Main Stories
o Report: U.S. CD Sales Rebound 2.3% in 2004; 141 Million Downloads Sold
o Software Giants Lobby Congress for Changes to Digital Copyright Laws
o FCC Chairman: Agency Not Likely to Regulate Satellite Radio Content
o Report: 2004 U.S. MP3 Player Sales Double to 6.9 Million
o Report: U.K. Digital Downloads Outpace CD Singles Sales for First Time
o Electronic Arts Sets Launch Titles for Sony PSP, Support for Blu-ray DVD
o Blogging Tools Developer Six Apart Acquires LiveJournal Parent Co. Danga
o Report: Tsunami Spikes Internet Traffic to Blogs, News Sites

o Briefly Noted: Apple - Ireland iTunes Store, U.K. - online holiday shopping, SmartVideo Technologies, Toshiba - 4GB flash card, XM Satellite Radio, Time Trax - Sirius, Sirius Satellite Radio - Sportster IR, iBiquity Digital - TOKO, SanDisk - MP3 players - game console cards, Pixa - Portable Multimedia Player, Panasonic - Musicmatch, HandHeld Entertainment - LikeTelevision, Gizmondo - "Sega Classics," THQ - "MX vs. ATV Unleashed," Swagger Wireless - Alicia Keys, Zingy - Timbaland
_____________________________________________

New York -- U.S. CD sales were up for the first time in four years in 2004, as sales rose 2.3% to reach 651.1 million, according to data from Nielsen Soundscan. The growth was registered in spite of continued industry claims that Internet and CD-R piracy are devastating CD sales. The figures also showed that a total of 141 million digital music downloads were sold during 2004 at retailers such as Apple's iTunes and Napster. Of these, 91.4 million were sold in the first six months of the year -- a 376% increase over the 19.2 million downloads sold in the second half of 2003.
http://tinyurl.com/6jmoa 
http://theedge.bostonherald.com/musicNews/view.bg?articleid=62287
http://www.soundscan.com 
_____________________________________________

o Software Giants Lobby Congress for Changes to Digital Copyright Laws

Washington -- The Business Software Alliance (BSA), a trade group whose members include Microsoft, IBM, Intel and Adobe, has submitted a white paper to Congress that asks for copyright laws to be rewritten so that their products are protected from piracy on peer-to-peer networks. Specifically, the companies want Internet service providers to share more of the legal burden when their users commit copyright infringement over the Internet. Currently, the only way to obtain the identities of such users is to file a "John Doe" lawsuit against them, which then compels the ISP to reveal the identity of the alleged of an alleged infringer. Opponents to the BSA's proposal say that the privacy of Internet users should be protected. "The best policy is not to have the service provider become Big Brother," Sarah Deutsch, associate general counsel of ISP Verizon, told the Associated Press.
http://tinyurl.com/5joo9 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51966-2005Jan5.html
http://tinyurl.com/6xt4a 
____________________________________________

o FCC Chairman: Agency Not Likely to Regulate Satellite Radio Content

Las Vegas -- The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) remarked on Thursday that the agency is not likely to heed broadcasters' concerns and regulate the nascent satellite radio industry, CNET News.com reported. Broadcasters have petitioned the FCC to regulate satellite radio in the same way its does terrestrial radio -- including levying indecency fines -- but for-pay satellite radio has so far been treated more like premium cable TV, where broadcasters are more free to air programming that would not be considered decent for network TV, or in this case, terrestrial radio. "I think it's a dangerous thing to start talking about extending government oversight of content to other media just to level the playing field," Powell said in comments made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "At the end of the day, I think we're going to move in the direction of the Jeffersonian free-speech tradition." Radio shock jock Howard Stern, who on his own has incurred millions in indecency fines at the hands of the FCC, recently signed a $500 million deal to move his show onto the uncensored Sirius Satellite Radio in 2006.
http://tinyurl.com/6d2j9 
____________________________________________

o Report: 2004 U.S. MP3 Player Sales Double to 6.9 Million

Las Vegas -- Sales of MP3 players more than doubled in 2004, to 6.9 million units, with dollar sales nearly tripling to $1.2 billion, according to data released by the Consumer Electronics Association. The CEA projects that MP3 player sales in 2005 will reach 10 million units and $1.7 billion in dollar sales. The trade group also said that satellite radio has helped to boost autosound revenues 10% for the year. Overall, sales of consumer electronics in the U.S. during 2004 topped $125 billion, an 11% increase over 2003's $113.5 billion sales total. "Consumer electronics sales continue to surpass our expectations and break existing records year after year, because this is an ever-changing industry that delivers innovative products that enhance consumers' lives" said CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro. Other top-sellers among consumer electronics for the year included digital televisions, devices featuring flash memory cards and camera cell phones.
http://www.ce.org/press_room/press_release_detail.asp?id=10650 
____________________________________________

o Report: U.K. Digital Downloads Outpace CD Singles Sales for First Time

London -- According to new figures from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), digital download sales in the U.K. have outpaced sales of singles for the first time in history. In the last week of December, Brits downloaded about 312,000 songs, compared to the approximately 282,000 singles sold over the counter -- another indication of how the legal download market has boomed in the U.K. since the launch of websites like iTunes and Napster. BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson attributed the trend partly to the holiday season. "While many high-street stores were closed for the bank holidays, online download sites are open 24/7," he said. "To that extent, you could say it was a blip, but it's an important milestone in the growth of download sales and a sign of things to come."
http://www.bpi.co.uk 
____________________________________________

o Electronic Arts Sets Launch Titles for Sony PSP, Support for Blu-ray DVD

Redwood City, Calif. -- Electronic Arts on Friday announced the slate of six titles it will offer for Sony's PSP handheld gaming system when it launches in the U.S. in March. The Redwood City, Calif.-based developer will offer "MVP Baseball," "FIFA Soccer," "Need for Speed Underground Rivals," "Tiger Woods PGA Tour," "NBA Street: Showdown" and "NFL Street 2: Unleashed." Separately, the company announced that "EA Sports Rugby 2005" is currently under development at Canada-based HB Studios for release in the spring for PlayStation 2, Xbox and the PC. The game will incorporate all major rugby teams and tournaments, including the Tri-Nations and Super 12. Finally, Electronic Arts announced that it has joined the Blu-ray Disc Association, and will release upcoming titles on Sony's high-capacity Blu-ray DVD format, on which Sony plans to build its next-generation PlayStation console. "The delivery of high-definition games is becoming increasingly important to us," said Electronic Arts worldwide studio CTO Scott Cronce. Fellow publisher Vivendi Universal Games also recently announced its support for Blu-ray.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050107/75247_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050107/75080_1.html 
http://www.hb-studios.com 
http://www.blu-raydisc.info
____________________________________________

o Blogging Tools Developer Six Apart Acquires LiveJournal Parent Co. Danga

San Francisco -- Six Apart, a San Francisco-based maker of tools for weblogging, said on Thursday that it has acquired Oregon-based Danga Interactive, operators of the popular service LiveJournal, for an undisclosed amount of stock and cash. With the acquisition, Six Apart said that thre acquisition solidifies its status as the industry's largest independent provider of weblogging tools. The companies said that their combined user base exceeds 6.5 million users. LiveJournal, an online community organized around personal journals, has helped fuel the rapid growth of weblogging by offering consumers both free and paid subscriptions to its personal publishing blogging tool, built on open source software. LiveJournal will continue to operate as a separate division.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?T5A322C2A 
http://www.sixapart.com 
http://www.livejournal.com 
____________________________________________

o Report: Tsunami Spikes Internet Traffic to Blogs, News Sites

New York -- Internet traffic to news and information web sites has increased substantially since the Dec. 26 tsunami that ravaged parts of 11 countries, Nielsen/NetRatings reported on Friday. At-work traffic to blogger.com skyrocketed 73% during the week ending Jan. 2, with most visitors viewing amateur photos of tsunami footage. In addition, traffic to sites including New York Post, CBS News, Forbes.com and several Time Inc. publications jumped 31%, 28%, 26% and 22%, respectively.
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com 

Top

Top

(Cupertino, Calif.) Apple on Thursday launched a version of its iTunes Music Store in Ireland, offering 700,000 tracks for sale. Pricing will be the same as in other European nations, at 0.99 euro ($1.30) per song and 9.99 euro for albums. The Irish store's launch was delayed in October when Apple launched a series of European iTunes stores, due to a dispute with the Irish Music Rights Organization that has since been settled.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/07/itunes_ireland_launch

(London) According to the U.K.'s Times news daily, a record number of Brits shopped online over the holiday season. Out of last year's total retail sales of $458 billion, online spending contributed $4.9 billion, a 44.5% year-on-year increase, the Times said. Rhys Williams of Seymour Pierce, however, said the numbers should be taken with a pinch of salt, since online consumers over the last four years have gone from accounting for less than 1% of overall sales to just 2.4%. "On that basis, I would hesitate to argue that online retailers are taking market share from conventional retailers," he told the Times.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F2C452F2A

(Las Vegas) SmartVideo Technologies this week introduced a live and on-demand video streaming service for wireless devices like smartphones and PDAs. The service, which can be accessed on devices utilizing Microsoft Windows Mobile software, delivers video at a minimum of 15 frames per second on 2.5G, Edge and future 3G networks. The Atlanta-based company has signed content providers including NBC Universal and The Weather Channel to provide video for the service, which will cost $12.95 for a basic package and an additional $4.95 for premium content. SmartVideo quoted ARC Group data indicating that more than 22 million television-enabled Smartphones are currently in use around the world -- a number projected to grow to 250 million by 2008.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050106/65659_1.html
http://www.windowsmedia.com/mobile 
http://www.smartvideo.com

(Tokyo) Japanese electronics firm Toshiba announced that it will soon begin shipping new $499, 4GB and $299, 2GB CompactFlash memory cards for use in consumer products like MP3 players and camcorders. The company also announced that it will ship a 0.85-inch, 2GB miniature hard drive designed primarily for use in cell phones this month, and plans to offer a 4GB drive in the same size later this year.
http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/index.htm

(Washington, DC) XM Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite radio services with more than 3.2 million subscribers, said on Friday that an unnamed entity has exercised its option to purchase another $100 million in company notes. The purchaser will now own $400 million in company notes, due in 2009.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050107/nyf040_1.html

(Washington) Time Trax Technologies, which developed software that records satellite radio transmissions from XM Satellite Radio, announced on Friday that it has developed a similar product for XM competitor Sirius Satellite Radio. The software automatically records Sirius programming and adds artist and song information to files that are then stored on a PC. While the software alone sells for $44.99, the company also offers a $99 package includes an adapter that transfers the satellite signal from a radio receiver to a PC, and a $169 package that includes a Sirius radio receiver made by Kenwood.
http://www.timetraxtech.com 
http://www.siriusradio.com

(New York) Sirius Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite-delivered digital radio programming, said that it will add an instant replay feature to its Sportster plug-and-play satellite radio receiver. The new version of the device will be able to record up to 44 minutes of Sirius programming for later listening.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050106/nyth165_1.html 
http://www.siriusradio.com

(Las Vegas) IBiquity Digital, a developer of technology that allows radio stations to transmit a digital signal alongside their analog signals, announced that it has partnered with Japanese electronics manufacturer TOKO to open an International HD Radio Certification Center in Japan. The facility will provide technical support and product certification services for licensed HD Radio consumer electronics partners.
http://www.ibiquity.com 
http://www.tokoam.com

(Las Vegas) Storage media manufacturer SanDisk this week introduced a line of flash memory-based MP3 players as well as a line of flash cards for use with video game consoles. SanDisk said it will ship a $149, 512MB model and $199, 1GB model of its Digital Audio Player in March. Among video game systems, Sony's PSP supports Memory Stick PRO Duo flash memory cards, while the Tapwave Zodiac and Gizmondo have slots for SD flash memory cards. SanDisk said it will offer memory cards for the PSP ranging from $39 for 128MB to $159 for 1GB later this month. SD cards in comparable capacities will be sold for between $34.99 and $104.99.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050106/65055_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050106/65058_1.html 
http://www.sandisk.com

(Las Vegas) Consumer electronics firm Pixa on Friday introduced its Pixa MP-707 Portable Multimedia Player at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The $499 device features a 7" LCD display with a high-brightness resolution sufficient for outdoor use, and a 20GB hard drive capable of storing up to 25 movies, or 4,500 songs.
http://www.pixainc.com

(Las Vegas) Japanese electronics firm Panasonic announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Yahoo's Musicmatch unit, to distribute the Musicmatch Jukebox media player software with select Panasonic portable audio products. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050106/nyth166_1.html 
http://www.musicmatch.com 
http://www.panasonic.com

(Charlotte, N.C.) HandHeld Entertainment, a maker of portable digital media players, said on Thursday that it has signed a licensing deal with North Carolina-based LikeTelevision to bring more than 11,000 videos to users of HandHeld's ZVUE personal media player. ZVUE users will have access to 10 free ZVUE titles each month, as well as other special promotions offered throughout the year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050106/65162_1.html 
http://www.zvue.com 
http://www.liketelevision.com

(London) Gizmondo Europe announced that it has signed an agreement with Digital Media Cartridge to release a "Sega Classics" title for its Gizmondo multifunctional handheld video game system. Games included in the bundle will include "Sonic the Hedgehog," "Outrun," "Golden Axe," "Altered Beast" and "Shinobi." Gizmondo Europe, a unit of Florida-based Tiger Telematics, said the Gizmondo, which has launched in the U.K., will be released in the U.S. late in the first quarter of 2005.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050107/ukf005_1.html 
http://www.gizmondo.com

(Calabasas Hills, Calif.) Video game publisher THQ announced on Friday that it will demonstrate its upcoming "MX vs. ATV Unleashed" title at the 2004-2005 THQ World Supercross GP/THQ AMA Supercross Series event on Saturday in Anaheim, California. Developed by THQ's internal Rainbow Studios, the title for PlayStation 2 and Xbox will ship to retailers on Feb. 22.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050107/laf024_1.html 
http://www.supercross.cc.com

(New York) Swagger Wireless, a wireless urban entertainment marketing and promotions company, said on Friday that it will produce a series of wireless promotions for an upcoming Alicia Keys U.S. tour. The deal includes the creation of a mobile fan club that will distribute ringtones and other content, and a promotion allowing concertgoers to send text messages during the show that will appear on large video screens during the performance. New York-based Swagger Wireless provided similar services on hip-hop artist Jay-Z's recent tour.
http://www.swagger.com

(New York) Mobile entertainment publisher Zingy announced on Friday that it has partnered with MTV to launch an album of mobile ringtones created by hip-hop producer Timbaland, who has worked with artists including Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z. Content including original beats in polyphonic and master ringtone form, voice ringtones, voice ringback tones, voicemail greetings, screensavers and wallpapers will first be distributed through MTV's "Made Hear: Original Ringtones" wireless service. New York-based Zingy also has an agreement with Timbaland to independently distribute the wireless content.
http://www.zingy.com 
http://www.timbalandheaven.com 
 
Top

Digital Media Wire, Inc. is part of the Tech Wire Media Group, an international network of publications that includes Digital Media Law Report, Potomac Tech Wire, New England Tech Wire, Southeast Tech Wire, Bay Area Tech Wire, Tri-state Tech Wire and European Tech Wire. The network reaches more than 70,000 individuals from over 70 countries each business day.

Advertising & Sponsorship
Publications, Events & Information

Executive & Editorial Team
Chief Executive Officer: Ned Sherman
VP, Marketing & Events: Tinzar Than
Editor: Mark Hefflinger

Contact Us
Questions, Comments & Suggestions
News Tips & Press Releases

For a free subscription to Digital Media Wire:

To unsubscribe:

Top

Copyright 2005 Digital Media Wire, Inc. All Rights Reserved.