The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday that a ban on file-trading networks is urgently required, but agreed to work with tech companies concerned that devices like Apple Computer’s iPod would be imperiled. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said that he intended to move ahead with the highly controversial Induce Act despite objections from [...]

Hollywood studios and the National Football League are seeking to block the maker of the popular TiVo (news – web sites) television recorder from expanding its service so that users could watch copies of shows and movies on devices outside their homes. In filings with the Federal Communications Commission (news – web sites), the organizations [...]

LONDON (Reuters) – Gadget-loving music fans will buy more than 10 million digital music players in 2004, in one of the year’s biggest consumer buying crazes, a study showed on Wednesday. The popularity of gadgets like Apple Computer’s iPod, which can store thousands of songs in a pocket-sized device, is propelling a spending spree in [...]

FileSharing Service Launches the Only 100% Adware and Spyware Free Peer to Peer Product   MIAMI BEACH, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 20, 2004–BearShare announces the release of a new product called BearShare Lite, the only commercial free of adware and spyware. Users can download it from one of the following distribution partners: 1. PC World Link: http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,8062,00.asp [...]

“medium convergence” – that was one that magic word at times of the InterNet boom end of the 90′s. PC and slipper cinema should merge; the multimedia world in the living room should make Internetprovider and offerers of Entertainment contents equally rich. Some years and a collapse of the stock market it looks later like [...]

Apple Computer said Wednesday that it signed deals with three of the United Kingdom’s largest independent labels, partly ending a licensing spat that had kept many popular bands out of the company’s European iTunes service. The deal, with the Beggars Group, Sanctuary Records Group and V2, means that artists such as the Pixies, The White [...]

To get a sense of how diverse people’s musical tastes are these days, take a look at iTunes. One of the more popular artists — in addition to the Britneys and Beyoncés — is a Hawaiian singer who weighed 1,000 pounds at the time of his death in 1997. Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s medley of “Somewhere Over [...]

iMesh, the pioneer of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks, announced today that it has reached a resolution with leading record labels who filed a lawsuit in September 2003. The record labels alleged that the company contributed to digital copyright infringements taking place on the iMesh network.   “Entering into this agreement with key players within the entertainment [...]

The European Commission on Monday night approved the 50-50 merger of Bertelsmann Music Group and Sony Music, creating the world’s second largest recorded music company, without concessions or structural remedies. var html = getInAdHTML(“box”,FTSite,FTSection,FTPage,FTIndustry); document.write(html);   Sony BMG, as the enlarged company will be known, is expected to control more than 22 per cent of the global [...]

Kazaa Wireless provides mobile capable brains to your Kazaa Lite K++, or Kazaa Media Desktop application.  With Kazaa Wireless you can get direct access to Kazaa anytime, anywhere using any kind of mobile device. Kazaa Wireless requires: o Windows 2000/XP (or better)o IIS version 5 or higher (it’s already included with Windows 2000/XP)  (its the [...]

Yeah, that’s right. MP3 sunglasses. I am GETTING some of these. Oakley, if you are out there, send us some MP3 shades. From their press release: FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., July 12, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) — Oakley, Inc. (NYSE:OO) today announced the introduction of Thump(tm), the world’s first performance eyewear combining patented optics with an internally integrated [...]

Apple Computer has created a fourth-generation iPod that offers a slimmer case, click-wheel navigation and significantly improved battery life. According to Newsweek magazine, the two new models will offer greater capacity for the same price as the current lineup. A 20GB iPod will sell for $299, while the top-of-the-line 40GB model will retail for $399. [...]

Date Released:  July 16, 2004File Size:  1,201KBLicense: AdwareScreenshot:  http://warezclient.com/screenshot.gifDownload:  http://download.warezclient.com/WarezP2P.exe Information Distributed by Download.com and Supplied by WarezWarez is a spyware-free file-sharing program. Search for and download your favorite music and video files shared by other users on a free peer-to-peer network. Warez’ advanced queuing system and multisource swarmed downloads allow you to get what [...]

Two unofficial versions of mute have been created. These work is being hosted on an Italian wesite  http://xybaron.altervista.org/ This upgrade includes Resumes, Upload Controls plus some other minor changes. The anonymous architecture has not been changed.

Online auction powerhouse eBay (EBAY) has entered the booming digital music download marketplace, but not with used MP3s. EBay’s digital download area is a shift from its best-known business: a virtual flea market of goods. Instead, a handful of record labels will sell music they own directly to consumers. The digital area is set up [...]

# New language file format — it’s now easier than ever to switch between languages and develop new language files for ABC # LOTS of Misc. bug fixes (including that nasty one in 2.6.8 when removing multiple torrents) # More dialogs are dynamically sized (text strings in languages other than English should fit better in [...]

in a letter to congress.. full text here http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/13239 Mitch Bainwol of the RIAA says “They [p2p companies] resist going legitimate because they know that a pay-for model can’t compete on the same level with free. They won’t go legitimate unless and until they have no alternative – until the game is up.” meanwhile, “The [...]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The recording industry has “blacklisted” Internet file-sharing services and is preventing other companies like RealNetworks Inc. from doing business with them, according to music and technology industry officials. The record labels’ attempts to isolate song swapping “peer to peer” networks like Grokster and Morpheus have blocked deals that could have potentially brought [...]

A federal court has allowed record labels to continue a lawsuit against Bertelsmann and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, both onetime backers of the defunct Napster file-swapping network. UMG Recordings and Capital Records are the rival entertainment conglomerates suing Bertelsmann–which owns BMG Music–and the Silicon Valley venture group for copyright infringement, alleging that each had substantive [...]

A group of media and technology companies including Microsoft Corp. and Walt Disney Co. have agreed in principle to allow consumers to make legal backup copies of next-generation video discs and share their content on portable devices. The group, which also includes International Business Machines Corp., Intel Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. and Time [...]