DRM-free

Other Music isn't the sort of place you'd go to pick up the new U2 record; its primary mission is to turn its customers onto, well, other music. Now, some of Other Music's titles are available as MP3 downloads.

The physical and download Other Music stores are an attempt to classify the unclassifiable; there's "In" (indie rock); "Out" (experimental, free jazz, noise, 20th century composers, and early electronic pioneers); "Electronica" (new electronic music including ambient, electro, and underground hip-hop); "Then" (influential artists from the '60s, '70s, and '80s); … Read more

To: Apple CEO Steve Jobs From: Greg Sandoval, CNET News Re: Acquiring DRM-free music

The iTunes music library is looking a little shabby these days. Look around, Steve: iTunes is the last great refuge of DRM-laden downloads. Is this the image you want for Apple?

More than 18 months have passed since you signed your one and only deal to acquire music free of copy-protection software with a major recording company. And that was with EMI, which accounts for less than 9 percent of U.S. album sales and is the smallest of the four top music labels. In the … Read more

Last night, Microsoft upgraded its Zune Pass music subscription service, allowing users to pick 10 songs each month that get permanently added to their music collection. Along with significant price drops across its Flash-capacity line of Zune MP3 players, it looks as if Microsoft is making a serious push to compete with the iPod this holiday season.

Apple isn't the only one who should be looking at Zune with some trepidation. Subscription music providers such as Rhapsody and Napster will now be expected to match Microsoft's value proposition by giving their users a mixture of purchased and subscription … Read more

A year after iTunes began offering music without copy protection software from EMI, Apple is in discussions with the other three top recording companies about acquiring DRM-free songs, according to two music industry sources.

The talks are still preliminary and no deals have been finalized, but one source said one of the major labels is close to a final agreement. Rumors have been swirling on the Internet for a week that Sony would soon be offering music without the controversial digital rights management software. My sources could not confirm this.

Spokespeople for Apple and the major labels declined to comment. … Read more

Google has joined the OpenID crowd, but just like Microsoft and Yahoo, you can't use the OpenID on Google, but you can use Google credentials other places. Unlike Microsoft and Yahoo though, Google has decided to tweak the OpenID implementation a little to make it better. That means that it's nonstandard and won't work for all standards-compliant OpenID servers. Bullies. We also admire the new DRM-free music store from clothing retailer, Hot Topic. Really.

TiVo to stream Netflix http://newteevee.com/2008/10/29/october-surprise-tivo-to-stream-netflix/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10078711-1.html… Read more

In a bid to help novice downloaders jump-start their digital-music collections, Universal Music Group is offering "curated" playlists to Dell PC buyers.

Starting at $25, selected bundles 50 or 100 DRM-free songs can be added while building a custom PC on Dell's Web site. The songs will come preloaded on the computer, ready to play as soon as it's booted up.

The music option is available only on the Inspiron 1525, Studio 15, and XPS 1535 laptops and Inspiron 530, 530s, Studio Desktop, and XPS 420 desktops. The XPS One and Dell Mini 9 netbook are … Read more

Thirty-nine. That's the number of PR-related pitches I've received in the past 24 hours. Out of those, just one fulfilled my write-up requirements of being a topic that is both interesting and related to digital music. That's a 2.5 percent pass rate...and today's a good day. So perhaps I am just caught up in the excitement of having a new item to talk about, but I think Amazon.com's new "Daily Deal" promotion is pretty sweet. Each day, the MP3 store will feature a different album offered at a deep discount. … Read more

Probably the biggest piece of digital music news to come out of CES 2008 was that Napster was planning to offer its complete catalog of more than 6 million tracks in the unprotected MP3 format.

On Tuesday, with the launch of version 4.5 of the software and store, that announcement becomes a reality. Although digital music stores such as eMusic, Amazon MP3, and even Napster itself already had MP3s on offer before this point, the collective catalogs of all three didn't even come near the volume of tracks you can find in the entire Napster library. All four … Read more

Sony BMG, one of the top four recording companies, is releasing more DRM-free songs through a partnership with Dada USA, a mobile-entertainment company based in Italy.

Songs from Sony BMG artists such as the Foo Fighters, Kelly Clarkson, and The Strokes, will be offered through a new music service, Dada Entertainment, where users can pay $9.99 to obtain 15 tokens. Each token can be redeemed for a music download or ringtone or other content such as games or wallpaper.

The unprotected MP3 files can be transferred to an iPod, mobile phone, or any other digital music-playing device, the companies … Read more