labels

Gmail for iOS is the official e-mail client from Google for iOS, and it's mostly a solid offering with only a couple of issues. The initial release got off to a rocky start with notification errors, but a subsequent release seems to have ironed out the major problems.

Obviously, the Mail app that comes with your iPhone lets you connect to Gmail accounts, but with the official app from Google, you'll get a few more options that you may have come to rely on when using Gmail. Get started by creating a new Gmail account or logging in … Read more

Food labels can be confusing, but graphic designer Renee Walker aims to change to that.

Walker says most food labels now are complicated and give people too much information. So she set out to create a design that is more visual and graphic, and one that focuses on ingredients. That could in turn lead to healthier eating habits, says Walker.

In this video, she shows SmartPlanet her designs that she's based on blocks of color, with bigger blocks indicating the major ingredients in the food and brighter colors signifying the ingredients that more natural.

This video first appeared at … Read more

There's a new 2012 doomsday prophecy out there. The world might survive the end of the Mayan calendar, but compact discs might not be so lucky.

A report from Side-Line cites a number of anonymous music industry insiders who confirmed to the music magazine that the major labels are planning to stop pressing new CDs by the end of next year, if not sooner.

The issue, the argument goes, is that CDs cost money to create, store, and distribute and shifting to all-digital distribution will free up more resources for marketing and other parts of the business.

There is one problem with the notion of killing the CD, however. Labels are still making money off of them. … Read more

Google is planning to closely link an upcoming music download store with its Google+ social network, according to a published report.

CNET broke the news last week that Google plans a new social "twist" to the concept of the traditional MP3 download store. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that the plan involves Google+.

As envisioned, Google Music users could buy a song and then gift the track to contacts, who would be allowed to listen once for free, said music industry insiders who have knowledge of the plan. The WSJ reports that the store could debut within … Read more

Lots of people in the music industry believe they know what kind of new "twist" Google has planned for the company's upcoming download store.

Android chief Andy Rubin made news earlier today at the All Things Digital AsiaD conference by confirming reports that Google plans to launch an MP3 store to complement the company's cloud-music service. And he piqued interest by adding this: Google's offering will "have a little twist--it will have a little Google in it."

Multiple music industry sources told CNET that Google has spoken to the major record companies and … Read more

Google has been pretty quiet about music since unveiling a cloud service in May, but now the search company reportedly wants to launch an MP3 store.

Google could launch the music store in the next several weeks, according to the New York Times, which said the search giant has held talks with top record labels.

The MP3 store would likely be connected to Google's cloud music service, the Times reported. In addition, one source with knowledge of the talks told CNET today that Google has also looked into the possibility of obtaining worldwide music rights. Apple has also sought similar music rights … Read more

Digster, a playlist service from Universal Music Group, is betting that even in the age of search algorithms and recommendation engines, humans are still the best music-discovery tools.

Rolled out in the United States in August, Digster started out by providing playlists exclusively to users of Spotify, the European music service that also launched U.S. operations this summer. Digster's initial goal was to help cull the millions of tracks available there.

Digster now wants to do the same for users of Rdio, a Spotify competitor. Mitch Rotter, a vice president of marketing and product development at Universal Music, … Read more

With one foot out the door at Warner Music Group, Michael Nash doesn't try to sugarcoat the music industry's history of the past 10 years.

Nash has been the digital chief of Warner Music Group for four years but has been with the company for over 10. He started when Napster was just hitting the music scene--hitting it like a sledge hammer--and this month Nash announced he's calling it quits.

Nash said he came to Warner Music from the start-up community and joined because he knew the Internet would transform music. He wanted a role in changing the industry as it existed back then; the labels were built around the CD, the bundling of songs, and forcing fans to buy discs when they only wanted one or two tracks.

"That strategy was based on tricking people into buying an album that may not have been very good," Nash said in an interview with CNET last week. Consumer backlash to that was very much part of the digital revolution, Nash said.

He acknowledged that when it came to digital, the sector made mistakes as it tried to navigate "a perfect storm" of change. It's taken its toll on the labels' digital strategists, a fact that is reflected in the high turnover during the past four years. EMI for example went through four digital chiefs, including Douglas Merrill, a former Google exec, and Cory Ondrejka, co-founder of Linden Lab. … Read more

Michael Robertson, founder of such companies as MP3.com and Lindows, appears to be daring big radio and music companies to challenge him on copyright again.

Robertson's latest company DAR.fm, billed as a TiVo for Web radio, is expected to announce tomorrow that the service will enable users to capture the radio shows they record instead of just streaming them to their PCs or Web-connected devices. In the future, DAR.fm users can record talk shows and music and download them to iPads, iPhones, or Android devices, Robertson told CNET today. Not surprisingly, DAR.fm users can store their recordings at Robertson's digital-locker service, MP3tunes.com.

The new feature is available for free for the first series, which means that if you listen to say, NPR's "All Things Considered," DAR.fm will record it and download it daily for free. For more series, up to 10, a user must pay $39.95 a year.

So, how is this different from subscribing to a podcast?

Remember that not all radio shows offer a podcast. Fans of Rush Limbaugh must pay a yearly subscription. Some shows post their podcast three days after they air and some offer only highlights. Robertson promises that DAR.fm can record any show on the Web, period.

The download feature will certainly be reviewed closely by the big radio companies, such as Clear Channel and CBS Radio ( which shares the same parent company as CNET), as well as record companies. "Yes, it's hard to imagine that the record labels are going to be excited about this," Robertson conceded. … Read more