New York - Following an unsuccessful foray into the MP3 player market in 2003, Dell (NASD: DELL) is planning to release a new line of portable digital music players and an accompanying subscription service as early as September, The Wall Street Journal reported.

London - Unsatisfied with the sound quality of MP3 and other current digital audio formats, veteran rocker Neil Young has been talking with record companies on "licensing an alternative digital platform that he had been working on -- something, he claimed, of far higher quality that could provide an alternative to the download world and perhaps even a new business model for music," the Financial Times reported.

Austin, Texas - Lou Reed is decidedly frosty on the notion of digital music. A classic audiophile. "Technology is making it easier to make things worse," he proclaimed during his keynote interview on Thursday at SXSW, with veteran music producer and 20-year collaborator Hal Willner. "If you are one of those people like me who like 'good sound,' you need good speakers, a good stereo, and (as an artist) your price of recording goes up, because you need a good mic, good cables...If you don't like good sound, go with MP3."

With MacWorld right around the corner and few rumors about the next trick(s) up Steve Jobs’s sleeves, the latest word from Cupertino includes an iPod with automatic volume control, designed to calculate the user’s length of listening time and noise level, gradually reducing the volume as necessary. The Daily Mail reports that Apple owns a patent for the technology.

Murder suspect Erik Crespo, 17 years old at the time of a 2005 New Year’s Eve elevator shooting in New York City, was questioned by Detective Christopher Perino. But the detective later denied that any questioning had taken place, only to discover Crespo had used his MP3 player to record the interrogation, AP reports. The recording, which displayed questionable tactics on Perino’s part, was enough to arraign the detective on 12 counts of first-degree perjury yesterday, and he faces up to seven years for each count.

Milpitas, Calif. - Consumer electronics maker Creative (NASD: CREAF) announced on Wednesday that it has now shipped a total of 25 million MP3 players, eight years after shipping its first Nomad MP3 payer in 1999. The company now markets players including the ZEN and MuVo product lines. "Shipment of 25 million MP3 players marks a major milestone in Creative history, as our player unit volume exceeds the combined unit sales from some of the biggest names in consumer electronics," said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative.

London - Digital music retailer 7digital said on Thursday that DRM-free MP3 downloads are out-selling other formats offered on its site by almost four-to-one, where MP3 is offered alongside WMA. The company added that its service offers over 60% of its more than three million-track catalog in MP3 format, and expects that proportion to increase to close to 100% by next summer. "As physical sales on the high-street and online continue to drop, it is vital that labels find a way to increase digital album sales to make up the shortfall," said 7digital managing director Ben Drury. "In order for music industry revenues to flourish again, all four majors need to get on board and make music available to the consumer in the format of their choice."

New York - Publisher Penguin's audiobooks unit has removed its titles from the website of digital audio retailer eMusic, over fears of digital piracy on a new eMusic service that sells audiobooks in the unprotected MP3 format, The New York Times reported.

Los Angeles - Amazon.com will offer a 20% commission on sales to affiliates who drive traffic to its new MP3 store, compared to the 5% commission that Apple provides to iTunes Store affiliates, Mashable.com reported. AmazonMP3 offers DRM-free songs for between 89 cents and 99 cents. Today, Apple cut the price of tracks at its own DRM-free music store, iTunes Plus, from $1.29 to 99 cents.

Franklin, Tenn. - PassAlong Networks, an operator and provider of digital music services, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with e-commerce firm Digonex Technologies and independent label Nettwerk Music Group to test a digital music store that will offer variably-priced MP3s.

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com on Tuesday announced the beta launch of Amazon MP3, a digital music store that offers over 2 million DRM-free tracks, more than a million of which are priced at 89 cents.

San Diego - AnywhereCD, an online retailer started by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson that bundles MP3 albums along with physical CDs, will shut down at the end of the month, Robertson said in a post on his blog.

New York - Warner Music Group chief Edgar Bronfman hinted that his company, which had been adamant that it would not sell music without digital rights management (DRM) technology, might be open to doing so in some instances, Reuters reported.

London - U.K.-based digital music store 7digital said on Monday that it will be first retailer in the U.K. to offer seminal rock band Pink Floyd's entire back catalog as 320 Kbps, DRM-free MP3 files, and the first to offer the group's full catalog. A promotion will initially offer albums like "Animals" and "Dark Side of the Moon" for about $11.14; other records like "The Wall" and "Pulse" will sell for about $14.18. The site will also be the first to offer the digitally remastered "Piper at the Gates of Dawn," the band's first album which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

New York - Amazon.com is gearing up to launch its long-awaited digital music service in mid-September, the New York Post reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the situation.

Tokyo - Sony plans to shutter its Connect digital music service in North America and Europe next year, and end its portable players' reliance on the company's proprietary ATRAC file format.

Milpitas, Calif. - Consumer electronics maker Creative on Wednesday introduced the Creative ZEN, a credit card-sized music and video player with a 2.5-inch color screen. The player supports MP3 and WMA formats, in addition to AAC and unprotected iTunes Plus tracks from the iTunes Store. The Creative ZEN will ship to retailers next month in 4GB ($149), 8GB ($199) and 16GB ($299) capacities.