Cool Tech Reviews

RealNetworks’ Rhapsody music service has joined the ranks of online stores selling DRM-free MP3 music:

RealNetworks on Sunday announced several improvements to its Rhapsody music service, including a new online music store and integration with Verizon’s V Cast mobile phone music service.

Taking a cue from competitors such as Amazon and Napster, Rhapsody’s new Web-based music store sells a catalog of universally compatible (DRM-free) MP3 files from all four major music labels (Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner, and EMI), as well as a selection of independents.

The new Rhapsody store represents a departure from the strictly software-based music subscription model on which the company was founded.

Rhapsody’s Web-based MP3 music store offers the majority of its catalog at $.99 cents per song and $9.99 per album. While Rhapsody’s MP3 pricing is competitive with the industry-leading iTunes music store, it’s slightly more expensive than Amazon and considerably more expensive than eMusic.

As a competitive advantage, the new Rhapsody’s store allows users to preview entire songs prior to purchase–a stark contrast to the 30-second song previews shoppers have come to expect.

The more the merrier, I’d say. There’s more by following the link, but also note that there is a kickoff promotion:

Open an account and your first album is on us

Shopping for music online just got easier. The new Rhapsody MP3 Store lets you listen to entire songs before you buy them, provides recommendations, and delivers high-quality MP3s that can be played on your iPod or any other MP3 player.

If you’re one of the first 100,000 to create an account by Independence Day, we’ll automatically apply a $10 credit to your first album purchase. The credit must be used by midnight Pacific time, July 4, 2008 – so sign up and start shopping today. Limit one per household.

Yesterday, Google released the Google Media Server:

In the old days, we used to watch a simple device called a television. Nowadays, all the stuff worth watching and listening to tends to be stored on or accessed through a computer. To help remedy this, we are pleased to release the Google Media Server.

Google Media Server is a Windows application that aims to bridge the gap between Google and your TV. It uses Google Desktop technology such as Desktop gadgets for the administration tool and Google Desktop Search to locate media files. All you need is a PC running Google Desktop and a UPnP-enabled device (e.g. a PlayStation 3).

And then you can play all your PC media files (videos, music, and photos) on your TV as well as the unique features of displaying Picasa Web Albums and playing YouTube videos through your TV.

If you are having a hard time breaking the code, UPnP is the acronym for Universal Plug and Play and Google Media Server running on your PC is technically a UPnP AV MediaServer which can send audio-visual data to "UPnP media render hardware" (the UPnP-enabled device above) which also includes the Xbox 360, HP MediaSmart LCD televisions and various networked media players.

If you have one of the right gadgets you probably already know it, but this all seems rather needlessly complex:

Imagine a world where your computer, cellphone, games console, storage devices, media streamers and other hardware all play nicely together, so that, for example, music, photos and video can reach the television or Hi-Fi no matter where in the home it originates.

That world is one which the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), an industry consortium backed by big name consumer electronics, computer and mobile device manufacturers such as HP, Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung, is aiming to create through support for the UPnP (Universal Plug ‘n’ Play) AV standard. For end consumers this means that any ‘DLNA certified’ device should, in theory, be able to share or access media on the same home network — a message that DLNA members have largely failed to communicate, which is especially sad considering that many people already own a number of compliant devices …

Someday, I suppose it will all work, but unless you have a Xbox 360 or a PS3 you’ll have to do your homework to get it all working.

Eric Bangeman at Ars Technica:

Over the past few years, we have watched Apple climb the music sales chart courtesy of the iTunes. Last month we learned that Apple passed Best Buy to become the number two retailer in the the US in December. Now, Apple has ascended to the top of the charts, surpassing Wal-Mart for the first time ever, according to an NPD MusicWatch Survey for the month January contained in an internal Apple e-mail which was leaked to Ars Technica but has not been officially published.

Yet another industry where the Internet is putting traditional means of distribution in the shade. The CD music business isn’t over yet, but the handwriting is on the wall. Also of interest in the NPD numbers - Amazon’s music sales seem to be struggling despite their brand new (and highly touted) online MP3 store.

Downloads free of annoying Digital Rights Management (DRM) shackles seem to be popping up all over and now classical music buffs can join the party:

Classical music lovers like myself are finally getting some respect in the digital world. One of the oldest companies in the music business, Deutsche Grammaphon, now a division of Universal Music Group, announced it was making a catalog of 2,400 classical albums, including 600 that are out of print, available for high-quality, DRM-free download from the DG Web Shop starting Nov. 28.

The link isn’t live yet, but the format will be a near-CD 320 kilobits per second MP3 and the price is very reasonable:

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Back in May, Amazon announced an online music store selling DRM-free MP3s and today they launched a beta version:

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Peter Cohen at PC World reports that PayPlay.FM has joined the DRM-free MP3 market:

PayPlay.FM on Tuesday announced that it’s now selling its catalog of 1.3 million tracks of DRM-free music in MP3 format, for $0.88 each. The company said it’s offering twice the number of DRM-free tracks it pledged to offer in October, 2006 during a “Day Against DRM” event.

PayPlay.FM focuses on offering independently produced music in a variety of different genres ranging from classical to country, folk, jazz, latin, pop, rock, spoken word and more. PayPlay.FM’s library includes more than 80,000 artists.

Previously, PayPlay.FM had only offered DRM protected WMA format music files and they still do offer those at $0.77 each.