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MusicGiants Offers High-Definition Song Downloads from Major Labels

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 13, 2005 - 2:46am.
Irvine, Calif. - VitalStream, a provider of digital media audio and video streaming services, announced on Tuesday that its infrastructure will power a new digital music service that offers high-definition song downloads at bitrates that match CD quality. The MusicGiants service, which has licensed tracks from all four major labels, will offer downloads in Microsoft's Windows Media Audio lossless format at up to 1,100 kpbs. By comparison, Apple's iTunes store offers songs at 128 kpbs in AAC format. MusicGiants claims to be the only digital music store to offer major label song downloads of such high audio quality. "If sound quality matters to you -- and it should if you are going to listen to your music on anything other than ear buds -- we are the only source for high definition downloads from the majors," said MusicGiants founder and CEO Scott Bahneman.
tags: Deals | Music | MusicGiants | Major Labels | High-Definition Song Downloads |

Justice Dept. Ends Antitrust Probe of Major Labels' Pressplay, MusicNet

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 5, 2004 - 4:26am.
Washington -- The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its antitrust investigation into Pressplay and MusicNet -- two joint ventures between a number of major record labels that were created to distribute music on the Internet. The Justice Dept. began investigating both services in the summer of 2001, six months before Pressplay -- a joint venture between Sony Music and Universal Music -- and MusicNet (Warner, BMG, EMI, AOL) would launch in December. The investigation examined whether the joint ventures affected the licensing terms offered to other digital music services not owned by the major labels, and whether or not the joint ventures impeded the growth of the digital music market, solidifying the major labels' central roles in the existing music market. The Justice Dept. pointed to the loosening of restrictions within Pressplay and MusicNet that hampered CD burning and transfer to portable devices, emerging competition from Apple's iTunes, BuyMusic.com, Dell and MTV, and the sale of Pressplay to Napster parent Roxio in October as signs of a healthy market. "The concerns that led [the Justice Dept.] to open its investigation have now diminished or disappeared," the Justice Dept. said in a statement.
tags: MusicNet | Antitrust | Justice Dept | Major Labels | Pressplay |