Downloads
”Nintendo's WiiWare Launches Today
Those of you who own Nintendo Wiis may like to know that Nintendo's answer to Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network titles goes live today. Called WiiWare, the offerings are smaller, downloadable games (and applications) that currently range from $5 to $15. Formerly, Nintendo has focused on the Wii's Virtual Console downloads—ports of old Nintendo titles. The difference here is that WiiWare's content is all original and generally focused at the small developer. Six games are available starting today. They're listed after the jump. More »RIAA Tech Chief: DRM Not Dead, Will Become More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine
NBC Streaming Full Episodes of 30 Rock and the Office to iPhones (for Free, No Ads!)
Microsoft Developing Copyright Filter for Zune, Will Block Pirated Content
Yesterday, NBC jumped aboard Starship Zune after its protracted breakup with iTunes. It's clear why—and going with NBC's pricing was only part of it. Saul at the NYTimes says that Microsoft has agreed to develop a copyright filter that would block pirated content from being played on Zunes. Which is exactly what NBC was demanding from iTunes. Sucks, right? Well NBC's president of digital distribution just thinks you don't know what's good for you. Update: Microsoft says NBC was speaking out of turn, and there's nothing like this in the works for Zune. Phew. Update 2: As I suspected, Microsoft's denial actually isn't that black & white, details on that below. More »Five Stores That Hosed Customers With DRM
Sure, it's easy to blithely state that DRM is annoying and sucks. But the fact is, it really can leave you holding vaporous media that you paid real money for, like when a vendor closes up shop or switches to new DRM. Last 100 rounds up five stores that have done just that: Major League Baseball (switched DRM, nuking any video bought pre-2006); Google (killed video store, and any vids you bought); Sony (ditched ATRAC and shut down Sony Connect); Virgin Digital (closed store, told customers to burn tracks to CDs and re-import as MP3); and most recently, Microsoft, which is shuttering MSN Music and its PlaysForSure (now officially worst DRM name ever) authentication servers in August. More »10 Percent of Broadband Subscribers Suck Up 80 Percent of Bandwidth But P2P No Longer to Blame
The most consistent rationale for ISPs to throttle p2p applications or charge by the byte is that a small minority of users drain a vastly disproportionate amount of bandwidth, like the planet-raping aliens in Independence Day. Om Malik pulls a few of these numbers out of Arbor Networks' CTO, who develops all the traffic management tools your ISP probably uses, so while there's a conflict of interest (portents of internet doom sell more stuff) they have the data. Ten percent of subscribers consume 80 percent of bandwidth, a super-leeching 0.5 percent swallow 40 percent of bandwidth, and the rest like your mom, 80 percent, sip less than 10 percent. But p2p isn't the culprit. More »Wal-Mart MP3 Store Drops All DRM, But Only Half-Ass Opens
When we last compared Wal-Mart's MP3 store to Amazon's, only Universal and EMI had gone DRM-free, and Wal-Mart still stocked tunes locked down with Windows Media DRM. Now Wal-Mart's store is completely DRM-sanitized, but their saber rattling to Sony and Warner for DRM-less music has gone ignored, so they're not selling any tracks from those labels (outside of Neil Diamond). Topping it off, despite the platform-agnosticness of MP3, the store still only really works in Internet Exploder. Not a good spot for Wally World. More »Free Flight of the Conchords MP3 Today
Scary factoid: on my recent vacation, I combed my hair funny as a joke. My wife freaked out a bit, saying that I looked like Murray Hewitt. She was right, so I called her "Brit" for the remainder of the trip. (Unfortunately, she looks nothing like Bret McClegnie.) On the plus side, today you can download Flight of the Conchords' "Ladies of the World" MP3 for 100% free on CNET. You don't remember that song from the series? Then you're fired, reader. Hit the jump for a reminder and reapply to Gizmodo through the tips line.
UPDATE: Business Time is available free as well.
Warner Music Pushes for Mandatory Music Tax on Your Internet Bill
If iTunes music subscriptions don't happen, it's not because the industry lacks interest. Universal's already got a sub plan; Sony BMG is forging ahead with their own; and now Warner Music is investing serious resources and effort into pushing for a monthly music tax. They want $5 a month tacked onto everybody's internet bill, and in return, everyone would have unlimited access to basically all known music. It's not as generous as it sounds. More »Comcast n' BitTorrent BFF: What's Good, What Sucks
BitTorrent Plugin Detects ISPs Raping Your Torrents
Vuze/Azureus actually operates a legit video delivery business using torrent, so they've been among the most vocal opponents of ISPs throttling torrents. To help build their case and create a detailed log of every ISP that scrambles torrents, along with their particular poison—short-circuiting uploads or general bandwidth caps, for instance—they've released a plug-in for their BitTorrent client that detects ISP torrent sabotage. On your end, it keeps track of interrupted connections and lets you know if your ISP is hosing you, and you can share the results with Azureus, if you'd like. They've already got a wiki going of the worst torrent ISPs, with Cablevision, RCN and Adelphia pulling the same tactics as Comcast. [Torrentfreak via DSL Reports]Sony BMG "Working On" iPod-Friendly All-You-Can-Eat Service
So, there might not be an iTunes subscription plan, but that doesn't mean the labels are any less enthusiastic about a monthly cash drip. According to their CEO, Sony BMG is "working on" its own subscription service, which would "provide access to our entire music catalogue for all digital players, including Apple's iPod" for about $9 to $12 a month. Better yet, he said it's "even possible that clients could keep some songs indefinitely, that they would own them even after the subscription expired." More »BusinessWeek: Apple Doesn't Give a Flying F$#! About All-You-Can-Eat iTunes
BusinessWeek can't leave a juicy rumor—that Apple's finally considering going down the iTunes subscription path—untouched. Whereas the NYT and FT seem to be getting their info from label execs, BW claims their sources on the Apple side of the things say "no such talks are under way." So, what's really going on? Here's how we're digesting this specu-flustercuck. More »Myka Brings BitTorrent to Your TV
NYT: Apple Discussing iTunes All-You-Can-Eat Downloads With Labels Next Week
The New York Tiimes' Saul Hansell backs up the Financial Times report that Apple's looking at all-you-can-eat downloads for iTunes. According to his source, Apple is sitting down with the studios next week for an undoubtedly tense poker-faced showdown. More »
apple
Financial Times: iTunes All-You-Can-Eat Music Downloads Coming
The Financial Times has a piece claiming that Apple has been in deep talks with music companies about an all you can eat music download service. The piece speaks with authority, citing that while Nokia pays the labels $80 per handset for such a service, split according to marketshare, Apple has only offered $20. Hence the delay. More »Apple TV vs. Vudu vs. Xbox 360: Video Download Battlemodo
If you've been wondering how to compare the video-download options of Apple TV, Vudu and the Xbox 360, I think today is your lucky day.
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