GB hard disk drive recorder, with in-built digital TV tuner, HDMI
support and 1080p upscaling for DVDs.
The stylish dodecahedron shaped speakers have been designed to throw
sound around the room for a ‘fuller’ surround sound effect. We’re not sure how
this 'omni-directional audio' approach will work since there are just four
speakers, with the front two combining to replace the dedicated centre speaker
[dialogue] found in most 5.1 
surround sound set-ups.
Pioneer claims that these speakers will allow you to get the full
surround effect anywhere in the room, without the usual careful placement of
speakers. Again, we’ll believe our ears rather than the press release.
Beefing up that sound is the imposing sub-woofer and there’s a stylish
LCD touch-screen remote thrown in too. This glossy black number – which matches
the new HDTVs - will be arriving in October and it’s safe to say it will not be
cheap, so start saving now.
home cinema audio movies pioneer
Lewis Unveils HD DVD Movie Server
Now this is some serious hardware for you movie buffs.
Lewis, makers of classy media PCs and DVD servers, has just unwrapped
the MS4800 and MS9000 HD DVD/DVD servers which are capable of storing – wait
for it – 4.8TB or 9TB of video content.
This is the equivalent of 160 high defintion HD DVD movies, 685 DVDs or 8,000 CDs for the
MS4800, 
and 300 HD DVDs, 1,285 DVDs or 15,000 CDs for the MS9000. The storage
capacity is made up from 12 fault-tolerant hard disk drives - 400GB drives for
the MS4800 and 750GB drives for the MS9000. They employ Raid 6 which means two
drives can fail without impacting your precious collection. They come with dual HDMI inputs.
The servers can also record from two digital sources and can output in all high-def formats - 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
You may want to check your bank balance, and your heart
rate, first though as all of this HD movie luxury will not come cheap. The MS4800 and MS9000 cost a cool £9,000 and £11,500, respectively.
movies music HD DVD home cinema
