Top Music Blog

Apple Computer finds itself in a new lawsuit, sued over patent infringements. Burst.com says Apple was using its patented technology in its popular Apple’s iTunes Music Store, iTunes software, the iPod devices and Apple’s QuickTime Streaming.

Burst.com, which develops software that can transmit large files, such as audio and video, over the Internet at high speeds, claims that if Apple will pay license fees for the use of its patents they will not go in court. Microsoft paid a $60 million settlement to Burst in 2005 after a similar patent infringement suit.

Here’s an interesting news, or let’s just say an interesting rumor: The whole Beatles catalog to be remastered especially for iTunes digital downloading, according to Starpulse. Apple Corps and Apple Computer are in court, where Neil Aspinall of Apple Corps record label, declared that they are now remastering the whole Beatles catalog making it to sound brighter and getting proper booklets to go with each package.

He believes that it would be so wrong to just offer digital downloads of the old masters while he’s making new ones and also that it would be great to do them both at the same time - this way you could get the publicity of new masters and the downloading, rather then just doing it ad hoc. What do you this is that all about? More money?… Pleasure? Anyway, there is not a confirmation to this rumor yet.

Bad news for Internet shoppers. They will not be able to tax-free purchase from Apple Computer’s iTunes Music Store anymore. It seems like the State legislatures and tax officials are doing all they can to transform market for digital downloads as a potentially lucrative source of revenue. Already 15 states plus the District of Columbia are now paying taxes for music, movies and electronic books downloads, according a CNET News.com analysis.

Steve Krantz of the Council on State Taxation says that more states are beginning to tax downloaded products through specific legislation or through the interpretation of previous law, of course this means that more Americans will be obligated to pay more every April 15. The reason? Digital downloads’s great success. For example, concerning music downloads, they grew from $400 million in 2004 to $1.1 billion worldwide in 2005, from $400 million to $1.1 billion worldwide, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

Apple will launch a media playing mobile phone this spring that can handle 3G and VoIP calls - according to analyst firm Visiongain - an iPod with phone features. It seems like the phone will coincide with the US launch of Helio. Helio it’s like a combination 3G/VoIP virtual network.
Taiwanese phone maker BenQ says that Apple procurement executives have been talking to many Taiwanese phone makers during the past few months in an effort to cut a manufacturing deal on an iPod Phone.

Apple has contacted a number of Taiwanese handset makers, including High Tech Computer, Inventec Appliances, Quanta Computer and Foxconn Electronics for possible cooperation in handset production.
- Apple for DigiTimes -

The rock singer Thom Yorke from Radiohead band is insulting music industry by telling that they are ‘a bunch of f***ing retards’. This affirmation was given by the rock singer to an interview for NME and also he launch a ’scathing attack’ on record companies and radio stations believing that they are only just now looking at the Internet for new talent.

The rock singer also said in this interview about the rising to fame of Arctic Monkeys’ that a good thing for new music would be more of the mainstream loosening up a bit and letting stuff through, that Radio 1 won’t play anything f***ing decent and that you need to sort the radio out.
As far as he’s concerned, the rock singer, Thom Yorke, believes that poor Arctic Monkeys are getting so much attention because of the fact that the mainstream music business is such a bunch of f***ing retards.