iLounge

However, the onset of legal music download services has brought a new issue front and center: sound quality. The bit rate of an iTMS AAC file is 128 kilobits per second (kbps)—just a fraction of the 1,411 kbps “uncompressed” standard used for CD, WAV and AIFF files.”

One major drawback of the restricted disks, however, is non-compatibility with the Apple iPod. Since the new discs are based on SunnComm’s MediaMax, which itself is rooted in Microsoft’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) applications, the brochure leaves it up to iPod owners to read between the lines, explaining only, “It will play on any device that supports Windows Media DRM.”

Early bets on front-runners so far are going to Napster, Apple and MusicMatch—Napster for its deep brand recognition from its freewheeling song-swapping days, MusicMatch for its built-in connection to the widely used Windows Media Player, and Apple for its seamless integration with its popular iPod portable music player.”

We feel that only by embracing technology can we gain from it, and that a battle like the one that the RIAA is fighting can simply not be won. To read a more in depth article about why we feel the RIAA is wrong please Click here and please send this email and/or the open letter to the RIAA to as many people as you can. Only by educating each other can we hope to take advantage of the technical innovations and not run scared from them.”

That’s because music downloaded from Napster will not be playable on Apple’s insanely popular iPod. The newly legal Napster service and the iPod use incompatible file formats.”

It describes various techniques that could be used to make it appear to a third party on the Gnutella network as if an innocent user is hosting or searching for copyrighted files. It also describes methods for tricking users into inadvertently downloading copyrighted files so that they actually host these files.”

‘And just as with the iTunes Music Store, the iPod is simply better done than most of the competitors—better interface, better integration, better industrial design and so on,’ Engst added. ‘If Apple can repeat that win in other areas that bridge the gap between computers and consumer electronics, they could be highly successful, even without gaining much market share on the computer side.’”

Offering a library of more than 200,000 songs at 99 cents each, the MusicMatch service will allow computer users to buy and download music with few restrictions, a model pioneered by Apple Computer Inc.’s (AAPL) iTunes Music Store in May.”

MusicMatch is the first Windows-based service to obtain looser licensing terms. ‘We held off launching until we could get these rules,” Mudd says. “If you make it too hard on users, they’ll just go to Kazaa.’”

Apple fired off a dismissive statement about Dell’s entry into the digital music business.

‘It appears that Dell is re-branding one of the second-tier music services that will be announced soon, just like they are re-branding Creative’s MP3 player. There is little original here,’ Apple’s statement said.”

The Internet music software company’s service, which will provide a new online rival to Apple Computer’s iTunes and BuyMusic, will use the popular MusicMatch Jukebox software and will distribute music in Microsoft’s Windows Media format, sources said. The announcement is expected as soon as Monday.”

One option allows the consumer to copy all of Hamilton’s songs from the CD onto the computer and portable devices, such as MP3 players (but not yet Apple’s iPod). Once in the computer, the software lets the consumer copy the songs on up to three CDs. There is nothing to prevent those CDs from being recopied, though the next generation of the software will include such copy protection.”

But the value of lost sales due to CD-burning and downloading free songs off so-called peer-to-peer networks such as Grokster and Kazaa will rise to $4.7 billion in the same period from $2.4 billion this year, the British research firm said.”