Universal Music wants you to pay an iPod tax – a royalty fee that would be levied on every iPod sold. Universal recently cut a deal with Microsoft to get a cut of the sales of the Zune portable music player in exchange for closer ties with the label. The move raised concerns that it […]

Goombah is a free desktop application, launched today, for Mac or Windows that provides music recommendations based on your tastes and the interests of other Goombah users. Goombah analyzes each user‚Äôs iTunes collection and listening behavior and connects them to people and music that match their taste. Users can sample recommendations and purchase them from […]

Microsoft’s highly anticipated Zune introduction has turned into a debacle. The Chicago Sun-Times says Avoid the loony Zune. “Microsoft’s new Zune digital music player is just plain dreadful. I’ve spent a week setting this thing up and using it, and the overall experience is about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face.” […]

Satellite radio operators XM and Sirius face a 20 percent decline in fourth-quarter retail sales that is likely to put pressure on their respective stock prices, according to a Bank of America investment note. On Monday, their stocks started declined in reaction to the note, shedding most of the gains notched in November following third-quarter […]

An executive at Google is predicting that an iPod will hold all the world’s TV in 12 years. Speaking at the FT World Communications Conference, Nikesh Arora, Google’s VP of European operations, told delegates that, in the coming years, the plummeting price of storage and its increasing volume-to-size ratio will give iPods almost unlimited potential […]

After years of legal battles with Apple Records over the right to use the name Apple in connection with music, Apple Computer is reported to be close to bringing the Beatles’ catalog into the digital age. “We certainly will do everything we can to get them on iTunes,” said Apple iTunes VP Eddy Cue earlier […]

AppleInsider reports that Apple Computer’s second-generation iPod shuffle is in extremely high demand this month, with sales tracking in excess of 5 million for the quarter. As a result, the entry-level player is selling out at some resellers faster than Apple can provide fresh stock. Apple vice president of worldwide sales, Phil Schiller, characterized early […]

Nielsen Media Research has begun gathering information on usage of Apple‚Äôs iPod, and has found that most iPod owners spend far more time on it listening to music or audio podcasts than they do using it to watch TV or movies. Nielsen monitored a panel of 400 iPod users in the U.S. from Oct. 1-27 […]

DRM Dumpster is a free Mac OS X tool for removing the DRM from tracks purchased from iTunes. The tool can be used for exercising traditional fair use rights, such as using iTunes downloads with a Zune. DRM Dumpster uses a CD-RW and iTunes itself to convert all of your DRM music files to MP3 […]

The Beatles are moving into the digital age. Their music will be available soon as digital downloads, according to EMI. EMI hasn’t spilled the details yet, but it has dropped the first hint that the group’s catalog of songs will be made available on the internet. David Munns, head of EMI‚Äôs North American division, told […]