Bay Area iPhone users, relief is on the way. AT&T has almost completed a $65 million upgrade to its network in the region. The carrier has upgraded close to 850 cell sites in an effort to better handle the massive surge in data traffic it has seen in and around San Francisco since the debut of iPhone. And make no mistake: The surge has been massive.
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April 7. That’s when the 99-cent-per-song rate that iTunes first set in 2003 will finally end, says the LA Times. On that day–and not April 1 as Apple originally claimed–the company will introduce a new tiered-pricing plan that will see it peddling songs for 69 cents, 99 cents, and $1.29, according to popularity.
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It’s been two years since the $1.65 billion acquisition and Google has yet to truly monetize YouTube. And while Google CEO Eric Schmidt insists the company has the “luxury of time” as it searches for ways to recoup its investment in the popular video site, it’s clear the issue is gradually becoming more pressing. “We’re waiting for the innovations,” he said recently. “The innovation will come. We know it will come. We know it’s there.” Could the “it” to which Schmidt refers be the new e-commerce platform YouTube is launching?
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Sony BMG (SNE) has signed on to Nokia’s (NOK) new “Comes With Music” program and really, who better than the pioneer of the rootkit digital-rights management scheme to endorse Nokia’s DRM-hobbled prebundled music initiative?
This morning, Sony BMG became the second record label to jump on board the Finnish phone giant’s Comes With Music offering, which–when [...]
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Here’s a savvy way to debut your new advertising-supported music service: announce that it will offer some 25 million songs from “all the major labels,” and then hope that those labels follow your lead. And if they don’t, just hang in there until they do.
Which is essentially what Qtrax, which claims to be the world’s [...]
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A $9,250 per-song fine might seem an excessive punishment for illegally sharing music for no personal gain, but it’s really not. According to the U.S. Justice Department, anyway.
The DOJ says the $222,000 in damages awarded to the Recording Industry Association of America in the Virgin Records America et al. v. Thomas copyright-infringement case is constitutional. [...]
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