Main Stories
o FTC Gets Court to Stop Software Firm's Pop-Up Ad Scam
o Apple: iTunes Beat Napster First Week Music Download Sales 5-to-1
o Bookseller Barnes & Noble to Take Online Unit Private in $115 Million Deal
o Fujifilm to Increase Recordable CD Prices by 10%-15%

o Briefly Noted: Apple iTunes - McDonalds - 1 billion song giveaway, Jay-Z /G Unit albums - advanced street dates, Ronning/Lipset Radio, Radica Games - GBA Jukebox, Konami - "Karaoke Revolution," Electronic Arts - Bob Pittman, RealNetworks - Eric Benhamou, MPAA - screener controversy, Penn State - Napster - student backlash

Washington -- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that a federal court has granted its request for a temporary restraining order against D Squared, a San Diego-based firm that both sends "pop-up" online ads that exploit a flaw in Microsoft's Messenger software -- and sells software that blocks such ads from users' computers. The FTC said that D Squared repeatedly sent messages to consumers using a feature of Windows that normally would be used by systems administrators to post notices that look like online pop-up ads to PCs on a network. D Squared's ads, however, which could be delivered even when a user wasn't online, instructed consumers to visit websites that said that the barrage of pop-ups could be stopped by purchasing its software. According to the FTC, consumers can stop the pop-ups by changing the default setting on their Windows operating system. "The defendants created the problem that they proposed to solve -- for a fee. Their pop-up spam wasted computer users' time and caused them needless frustration," said Howard Beales, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/11/dsquared.htm
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,61123,00.html 
_____________________________________________

o Apple: iTunes Beat Napster First Week Music Download Sales 5-to-1

Cupertino, Calif. -- Apple announced that its iTunes Music Store outsold the new Napster in that service's first week of operation, with iTunes sales of 1.5 million songs beating Napster's reported first week sales of 300,000 songs by five-to-one. Nielsen SoundScan figures showed that Apple's digital music store held more than 80 percent market share of legally purchased downloads last week. Apple added that its iTunes store has sold a total of 17 million downloads since launching in April. For its part, Napster said that its users streamed over 2 million tracks during the first week of the new service, and estimates that it will have in excess of 80,000 subscribers to the premium version of its service by the end of the year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031106/sfth077_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031106/sfth060_1.html
http://www.apple.com/music/store 
http://www.napster.com
_____________________________________________

o Bookseller Barnes & Noble to Take Online Unit Private in $115 Million Deal

New York -- Bookseller Barnes & Noble announced on Friday that it intends to take its struggling online unit private by purchasing all shares of BarnesandNoble.com it does not already own for around $115 million. The company currently owns 75% of the unit outright, and will pay shareholders $2.50 for each share they own. Barnes & Noble bought German media conglomerate Bertelsmann's stake in its online unit earlier this year at a price of $2.80 per share. The company said it does not expect the transaction to have any material effect on its earnings per share for this year or next.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031107/75158_1.html 
http://www.bn.com
____________________________________________

o Fujifilm to Increase Recordable CD Prices by 10%-15%

Tokyo -- Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., a unit of the Japanese manufacturer of photography and recordable media products, has announced that it plans to raise prices on its CD-R and CD-RW recordable media by 10-15% in January. The move comes after fellow recordable disc manufacturer Memorex announced in October that it would effect an identical price hike for its discs. Both companies cited increased manufacturing costs for the price increases, which they will now pass on to consumers.
http://home.fujifilm.com/products/media/top.html

Top

Top

> Stay ahead of the competition with The Kiplinger California Letter

To get ahead, you need to look ahead. The Kiplinger California Letter provides economic and financial advice and guidance for anyone with business investments, or residence interest in California. In-state reporters provide on the-scene perspective, while a D.C. editor adds the federal angle on Washington developments that affect the state. An annual subscription includes 24 bimonthly issues, delivered by mail or online. Review the current issue free at: http://www.kiplinger.com/partners/baytech/kcl/
 

Top

(New York) The New York Post reported on Thursday that Apple has signed a deal with McDonalds to distribute 1 billion digital songs from its iTunes Music Store to restaurant customers. No details were given on what type of promotion McDonalds will use to give the tracks away. Apple also has a promotional agreement with Pepsi, which will give away one million iTunes tracks via coupons affixed to the caps of its soft drink bottles.
http://www.nypost.com

(New York) Hip-hop artist Jay-Z (Def Jam Recordings/Universal Music) said on Friday that due to "Internet piracy and bootlegging," the release date for his new record will be moved up from Nov. 28 to Nov. 14. "It's unfortunate when Internet and physical piracy forces musicians like Jay-Z to juggle the artistic development and promotion of a new album," said RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol. Fellow hip-hop artist 50 Cent's G Unit (Interscope/Universal Music) on Friday also moved up the release date for their new release to Nov. 14, from Nov. 18, "as a reaction to bootlegging, piracy, and overall demand."
http://www.umusic.com

(New York) Ronning/Lipset Radio, a firm that aims to sell online radio advertising to marketers, on Friday announced its official launch. The company was founded by Eric Ronning and Andy Lipset, who have served as executives at both traditional radio firm Clear Channel and within the Internet radio units at AOL and Yahoo. "Online radio has come of age and grown to a size where marketers can now make an impact by reaching this audience," said Ronning. "We now have real numbers in terms of listeners, Arbitron is on board with measuring the audience, and the language of online radio is finally consistent with the language of traditional radio."
http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=59053

(Hong Kong) Video game accessories firm Radica Games announced that it will be the exclusive North American distributor for the GBA Jukebox, the sole officially licensed accessory for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance handheld game that lets users record and playback MP3 audio files on the device. Developed and manufactured by Japanese games firm Kemco, the GBA Jukebox will be distributed in the U.S. and Europe by Radica under its Gamester brand, and will be sold exclusively in the U.S. at Best Buy retail stores.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031105/law088_1.html
http://www.radicagames.com 
http://www.gamesterusa.com 
http://www.kemcogames.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) Konami Digital Entertainment America, the U.S. unit of the Japanese video game developer, announced that it has released "Karaoke Revolution" for PlayStation 2. The game comes bundled with a headset microphone and features newer tracks from artists including R.E.M., Avril Lavigne and Barenaked Ladies, as well as older licensed tracks like "Billie Jean," "Celebration" and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."
http://www.konami.com/usa/press/karaoke110503.html

(Redwood City, Calif.) Game developer Electronic Arts announced that it has named former AOL Timer Warner chief operating officer Robert Pittman to its board of directors. Pittman also served as president and COO of AOL and is a member of private investment firm Pilot Group.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031105/55692_1.html 
http://www.ea.com

(Seattle) Media delivery technology provider RealNetworks said that it has added Eric Benhamou to its board of directors. Formerly CEO of 3Com, Benhamou still serves as chairman of 3Com in addition to chairing the board of directors of both palmOne and PalmSource.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031106/sfth064_1.html
http://www.realnetworks.com

(New York) IndieWire.com reported on Friday that a group of filmmakers opposed to the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) ban on the distribution of "screener" copies of Oscar-hopeful films to voting Academy members met with MPAA CEO Jack Valenti on Thursday to discuss the ban. At the meeting were representatives from the Independent Feature Project (IFP), the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). The Los Angeles and Chicago film critics associations have both cancelled their own awards ceremonies as a result of the ban. "Mr. Valenti heard first-person accounts of how critical these screeners are to the marketing campaigns of independent work. He promised to present IFP's position to the heads of the studios, and respond by Wednesday," IFP/New York head Michelle Byrd told IndieWire.
http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_031107mpaa.html

(San Francisco) CNET News.com and the Los Angeles Times on Friday both reported on some negative reactions from Penn State University students at news yesterday that an undisclosed portion of their tuition fees that go to technology-related resources will be used to give students free access to Napster's online music store. "The money I pay could go to much better things such as rebuilding the network or better lab equipment," Penn State senior Joe Jarzab told CNET News.com. "Almost every single student I have talked to is outraged that their money is going to a program that they don't even want...[and that] their money is being sent to the music industry without their consent." Penn State student body President Rosenberger told the Los Angeles Times he thought Napster was "definitely more usable than Kazaa," but that, "the amount of songs is not where students want it to be."
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5103918.html
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-napster7nov07222420,1,7102080.story

Top

Top

Copyright 2003 Digital Media Wire, Inc. All Rights Reserved.