Interesting news/reviews/deals from the portable audio market
Napster reported they’ve doubled the customer base within a year by reaching 500,000 subscribers but the company may still be saying “bye, bye” to us soon. According to a Digital Music News report, all possible scenarios are considered within the company (massive layoffs, liquidation, fire sale). With the iTMS owning 83% of the market, there’s [...]
A test podcast created with the new GarageBand 3: created by fellow 9ruler Ryan—sounds great; cool and fun, as it should be. For a direct link to the podcast’s AAC file (3.7MB) (in case you don’t have the QuickTime plugin installed, or don’t want to load iTunes for the podcast’s feed), read my comment on [...]
Pictures of the unreleased Rio Cubic/Carbon C: a former senior Rio employee sent pics of the Cubic (or Carbon C, you pick the name). Such a poweful device, way ahead of its time, too bad it didn’t make it to release. I think it looks a bit dull on the outside, but the GUI is [...]
An impressive release in the high-end department from Shure, the E500 canalphones feature triple drivers for ultimate audio bliss and and a “Push-To-Hear” accessory that mutes the music and activates an external microphone to let you hear outside sounds. I know more than a few canalphone users (heck, all of them) who will appreciate this [...]
iTMS: soon to have podcasts for sale? What I Want Podcasting issued a press release in which it states it plans to sell podcasts through the iTMS in the very near future. I don’t know why this comes as a surprise to anyone; why not charge for podcasts too? (I’m not talking about turning all [...]
The app features Ensonido, which allows the playback of surround files over stereo phones, and the MP3 Stereo eXtended converter which “upgrades” your stereo MP3s to surround ones.
There’s even a MP3 surround comand line encoder available for download. The bit rates for surround MP3s are supposed to be comparable to those for regular ol’ [...]
OS X widget: Amazon Album Art: smooth. Choose the tracks in iTunes, press the widget’s “Get from iTunes” graphic button, when the appropriate cover has been found just click the “Set as album art in iTunes” button and you’re done. A web demo is available. [via]
Also: check our post on album art finder tools.
Griffin’s TuneCenter is one powerful, sweet looking iPod dock: when the iPod is docked into the TuneCenter (and the TuneCenter linked to the TV set), the iPod’s playlists and menus appear on the TV screen. Using the included 14-button remote you can enjoy your music, photos or videos from your couch. The TuneCenter is made [...]
A report on the Korea Economic Daily, quoting an unnamed Samsung official, speaks of a contract that is to be signed during the first half of this year and exceed Samsung’s sales contract with Apple. Sony will be using the chips for its MP3 players—The Inquirer speaks of a 8GB one.
Samsung said the flash deal [...]
iPod rivals vie for piece of Apple’s pie: a good wrap-up of the iPod competitors that showed up in CES, with quotes from executives.