Just like with CDs, the offer applies to vinyls that you’ve bought from the website since 1998 (how many people were really using the internet to buy vinyl records back then?), and any customers who purchases a vinyl record that is eligible for an AutoRip MP3 version in the future will receive a digital copy that will be automatically added to the user’s Cloud Player library.

Just like with CDs, AutoRip only supports a certain number of vinyl records. In other words, it only goes as high as Amazon’s current catalog of MP3 music that they have available. The company currently boasts 50,000 tracks and counting that are eligible on Amazon’s AutoRip, all of which come with 256kbps quality.

Sales of vinyl records have been making a comeback as of late. They were obviously a popular format back in the 1970s, but many audiophiles argue that vinyl records offer a better quality sound than CDs and even high-bitrate MP3s, thus marking the rise in popularity. Many modern musicians and bands still release their albums in vinyl record format to this day.

This 25 billionth song not only gets the distinction of being that mark-maker, but also has the artist winning a beastly €10,000 iTunes Gift Card. One wonders if they’ll simply purchase thousands of copies of their own music or if they’ll pick up every single song recorded in the last several years. One thing is for certain – even with that amount of iTunes cash, Chase Buch won’t be able to purchase everything the iTunes Store has to offer.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services spoke up this week about the masterful mark. Noting the 15,000 songs per minute average sales point as well, Cue spoke up on how “the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists … on a scale we never imagined possible.” It was also made clear once again that the iTunes Store is “the world’s most popular music store” complete with 119 countries on its roster and 26 million songs available for download.

In their most recent release on the iTunes Store, Apple reminded the world that they push songs with “iTunes Plus”. This is Apple’s own brand format for songs which offers DRM-free action with 256 kbps AAC encoding for what Apple describes as “audio virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings.” It’s high-powered!

This device is more than a turntable for your old-school vinyl album collection. The model PTR8UR turntable also features an AM/FM radio, RCA outputs, and integrated three-inch speakers. It also offers an X-Bass control system, an SD card slot, USB port, and ships with a 45-RPM record adapter.

The front dials are illuminated for use in the dark and the LCD display has a blue backlight. One of the coolest features is that this turntable is able to turn your vinyl records into digital tracks so you can add them to your iPod or other MP3 player. The record player also has another feature that wasn’t around in the 50s, a wireless remote control.

Other connectivity features include a 3.5 mm auxiliary input and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The record player itself supports three speeds including 33 1/3, 45, and 78 RPM records. The player measures 15.98 x 13.62 x 8.66″ and is available now for $114.99.

[via Pyle Audio]

This marks the first time ever that iPhone and iPod Touch users can buy music from Amazon’s 22 million song catalog directly on their mobile device. However, Amazon only mentions the built-in Safari web browser as far as support goes, but we tried it on the Chrome browser and it seems to be working just fine.

Amazon says its iOS web store utilizes HTML5 and offers customers quite a bit of features and conveniences, including personalized recommendations, best-seller lists, and customer ratings. Plus, you’ll have access to all the awesome deals that Amazon makes available, including $5 albums and $0.69 songs.

When buying music from your iOS device, purchases are automatically saved to Amazon’s Cloud Player and can then be downloaded or played instantly from your iPhone or iPod Touch, as well as the iPad, Kindle Fire, Roku, Sonos, any Android phone or tablet, or any web browser. So, while the Amazon MP3 web store on iOS isn’t as fluid as the dedicated app that’s currently available on Android, it’s certainly better than nothing.

Anyone who has been using Amazon for their CD needs – since 1998 – will also get a nice surprise, as if they’re also in the 50,000 track catalog they’ll be automatically added too. The AutoRip content doesn’t count toward your Cloud Player storage allowance, and it can be streamed to Android and iOS devices, the browser, and various streaming media hardware.

Among the titles included in the new service are Adele’s 21, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

If you weren’t convinced that Amazon is directly challenging Apple with AutoRip, the company specifically calls out its Cupertino rival in the press release. “In many cases,” it claims, “customers can buy an AutoRip CD, including the free digital copy, for less than they would pay for only the digital album at iTunes.”

You can find your new MP3 copies by signing into your Cloud Player account. AutoRip appears to be US-only at present.

The albums included in this bundle are Favortism by MC Frontalot, Album Raises New and Troubling Questions by They Might Be Giants, Calling All Dawns by Christopher Tin, Best of Valkyria Chronicles by Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Jonathan Coulton’s Greatest Hit (Plus 13 Other Songs) by Jonathan Coulton (obviously). Those who pay more than the average – which at the time of this writing sits at $8.10 – will get OK Go’s Twelve Remixes of Four Songs included as a bonus. The trailer below features a short sample of a song from each album, along with a special message from Christoper Tin himself. Check it out:

The albums are available in either FLAC or MP3 format, and like previous Humble Bundles, all come DRM-free. As always, a customizable portion or your purchase amount benefits the Child’s Play charity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, so even though you get to name your own price for the bundle, don’t skimp! All in all, it sounds like there’s an excellent range of music available here, so if you aren’t turned off by the idea of a game-free Humble Bundle, then we suggest you check it out. Just like past Humble Bundles, we’re expecting more bonuses to be added later on in the promotion. Stay tuned for more details!

Thus far Def Leppard have only revealed a couple of tracks: “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Rock of Ages”, but they’ve let it be known that a whole lot more is on the way. Universal Music Group is reportedly stopped from releasing any Def Leppard tracks from the original albums due to the contract between the label and the band. Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott spoke to Billboard.com this week on the matter.

“When you’re at loggerheads with an ex-record label who…is not prepared to pay you a fair amount of money and we have the right to say, ‘Well, you’re not doing it,’ that’s the way it’s going to be. Our contract is such that they can’t do anything with our music without our permission, not a thing. So we just sent them a letter saying, ‘No matter what you want, you are going to get “no” as an answer, so don’t ask.’ That’s the way we’ve left it. We’ll just replace our back catalog with brand new, exact same versions of what we did.” – Elliott

You’ll be able to see many more tracks popping up in the near future if the first two singles continue to sell well. At the moment, Billboard has “Sugar” ringing in at 21,000 downloads in the USA while “Ages” has 5,000. Hopefully soon we’ll also be seeing Animal, Hysteria, and Love Bites – soon!

[via TechDirt]

The website apparently rakes in around 1.3 million users per day, so you can imagine the sheer amount of material converted from YouTube’s servers. Harris Cohen, Associate Product Counsel at YouTube, says that the site is violating the Terms of Service by actively downloading content. Cohen goes on to say that “separat[ing], isolat[ing], or modify[ing] the audio or video components of any YouTube audiovisual content” is prohibited.

“Philip”, the owner of YouTube-MP3, sent a response back to Google detailing how popular the service is and the potential effects of closing it down via legal methods. The plea seems to have fallen on deaf ears, with YouTube-MP3’s servers being blocked from accessing YouTube.

While Philip argues that a shutdown would leave millions of users without any method of downloading MP3s from the service, Google will no doubt be feeling pressure from various copyright owners over such activities and has had to act accordingly. Google is also reportedly targeting similar services with legal action.

It’s the cell phone, of course, which holds the most vast amount of users amongst adults. As Pew did not separate cell phones and smartphones, there’s basically no way we can know if this number is only because everyone on earth simply owns a cellular phone or if smartphone usage has simply blown the cell phone use up in the past couple of years. It’s the mobile world though that makes this number the obvious winner, even when we can’t see the numbers all the way up to 2012 with the rest of the gadgets on this list.

Unfortunately back in January of this year the study ended for tablets and e-book readers, everything else before that, with cell phone use being the last number at the end of the day. Be sure to note that these numbers don’t add up to 100% when multiple devices line up on a single period, this of course because some adults own two or more devices at once. You’ll notice though that the two categories to take a bit of a dive have been desktop computers and mp3 players – you can see it well before the most recent study, especially with desktop computers.

Laptops and mp3 players appeared very much to be on the rise back in 2006 through April of 2009, but when the smartphone revolution started up in a big way around 2009, mp3 players fell out of style – on the other hand, even at the start of 2011 nearly half of the respondents in this study owned mp3 players. Laptops have never been stronger, growing from 30% all the way up to a massive 57% in approximately 5 years.

Both e-book readers and tablet computers are on the list and do appear low, but at around 20% here in 2012 after just 2 years on the market total (after the iPad and original Galaxy Tab launched, we must assume is the general start point), we go from 2% for e-readers and 3% for tablets up to 19% here in that extremely short period. This growth rate is quicker than the biggest rise or drop on this list in that amount of time.

Have a peek at that list again and check the numbers. Glance in amazement that not only are most of these devices thriving, they’re on the rise as well.

[via Pew]

This lovely device comes in two parts, one being the doorbell, the other being the unit where you store your music. This latter unit also has built-in speakers so you can keep your setup as simple as possible. These units are connected wirelessly over a space of up to 165 feet, and no wires are required whatsoever due to battery-operated components on both ends. That said, you will either need to work with a USB cord of a microSD card to get music to your machine.

The microSD card slot on the speaker is able to work with up to a 32GB card and transferring music to or from the device is done with this card (sold separately) or via USB with your PC. Included in the package is easy to use MP3 editing software so you’re not not left out in the cold – get ready to arrange 10,000 songs for playing all night long: doorbell raves ahead!

The Swann MP3 DJ Doorbell is being sold for MSRP $49.95 via Radio Shack, B&H and other major retailers starting soon!

This device is made with an undeniably simple industrial design, made for what it’s made for and nothing more. Inside is a microphone, high-visibility organic electroluminescent (OEL) display up top, and the ability to accommodate what they say will be nearly any audio source. Battery power in this device is rechargeable, there’s an MP3 player aboard, FX Release, and a microSD card slot. Also built in is 100 effects right out of the box including Flanger, Filter, Delay, Reverb, as well as a selection of new and advance effects like Looper, Vinyl Break, and Ducking Compressor.

This device can recall up to three effects from memory, there’s a hold function to freeze your effects without effort, and auto BMP detection allows you to sync tempo-based effects to the tempo of a song – professional sounds at a tap. The 1/8-inch audio output can be used as a headphone output if you wish, and the energy-efficient design allows you to roll with two AA-batteries – again, make sure to grab yourself some rechargeable units here. Six audio examples are also stored in the device right out of the box for demo use.

You can grab the Mini Koss Pad 2 Dynamic Effect Processor and MP3 Player in May of 2012 for the cool price of MSRP $220.00. Sound like the little beast for you?

Amazon may not be the place of choice for many Android fans for long with the new rumor floating that Google wants to launch its own MP3 store. I think many Android fans especially would flock to a Google offering since Google also makes the OS. Google already has the cloud service, Google Music, where you can upload your tracks to stream to any device.

The new rumor is something different from the Google Music service and would be a direct sales store. This one rumor is not hard to believe though with Google already selling books and movies. Adding music is something that I am surprised hasn’t happened already. Perhaps we will hear more from Google on a new music store at the event in Hong Kong for the Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich.

[via Android Community]

Magnifier connects directly with your Music Beta account, you then able to click a single button on the specified posts to add a couple of brand new tracks to your own library. Each of these tracks will be free and MORE than likely the band playing them will have more tracks available for sale soon afterward. This blog appears to be set to be fairly basic in its scope, the free music being the bulk of the intent here.

There are two categories on this publication at the moment, one being Antenna, aka the Antenna Google Artist of the Week, this having an artist showing off several tracks that you can download. The other category is Song of the Day. This song will be available for download and featured for a single day while the Antenna Google Artist of the week’s tracks will be featured all week. There’s also a free song archive as well as a Tips + Tricks page for Music Beta on this site as well. Check it out!

I must admit, I’ve only ever really used a MiniDisk one time in my life. It was back a few years when I was still in college, going to design and art school at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. It was there that the epic interactive professor and artist Piotr Szyhalski handed the class one MiniDisk each, demanding that we use them for optimal awesomeness. In truth it was more for the devices we were using which used the disks in a unique way that allowed them to hold audio in a way that our design project called for. And that’s just it – uniqueness is the name of the game here.

This is the MiniDisk Walkman, one in a long line of Walkman devices that you really should own if you wanna catch em all. Device collectors, get our your pocketbooks, you may be in for a bidding war against the rest of the ebay collectors soon, or, more likely, you’ll be getting a device for next to nothing much sooner than you think. Demand has diminished, and since they were introduced in 1992, they’ve only really been popular in Japan.

Now I ask you: have you ever used a Walkman of this caliber before? Or better yet, do you STILL own one and use it to this day?

Even if you’re not that fussed by Lady Gaga’s music (don’t let the kids on Tumblr hear you admit that, you’ll get lynched) Amazon is throwing in 20GB of free Cloud Drive storage. The free system – officially available in the US only, though unofficial workarounds have proliferated – comes with 5GB of online storage as standard, but buying any album automatically boosts that to 20GB.

Amazon is yet to confirm how many people purchased “Born This Way” on Monday, but there were widespread reports of people unable to download the tracks having made the purchase. According to director of Music for Amazon, Craig Pape, demand was “far above what we expected.”

Press Release:

Lady Gaga for $0.99 Again – “This Time We’re Ready”

Go Gaga again – And get 20 GB of free Cloud Drive storage

(NASDAQ: AMZN) – Amazon.com today announced it will offer a repeat of Monday’s blockbuster Gold Box Deal of the Day: customers can purchase the Lady Gaga “Born This Way” MP3 album today for $0.99. Upon release, the album immediately shot to number one on Amazon’s bestselling MP3 albums list and has remained in the top spot since.

“Clearly customers are really excited for Lady Gaga’s new album – we saw extraordinary response to Monday’s promotion – far above what we expected – she definitely melted some servers,” said Craig Pape, director of Music for Amazon. “So we’re doing it again, and this time we’re ready. We’re pleased to offer ‘Born This Way’ – the whole album – for $0.99 today only. Along with this purchase, customers get 20 GB of free Amazon Cloud Drive storage so they can store and play their music anywhere. If you missed it the first time, don’t miss it today.”

Amazon MP3 customers can save their newly purchased albums to Amazon Cloud Drive (www.amazon.com/clouddrive), allowing them to play their music anywhere, store it for free and download it to any PC, Mac or Android device using Amazon Cloud Player (www.amazon.com/cloudplayer). All Cloud Drive users start with 5 GB of free Cloud Drive storage, and customers are upgraded to 20 GB of free storage with the purchase of any album, including “Born This Way” at just $0.99.

Amazon MP3 frequently features popular new release albums for $3.99 and offers a free song of the day.

Visit www.amazon.com/goldbox for more information about Amazon’s Deal of the Day and other Gold Box deals. Visit www.amazon.com/MP3 for information about Lady Gaga “Born this Way.”

Amazon had been offering 69-cent songs for some time now, but had limited the selection to older or niche songs. As of today, they began offering top-sellers including Katy Perry’s “E.T.” and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” for only 69 cents. Popular songs like those currently sell for $1.29 on iTunes.

Apple iTunes currently commands 70 percent of all music download sales, whereas Amazon is stuck at around 10 to 12 percent. This move may help boost its music sales and draw attention to its Cloud Player service, but its hard to say whether it will bring on new loyal followers or just folks seeking cheap deals but then returning to the rumored iCloud.

[via Electronista]

If listening to music is something you like to do, but telling those around you (who ask) what you’re listening to isn’t, then the Playbutton could be the next MP3 player for you. Especially if you only want to listen to one album at a time, and show off to the world who you’re listening to. While most MP3 players are meant to let you have plenty of artists, or individual songs, ready to go at all times, the designer of the Playbutton believes that having one album, on an MP3 player as small as a button, may be the future of music.

At least, one part of the future of music. Designed by Nick Dangerfield and his cohorts at Playbutton, the aptly-named MP3 player is meant to not only let you listen to an album simply and easily, it’s also meant to show off who you’re listening to. In a world where pirating music is a real threat to the music industry, Playbutton wants to let those who buy their music show it off, so that everyone can see it.

Dangerfield is planning on having the Playbutton released by February of 2011, and it’s going to be up to the artists who release the MP3 players to pick the price. As Dangerfield puts it, “If you say to people, ‘It’s an MP3 player and it’s $25,’ they say it’s cheap. But if you say, ‘It’s an MP3 player and it’s already got a good record inside,’ they think it’s expensive.” Dangerfield confirmed that there will be 8 different “smaller” bands that are featured at the Playbutton’s launch. Artists like Germany-based Oval, and New York-based “indietronica” band Javelin.

As for the design, it’s as simple as it gets: an MP3 player that’s meant to look like a small bade, or button. Controlling the music is just as simple as the design. Three buttons on the back of the button: play/pause, skip back, and skip left. There’s no way to take the music off the badge, and there’s no way to put music onto it. You also can’t shuffle the music on the button, either.

[via BBC UK]

Meanwhile, record labels – though anecdotally frustrated by Apple’s control over the market – suggest that Amazon is doing even worse than NPD calculate. Those the WSJ spoke to say Amazon may have only 6- to 10-percent of the market, versus Apple’s 90-percent. Amazon is refusing to release details on how much return business it sees, but the strong tie-in between iTunes and Apple’s iPod, iPhone and iPad ranges look to be keeping the company ahead of the game.

Downloaded tracks are automatically included in the smartphone’s media library, and you can browse content by new titles, top songs and albums, by genre and by sub-genre. Any BlackBerry 5.0 device or above can run the app, and you can use Amazon gift cards and promotion vouchers toward your purchases.

[Image credit: sparkieblues]

I think that when archaeologists dig up core samples of our garbage dumps, there will be an anomalous gap where art and culture seemed to take a nose dive. Right around the end of the 20th century through the first couple decades of the 21st century, it’s going to appear as if we all lost our minds and our collective aesthetic taste fell off our tongues.

I’m thinking of our artwork; starting with music. Since the dawn of recording and playback technology, there has been a constant push and pull between a higher quality, audiophile path, and a more portable, lower quality path. In the last decade or so, portability emerged as the resounding winner. Formats like Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio flopped completely, mostly because portable music and digital files were becoming all the rage.

Compared to CDs, most compressed digital files lack range and sound quality. In our mass-market appreciation of music, we took a step backwards. Sound quality, separate from the art of music-making itself, has gotten worse over the years in the ears of the average listener. Pair the compressed audio files with the standard low quality earbuds included with all portable players, and you have an entire musical culture sinking in the sand.

Photography takes an even worse turn. Film was never cheap, and neither were the photo processing costs, but cameras were growing slim and portable. Digital cameras were a great step forward for photography, but the camera phone could ruin a generation of photos.

The low level of quality that we accept from even the best camera phones on the market is intolerable. Once again, we’ve taken a step backward in photography. Current digital cameras don’t quite meet the color reproduction and fine detail of quality film, but the results are close enough even printed on a large piece of photo paper. So, digital is still a step behind the film we’ve all abandoned, but camera phones are the lowest of the digital camera breed.

The quality of a digital camera image relies on a few key factors, none of which camera phones possess. You need quality glass, which is impossible in tiny phone lenses. You need a low ratio of pixels to sensor size; fewer pixels on a larger sensor. But all camera phone sensors are ridiculously small compared to a real, dedicated digital camera. They will never be able to match the quality of even a simple point-and-shoot. Finally, you need excellent image processing. Camera phones can come closest to real cameras with their post-processing, but so far none has been able to match a quality digital P&S.

So, all of a sudden, our photographic history jumps from fine color photos and textured black and white to laughable postage stamp pictures with grainy details and terrible color. It’s like a grimy fog caked up on the lens of the world.

Video might be even stranger, looking back. After all, everything shoots video these days. Besides your phone, your camera shoots video. Your iPod shoots video. Your laptop shoots video. High definition cameras get cheaper all the time, with more advanced image stabilization and low light sensitivity.

To be fair, video has come farther than any other medium. We’ve been refining audio recording and photography for more than a hundred years. Video cameras have only been mainstream for a couple decades, at most. Still, I see the trend towards portability, away from quality. How many YouTube videos, or even iCNN reports, are filmed on a laptop Web cam or with a cell phone camcorder? Too many.

I know there’s a certain Marie Antoinette quality to my argument. Let them eat cake! Of course everyone should be using HD camcorders instead of piddling little QVGA cell phone cameras. But who can afford it? Portable music players like the iPod let people take music everywhere, and the music lasts for days and days. If lower quality music is the price to pay, isn’t it worth the cost? How can it be bad, bringing more music into people’s lives? In photography, the cultural importance of having a camera with you everywhere, even if it’s a cheap camera attached to your mobile, cannot be ignored.

In other words, it’s not a choice between high quality and low quality. It’s a choice between low quality and nothing at all.

I’m not complaining, I’m just pointing out a cultural moment. I think that very soon we’ll have portable devices that are just as good as their full sized counterparts. Cameras, music players, computers, the whole lot. I think that digital storage is going to become so widely available that we’ll laugh at the notion that we had to sacrifice quality in order to save space.

In between, though, we’ll have this moment. We’re straddling, on one side, an analog world that we’re leaving at its pinnacle. It’s full of old tools and we know how to use them as well as we can imagine. On the other side is a new world of digital tools. We’re still learning, still doubling our capacity for knowledge every few months. It’s a rough start, but the future looks bright.

For now, though, we’re in a dark age where knowledge will be lost. Looking back on this time, our future generations will see us transform from artists who painted with oil on canvas and light on silver halide, into a culture that perceives the world around it more perfectly through digital means. We’re in a moment where prehistory becomes history.

If anything, we won’t lose our most factual information to history. We’re doing a great job preserving the written word and the daily news. But when it comes to art and culture, I think some day our civilization will look back and wonder how it all went wrong, all of a sudden.

Revenue growth for iTunes has decelerated to 8%, versus last year’s 20%, and digital sales growth fell to 5%, from 10% of last year.  Also pointed out is the fact that the current economic climate may very well have something to do with consumer reaction toward a price increase (note to music publishing companies: we’d prefer it if you don’t skyrocket your music prices, and if you do, try not to declare it during a recession).

Sensible to note that Bronfman believes that e-books have much more flexibility than music tracks, taking the book industry’s recent success “with the help of Apple, at raising prices above the $9.99 floor Amazon had set.”

[via AllThingsD]

This new system is compatible with numerous devices including all three generations of the iPhone, the iPod, other MP3 players and WMA players. It features a SD card slot, USB port and iPhone/iPod dock.

It features jAura Soundcell Technology, two channel speakers, a 4-MP3/CD audio player, an AM/FM radio with PLL tuning, presets and more. You can get the iMM9400 starting next month for $249.99.

The player comes with 2GB of internal storage and supports MP3 and WMA file formats. Just like the shuffle, it does not feature any display; only basic controls such as play, stop, volume controls, and track controls. Battery life is said to last up to 9 hours. It is available in Japan for 12,800 yen (roughly $150).

This system features the key ingredients of a desk organizer. It has a task light and compartments to hold your belongings like paperclips and post-it notes. But besides these useful but mundane features, it also has an iPod dock and speakers built in.

It works with any MP3 player and makes it easy to listen to your music right at your desk. It connects by means of the headphone jack. So, this thing isn’t really a dock, but it’s a convenient music player, for sure. You can get the Tunelight MP3 Speaker System now in silver or black for $19.99.

[via Chip Chick]

“At the end of the day, we’re not going to stop piracy.  Embrace it… Had the music industry embraced [the original Napster], we’d have a very different medium today” Ron Berry

The Isle of Man has achieved 100-percent broadband penetration, meaning high-speed internet access is available to everybody who wants it.  This new music licence, similar to the TV licence schemes operated in countries such as the UK, would be a blanket fee paid to the music labels in return for unlimited access to audio files.

No suggestion of fee amount has been made, nor eligibility details.  It’s unclear whether every resident, whether internet user or not, would be expected to pay, or what DRM protection downloaded tracks might be encrypted with to avoid them “getting loose” from the island.  While some ISP representatives at the debate believed the licencing model to be a good idea, others had concerns that some providers still wanted to be simply the conduit to people’s internet access, rather than an implicit part of the licencing process.

Use of previous iPod model names aside, both Ibiza devices have some pretty cool features – namely, Wi-Fi for web browsing, music downloading and internet radio streaming, amongst other things.  The Mini will have a smaller, 2.2-inch screen with a four-way directional pad for control, while the Touch will have a 2.8-inch touchscreen.  The Touch will also be equipped with Bluetooth.

No word yet on a price or release date.  We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop on the iPod.. er.. Ibiza Mini and Touch models when we have more information.

From a distance people might think you won a rodeo, but given a closer look they will realize you just enjoy listening to music. It begs the question, what were the guys over at SparkFun thinking? Are they sitting around in a room trying to figure out the most ridiculous place to put an MP3 player?

Maybe if they decide to take it a bit further we will see accelerometer-based hip thrusting controls. One shake to the left for reverse, to the left for fast-forward, forwards for pause and play, and I don’t even want to think about the power movement. You wont be finding this in the store anytime soon, instead you’ll have to make it with parts and the circuit schematic and source code from SparkFun.

The Samsung P3 has a 3-inch WQVGA-TFT-LCD touchscreen that can display in portrait as well as 16:9 widescreen.  It’s 0.39 inches thick – a pretty skinny device.  It plays your music, media and, if that screenshot is any indication, it’ll have applications and games.  Sound familiar?  Right – it sounds a lot like the iPod Touch.  Fortunately, Samsung wisely added a unique feature.

What’s that feature, you ask?  Samsung is equipping the P3 with Bluetooth capability.  Why?  Well, for starters, you can pair the device with your Bluetooth-enabled phone, which then allows you to use the P3 to receive phone calls – you use your headphones and the built-in mic to talk.  Bluetooth also opens the possibility for wireless headphones and other wireless accessories in the future.

The P3 will debut sometime around July for an undetermined price.  It’ll come in a few different models – 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB.

If you would like you can even slow down the track without changing the key so learning a song can be made easier. If that wasn’t enough there is also a built-in condenser microphone that allows you to record vocals alongside your guitar track. Added features allow you to loop or repeat a track for continuous practicing. Of course the iDea has a USB port that allows you to transfer all of your recorded music to a PC or Mac.

The sound quality of this guitar has yet to be determined, it is made of a composite synthetic back instead of the traditional wooden acoustic body. If your old fashion like me, you prefer the traditional style acoustic guitar over the curved body of the Ovation iDea. In any case this guitar seems worth the time to at least check out. The iDea would come in handy for those on the go or who do not have much in terms of recording equipment. Six hundred dollars is not bad for an acoustic guitar, let alone one that records your music.

eMusic is an online subscription-based music store. It offers up MP3s that are unprotected and will work with both Apple and Microsoft players. The difference from other services here is that they use a subscription model. This means you are guaranteed a given number of songs per month at a particular rate. This actually works out to be cheaper than the $.99/song over at iTunes.

Independent labels are represented more than major ones and their catalog is small with just 4.5 million song offerings. Good for eMusic for hitting this milestone!

A number of independent studios have also signed up to the scheme, giving Microsoft the boasting rights that soon over 90-percent of its music will be available in MP3 format.  While these “free” tracks can be burnt to a CD or transferred to non-Zune PMPs, the remainder of a subscriber’s downloads will presumably still be in WMA format complete with DRM.

Zune Pass costs $14.99 per month, and while there’s a free 14-day trial on offer there’s no way to keep any of the music downloaded during that trial.  Meanwhile the Zune PMP has recently been updated to include plenty of ways to encourage you to download as much music as possible: see details here.

Press Release:

Microsoft Announces New Zune Pass Music Subscription Model
Consumers can now keep the tracks they love.

Last update: 12:01 a.m. EST Nov. 20, 2008
REDMOND, Wash., Nov 20, 2008 — Zune, Microsoft Corp.’s digital music and entertainment service, today announced landmark agreements with major and independent music labels to bring significant new value to the subscription music model. The Zune Pass subscription service currently gives consumers on-demand access to millions of tracks for $14.99 per month. Starting today subscribers will also get to select 10 tracks per month to keep and add them to their permanent collection (an estimated $10 value).
Agreements have been signed between Microsoft and EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group, as well as independent distributors INgrooves, Independent Online Distribution Alliance and The Orchard. The Orchard delivers digital music, video and brand services globally, and represents labels including Barsuk Records (Nada Surf) and Fania Records (Hector Lavoe, Celia Cruz). IODA represents labels including Arts & Crafts (Broken Social Scene, The Stills) and Ghostly International (Matthew Dear, School of Seven Bells). The new enhanced subscription model came about as a result of close collaboration with all of these companies.
Zune Pass subscribers will have the added benefit of retaining digital rights management (DRM)-free MP3 tracks from Sony BMG and UMG, in addition to MP3 tracks from EMI Music, Warner Music Group and a large portion of the independent music labels. With the addition of tracks from UMG and Sony BMG, Zune will soon offer over 90 percent of its music in the MP3 format.
“The way people consume music has changed. With the shift to digital from CDs, it is more challenging than ever to offer the right mix of deep content, music discovery and economic value,” said Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Zune at Microsoft. “People want the freedom to listen to whatever they want across millions of songs, combined with the confidence that they can keep their favorite tracks forever.”
From its inception, Zune has bet on the power of subscription, not only as a consumption model but also as a way to highlight the music discovery features central to the Zune experience and the PC platform. The Zune service gives consumers convenient and unlimited access to the music they want, and also connects them to other music fans and expert sources to help them find the music they will love. The new enhancements to the Zune Pass subscription service offer unprecedented value for all music fans.
“The subscription model continues to redefine the digital music landscape, and today’s announcement is great news for consumers, artists and labels,” said Simon Renshaw, chief executive officer of Strategic Artist Management (representing Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Everclear, Tila Tequila and Aly & AJ). “This breakthrough offer makes it easier than ever for consumers to discover new music and will encourage deeper engagement in the digital music space, and that is good for the entire industry.”
A Zune Pass gives a subscriber access to millions of tracks that can be streamed or downloaded from a PC or directly from a Zune device when in a wireless hot spot.(1) Downloaded music can be shared among up to three PCs and three Zune devices. In addition to unlimited downloads, consumers now also get to select 10 free tracks per month to keep and add to their permanent collection. These tracks can be burned to a CD or moved to other devices even if their subscription ends.
Since the launch of the Zune portable media player and music service two years ago, Zune has invested in improving the subscription model and the discovery experience it brings to life. With the recent launch of Zune 3.0, Microsoft built additional value into the Zune Pass offering by adding new features focused on music discovery and personalizing the music experience for each user:
– Mixview. Customers can select an artist, album or listener from the Zune Social online music community to activate a dynamic visual mosaic of related music and listeners. With each click, users can take the view in a new direction. Mixview works with users’ current collection of music, in addition to tracks and albums from across the Zune Marketplace.
– Zune Channels. Subscribers can explore dozens of channels programmed by genre; explore sources such as Billboard Hot 100, The FADER magazine and KEXP radio; or access themed channels, like fitness, to get a steady stream of new music added to their collection automatically. Zune will even create custom channels for each user, based on favorite artists and genres.
– Personal Picks. Now the Zune software learns what kind of music users like and makes personal recommendations. Each week Zune suggests artists, albums and tracks based on the music each person has been listening to, as well as channels they might enjoy and listeners like them in the Zune Social.
To give people a chance to experience the Zune Pass subscription, Zune is offering a free, 14-day trial to all new customers.(2) More information is available at http://www.zune.net/free.

About Zune
Zune is Microsoft’s music and entertainment brand that provides an integrated digital entertainment experience. The Zune platform includes a line of portable digital media players, the Zune Marketplace online store, and the Zune Social online music community, created to help people discover music. Zune is part of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division and supports the company’s software-based services vision to help drive innovation in the digital entertainment space. More information can be found online at http://www.zune.net/en-us/press.

The idea here is to let people know the MP3s they buy are compatible with every MP3 player. Websites that will be utilizing this campaign set forth by the ERA include DigitalStores.co.uk, Play.com and Tunetribe.com. The logo above will be placed on their sites to show customers the DRM is not restrictive.

The ERA is also hoping that eventually manufacturers will include the logo on their MP3 players to boost digital download sales. If this picks up, however, it is likely the logo will be as common as “HD Ready” on TVs.

This stadium-styled player comes in two forms, the 1GB and 4GB models, priced at $19.20 and $32.56, respectively. Both models, however, have an LCD display and external controls.

This commemorative MP3 player supports most audio formats, including MP3, WMA, WAV and ASF. And if you feel like recording a bit, you can as the player contains a built-in microphone. To complete the package, the back of the player features the 2008 Beijing logo. This doesn’t seem to be an official Olympic product, but it might make a nice gift.

[via Chip Chick]

Made by ASC Lighting and Design, this lamp has rainbow lights along its base that pulsate to the rhythm of whatever beat you’re bumping. Plus, it includes an MP3 docking station, internal speakers and volume controls. But it wouldn’t be a lamp without, well, the lamp part, which takes a 40 Watt appliance bulb.

Feel like getting your Saturday Night Fever on? The Encore Rockin Music Lamp will set you back $37.99.

[via Chip Chick]

The Console connects to a notebook or desktop via USB, measuring 9.4 x 8 x 2.6-inches and weighing in at 1150g. MP3s and CDs are supported, as well as other digital formats, but you can also pipe through analog sources via the two line/phono inputs. As with a traditional mixer there’s headphone monitoring and a microphone input with talk-over function. You’re also able to add effects, loops and cue-points.

The Hercules DJ Console MK2 is available now from J & R Computer World, Sam Ash, DJ Supply, Guitar Center and Long-McQuade (CA). It’s priced at $249.99 and includes a customized version of Virtual DJ 3 DJ Console Edition for PC and Mac.

The subscription service will continue to operate in addition to download service. Rhapsody priced each MP3 track at 99 cents and $9.99 for a whole album. Songs from four major records label (Universal, EMI, Sony, and Warner) will be available for download.

Considering so many music fans own an MP3 player, it is safe to say this is a great move by Rhapsody, however it will still have to compete head to head with Amazon and other services that offer DRM-Free MP3.

[via bbc]

With the Mixing software that includes an easy to mix multiple tracks together, or if you’re more interested in real time mixing this station allows you to mix two tracks with one controller on the fly. There is no need to worry about it not being compatible there are many files that you can mix and scratch including MP3,CD,WAV,WMA, and AIFF. With their “No mouse needed” you are able to use one stick to browse in playlists and one button to load tracks into a deck.

This easy to use and lightweight mixer makes you sound like a pro without all of the messy wires and bulky equipment. This until is lighter and smaller than a laptop and is powered by USB allowing you to mix in the comfort of your own home or at a local event. The Hercules DJ Control MP3 is priced at a low $129.99 and can be found at www.hercules.com, J&R Computer World, Costco and more.

Alright, so they have several different colors and designs for both male and female, so they get a few points for that. The still slapped a low pocket on the shirt and just attached earbuds to it. Frankly, you’d probably be better off with a white undershirt with a pocket on your chest.

Then again, that wouldn’t be nearly as cool, you have to have the low pocket, high pockets, that’s just grungy. The t-shirt is made out of organic cotton and bamboo, so it is at least is a bit more environmentally friendly. The tee is being sold for $70 dollars, yes, for a novelty pocket you get that price tag. The wiring can be removed when it needs to be machine washed.

[via likecool]

The speakers can hook up to your iPod or even your computer. It can be powered by either three AAA batteries or powered directly by your computer with the USB cable.

Although it isn’t released just yet, you can currently pre-order it and they are expecting it to be released mid-June of this year. It is currently being sold for $40.

[via coolest-gadgets]

The turntable itself is belt-drive with 33 and 45 RPM speeds, however 78 RPM records can be played and then the speed converted using the software.  There are also line-level RCA outputs and a built-in phono preamp for hooking the deck up to an amplifier.  A hardware ±10-percent pitch control lets you tweak recordings squirted directly into your iPod.

It’s a neat idea, but the lack of broad iPod compatibility means this will only really appeal to a specific group of Apple users.  Back when Numark first announced the TTi their choices might’ve seemed a good idea, but a more generic dock would make it more future-proof.  Most people, if they really want to convert their vinyl to MP3, would be better suited with one of the cheaper USB-only turntables that lacks an iPod dock. 

The TTi is available in the UK now, priced at £149 ($294).