Paul McCartney Doesn't Understand the Internet

What's Paul McCartney's doomsday scenario? Someone, somewhere, somehow manages to leak the Beatles' music onto the internet, where it will be stolen by everyone, all the time. This must be prevented! Notice a problem there? Yeah, it gets worse. More »

BlueBeat’s Innovative Defense That Will Never Hold Up in Court

Hank Risan was ordered to pull The Beatles' catalog from the BlueBeat website this week, but those weren't the actual recordings. The tracks were "psycho-acoustic simulations" of the songs. Too bad that defense will never hold up in court. More »

All 12 Beatles Albums Newly Remastered, MP3 Distribution Coming Soon?

Beatles fans and audiophiles alike should be excited that the Liverpool quartet's entire 12-album catalogue will be live and remastered in stere-eree-o on September 9—yes, 9.9.09—the same day that "The Beatles: Rock Band" comes out. More »

Apple and EMI Roll Out iTunes Pass Mini-Subscription For...Depeche Mode?

The iTunes Pass is a baby-step toward the fabled iTunes all-you-can eat subscription: plonk down $18.99 to download everything new (including a new album) by a single artist for a limited time. But, Depeche Mode? More »

Apple Makes DRM Deal with Big Three Music Labels, Plus 3G Downloads Coming?

According to CNET sources, Apple has signed deals with Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner to bring flexibly-priced DRM-free music to iTunes while simultaneously introducing music downloads to the iPhone's 3G service. More »

First Stereo Sound Recordings Digitally Restored For the First Time

Sound engineers have digitally restored some of the earliest recordings of stereo sound by the technology's inventor, Alan Blumlein. Blumlein, a research engineer at EMI, had lodged a patent for “binaural” sound in 1931 and made several experimental recordings to see if they could sell it to the fledgling film and audio industry. In 1934, EMI decided that nobody really needed surround sound and shelved all projects related to it. File that under late great historical oopses. More »

XM and EMI Settle Portable Recording Radio Lawsuit

XM Satellite Radio and EMI Music have settled the lawsuit over the recording of digital songs by XM users. Nobody knows the terms of the deal, but it probably involves virgins and kittens' blood. [Reuters]

Space Aliens First to Get DRM-Free Beatles Music?

You may have heard that at 7pm EST on Feb. 4, NASA plans to blast The Beatles' song "Across the Universe" into deep space in order to serenade otherworldly beings hundreds, thousands or millions of light years away with our very best pop music. I have several problems with this. More »

Amazon MP3 Service Going Global; Epic iTunes Battle on the Horizon

Amazon's digital music catalogue is all set to go global, and although a launch date has not yet been settled, it shall hit sometime this year. Given Amazon MP3 offers DRM-free tracks, which are generally cheaper than iTunes limited, equivalent offerings, we cannot help but think an epic battle between the big As is all set to take off. More »

Qtrax Promises Legal P2P Music Sharing Service, the Impossible

We have long thought the acronym P2P was the very antonym of the word legal, but Qtrax, a new P2P music sharing service, has plans to rewrite the geek dictionary. Here's the skinny: The service is free, completely. Qtrax offers an unlimited service. It is supported by the four major labels, as well as smaller, niche music groups, and that means it will have a start-up music library of over 25 million songs. That is about four times bigger than iTunes, and about 100% cheaper. We know what you are thinking; is this all smoke without fire? Short answer; we're not sure, but Qtrax is hitting soon. Very, very soon. More »

EMI to Slash RIAA Funding, Putting RIAA on Deathwatch

Say goodbye to the RIAA, for its days are numbered. EMI, one of the "big four" record labels that feeds $132.3 million every year to trade groups such as the RIAA and IFPI, has decided that its money could be better spent elsewhere. It's reportedly considering cutting its funding towards the trade groups significantly, which would make it a lot harder for the RIAA to sue people, invade people's privacy and generally be huge dicks. More »

Misleading EMI Ad Touted New Radiohead Album, Directed Clickers to Own Store

EMI's efforts to ride Radiohead's wave of rainbow-y vibes didn't stop with their cute but obscenely priced USB drive loaded up with Radiohead's back catalog. If you Googled "Radiohead" last week, the top ad promised to bring you to a boxset of their new album "Rainbow" (like a bad Chinese knockoff) only to push your browser to EMI's overpriced back catalog options. Classy! [Guardian via Idolator]

iTunes Plus Tracks Really Officially 99 Cents Each

In case you only believe things once they are in press release form, you'll be happy to hear that Apple's official statement re-confirms what we already confirmed yesterday: iTunes Plus DRM-free tracks will now cost 99-cents across the board. Like some of you commenters have already pointed out, competition is a sweet thing indeed. UPDATE: According to Phil at Apple 2.0, "The Upgrade My Library feature...is still charging existing customers 30% extra for DRM-free songs." So keep an eye on that. [Apple]

George Harrison's catalog is now on iTunes, including a 2001 remaster of the All Things Must Pass double album in 256Kbps DRM-free MP3 for just $9.99. Maybe this should be a Dealzmodo. [iTunes]

Wal-Mart has begun selling 256Kbps DRM-free MP3 tracks from EMI for 94 cents each ($9.22 per album). To view its new and improved music store, you'll need Internet Explorer. [Wal-Mart]

The former head of allofmp3.com was acquitted in a Russian court, avoiding both fat fines and jailtime. Of course, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (repping EMI, NBC and Time Warner in the case) is planning to appeal. [CNN]

Why Universal Shut Out iTunes on DRM-Free Music

Universal Music's decision to deliver DRM-free tracks to pretty much everybody but iTunes in its "test"—Amazon, Google, RealNetworks, Wal-Mart and other smaller stores—continues its wary, passive-aggressive stance toward Apple. Officially, a Universal rep told us in an email that it's "a scientifically designed research study over the next six months" that's using iTunes (their "Apple sales") "as a standard control group" to serve "as the baseline for comparison." But, what's really being tested is the viability of non-iTunes online sales. More »

EMI, Apple and YouTube Officially In Love Triangle; Warner Music Attempts Solo Project

Apple adds YouTube to Apple TV. EMI tracks are now sold DRM-free on iTunes. The triangle completes itself today, as EMI announced that it would share a bunch of EMI music videos on YouTube, and even "let" users integrate some of EMI's copyrighted material into their own homemade productions. Let's see what happens when (yes, when) that content includes the entire Beatles catalog. More »

Apple Launches iTunes 7.2 and iTunes Plus

Just a quick note for those of you who are looking forward to the EMI DRM-Free iTunes tracks rumored to be launching this week. Apple's just updated iTunes to version 7.2, and added iTunes Plus support. iTunes Plus is the new higher quality, DRM-free music store that sells at $1.29 per track we've been talking about since April. More »

Rumor: EMI's DRM-Free Tracks Hitting iTunes This Week

Electronista is reporting that "according to French sources familiar with negotiations for multiple online music stores," Apple is set to drop EMI's DRM-free catalog onto iTunes this week. Techs are entering the last stages of encoding and prepping the files to go live. More »

Amazon Jumps Headfirst into DRM-Free Music Download Market with 12,000 Record Labels

Amazon's joining the ranks of DRM-free music distributors with the launch of an MP3-only download store that will offer "millions of songs" from "more than 12,000 record labels" with no copy protections whatsoever. Leading those labels, naturally, is the record industry's DRM-free town bicycle, EMI, who is curiously the only label mentioned by name of the 12,000, so we can bet no other majors are on board. Yet, anyway. More »

Paul McCartney Teases Us By Releasing Solo Material Online

We're ever so close to getting The Beatles' catalog online for purchase, I swear. Today's update involves Paul McCartney, who is releasing his entire catalog (both solo and, ugh, Wings) to all online stores. It'll be available DRM-free, as it's being released by EMI, which is great to see. More »

Apple Set to Steamroll the Big Four at the iTunes Bargaining Table

According to Reuters, it's Apple that's going to be pressuring the Big Four for concessions as contract renewals take place over the next month, not the other way around. While they might be begging for an iTunes subscription service, Apple will be shoving them in EMI's footsteps, toward selling more music without DRM. More »

Big Four Asking Apple for Subscription Service

The Big Four's contracts with Apple are either up for negotiation or are coming due, and MarketWatch is reporting that next week, the biggest label, Universal, is expected to push for a subscription service—as well as renew the push for "variable pricing," i.e., higher prices for more popular tracks after Jobs shot it down very publicly last year. More »

RIAA VP Calls Steve Jobs "Hypocrite," Tries to Punch Him at Recess

Somehow this half-escaped us in March, but we can't resist talking about it now: apparently, Dave Hughes thinks Steve Jobs is a "hypocrite." More »

Beatles Might Finally be Coming to iTunes, Maybe

At long last, could The Beatles finally be coming to iTunes? It's been "imminent" many times before, but the famous pop group (have you heard of them?) just settled a $59 million royalty dispute with EMI. That's supposedly the last roadblock between us and being able to buy The White Album on iTunes. More »

Slate on iTunes' New Better Bitrates: 256 Not Much Better Than 128 kbps

In light of the EMI/iTunes announcement, Slate's Explainer, which I am a huge fan of, explores the theoretical audible differences between 256 kbps AAC files and the 128 kbps versions. Christopher Beams says that 256 kbps files, though packed with twice as much data, do not sound twice as sharp as 128 kbps versions. Agreed: the added info isn't as important to your ears. And it is likely, according to quoted tests, you can't distinguish between anything higher than 128kbps sources. That's where things get fuzzy. More »

Microsoft Hops on the DRM-free Bandwagon

Microsoft, seeing all the good press Apple got for starting to sell DRM-free music in their store courtesy of EMI, has decided to do the same thing. In the near future, Zune owners will be able to buy songs from the Zune Marketplace in what we can only assume will be DRM-free WMA files. More »

EU to Apple, Big Four: EMI Deal Is Nice, But Suck on This Antitrust Investigation

The European Commission is investigating Apple and its good buddy EMI, along with the rest of the Big Four (Sony BMG, Universal and Warner) for antitrust violations because iTunes charges different prices in different countries. British folk, for instance, apparently get a sweet €0.17 discount per track for not living in mainland Europe. The EU thinks that's a load of crap—anticompetitive crap, to be precise—and wants the price to be the same in every EU country. More »

Today at Giz

Goodbye Letter I—We discuss the reasons why the letter "i" must leave the tech world, and what letter should replace it. More »

Apple Playing Second Fiddle: DRM Free Tracks Were EMI's Grand Idea

We just got off the phone with Jeanne Meyer, the Senior VP of Corporate Communications at EMI. Even after adding a grain of salt, considering they did come from the horse's "official" mouth, there's are some interesting facts worth noting about the DRM-Free tracks on iTunes. More »

Will the New DRM-free iTunes Songs Work on Your Player?

OK, so EMI's music is gonna be on iTunes without any DRM. Huzzah! But it's AAC, albeit unencrypted AAC, not the more friendly and universal MP3 format. While many players support AAC, not all do. More »

DRM-free iTunes, the RIAA Boycott, and You

So… holy crap. EMI is releasing their music on iTunes without DRM. This is great news! And not only that, but they're offering it at twice the quality of the DRM'd equivalent. This is a huge step forward for the online music marketplace. More »

Official: EMI to Release Music DRM-Free

It's official: Record company EMI announced that it will offer digital rights management (DRM)-free downloads of its entire digital repertoire, and added that Apple's iTunes store will be the first to sell them. However, the Beatles' music won't be a part of this deal just yet, but EMI Group CEO Eric Nicoli acknowledged that "we're working on it, hopefully soon." More »

EMI Update: Catalog Will Be DRM-Free on iTunes

While this is coming from the WSJ and therefore probably credible, the announcement was still technically made on April 1st, so if doesn't pan out, don't blame us. But word 'round the campfire is that EMI, along with his Steveness, is going to announce at 8 a.m. EST that most of their catalog is going to be offered DRM-free on iTunes. There may be no Beatles, but who needs them when you have DRM-free music? On iTunes. More »

EMI Reneges, Says DRM Here To Stay

If you listen closely, you can hear all the goodwill that EMI accrued in recent days by considering dropping DRM go down the drain. Yup, the smallest of the Big Four music corporations just said that DRM is here to stay. Recently, EMI had been hinting that it would sell music online without any DRM, which, naturally made us happy. But it looks like the realities of planet Earth set in and we'll be living in an DRM-encumbered world for the being, Jobs' complaints notwithstanding. More »

"Big Four" Record Company EMI Considering Dropping DRM

EMI Group, one of the European labels that his Steveness called out in his missive, looks to be taking up his suggestion to offer DRM-free music. While it's not clear which "broad swath of its recordings" might be getting the sweet touch of freedom, EMI is discussing selling the consumer-friendly tunes with "Apple, Microsoft, Real Networks and Yahoo," according to the Times. More »