The “news” that iTunes sales are plummeting seems to have been picked up by every blogger and analyst that has an axe to grind about iTunes or digital music in general. A common theme in the coverage is that people were finally rebelling against copy-protected digital music. This would make sense….if digital music sales were […]

There’s been a lot of buzz in the last day over the “news” that Apple’s iTunes sales were “plummeting“. The Register reported that iTunes sales are collapsing. Bloomberg reported that Apple’s iTunes sales are sliding. The Chicago Tribune reported that Apple’s iTunes sales took a dive. The stories are based on a Forrester report and […]

The music podcasting portal Divvycast has announced a content partnership agreement with digital music distribution company IRIS Distribution. The arrangement lets Divvycast tap into IRIS’s current roster of independent record labels to supply music content for the Divvycast Label Group. The Divvycast Label Group is a collective of independent record labels that can deliver advertising […]

According to a poll by Metro.co.uk, a quarter of UK urbanites have downloaded pirated music recently. Almost half the 18 to 44-year-olds who took part in the survey said they downloaded tunes. While 37 per cent said they had downloaded legal tracks, 25 per cent admitted to downloading illegally in the past six months. While […]

Jupiter Research’s Michael Gartenberg has an interesting post with his thoughts on what Microsoft should learn from the Zune. He makes four main points. Zune lacks elegance ‚Äì It‚Äôs actually not bad looking device but put it next to a 30gb iPod as every reviewer has and it looks and feels clunky by comparison. The […]

A Chicago woman is suing Kazaa, a controversial person-to-person file-sharing network, on behalf of customers sued by the RIAA for “Shared File Folders”*. The lead plaintiff, Catherine Lewan, is a Kazaa customer who was sued by the RIAA for her use of Kazaa, and paid a settlement to the RIAA. In her complaint Lewan alleges […]

Sima Products’ Hitch is a new USB sharing accessory that lets iPod users share files on the go – with no computer required. ‚ÄúYou no longer have to use a computer to share files between devices,‚Äù said Ilana Diamond, CEO of Sima Products Corporation. Hitch can connect USB devices such as digital cameras, digital audio/video […]

Michael Starkweather, a patent lawyer in Salt Lake City that recently negotiated an out-of-court settlement between Apple and the owner of a patent covering the downloading of media files, thinks Apple will now use it to control billions of dollars in digital media downloads.”I believe that, with this patent in hand, Apple will eventually be […]

The mainstream music industry is experimenting with selling unencrypted MP3 files, a move it has long resisted because of concerns over piracy. Blue Note Records is selling the latest single from jazz-pop singer Norah Jones, Thinking About You, through Yahoo as an MP3. Another EMI act, Christian rock band Relient K, also released two MP3s […]

The explosion of MP3 players, driven by Apple’s iPod,¬†is raising¬†awareness and usage of digital music in the U.S., according to a new study by JupiterResearch. “Use of playlists has steadily increased, and ripping music has reached a penetration rate of 25 percent,” said David Card, Vice President and Senior Analyst. “Over 60 percent of portable […]