The net is abuzz with talk today about Qtrax, another service that promises free ad-supported music. The Qtrax service offers to let you use an ad-supported program to search for and download DRM’d music that you can play on a PC and on some media players. Unfortunately, it looks like Qtrax will be as dead […]

Amazon.com has announced plans for an international rollout of Amazon MP3, a DRM-free MP3 digital music store, in 2008. Amazon MP3 is currently the only retailer that the four major labels are allowing to offer customers DRM-free MP3s. As a result, it can offer over 3.3 million songs from more than 270,000 artists in DRM-free […]

For a long time, people have thought that getting the music industry to switch to DRM-free MP3s for music downloads would open the doors to a consumer-friendly world of digital music competition. Now it’s starting to look like the music industry wil use DRM-free MP3s to enforce their traditional monopoly on what you hear, what […]

CNet has an interesting interview with Nine Inch Nail’s Trent Reznor on his recent experiment with Saul Williams’ debut CD, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust. Reznor and Williams made NiggyTardust available as a free download, but also let you purchase a higher-quality version for a nominal fee. In the interview, Reznor talks about […]

Napster has joined the ranks of companies trying to compete with Apple’s iTunes by offering MP3 music downloads. The file format change will apply only to single tracks and album purchases, according tothe company. Tracks downloaded as part of the company’s music subscription service will continue to be DRM’d. “The ubiquity and cross-platform compatibility of […]

Simon Iddol has put together a free download of the best mashups of the year. The 19 track collection includes Billy Idol vs Pink on Pink Wedding, Eric Clapton vs Depeche Mode on Strange Love Cocaine and Christina Aguilera vs Lionel Richie on Easy Hurt. It’s available as a .zip download from the site. Here […]

Some are speculating that Microsoft is abandoning its Plays for Sure partners, because the recently announced Zune media player won’t play protected Windows Media files. Audio and video files purchased or rented from Napster 2.0, Rhapsody, Yahoo! Unlimited, Movielink, Cinemanow and other Microsoft partners are sure to not play on the Zune. “The media that […]

Microsoft has just unveiled official details on the Zune player and other products to be released under its Zune brand. The Zune system is made up of a 30GB digital media player, the Zune Marketplace music service and a foundation for an online community that will enable music fans to discover new music. Microsoft plans […]

eMusic today launched its service in Europe, becoming the first digital music service available throughout the entire European Union. eMusic will offer music lovers in all 25 EU member nations a catalogue of 1.7 million tracks in the universally compatible MP3 format, which works on every digital music hardware and software device including iPods. ‚ÄúThe […]

For millions, music downloads and other intangible digital content are replacing CDs and other media. What happens if your iPod gets ripped off, though? Most insurance companies will take claims on records or CDs, but, until recently, claims for lost music downloads, games, video downloads and ringtones fell on deaf ears. Insurers are beginning to […]