samples

Song samples are no trivial matter, say researchers from Robert Morris University.

Consumers are more likely to buy songs if allowed to sample the music for about 60 seconds and if provided access to a "high-quality" version of the music, said professor Min Lu and assistant professor Yanbin Tu.

"Our empirical tests show the current stingy online digital music sampling [of 30 seconds] is not optimal," the researchers wrote in their in their 28-page report.

Apple is expected to announce, during its media event on Wednesday, that it will boost the length of iTunes' music samples, … Read more

Apple's iTunes, the largest music retailer, will boost the amount of time users are allowed to sample a song, sources told CNET on Monday.

On Wednesday, when Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage at the company's annual September media event, he is expected to announce that iTunes users will be allowed at least twice the amount of time to sample a song, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the move. The sources said the sample period could be extended to as much as 90 seconds.

An Apple spokesman said the company doesn't comment on speculation … Read more

In yet another major departure from Yahoo in recent days, Yahoo VP for Social Platforms Neal Sample has left the company for eBay, where he will be the chief of the e-commerce giant's architecture.

After being contacted by me after I heard about his departure from several Yahoo staffers, Sample confirmed the move but did not provide other details.

A Yahoo representative also confirmed Sample's leaving.

It was less than a week ago that Yahoo Communications Products Head Jason Titus also left the company.

Now Sample's move is another blow to Yahoo's management team, led by … Read more

Sure, the HTC Evo 4G is one of the first smartphones to offer an HDMI-out port, but how well does it really perform?

On the bottom of the Evo is a small HDMI-out port. It's much smaller than the HDMI interface you're probably used to, so make sure to purchase a Micro-D size cable. One end will fit the port at the bottom of the Evo and the other end terminates in a standard HDMI interface.

After spending some time encoding various file formats and sizes, we found that MP4 movie files performed the most consistently. Also, files rendered closer to the Evo's native 800x480 resolution worked best as larger videos stuttered and would not play properly on-screen.

We were a bit disappointed in the lack of control the Evo gives in terms of HDMI-out playback. In fact, there are absolutely no settings associated with the connection. Other than videos stored on the external MicroSD card and YouTube, the phone can't play anything else through the port--this also includes third party software like Slingbox Player Mobile. Oddly enough, the Evo can't display individual photos either; they must be arranged together in a slideshow for them to show up correctly.

The Evo seems to output all video at 720p (1280x720), regardless of the source resolution. Also, it takes a few seconds for the phone to handshake with a TV, so be prepared to miss the first second or two of playback. In terms of sound, every video file played back was accompanied with solid audio quality. You can control the volume of the source material via the Evo's two-button rocker on the right side of the device.… Read more

During and after the rollout of the E-30 dSLR, Olympus really pushed the Art Filters feature--a handful of preset special effects--which seemed a bit out of place on a $1,300 dSLR (especially a dSLR that has quite a bit going for it, including very good photo quality and speedy performance).

But in the course of testing the camera I discovered that the Art Filters, or at least some of them, are pretty useful and interesting. Which is another way of saying that they're kind of fun and addictive and completely derailed my completing the review.

More expensive than … Read more

Speaking of Zeroes and Ones...

Among audiophiles, the analog vs. digital debate rages without end. I, like a lot of other musicians and music fans, have my own preferences--I own many more LPs than CDs, and have paid dearly to record some of my bands' music onto 2-inch tape instead of direct to hard drive. But included in those preferences are some preconceptions. You've heard it before: digital music sounds "colder" or "cleaner" or "more sterile" because it's delivering a stream of 0s and 1s, instead of a pure sound wave. Or something like that.

Audio professionals don't use terms like these, largely because they're subjective and imprecise, and sometimes inaccurate. Recently, one of these professionals presented the best explanation of analog vs. digital sound that I've ever heard. Here's a super-condensed version of an already simplified explanation.… Read more