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Amazon launches DRM-free MP3 download service
The e-commerce giant Amazon.com has launched their own music service: AmazonMP3. AmazonMP3 now offers DRM-free tracks in the MP3 format from a variety of artists on their website. Amazon has chosen the widely supported MP3 file format which ensures comparability with iPods, Zunes, most modern cell phones, and virtually any computer or digital audio player users wish to use.
The MP3 files weigh in at 256kbit so they won’t sound quite as good as iTunes 256kbit AAC files, but certainly will sound good enough for anyone but the most golden-eared audiophile. The fact that the MP3 files are DRM-free ensures not only broad compatibility, but also that users won’t ever have to worry about authentication or license revocation. It is currently unknown if Amazon will be adding audio fingerprints or other watermarks to the music to tie an individual file to the downloader to help cut into piracy.
Click to continue reading Amazon launches DRM-free MP3 download service
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Alex St. John Talks Wii, Casual Games, Blasts Vista
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, PC,
Alex St. John, CEO of online game publisher Wild Tangent, recently talked with Dean Takahashi at Mercury News about casual gaming, Vista, and a little about the Wii, but most of the interview seems to focus on a withering criticism of Vista. St. John has long made his feelings known about the things he feels are broken in the gaming support in Vista, but here he seems to go into a little more depth. Some of the stuff isn’t that shocking – it’s fairly well known that there is generally a performance hit when gaming in Vista. Gamers don’t really get any benefits from DirectX 10 right now without content to support it, and of course St. John goes after the standard Microsoft criticisms of code bloat and memory footprint.
Beyond that, St. John’s big criticism is that the security mechanisms and parental controls, in his opinion, are horribly poorly thought out and implemented. St. John claims that Wild Tangent had to do tons of work to make sure that their online platform worked correctly in Vista, and very few of the competing online providers did the same, resulting in a broken experience for most casual gamers.
Interestingly, Microsoft sent a response to the interview, but the email from Microsoft reads more like a general “feel good” press release about how they worked with developers and families to come up with the solution in Vista, while countering none of the issues that St. John raised. St. John is saying that the implementation is broken, and Microsoft’s response basically seems to be “we talked to a lot of people and tried really, really hard” which in itself seems to be an indictment of Microsoft’s development process.
Read More | Mercury News
MGM Films Roar onto iTunes
Posted by Lolita Beckwith Categories: Apple, Movies, Portable Audio / Video, Software,
More and more entertainment companies are jumping on the iTunes bandwagon—making life more and more fun for the rest of us. Most recently, Sony joined the fray, with some of their classic TV shows available for download. Now MGM has climbed aboard, adding such popular films as “Mad Max” and “Rocky” to the iTunes catalog, which already carries nearly 500 flicks from Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures and others. The MGM films will be available in the coming weeks; most of the movies in the iTunes Store can be downloaded for $9.99 USD.
Read More | NY Times
Playstation 3 1.60 Firmware Update Coming This Week
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
With the European launch of the PlayStation 3 coming up, Sony is preparing to release the 1.60 firmware update for users in all territories on March 22nd. The update should, of course, enable the “full” version of the emulation software for European PlayStation 3 consoles, but in North America and Japan, users will get the following new functionality:
- Internet Browser changes: The firmware update adds a pinpoint zoom feature that automates the selection of the optimal enlargement ratio. In addition, there will be a new resolution option for adjusting web page viewing, including adjustments for flicker settings for interlaced output resolutions.
- Folding@home: The Folding@home client for protein folding research will also be enabled, as previously announced by Sony.
- Remote Play: users will now be able to use the Remote Play functionality through any wireless access point, not just through the built-in wireless on the PlayStation 3, so those users with the 20GB models will not be able to use this functionality.
- Background downloading will be enabled. This will probably not be universal background downloading; as others have mentioned, background downloads will probably not be able to take place during gaming sessions.
- Full size keyboard: Sony is adding a full-size virtual keyboard that users will be able to select rather than the current keypad-based entry.
Read More | Sony Japan (Google Translation)
Showtime Expands Into Downloadable Games
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, PC,
Showtime Networks is looking to expand into downloadable gaming by offering a new service called “On Broadband.” The service would offer games content that could be played online or downloaded at varying price points. Showtime also plans to offer a subscription version. According to an AP report, Showtime plans on making the service available through broadband providers, including cable TV and DSL. This would seem to make the business model more similar to their existing premium television content, rather than stand-alone offerings like the GameTap subscription service.
Read More | AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Microsoft Announces TV, Movie Downloads For Xbox Live
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Rumors recently surfaced that Microsoft was going to make movie downloads available over Xbox Live. Today, Microsoft confirmed those rumors, announcing that they would make television episode downloads and movie rentals available through the Xbox Live Marketplace. The first hints that a rental service was in the offering was the presence of a new expiration flag on multimedia downloads from the Live service. Providers lining up to offer content on Xbox Live include CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. Movie content providers include Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Paramount Pictures. Television content will be download to own, and movie content will be download to rent over the service. The offering will officially launch on November 22nd, the anniversary of the Xbox 360 in the United States. No mention of availability in multiple regions was made, and costs were not released, but one would expect that Microsoft would offer prices that are competitive with Apples iTunes store. Now, however, the once “spacious” 20 GB hard drive is starting to seem rather small to support downloadable HD content.
The full press release continues below.
Click to continue reading Microsoft Announces TV, Movie Downloads For Xbox Live
