iLounge

In a supplemental brief filed in the case of Atlantic vs. Howell, in which the defendants are being sued for sharing music over KaZaA, attorneys representing the RIAA have argued that music files ripped to computers for personal use, particularly in the MP3 format, are “unauthorized copies.” The brief states: “It is undisputed that Defendant possessed unauthorized copies of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted sound recordings on his computer.  Exhibit B to Plaintiffs’ Complaint is a series of screen shots showing the sound recording and other files found in the KaZaA shared folder on Defendant’s computer on January 30, 2006. Virtually all of the sound recordings on Exhibit B are in the ‘.mp3’ format. Defendant admitted that he converted these sound recordings from their original format to the .mp3 format for his and his wife’s use. The .mp3 format is a ‘compressed format [that] allows for rapid transmission of digital audio files from one computer to another by electronic mail or any other file transfer protocol.’” Previously, in the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys representing the record companies stated that “it’s perfectly lawful to take a CD that you’ve purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod.” [via Gizmodo]

Recently, two executives from Universal Music Group — CEO Doug Morris, and Island Urban Records (which is owned by UMG) president Jermaine Dupri — have spoken out against Apple, Steve Jobs, and the iTunes ecosystem. Morris, in an interview with Wired, and Dupri, in a blog posting on The Huffington Post.

Morris, who once called MP3 players “repositories for stolen music,” responded to the suggestion that the labels allowed Apple CEO Steve Jobs to create “in effect an Apple Walkman that played only Apple cassettes,” by saying, “We were just grateful that someone was selling online. The problem is, he became a gatekeeper. We make a lot of money from him, and suddenly you’re wearing golden handcuffs. We would hate to give up that income.” This past summer, UMG decided not to renew its long-term iTunes contract, instead offering its catalog on a month-to-month basis, and then announced that it would sell DRM-free tracks through online stores other than iTunes, part of an effort by Morris to lessen Apple’s dominance in the market. Morris is currently working on his “Total Music” initiative, which seeks to join the major labels and other hardware companies to create a new line of devices that offer unlimited music for the life of the device, by adding the cost of the service to the price of the player. Unfortunately, the service will almost certainly require DRM, which may lead to even more illegal music downloads. “Locking things up is actually good for piracy,” says David Pakman, CEO of eMusic.

Dupri, meanwhile, argues that Apple should allow artists to decide whether to sell their album as a whole, or to allow individual songs to be purchased as singles. Dupri suggests that Apple needs the record labels more than they need Apple, stating, “If anything, WE made iTunes… So if we as artists, producers and label executives stand up, those guys at Apple can either cooperate, or have nothing for people to buy and download on their iPods.” He goes on, saying, “...Universal sells one out of every three records. All it’ll take is for Warner Music to say, ‘You know what, I’m with you,’ for us to shut ‘em down. No more iPods! They won’t have nothin’ to play on their players! We can take back the power if we’re willing to sacrifice some sales to make our point.”

RealNetworks has introduced the latest version of its RealPlayer software, which includes the ability to download and record non-DRM protected videos from “thousands of sites” for playback online or offline. As part of the RealPlayer Plus package, users will be able to transfer these downloaded videos to the iPod nano (with video), iPod classic, and fifth-generation iPod. “Now consumers can use the one-click download functionality to view Web video offline on their PC or transfer video to popular portable media devices like the iPod,” said Harold Zeitz, senior vice president of media software and services at Real. “RealPlayer is one of the most popular applications around the world, and by the end of the month our customers from North America to China will have this one-click video download functionality and the ability to watch videos on the go with their iPods in their own native languages.” Real promises continued development on the player, and plans to add video transfer support for the iPhone and iPod touch in early 2008. RealPlayer is available now as a free download from realplayer.com; the upgrade to RealPlayer Plus, which includes support for iPod video transfers, is available for the one-time cost of $40.

PumpOne, developers of portable personal training programs for the iPod and other portable devices, has announced the launch of PumpOne Video. PumpOne Video is a new trainer series that incorporates exercise video, images & audio coaching to create a “portable personal trainer.” Each PumpOne Video Trainer consists of a series of exercises images, audio tips and video clips demonstrating proper form. Once viewed, the user can then perform the exercise. “For today’s busy person looking to lose weight, gain strength & get in great shape, these video workouts are essential,” says Craig Schlossberg, President of PumpOne. “PumpOne Video mixes individual needs in the most user-friendly format –all accessible on an iPod, nano or iPhone. You can take your complete workout program with you wherever you go.” PumpOne Video Trainers are compatible with the iPod classic, touch, nano (3G), iPhone, and any other device that supports MPEG-4 video, and retail for $19 for 12 workouts (includes both video & image-based trainers).

NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker has said that along with flexible pricing experimentation, the company was seeking a cut of Apple’s hardware sales during iTunes contract negotiations. Speaking at an event organized by Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, Zucker said “We wanted to take one show, it didn’t matter which one it was, and experiment and sell it for $2.99. We made that offer for months and they said no,” Zucker said. “Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made a lot of money,” he added. “They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing.” NBC Universal, in partnership with Fox, today launched a public beta of the Hulu.com video service. Responding to a separate question, Zucker said that “Apple has destroyed the music business. If we don’t take control on the video side, they’ll do the same” to video.

Universal Music Group chief Doug Morris is gathering support from other labels, including Sony BMG and Warner Music Group, in hopes to build a subscription-based iTunes competitor, reports BusinessWeek. The service, which is among several under consideration, would be called Total Music, and would tie a $5-per-month subscription fee to the price of compatible players. Unlike current subscription plans, this business model would allow consumers to pay just once for the player, and have unlimited music for the life of the device. It is estimated that this plan would add about $90 to the price of any Total Music device. “If the object is to wrest control of the market from Steve Jobs,” says Gartner analyst Mike McGuire, “this is a credible way to try it.”

English rock band Radiohead has released its latest album, In Rainbows, on its own through its website, echewing iTunes and other label-driven digital music services. While the band is selling a “discbox” set that includes the album on physical media as well as other extras, the digital download version, which comes as 10 DRM-free 160kbps MP3s, is available for as much or as little as the customer would like to spend, save for the £0.45 transaction fee. This label-free release comes at a time when another well-known artist, Nine Inch Nails, announced on its website that it is a “totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label.”

While Radiohead has never made their music available on iTunes, citing the fact that they prefer not to sell individual tracks and wanting whole album sales instead, Nine Inch Nails offers a large portion of its catalog on the service. Both artists, however, have had prior disputes with their labels, and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails made clear his band’s distaste with the major labels as he said on his website, “It gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as i see fit and appropriate.”

As both these major artists are announcing their split from the labels, reports are surfacing that other bands are anxious to follow suit. The Telegraph is reporting that Jamiroquai and Oasis, neither of which is signed to a recording contract, are considering following Radiohead’s lead and releasing work for free, or in a “pay what you want” manner. “They’ll all be thinking about it now,” said Stuart Clarke at Music Week. “Any big name that is out of contract such as Jamiroquai and Oasis will now see it as an option.”

Microsoft has unveiled its latest revisions to the Zune digital media player, including a revamped hard drive-based model as well as a new flash-based Zune, which will compete with the iPod nano. The new hard drive-based Zune will offer 80GB of storage, Wi-Fi wireless sync, and a 3.2-inch screen; it will sell for $250, matching the price of the 80GB iPod classic. The new flash-based Zune will be offered in 4GB and 8GB capacities, will feature a 1.8-inch screen, the same Wi-Fi functionality as the larger model, and will sell for $150 and $200 respectively, matching the price points of the 4GB and 8GB iPod nano (with video). The new players also sport touch-sensitive navigation via the new “Zune Pad”, a rounded rectangle-shaped control apparatus that takes the place of the original Zune’s round navigation pad. No battery life statistics have yet been disclosed by Microsoft. All three new Zune models are slated for a November release.

Amazon has launched a public beta of Amazon MP3, its new digital music download store offering DRM-free 256kbps MP3 files. According to Amazon, the service boasts “Earth’s biggest selection of a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads.” The service currently offers over two million songs from more than 180,000 artists. Individual tracks are available for $.89 or $.99, with full albums available from $5.99 to $9.99. In addition, the company is offering its Amazon MP3 Downloader, a helper application that seamlessly adds users’ MP3s to their iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries.

Viacom’s MTV Networks is ready to announce that it is merging its online digital music offerings into a new venture with RealNetworks in an effort to better compete with iTunes, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The new joint venture will reportedly use Verizon Wireless for mobile distribution of content, a move that provides the service additional leverage against Apple and iTunes, following the launch of the AT&T-only iPhone. The report also claims that the venture will be headed by Michael Bloom, who currently heads Urge for MTV Networks. The new venture effectively signals the end of the Urge service, which was announced in partnership with Microsoft last year.

Update: In an official announcement, Real and MTV revealed that they are uniting Real’s Rhapsody service and MTV’s URGE service in a single offering from a new company, Rhapsody America, that will be the exclusive digital music service for Real and for MTV Networks in the United States. Through the new company both Real and MTV have formed a long-term exclusive relationship with Verizon Wireless. As part of that relationship, Rhapsody will be fully integrated with Verizon’s VCAST Music service. As of today, users of MTV’s URGE service can use their existing usernames and passwords to log in to Rhapsody and get access to both services.

Universal Music Group has announced plans to begin selling DRM-free tracks from select artists such as Sting, 50 Cent and Stevie Wonder, for a limited time. The tracks, which are to be available as unrestricted MP3s, will be sold on the artists’ websites and through several online retailers, such as RealNetworks, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, and Google. The DRM-free tracks will not be available, however, through iTunes. Some believe that this is a move by Universal to undermine Apple’s overwhelming lead in this market; Universal claims that it is using the iTunes Store as a control group for measuring the impact of DRM-free sales on pricing, piracy and sales. “There’s no doubt these guys are poking a stick at Apple,” said Michael Gartenberg, analyst for Jupiter Research.

Universal Music Chairman and CEO Doug Morris said the test is one of several the company is conducting this year and “will provide valuable insights into the implications of selling our music in an open format.” “Universal Music Group is committed to exploring new ways to expand the availability of our artists’ music online, while offering consumers the most choice in how and where they purchase and enjoy our music,” Morris said. The tracks will be available from Aug. 21 to Jan. 31.

The Copyright Board of Canada has released its decision on the application of a private copying levy to iPods and removable memory storage cards, including the popular SD format. Backing the levy is the Canadian Private Copyright Collective (CPCC), while the Canadian Storage Media Alliance and Retail Council of Canada are both against it, arguing that the Federal Court has struck struck down a previous levy on digital audio recorders as being outside the Copyright Act. Despite this earlier ruling, the Copyright Board has sided with the CPCC, and in fact stated that the levy might possibly expand to cover items such as cell phones and computers as well.

“CSMA expressed misgivings about the possibility that cellular phones and computers might end up being leviable,” the decision states. “We see no inherent problem with this scenario. A thing that is ordinarily used by individual consumers to make private copies should not be excluded from the private copying regime for the sole reason that it has other uses.  Indeed, all media that are currently subject to the levy can be used for purposes other than private copying.” The entire 41-page decision is available online (PDF Link).

Amazon has announced that it will launch a DRM-free digital music store later this year. The store will offer “millions of songs,” from more than 12,000 record labels, all in DRM-free MP3 format. The store will include EMI Music’s catalog. “Our MP3-only strategy means all the music that customers buy on Amazon is always DRM-free and plays on any device,” Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO, said. “We’re excited to have EMI joining us in this effort and look forward to offering our customers MP3s from amazing artists like Coldplay, Norah Jones and Joss Stone.” EMI CEO Eric Nicoli added, “They [Amazon.com] have been an important retail partner of ours, and we are delighted they will be offering consumers EMI’s new premium DRM-free downloads in their new digital music store.” Further details such as launch date and pricing were not available.

Ticketmaster has announced that it will give customers complimentary digital music with every concert ticket purchased online. With every concert ticket purchased at Ticketmaster.com, the company is providing a 10-song digital music sampler, which showcases “a variety of emerging and established artists.” In addition, with the purchase of every ticket to any summer concert scheduled to take place between Memorial Day (May 28) and Labor Day (Sept 3), Ticketmaster customers will receive a free download of their choice from the iTunes Store.

NextSentry, a desktop security firm, is recommending that businesses prohibit the use of iPods and other pocketable storage devices due to what it calls “Pocket Fraud.” It believes that unscrupulous employees are using their access to customer data and intellectual property in concert with the portability of pocketable storage devices to steal the valuable data from their employers.

“Many employees enjoy listening to their iPods at work, but companies can’t afford this luxury at the expense of leaking valuable customer data or intellectual property into the hands of criminals or competitors,” said Jim Hereford, CEO of NextSentry. “If you don’t have proper policy enforcement capabilities in place to monitor the desktop and all removable media, even the CEO who loves their iPod could be stealing millions of dollars worth of data right underneath the chief security officer’s nose.”

EMI has announced that its first “premium” DRM-free album, the self-titled The Good, The Bad, and the Queen, is now available in 320 kbps MP3 format from the band’s store, which is powered by UK-based digital media delivery company 7digital. The Good, The Bad, and the Queen is headed by Damon Albarn, who is also frontman of Blur, and Gorillaz, and was present at the EMI/Apple announcement on Monday. EMI has offered DRM-free tracks in the past, but not at the higher bitrate used for this release. EMI’s DRM-free offerings won’t be available on the iTunes Store until May, where they will be offered in 256 kbps AAC format, offering roughly the same quality as this 320 kbps MP3 format release.

eMusic has announced that it is expanding its music offerings with three new subscription plans. eMusic subscription plans differ from most online subscriptions in that the subscriber doesn’t rent the music — users are charged a certain amount each month for a set number of downloads, which the user then owns. The new subscriptions are named “Connoisseur Plans” for the high number of downloads per month that each plan offers.

The Basic Connoisseur Plan offers 100 downloads per month for a $24.99 fee, the Plus Connoisseur Plan offers 200 downloads for $49.99 per month, and the Premium Connoisseur Plan offers 300 tracks for a monthly fee of $74.99. All three new Connoisseur Plans offer an average download cost of $.25 per track, assuming that all the download credits are used. eMusic is the world’s second-largest digital music service after iTunes, and offers its entire catalog in DRM-free MP3 format.

The Flux 2007 iPod Film Festival is now online, with all finalist short films available for free download. The festival awards prizes to filmmakers in three categories—Student Film, Indie Film and The Kitchen Sink—and winners will be determined by viewer ratings, along with a festival jury, which this year includes Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. In addition to voting, visitors can also participate in a new community section, leaving their own reviews of the films, messages for the filmmakers, and blogs by the filmmakers. The short films will be available for download until judging ends on June 28th.

A new bill before Congress would poke holes in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act to make it easier for consumers to enjoy digital content. The Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing US Entrepreneurship (FAIR USE) Act, co-introduced earlier this week by a Democrat and Republican in the House of Representatives would reportedly allow “customers to circumvent digital copy restrictions in six limited areas when copyright owners’ business models are not threatened.” An example of this is allowing “libraries to circumvent digital locks or secure copies of works that have been damaged, lost or stolen.” The RIAA has come out opposing the bill, while the Consumer Electronics Association, among others, supports it.

BitTorrent, maker of the popular peer-to-peer file distribution technology known for pirated content, has launched an online video store to sell movies and television shows licensed from Hollywood studios. The BitTorrent Entertainment Network offers films from Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lionsgate and episodes of TV shows such as “24” and “Punk’d.” TV episodes are $1.99 to download to own. BitTorrent will rent movies for a 24-hour viewing period for $3.99 for new titles and $2.99 for older films. BitTorrent’s videos are protected by Windows Media DRM and will only play back using Windows Media Player.