CD and DVDs sales may be going down the dumper, but downloads of DRM-free music are going through the roof.
MP3 download site 7digital.com is reporting that sales have rocketed since they introduced DRM-free music from major labels Warner and EMI, with the site now riding high as the UK’s second biggest digital music retailer, after iTunes.
A Manchester- based IT consultant returned from a holiday in Portugal to find something worse than the dull northern weather to greet him in the shape of a hefty £31,500 telephone bill.
Finding himself dissatisfied with the entertainment on offer in Portugal, Iayn Dobsyn had elected to download an episode of Prison Break and a load of MP3s by using his mobile phone as a modem.
Instead of going out to the local bar and celebrating with a vat of Budweiser, Yahoo execs spent the US national bank holiday weekend chewing the fat with their lead adviser, Goldman Sachs. Also pulling up a chair at the table were potential bid partners including Time Warner.
The fading search engine giant was getting jiggy with Time Warner in the hope of bagging a merger deal with its Internet arm, AOL, that could be worth as much as $10 billion (£5 billion) according to a report in The Times.
Broadband adoption in the US is slackening off with many dial-up customers saying they haven’t the slightest interest in upgrading to high speed broadband connections.
Yesterday we gave an overview of the Teac Reference DR-H300DAB and looked at its usability.
Viewing tests
The Teac did a pretty job playing back DVDs through a conventional TV and it even had a pretty good stab at upscaling to 720p and 1080i video resolutions, although a few jagged edges and over-bright colours occasionally gave the game away.
Compact receiver packs hi-fi performance and DVD playback in a stylish package.
Looking dapper with its old-school looks, stylish brushed steel finish and promising oodles of hi-fi goodness is Teac’s DR-H300DAB DVD Receiver.
Aimed at space-strapped folks looking for a lorra entertainment without the need to fill up the room with half of ton of cables’n’components, the DR-H300DAB packs a CD player (CD-R/RW, MP3, WMA, PictureCD and DivX; 3.11, 4.x, 5.x) and a DAB/FM RDS receiver.
Sidling up to fill the slot between the excellent semi-pro D300 dSLR and their wallet draining high end D3 flagship snapper is Nikon’s new D700 full-frame camera.
With its rugged design lines and black finish, the camera looks like it means business, with the D700 inheriting some of the durability characteristics of its big brother.
Publishers Condé Nast have announced that they will be launching a UK version of their popular Wired magazine next year, with an accompanying Brit-based website coming right up too.
Ex-Guardian Unlimited editor and current Jewish Chronicle editor, David Rowan, has bagged the job of editing the publication, with the debut issue of the monthly technology magazine expected to start jumping into newsagents in the first half of 2009.
The UK bank, Lloyds TSB, have kicked up a fuss with their decision to give children as young as eleven years old VISA debit cards – without telling their parents.
While the company is happily dishing out Visa debit cards to kids, furious parents are concerned that their little loved ones will use the cards to go shopping in the murky, dark areas of the Internet.
Vodafone – the world’s biggest mobile communications group – are teaming up with social networking site giants MySpace to create what they’re describing as an “online global interactive platform.”