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Draft Law Loophole Saves Future of iPod in France

Leading lawmakers in France have agreed to reduce requirements regarding a draft law that could have threatened the future of the iPod in France. Originally, the National Assembly had voted to force Apple Computer and its rivals to make their music players and online stores like iTunes compatible with each other.  However, the new watered down version of the draft law will allow companies like Apple and Sony to strike deals with record labels and artists and sidestep the requirement.

Christian Vanneste, the governing party deputy who presented the bill to the Assembly, said that a rival company's right to market compatible products and services would "hang on the will of the copyright holder" under the terms of the compromise.

"It's perfectly legitimate that the artist should decide the potential limitations on the use of his work," he said.

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MusicGremlin Launches First Portable Wi-Fi On Demand Music Subscription

MusicGremlin, Inc. has announced nationwide availability of its Gremlin wireless digital audio player through Amazon.com and the company's own website.  The company has launched a breakthrough music service in that their product enables users to discover, purchase and share music, legally and wirelessly (all without using a PC).

"We're thrilled to offer consumers a new, more powerful way to enjoy the music they love," said Jonathan Axelrod, Co-CEO of MusicGremlin. "By transforming the MP3 player into a wireless device, we've freed consumers from being tied to their PCs."

The Gremlin will download music over-the-air to a portable player from
MusicGremlin's service using Wi-Fi. 

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Waterproof Your iPod

Since Apple has yet to make a waterproof iPod, you can at least protect it from water damage with the new Otterbox iPod Case.  Cases range from $19.95- $49.95 each and are available for iPod 20GB, 30/40/60GB, mini, and shuffle models.  Otterbox also makes cases for Laptops, Tablet PCs and GPS devices.

Toshiba Revamps Gigabeat P Players

                                                         

                                                

                                                               

Toshiba has revamped their Gigabeat P digital music player family.  The unit, reminiscent of an iPod Nano, now sports an FM tuner with the ability to tune the radio manually.  It also features an analogue clock with a face, due to consumer requests.

The new models, P5S and P10S, are available with either 512MB of 1GB of Flash memory.  They are available in three new colours, red, white and black.

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Flash Prices Plunge, Drives Down MP3 Player Prices

We can expect to see the prices of iPods and other MP3 players to drop dramatically in the future, thanks to the decline in pricing or NAND Flash chips. 

Memory industry watcher DRAMeXchange says that flash prices have fallen more than 50% in 2006, thus accounting for cheaper priced mp3 players, like the iPod.

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Apple To Redesign Nano

According to Apple Insider, Apple Computer is planning to redesign the iPod Nano digital music player.  Look for the souped up Nano to appear this fall.

Apple Reports Over 8 Million iPods Sold in 2nd Quarter

Apple reported 8.5 million iPods sold in the quarter that just ended, down from 14 million iPods sold during Apple's fiscal first quarter, which ended in December.  iPod sales have accounted for $1.7 billion in revenue thus far this year.

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Belkin TunePower Boosts iPod Battery Life

                                                

                                             

 

       

If you're tired of your fifth-generation iPod quitting after two hours of watching videos, Belkin has an add-on product for you! TunePower, a bolt-on rechargeable battery pack will be available in the US at the end of the month. It will boost your iPod's playback duration by 300 per cent, which adds up to 6 hours of additional battery life.

Retail pricing will be $80.