Category: Amazon

Yahoo Working on DRM-Free Music Store

January 23, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 7 Comments

Yahoo Hot on the heels of the Last.Fm announcement that you can stream any song up to three times for free, Yahoo rumors are brewing again. According to two record company executives wishing to remain anonymous, Yahoo is in talks with major record labels about offering DRM-free (unprotected) MP3s either for sale or for free supported by ads. Either way, Yahoo wants to launch the new service this year sometime.

This news could be even more interesting when juxtaposed with what Yahoo Music’s VP of Product Development Ian Rogers hinted at a couple weeks ago. Namely, big news revolving around dramatic changes in Yahoo’s music model. He said, “We’re in the process of redefining what Yahoo! Music is, and making it the Music destination in Yahoo!’s successful image.”

Amazon, Music, Tech News, Web 2.0, Yahoo

HD DVD Price Drops while Blu-ray Screws Early Adopters

January 12, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 153 Comments

HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Not sure if this is related to the news of Warner Bros. going Blu-ray exclusive, but Amazon has this Toshiba HD DVD player with seven movies for only $129 (the same one I thought I got a deal on a month ago for $174).

Blu-ray players, of course, are still well above $300. Amazon also has a bunch of HD DVD movies for $15. Interestingly, the site has a Blu-ray movie sale going on at the same time. But the difference between the two sales is a telling story:

Amazon, Media, Netflix

DRM Officially Dead for Music: Amazon Now Offers DRM-Free Tracks from All Four Major Labels

January 10, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 1 Comment

Just a few days after our coverage of DRM-free music options for 2008 comes news of Sony BMG now offering its music on Amazon restriction-free. Sony BMG represents artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Santana, and Justin Timberlake. And this makes Amazon the first online music store to offer DRM-free songs from all four major labels: Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, and Universal Music.

Amazon, Apple, Music, Tech News, Web 2.0

Get Ready for DRM-FREE 2008: Amazon, Napster, Sony, Yahoo Music

January 7, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 8 Comments

DRM-free 2008 Last year around this same time I wrote on the then current companies killing DRM (Digital Rights Management, music with restrictions). Coincidentally, this year has the month of January giving us even more news on the battle-for-unrestricted-music front.

Here’s the latest news about music within the context of Amazon, Napster, Sony, and Yahoo:

Amazon, Internet, Music, Sony, Tech News, Web 2.0, Yahoo

Amazon MP3 One Ups Apple, Gets Warner Music MP3s DRM-free

December 27, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell No Comments

Hot on the heels of news of Apple soon offering rental movies via iTunes, Amazon has some even better news (in my opinion). Another sign that DRM (Digital Rights Management, music with restrictions) is on its way out: Amazon MP3 now offers DRM-free MP3s from Warner Music Group’s catalog.

This makes Amazon’s MP3 download store the first to offer DRM-free music from Warner Music and brings Amazon’s library up to 2.9 million songs, all without restrictions. And Warner’s catalog includes some of the most popular artists: Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Madonna, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.

Amazon, Apple, Music, Tech News

Amazon 30-day Price Guarantee: Check Your Holiday Shopping

December 26, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 14 Comments

Amazon Logo While this holiday season has been met with record online shopping, remember that many retailers (even the online ones) don’t necessarily offer their best prices leading up to Christmas. I personally did much of my Christmas shopping via Amazon. And today being the day after Christmas, I thought I’d check the current prices on all those presents I bought and shipped. Here’s what I found:

Amazon, Do-It-Yourself Tech, Gadgets, Internet, Shopping

Online Shopping Sets Record Even as Consumers Procrastinate

December 24, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 2 Comments

Internet Tax Ban The Economist, via numbers from Comscore, tells us that since the beginning of November online spending is up by 18% compared with 2006. And Thursday December 6th was the “biggest online spending day yet” with sales of $803m, which made for a weekly online sales record of $4.6 billion (see chart below). Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal today explains that traditional retailers are making a final big push before Christmas (why would they ever not make a big push at this time?).

The articles cites a study/survey, which shows that approximately 71% of shoppers were done shopping as of December 23rd while past holiday seasons have had more like 85% of shoppers done by the 23rd. Part of the article reminded me of my own situation:

Amazon, Do-It-Yourself Tech, Internet, Shopping, Tech News

HD DVD Still Winning Price War vs. Blu-ray: Player & 10 Movies $219

December 12, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 16 Comments

HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray (*Update* The deal mentioned in the title is over, but Amazon has an even better deal: HD DVD player & 7 Movies for $132.)

Today I came across this article by Joel Hruska at Ars Technica in which he links to this Blu-ray deal on Amazon and says the following:

“Samsung is hoping to tilt the scales in favor of Blu-ray; as of right now, Samsung’s BD-P1400 Blu-ray player is selling for $279 on Amazon, down from a $499 MSRP. That’s not so much a discount as it is a steal, and it drops the BD-P1400 squarely within the price range for an HD DVD box.”

I couldn’t help but respond with all of Amazon’s concurrent HD DVD deals, which happen to be much better than the above mentioned “steal.”

Amazon, Do-It-Yourself Tech, Just For Fun, Media, Shopping, Sony