Breaking Digital Music News

Apple Faces Class Action Over iPad Overheating in Sunlight

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 28, 2010 - 8:17am.
Oakland, Calif. - A class action lawsuit has been filed against Apple (NASD: AAPL) over charges its iPad can overheat and malfunction in direct sunlight, Bloomberg reported. Filed on July 23 in federal court in Oakland, Calif., the lawsuit alleges that in direct sunlight the iPad "turns off, sometimes after just a few minutes of use.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Apple | Retail | iPad |

Apple: Jailbreaking iPhone Will Still Void Your Warranty

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 27, 2010 - 8:03am.
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) has responded to the U.S. Copyright Office's ruling that consumers aren't violating the law when they "jailbreak" their iPhones by noting that the act will still void their warranties, Cult of Mac reported. "Apple's goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience," the company told Cult of Mac in a statement.

Study: 0.3% of Files Shared on BitTorrent Are Legal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 26, 2010 - 8:05am.
Los Angeles - Just 0.3% of files shared using the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol were confirmed to be legal, according to a recent study from researchers at the Internet Commerce Security Laboratory at Australia's University of Ballarat. The researchers looked at data from 23 BitTorrent trackers, and found 89% of the files being shared were infringing copyright, while 11% were ambiguous but believed likely to be infringing, and 0.3% were confirmed to be legal.

Federal Government Rules in Favor of iPhone "Jailbreaking"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 26, 2010 - 7:37am.
Washington - A new ruling by the Library of Congress' Copyright Office will let iPhone owners legally download and run apps from sources other than Apple's App Store. The Electronic Frontier Foundation said that the practice, known as "jailbreaking," already has been carried out by more than 1 million iPhone owners in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), either to change wireless providers or use unauthorized apps.

Bandcamp Artist Sells $15K of Music, Merch in 90 Seconds

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 23, 2010 - 6:56am.
Los Angeles - Independent recording artist Amanda Palmer sold $15,000 worth of music and merchandise in 90 seconds on Tuesday via DIY Web store Bandcamp, Billboard reported. Palmer, who also plays in indie duo the Dresden Dolls, sold 4,000 copies of a digital EP entitled, "Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on her Magical Ukelele."

Apple Again Postpones Release of White iPhone 4

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 23, 2010 - 6:25am.
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) announced on Friday that it will further delay the release of the white version of its iPhone 4 until later this year, after pushing a planned June release until the second half of July. "White models of Apple's new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year," the compay said in a statement.
tags: Mobile | Apple | Retail | iPhone 4 |

Kanye West Joins Twitter, Does Silicon Valley Promo Push

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 29, 2010 - 12:33pm.
New York - One-time Twitter "hater" Kanye West has joined the service, in the midst of a promotional push for his forthcoming album that saw him drop into the offices of both that company and Facebook this week, according to reports. West had previously blogged that "Everything that Twitter offers, I need less of," and wrote of his eschewing of the service that, "I ONLY BLOG 5 PER CENT OF WHAT I'M UP TO IN THE FIRST PLACE. I'M ACTUALLY SLOW DELIVERING CONTENT BECAUSE I'M TOO BUSY ACTUALLY BEING CREATIVE MOST OF THE TIME."

Digital Entertainment Distributor The Orchard Goes Private

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 29, 2010 - 11:48am.
New York - The Orchard (NASD: ORCD), a provider of digital entertainment distribution and marketing services, announced on Thursday that private equity firm Dimensional Associates has completed its acquisition of the company, which is now private and will cease trading on the Nasdaq tomorrow.

U.K. ISPs BT, Talk Talk Challenge Digital Economy Bill in Court

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 29, 2010 - 10:42am.
London - U.K. Internet service providers BT and Talk Talk plan to challenge the country's new Digital Economy Act before the High Court, over provisions that require them to police file-sharing on their networks.

Report: Apple Investigating iPhone 3 Issues With iOS 4 Update

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 29, 2010 - 7:57am.
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) is investigating complaints from iPhone 3 owners who say the recent iOS 4 software update has degraded the performance and battery life of their smartphones, The Wall Street Journal reported.
tags: Mobile | Apple | iPhone |

WaTunes Bringing Music Store to Mobile Platforms

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 28, 2010 - 11:02am.
Los Angeles - WaTunes, a social music service that also provides distribution of artists' songs to digital retailers and services, said on Wednesday that it plans to release mobile versions of its Music Store application for iPhone, Android, Palm and BlackBerry platforms this winter. The application, previously available on Facebook, lets Facebook users buy any songs on Facebook using a unique storefront.

tags: Mobile | Music | WaTunes |

Study: Social Networks Reach Higher Percentage of Women

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 28, 2010 - 8:46am.
Reston, Va. - Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace reach a higher percentage of women than men globally, according to a new report from Internet audience measurement firm comScore.

Last.fm U.S. User Base Up 90% in Past Year to 8 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 27, 2010 - 10:13am.
London - Last.fm, the social music discovery service owned by CBS (NYSE: CBS), has seen 90% audience growth in the U.S. over the past 12 months, where it now counts over 8 million users, CBS Interactive music president David Goodman told the Guardian. The U.S. users of Last.fm are generating between 30 and 40 million pieces of data on what songs they are listening to, which equates to about 1,000 scrobbles per second.

Apple Begins Shipping Free iPhone 4 Bumper Cases

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 27, 2010 - 9:35am.
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) has begun shipping the free iPhone 4 bumper cases it promised consumers as a remedy to reception issues caused by the device's external antenna.
tags: Mobile | Apple | iPhone 4 |

Colleges to Test iPad as Educational Tool in the Fall

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 26, 2010 - 10:40am.
Los Angeles - Ars Technica has published a rundown of the colleges and universities that plan to experiment with Apple's iPad as a learning tool this fall, which include Oklahoma State University and the Illinois Institute of Technology. Every full-time student at Seton Hill University will receive an iPad this fall, while students at George Fox University will have a choice between a MacBook and an iPad. Other schools testing iPads as educational tools include Duke University, the University of Maryland and Reed College.

tags: Apple | iPad |

U.K. Retail Chain HMV Debuts New Digital Music Store

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 26, 2010 - 10:39am.
London - U.K. media retail store chain HMV has launched a new digital music store, which now features a library of 10 million tracks. The site, which is powered by download store operator 7digital, launches with five free song downloads for new users.

tags: Music | HMV | 7digital |

Thumbplay Adds Offline Listening to Mobile Music Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 26, 2010 - 10:24am.
New York - Mobile entertainment publisher Thumbplay announced on Monday that it has added offline caching of songs to its mobile music service for Android and BlackBerry smartphones. The company said it will soon add offline play of songs to the iPhone version of its $9.99 per month mobile music subscription service.

Report: Google, Harry Fox Agency in Talks on Music Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 26, 2010 - 7:54am.
Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) is reportedly in "accelerated" negotiations with music publishers' licensing group the Harry Fox Agency, for rights to offer its repertoire on a forthcoming music store, the New York Post reported, citing music industry sources.

Orange to Bundle Access to Streaming Music Service Deezer

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 23, 2010 - 9:22am.
Paris - France-based streaming music service Deezer has partnered with mobile network operator Orange, which will bundle the company's premium streaming service with some of its Internet and mobile service packages. Deezer's service normally costs about $6.43 per month, or $12.87 for a version that includes mobile access.
tags: Mobile | Music | Orange | Deezer |

YouTube Introduces New Music Video Discovery Page

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 23, 2010 - 6:54am.
San Bruno, Calif. - Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, which already counts music videos as its most popular content category, this week introduced a new YouTube Music landing page, which will showcase the most-viewed videos, promotions, curated playlists and other features.