GeekSugar

Daily Tech: Songs on iTunes Are Now DRM Free

GeekSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:05:32 -0800

At Macworld this morning, Apple announced that iTunes songs are now DRM free. Song pricing will also be offered in three tiers instead of just one, $0.99 cents, $0.69 cents, and $1.29. - Gizmodo
Keep the free classified provider Craigslist, right at your fingertips with a new iPhone application called Craigsphone. - Unplggd
It's rumored that Samsung is planning on debuting a 12-inch netbook. - CrunchGear
Best Buy is now selling refurbished Apple 3G iPhones at 350 of its retail stores and will offer them at all Best Buy stores by the end of January. - USA Today
A new Firefox add-on called Flickr Gallery Plus can take your picture sets and transform them into slideshows that fade between pics. - Lifehacker

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Daily Tech: BlackBerry Devices to Get DRM-Free Music

GeekSugar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:15:45 -0700

This April, Puretracks will be launching a BlackBerry music store that will be initially available on the Pearl, Curve, and 8800 series handsets. - The Boy Genius Report
Parents are said to be gaining inspiration from text message and Google for selecting baby names. - Yahoo! Tech
Since its unveiling last week, Apple is said to have more than 100,000 iPhone software development kits downloaded. - Gizmodo
Zara from Shiny Shiny checks out the new YP-S2 pebble MP3 players from Samsung. - Shiny Shiny
The LG Glimmer, which comes with a slide-out keypad and touchscreen, becomes available on Alltel tomorrow. - CrunchGear

Steve Jobs' Thoughts On Music

GeekSugar — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 07:01:57 -0800

Apple CEO Steve Jobs released a statement containing his "Thoughts on Music" yesterday, which brought up some interesting questions about where we are headed in terms of downloads and the future of music sharing. As you know, iTunes currently allows users to play their DRM protected music on up to 5 computers and on an unlimited number of iPods. This is a big deal in terms of music rights. The problem - and these are Jobs' words exactly - is that there are many smart people in the world, some with a lot of time on their hands, who love to discover such secrets and publish a way for everyone to get free (and stolen) music.

"They are often successful in doing just that, so any company trying to protect content using a DRM must frequently update it with new and harder to discover secrets. It is a cat-and-mouse game." Downloading music legally, particularly for free is an ongoing topic, and we all know iTunes is the leader in terms of sales, but shockingly 97% of the music on the average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store - meaning iPod users are not all using the iTunes store. What does Jobs see in the future? read more

Jobs says:

"Apple’s DRM system is called FairPlay. While we have had a few breaches in FairPlay, we have been able to successfully repair them through updating the iTunes store software, the iTunes jukebox software and software in the iPods themselves. So far we have met our commitments to the music companies to protect their music, and we have given users the most liberal usage rights available in the industry for legally downloaded music.

Jobs' Three Alternatives for the Future

The first alternative is to continue on the current course, with each manufacturer competing freely with their own “top to bottom” proprietary systems for selling, playing and protecting music. It is a very competitive market, with major global companies making large investments to develop new music players and online music stores. Apple, Microsoft and Sony all compete with proprietary systems. Music purchased from Microsoft’s Zune store will only play on Zune players; music purchased from Sony’s Connect store will only play on Sony’s players; and music purchased from Apple’s iTunes store will only play on iPods. This is the current state of affairs in the industry, and customers are being well served with a continuing stream of innovative products and a wide variety of choices.
The second alternative is for Apple to license its FairPlay DRM technology to current and future competitors with the goal of achieving interoperability between different company’s players and music stores. On the surface, this seems like a good idea since it might offer customers increased choice now and in the future. And Apple might benefit by charging a small licensing fee for its FairPlay DRM. However, when we look a bit deeper, problems begin to emerge. The most serious problem is that licensing a DRM involves disclosing some of its secrets to many people in many companies, and history tells us that inevitably these secrets will leak. The Internet has made such leaks far more damaging, since a single leak can be spread worldwide in less than a minute. Such leaks can rapidly result in software programs available as free downloads on the Internet which will disable the DRM protection so that formerly protected songs can be played on unauthorized players.
The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.

I know that's a lot of text, but I think this issue is actually really important to everyone that owns and uses an MP3 player, or is simply a lover of music. Thoughts?

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The New iTunes Pass: Is It Worth It?

GeekSugar — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:03:08 -0800

Though it's not the subscription service everyone's waiting for, Apple has announced the iTunes pass, in cooperation with EMI, which is an $18.99 service that will allow you to subscribe to automatic downloads of a certain band for a limited amount of time.

The first band to get the Pass treatment is Depeche Mode; if you sign up, you'll get two singles immediately, their new album when it is released in a couple of months, plus videos, remixes and other presumably exclusive content.

All material downloads automatically to your iTunes account, and you'll be notified of its presence each time, and thankfully, it's in the DRM-free iTunes Plus mode. In the case of Depeche Mode, it'll last 15 weeks, so I'd expect that to be around the same for other bands they decide to do this for, though I haven't yet heard what other artists might be "Plus-ed" soon.

I'm eager though, I'd consider signing up if one of my favorite bands were involved. Would you?

Listen to iTunes Music on Your Phone With Didiom

GeekSugar — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:25:18 -0800

Considering a majority of North Americans have cell phones with decent audio output, this is something that may be the wave of the future. Didiom is a new application that makes it possible to stream music from your computer to your phone - for free and wirelessly. All you have to do is download Didiom to your phone and desktop and you can start streaming tunes to your phone (they offer the service to over 200 phone models). And if you don't have an extensive music playlist, you can download music from the Didiom Marketplace, which offers over 1 million songs.

The good news about this is Didiom recently signed a deal with EPM, which offers many high-quality DRM-free record labels, so with this, users will be able to access and buy more music.

Daily Tech: TiVo Shows Off a Redesigned Search Feature

GeekSugar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:12:32 -0800

TiVo users everywhere will be happy to know that its trusty digital video recorder has just received a new search, which offers improved search results. It is expected to roll out in beta today. - Engadget
Without Steve Jobs, or huge product announcements, is Macworld 2009 really one of the worst Macworlds ever? - Wired
Expect the BlackBerry 8900 Curve to come to T-Mobile this February. - The Boy Genius Report
If you want to upgrade your current iTunes music and video library to be completely DRM free, expect to pay 30 cents per song and 60 cents per music video. - CrunchGear
This is kinda scary. A new study shows that most teenagers talk about sex and violence on MySpace. - Switched

Lips Review: So Addictive Even the Neighbors Want to Play

GeekSugar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:02:43 -0800

When I cracked open Lips for the first time, I had no idea what was about to happen to me. Honestly, I thought that it couldn't get any better than SingStar, and that this game probably wouldn't attract gobs of eager players like Rock Band does. . . but I was wrong. So wrong in fact, that after playing for a few hours with some of my pals, my friendly neighbor knocked on the door to see if she could get in on the action.

What makes Lips fun right out of the box isn't just the wireless LED lit mic (that makes you feel like a total rock star), or the fun gestures you make while singing to get extra points, but the selection of songs Lips comes packed with from the get-go. Offering up 40 tunes from Alicia Keys, and Peter Bjorn, to Nirvana and R.E.M., this game is a crowd pleaser.

Plus, did I mention the mics were wireless? You have no idea what kind of karaoke people are capable of until they are able to move effortlessly around a room. Trust me on this one.

But of course, with every plus comes a minus. Find out what I mean when you read more.

So the thing I love about SingStar and Rock Band is the constant flow of updated and downloadable songs to buy online - you never get bored, and the songs are cheap. At the time that I'm writing this, there is a lot to be desired in the Lips song store - last time I checked there were only 20 songs available to buy. I'm hoping that this is a temporary shortage, since the songs that come packed with the game are pretty current and desirable.

Also, I previously mentioned the gestures that you make while singing. Let me explain: the wireless mics are equipped with sensors, so when cued to do so, you can play air guitar, or raise the roof while you're jamming to earn additional points. Although I think its a fun way to integrate the technology, some people who played with me thought that the movements were distracting and sometimes impossible to find a way to work them in without messing up on the lyrics or timing. Either way, it's just another feature that SingStar doesn't offer.

Overall, I'm in love with Lips, mostly because of the amount of "stock" songs it comes with, and the wireless mics. Plus, you can even plug in your iPod or MP3 player and sing along to your own (DRM free) tunes. It's totally worth the $70 price tag (especially since there may be a hack that lets you use the Lips mics for Rock Band. Hello, awesome!), and any music gamer out there is sure to dig it. Lips is available now for your Xbox 360 online and in stores.

Have You Forgiven Metallica For Their File-Sharing Attack?

GeekSugar — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:00:39 -0700

It seems as though Metallica has logged on to the Internet and finally witnessed what it can do for business - perhaps they saw Radiohead's success with its pretty-much-free In Rainbows and the exposure bands receive via streaming on sites like MySpace and Pandora? Or maybe they just wised up and realized that file sharing is not the death of the music business, as was so direly predicted in 2000. When Lars Ulrich mounted an attack on thousands of Napster users, he had no idea on what the future would bring.

Could he have known that this year, Metallica would release a program called "Mission: Metallica" utilizing the same kind of techniques they went to court against? The band is reaching out to fans with DRM-free downloads and unreleased material, but fans have not forgotten their Napster massacre.

Can you forgive and forget, or is it too little, too late?

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Daily Tech: Get a 8GB iPhone Refurb For $249

GeekSugar — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:23:44 -0700

Still not sure about spending $400 for an iPhone? AT&T is now taking orders for 8GB refurbished models on their website. All for only $249. - Gizmodo
Panasonic announces a new touchscreen digital camera, called the LUMIX FX500, which also comes with HD video and stills. - Wired
Paperless boarding passes may soon become a reality. - CrunchGear
Personalize your gadgets and office supplies with colorful Swarovski crystals. - Shiny Shiny
LimeWire has just launched LimeWire Store, a site where you can purchase DRM-free music. - Crave
Log in and take the Kindle quiz for your chances to win a new Amazon Kindle! - geeksugar

Daily Tech - Pre-Order Your New Mac in a Box

GeekSugar — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:00:04 -0700

Apple confirms October 26th ship date of Leopard OS X - Engadget
Porn spammers finally going straight to jail - Switched
The perfect laptop case and sleeve for Autumn - Shiny Shiny
Apple drops price of DRM-free iTunes - Crave
Die Hard DVD will come with PC version as well - The Raw Feed