AOL
joins the online pay-for-play fray
America
Online Inc. opened up shop in the virtual music business, but for now,
members only need apply. The internet service provider announced yesterday
that it has enabled members of its MusicNet section to download music for
$1 a song. About 250,000 of AOL’s 24 million subscribers have signed up
for the additional service so far. MusicNet charges about $9 a month for
unlimited music listening privileges. AOL added the download feature to
answer member demand, joining a growing roster of legal online music
providers, including Napster and market-leading iTunes by Apple. But
unlike iTunes, MusicNet does not allow transfer of songs to a portable
music player. AOL and iTunes already had a joint promotional agreement.
AOL officials are toying with making the service available to the entire
internet audience, as it does with its Instant Messenger service, but will
see
how the test
goes first.
French
follow U.S. lead against alleged pirates
The French are apparently
willing to follow America into one war, that against online song swappers.
France’s record industry association president said Tuesday that it
plans to follow in the American’s footsteps by filing lawsuits against
alleged uploaders who make available copyrighted songs for free on
peer-to-peer networks. The Syndicat National de l’Edition Phonographique
head made the announcement yesterday, after the International Federation
of the Phonographic Industry filed 247 lawsuits against uploaders in
Canada, Germany, Italy and Denmark, the first non-U.S. suits in the
battle. The Recording Industry Association of America has filed more than
2,000 suits. In addition to suing swappers, France plans to force internet
service providers to filter out music pirating sites and capabilities
thanks to a new law that will hold ISPs responsible for the swapping on
their watch.
Study:
Asian-Americans lead b-band access
Asian
Americans are more likely than any other ethnic group
to subscribe to high-speed internet, finds a new study by New York’s
Horowitz Associates. The study found that 46 percent of Asian Americans
have broadband connections. Whites were second with 35 percent,
English-speaking Hispanics third at 32 percent, African Americans fourth
at 22 percent and Spanish-dominant Hispanics fifth at 18 percent. The
report finds that 60 percent of urban homes have internet access,
including 32 percent with broadband connections. The study also surveyed
them on TV consumption and found that black and Hispanic households have
higher levels of TV watching than whites and Asians. Blacks and
English-dominant Hispanics chose HBO as their favorite network, while most
whites chose a broadcast network.
New
Opera tool lets you tape far from home
It’s 8:55 p.m., you’re an
hour from home, and you just realized you forgot to set the VCR to tape
“The O.C.” No problem. A new Mobile Interactive Programming Guide from
Norwegian technology company Opera could soon let mobile phone users dial
into their video recorders away from home. The program would let users
search TV schedules via cell and then highlight the record feature to tape
the show, even from halfway around the world. Opera has not set a date for
the guide’s unveiling, but hopes it will be out later this year.
Enter
to win spammer's ride (a Porsche)
America Online isn’t content
just to sue the pants off spammers. It wants their Porches, too. A week
after announcing it would block access to their web sites off of its
service, AOL is now giving away the car that belonged to a spammer. AOL
obtained the car, a 2002 Porsche Boxter S, as part of a settlement against
the spammer, who made millions through sending out junk emails. It was the
first time AOL had won something other than cash or computers in a
settlement, and the company wants to continue to hit spammers in more than
just the pocketbook to scare other potential polluters off. The online
sweepstakes is open to AOL members in the U.S. and runs through April 8.
|
