Music industry bangs DRM drum

Following the high-profile PR disaster for Sony, and for digital rights management (DRM) in general, towards the end of last year, the music industry has begun a campaign to convince music buyers that DRM is in the best interests of everyone. In an article setting out the record company's case, Dr Richard Gooch, deputy director of Technology for the IFPI, the industry's main international body, argues that while it has an unlovable title and an even more unlovable acronym, digital rights management is the most pressing issue in the digital music scene, and vital to its future. 'DRM is driving new flexible music services for consumers in the digital market,' he writes. ...more

Samsung puts the widescreen into portable devices

Samsung has created a 4in LCD panel with a 16:9 screen ratio, designed for portable media players (PMPs). Think 'widescreen' and you think of cinemas or large plasma displays, but the South Korean electronics giant is anticipating a market for full-scale portable video players. Current PMPs generally use 3. ...more

Vista won't force hardware upgrades

Businesses won't be forced into accelerating their normal hardware upgrade cycles or shell out on the latest equipment in order to take advantage of Windows Vista, according to Microsoft's UK head. 'Vista hardware requirements are not that dissimilar to those of XP,' said Gordon Frazer, managing director for Microsoft UK, at the combined launch of Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 this afternoon. 'And there are a number of different experiences people can have with Vista. ...more

mp3PRO ready to go

Back at the CES in Las Vegas, Thomson and the Fraunhofer Institute, together with an unnamed Swedish company, unveiled an improved MP3 codec - mp3PRO - to take on the likes of WMA, which is fast gaining popularity. mp3PRO is designed to deliver the near CD-quality audio of mp3 encoded at 12Kb/sec, at only 64Kb/sec, thus allowing greater volumes of material to be stored on players as well as making broadcasting Web radio cheaper, as a smaller bandwidth is used. Martin Dietz, President of Coding Technologies, the subsidiary company formed to develop the codec, said: "The new mp3PRO format offers significantly increased performance while maintaining the well-established mp3 format. ...more

Microsoft considers ditching DRM for Zune

Microsoft has revealed that it has held talks with EMI and other major record companies about the possibility of selling DRM-free downloads for its Zune portable media player. The company revealed that in the wake of EMI's non-exclusive deal to sell unrestricted tracks through Apple's iTunes it is prepared to ditch its long-standing commitment to DRM. 'Consumers have made it clear that unprotected music is something they want,' Microsoft spokeswoman Katy Asher said. ...more