music

Hands-on: The Sonos Bundle 130

For the past month, I have been playing with (and enjoying) the Sonos Digital Music System (Bundle 130). Offering a sleek design and a surprisingly useful remote, the Bundle U130 raises the bar for other systems that take your music and transmit tunes throughout your home.

What's in the box

When you first open the bundle, you are immediately presented with a host of cords and the same products that you would find in the Sonos Bundle 100 or the Bundle 80 - the ZonePlayer 100 (ZP100), the ZonePlayer 80 (ZP80) and the CR100 controller. And while the same … Read more

Free music for your iPhone

Not that we at Download Music have actually acquired an iPhone yet, but we have been nagging our friends of friends of Apple to score us a freebie. In the meantime, we've been digging through our free MP3 collection to figure out which tracks would, in the event one does land on our desk, get iPhone honors first. We put together playlists which feature a mix of our favorite up-and-coming and popular artists such as Death Cab for Cutie, Jill Scott, Spoon, Daft Punk and many more. Stream now (while you work), then visit the artist pages to download … Read more

Capitol artists to appear in virtual world

Makena Technologies, which runs a teen-friendly online virutal world called There.com, has signed a deal with Capitol Music Group. Under this deal, artists like The Beastie Boys and Korn will appear in a virtual nightclub called The Tower, where fans will be able to meet lookalike avatars and ask questions. When the musicians aren't present (i.e., most of the time), the club will contain wall-sized videos of various Capitol artists.

Unlike the better-known Second Life virtual world, There.com keeps pretty tight control over user-generated content, in an effort to make it relatively appropriate for teenagers. This … Read more

Under the Radar: Music 2.0

This morning's presenters on music at today's Under the Radar conference are probably one of the most interesting groups. A few months ago, it would have been just another pitch session, but in light of radio silence day just a few days ago, music on the internet is a big deal--especially what happens to it when RIAA royalty rate increases go into effect next month.

iLike is a social network mixed up with online music. This morning they talked about their Facebook app, along with their integration with Apple's iTunes. iLike's CEO Ali Partovi considers Facebook'… Read more

There.com inks Capitol Music Group deal

In a deal that showcases its ability to bring name talent into its virtual world, There.com announced Thursday that at least five Capitol Music Group (CMG) bands will make appearances there in the next few months.

Among the acts that will be appearing in There will be rap artists MIMS, Korn and the Beastie Boys.

MIMS will come in-world on July 10, There said.

The deal is good for enhancing There's status as an online public showcase. Already, There has built several virtual presences for MTV, but those were private, gated environments unconnected to its main grid.

This … Read more

iPhone ringtones will cost you

MacRumors has confirmed that the forthcoming version of iTunes will contain a built-in ringtone creation utility for songs purchased via the iTunes Music Store. Users will be able to right-click on purchased songs and select "Make into Ringtone," which will give them a small audio workspace to select the 30 seconds they want to use as a new ringtone. According to MacRumors, the use of this feature will cost $.99 per track--a fee which goes toward licensing the music for your mobile phone. That means the total fee for a ringtone is $1.98.

There's no confirmation … Read more

Bike-mounted speaker for mean streets

Even in this day of permanently affixed earphones, some people insist on enjoying their music the old-fashioned way, in the open air. And cyclists are no exception.

The only problem is that some speakers created specifically for bike frames are, as colleague Jasmine France would delicately put it, fugly. iHome, however, is trying to remedy that with its "Bike to Beach Bicycle Speaker" for the iPod.

The sleek design of the $100 " iH85," as it's also known, makes it look something like a rifle scope. But MobileWhack says it's supposed to add brawn to … Read more

Day of Net radio silence

Tomorrow, some of the most popular and prominent Internet radio stations will go silent to protest the imposition of new fees that many Webcasters claim will drive them out of business.

The protest stems back to a Mar. 2007 decision by the Copyright Royalty Board to impose per-song performance royalties on Web radio, starting at 0.08 cents per song (retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006) and increasing gradually to 0.19 cents per song by 2010. The former rules forced Webcasters to pay a minimum annual fee and 12% of their revenues. (Small Webcasters might be able to abide by these old rules … Read more

New music...and as always, it's free

The crew at Download Music is always on the prowl for great new music--we do the heavy lifting so you don't have to--and as usual we've dug up some cool and groovy stuff to get you through the weekend and beyond. For starters, we've got a brand new track from R&B hero Jill Scott; a couple of laid-back French-pop-styled songs from Dean & Britta, former members of Galaxie 500 and Luna; and the first pop album from hot electronic DJ and techno artist Matthew Dear.

You can catch quick reviews and song samples from each … Read more