The Swedish rock band "Europe" has been on my CD shelf since I was little even though it's not among my top favorite bands anymore. Still, the initial joy was there when I received a newsletter from them a few days ago. During the last tour they had a photographer with them documenting the trip and this was now available as a 95 page PDF download described to have "135 high-resolution, printable images, documenting the band as they roll from city to city". The e-mail didn't say anything about price, so as I clicked the link I wasn't sure if I'd find a free download or if I had to pay a little for the pleasure of this tour book.

As the page loaded my jaw dropped to the floor. 50 Euro was the price they asked for this download, which translates to about $80 USD. I figured it had to be some sort of a joke, but it soon hit me they were serious. Another thing that really made me wonder what they were thinking was the description on the download store: "IN: EUROPE is a collector's keepsake offered exclusively for download from the band's MP3 store, and is not something you will want to miss!". Can you really say that a PDF file is a keepsake? Is there any real value in having a book that you either need to print or sit by the screen to enjoy?

WWTRD...? Read on to find out

Amazon.com announced today that it is gearing up to launch an online music download store filled exclusively with DRM-free MP3s later this year. Reported to offer millions of songs from 12,000 record labels, EMI included, the as-yet-unnamed store will allow customers to play purchased songs (individual tracks and full albums) on absolutely any DAP or other MP3-supporting device as well as burn the songs to CDs.

The bitrate and prices of the music Amazon will be serving up have not been disclosed, but if the company is looking to slice into the Apple pie, both had better be good. What do you think: at least 192kbps at a max price of 99 cents apiece?

[News Release | Yahoo! News]

It's no secret that consumers aren't the only ones who detest digital rights management (DRM). No one likes to be told what they can and cannot do with music they've legally purchased and downloaded. And today, record label EMI (one of the "big four") announced that it will soon be doing something about it.

Well, sort of. Beginning in May, EMI will be serving up its entire digital catalog completely unshackled and in higher quality. First to receive the new offering will be (surprise!) the Apple iTunes Store, who will sell its patrons DRM-free 256kbps AAC tracks for $1.29 apiece alongside DRM-full 128kbps tunes (also in AAC) for the standard $0.99 price. The price of full EMI albums and music videos will not change, even though they will available sans DRM, and consumers can "upgrade" (i.e., remove the DRM from) already purchased songs for a fee of $0.30/each.

Although this is certainly a step in the right direction (and Microsoft may be next to follow suit), forgive us for being less than thrilled over the upcoming availability of more expensive music encoded in a format that few players actually support.

[Press Release (Apple) | Press Release (EMI)]

Here is another CEO telling it like it is. I am a big fan of this guy and his forward thinking. Robertson founded MP3.com, MP3Tunes, and Linspire, so he is no stranger to digital distribution. In his open letter to Jobs, he makes some really good suggestions that would open up iTunes and the iPod to other hardware and other software / music services. He also suggests selling songs in MP3 format, ensuring compatibility with all digital audio players. Last, Robertson suggests releasing a version of iTunes for Linux and even offers to engineer to the platform for free.

Now Michael, get back to your roots and do something to give the digital audio industry a shake-up once again, like with MP3.com. Check out the full letter; it is worth the read.

[Letter to Jobs]

More top execs are buzzing in on the world of digital music and digital rights. This time it's SanDisk’s CEO, Eli Harari. He states that having no DRM is not a solution, but there can be a happy medium with DRM that will favor both consumers and rights' holders. This middle ground is using DRM but allowing users, not the MP3 player manufacturer, to choose where they purchase content. Harari condemns Apple’s closed DRM system saying that it is not consumer-friendly and brings up the issues of legality and anti-competitive nature of a proprietary system. Admittedly Harari says that a closed system offers a smoother user experience but restricts the freedom of the consumer.

By this time next year, you may be able to get more than just your tall, venti, or grande caffeine fix at your local Starbucks. Company chairman Howard Schultz announced this week that within about 12 months, you will "digitally be able to fill up your MP3 player with music" right there in the store.

I never saw any in person, but apparently those CD-burning machines that were removed from stores last year may be replaced with MP3 downloading stations of some kind. In light of the recent addition of the "Starbucks Hear Music" catalog to the iTunes Music Store, many are speculating that these stations will be provided in conjunction with Apple.

If the rumors are true, you can count on leaving your Creative, Microsoft, and SanDisk DAPs at home. Bringing them to Starbucks would indeed be fruitless.

[Seattle Times via Gizmodo]

Here's proof that McDonald's should stick to french fries. The fast-food giant recently paired up with Coke for a promotion in Japan to give away 10,000 golden-arch MP3 players. The players came preloaded with 10 tracks and for some of the lucky winners, the QQPass trojan horse! When the McPlayer is plugged into a PC, the malware grabs passwords and other personal details and emails the info to the code's author. While the exact number of infected devices is unknown, McDonald's has set up a 24-hour hotline to deal with the issue and promises to send out clean replacements.

[AV Watch]

The seizure order that forced SanDisk to dismantle its DAP display from its IFA booth was overturned this week, allowing the Sansa creators to show off their ware on the final day of the trade show.

Although eighteen other companies also had products seized for similar patent infringements, SanDisk may be the only one who refused to go down without a fight, unleashing their attorneys to get the order overturned soon after it was issued. While SanDisk sticks to the original assertion that their DAPs are not in violation of any patents, Sisvel (the firm behind the order) is already knee-deep in appeals.

[CNET News]

Just days after reports of an upcoming abundance of new accessories and players, SanDisk was forced to remove all the DAPs on display at its IFA booth.

Sisvel, an Italian patents management firm, filed a complaint that SanDisk was refusing to pay the licensing fees it relies on for MP3 playback. Although SanDisk stands firm in its position that its DAPs "operate a technology which is completely different from a certain audio data transmission and reception techniques that has been patented," a German public prosecutor issued an injunction against the company so that its booth (at one of the world's biggest consumer electronics shows, mind you) could only treat post-raid visitors to an embarrassing eyeful of photographs of the players.

More as it develops...

[Digital-Lifestyles | BBC News]

The next time an mp3 appears in your Gmail inbox, you can listen to it (assuming you know who it's from of course) without ever downloading the file or even launching a media player. Just click the button beside the file name and a stripped down version of Google Video Player will pop up and play the song. Don't have a Gmail account? No problem! Just punch this into your favorite web browser: http://mail.google.com/mail/html/audio.swf?audioUrl=MP3_URL, replacing the "MP3_URL" part with (obviously) the actual URL of the file.

Several bloggers are now using Google's mp3 wrapper in an inline frame to stream audio onto their sites. Check out a good example of this here.

[Digital Inspiration via jkOnTheRun]

Alice Wang, a BA student at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London, has recently completed a project exploring how digital audio could change the way we value and interact with music. Her creation, the Audio Stick 70MB, may look like a USB thumb drive at a glance, but a closer look reveals an impressive design that incorporates volume controls, a track selector, and album info (artwork, liner notes, etc.). She's even designed a tall rack that functions as a way to both display and play the sticks.

Although the purpose of the Audio Stick 70MB isn't to replace CDs, it may not be too long before artists release full albums on similar devices. Alice says that the sticks would hold 15 tracks and could also be sold blank to bring back the good old days of making mixed tapes. Ah, the mixed tape. What better way to woo a classmate or tell someone you're ready to take your relationship to "the next level."

[Alice Wang]

China's Green Apple company recently released the latest (and some say greatest) addition to its APOD line, the AP3100. Since all the available product information is in Chinese, nailing down solid specs has been a bit tricky. What seems certain, however, is that the device sports a 3.6-inch color LCD, SD card expansion slot, and 1.3MP camera, and natively supports MP3, WMA, and FLAC; JPG, GIF, and BMP; and AVI, DivX, and XviD. To top it off, it looks like the AP3100 doubles as a Super Nintendo (known as Super Famicom in Asia) emulator that allows playback of games gleaned from the Internet!

The 4.72" x 2.56" x 0.67" wonder seems to be packing a measly 512MB under its hood, but that's nothing that can't be overlooked with the addition of a few 4GB SD cards.

No word on price or availability yet, but it shouldn't be too hard to find at an import shop once it hits the shelves.

[Zol | APOD]

My background is marketing and brand management so I can really appreciate a good marketing campaign or a well managed brand. One company I truly do admire when it comes to marketing and branding is Apple. They have done an amazing job creating something that everyone wants to be a part of and wants to buy into- that is the sole purpose of marketing. The reason I chose to study marketing back in school was because of this power to change the way people think; ultimately changing their buying behavior that can be observed quantitatively in the form of sales or market share. For this I commend Apple for using the power of marketing to dominate market share in the digital audio player business.

A while back Creative brought this patent infringement to the table, claiming that Apple had duplicated their “Zen Patent”. Creative has finally stepped up to the plate to defend their intellectual property by filing an official complaint to the US International Trade Commission. The “Zen Patent” basically refers to Creative’s music interface first used in their NOMAD Jukebox back in 2000, 13 months before Apple announced the first iPod.

If Creative were to win this lawsuit, they have two options: collect licensing fees from Apple for each unit sold retrospectively and in the future or if they don’t want to collect licensing fees they could force Apple to stop making the iPod and collect damages. The patent is vague so it will probably end up being another RIM versus NTP type fiasco.

My thoughts on this case can be found in a post back in August titled, “Apple Copied Creative, Who cares?”. Basically, this case among many others like “RIM vs. NTP” shows how broken the US patent system really is.

Update: Apple is now suing Creative for similarly ridiculous patent claims.

[Creative Press Release] thanks davinp

SigmaTel, maker of the main system chips for many of today’s MP3 players, is teaming up with German company, Infineon Technologies AG, another chip maker specializing in Bluetooth. The two companies are collaborating on a new low powered SoC (System on Chip) featuring SigmaTel’s chip architecture with integrated Bluetooth communications. This new chip with allow MP3 players to connect to other Bluetooth devices such as, wireless headphones, cell phones, and car audio systems.

This will open up the possibility of P2P OTG. It will also rid auto manufactures of those proprietary iPod docks in your glove compartment, thus standardizing car audio system connections.

[Press Release]