Our Digital Music

Toshiba’s new GigaBeat 2GB U202 which arrives in stores in about two weeks provides an affordable yet feature rich portable music player alternative.
The player sports a slick silver and black style, a “PlusPad” control system, a 1 inch color display, 20 hour battery life, FM tuner, and MP3 /WMA /WAV playback. It also sports a rather rare direct-to-MP3 CD ripping feature that lets you record audio tracks digitally from a CD player directly to the GigaBeat.”
It feels like a bargain @ $99.99.

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XM and Sirius are seeking government permission to merge the two services and the odds are fairly strong that they will get it.  What does this mean for current subscirbers?
Both services promise that little will change and current subscriptions will stay in effect.  But in an attempt to gain regulatory approval, the two services jointly announced today that if allowed to combine they will offer lower priced packages including some ala carte channel offerings.  Combined players that receive both XM and Sirius are also promised.
One proposed option allows subscribers to choose 50 channels for $6.99 – a 46% decrease from …read more

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ADVANCE LOOK: This iPod docking station and click radio inspired by Disney’s ultra-popular “High School Musical” (just ask anyone under the age of 15) is so cool looking that it makes me wish I were back in high school.
It will sell for $60 at Toy’s R Us starting in October. And if that weren’t enough, check out this HD ready 15 inch LCD TV which will sell for around $300.

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You may be itching to get your hands on a new or better iPod, Zune, Zen or other portable music or music/video player, but now may be the worse time of the year to buy a new player.
Why?
All of the major manufacturers are readying new models with improved features like wireless downloads, better screens and bigger hard drives to be released in the Fall just in time for the big Christmas shopping season.
For example, insider sources have a Apple releasing a new iPod with the same cool touch screen that the iPhone has. And speaking of the iPhone and …read more

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The Mercury Prize for Album Of The Year is the perhaps the most prestigious award that a newer alternative can receive. This year’s nominations just came out and The Arctic Monkeys instantly became the odds on favorites to win an unprecedented second Mercury.
* Arctic Monkeys – ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’
* Klaxons – ‘Myths Of The Near Future’
* Amy Winehouse – ‘Back To Black’
* Maps – ‘We Can Create’
* The View – ‘Hats Off To The Buskers’
* Jamie T – ‘Panic Prevention’
* Dizzee Rascal – ‘Maths & English’
* Bat For Lashes – ‘Fur And Gold’
* Young Knives – ‘Voices of Animals …read more

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If you’re at one of Live Nation’s 28 huge outdoor concert venues this summer keep an eye out for Zune Spots, converted freight containers that have been redesigned into spaces to check out Microsoft’s hot portable Zune music and video players.
Zune also has an online contest that awards trips to Live Nation shows in its Zune Zoom Away competition and a Zune 30GB player. You can check out the official rules and enter by visiting http://www.zune.net. In addition to the concert getaways, consumers can download Zune Zone vouchers. The first 50 people to bring the voucher to a …read more

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We want to hear from you!  What confuses you? What new products are you curious about?  What cool tip do you want to share with others?
Email us or comment below and watch these pages for the answers!

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DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. DRM is a few little pieces of computer code that record companies and others use to control what you can do with the music you buy.
In theory, it protects the person who created the music by preventing you from making a zillion free copies for your friends.  In practice, DRM sometimes prevents you from doing what you want to do with the music you paid for.  It’s why, for example, you can’t play songs bought at Apple’s iTunes on your Microsoft Zune player.
Hint: Instead of buying your songs via download, buy CD’s and rip …read more

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Your favorite net station will not go silent Sunday.
All parties agreed late Thursday to delay the big rate increase that would have put many out of business and to keep negotiating.  (more from Wired.com) But you you still need to contact your Congressman.  See how below.

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