music download

US Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd, based in San Jose, California, ruled on Monday that Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs, though being on medical leave, will have to answer questions from lawyers for a group of consumers accusing the company of creating a music-download monopoly. The ruling says that the plaintiffs’ lawyers can question Jobs for a total of two hours.

Nokia is terminating the Ovi Music Unlimited service in 27 of the 33 countries where it was offered as stated by the phone maker.

The subscription service that was previously known as Comes with Music has been offered with some Nokia phones for some time. Users were able to download an unlimited amount of music to their PC or over the air to the phone. After the subscription is over users can continue to listen the tracks they have downloaded.

Cricket Communications, a subsidiary of low-cost carrier Leap Wireless International Inc, announced the introduction of a new service for wireless customers to allow them to unlimited song downloads as part of a monthly rate plan.

Starting January customers will be able to use a combined voice, data and text plan, along with all-you-can-download music for $55 a month.

The company said the new Muve service will offer music from the four major record labels: Vivendi's Universal Music Group; Warner Music Group; Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music.

Users expecting that they will ever be able to download from iTunes their favorite songs by Beatles should wait for an indefinite time because in a short term that doesn’t seem to happen. The Fab Four have long resisted the idea of digital downloads, instead selling millions of old-fashioned compact discs last year after remastering the catalog.

Apple Corps, the group's holding company has been unable to agree on terms with EMI Group, which licenses the Beatles' recordings. And then there's the unrelated Apple Inc, owner of iTunes, the world's largest music retailer.

As expected Chinese court supported their local company Baidu in a copyright infringement case launched against the largest search engine in the Celestial Empire by Universal Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment Hong Kong and Warner Music Hong Kong in early 2008.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court cleared Baidu of piracy ruling that the search engine had not broken rules by linking to music downloads that infringe copyright.

The IFPI said it was very disappointed with the ruling. Another site called Sohu was also cleared, the IFPI said.

 Blackhawk Network has announced that it now provides Facebook users with a new way to purchase and send iTunes Online Gifts. iTunes Online Gifts can be used to purchase and download content from the iTunes Store. The new service is now available in the U.S. exclusively on the iTunes Fan Page on Facebook. (The iTunes Fan Page on Facebook has over 2 million fans!) 

 On Thursday MySpace is launching a new website to expand its presence in the entertainment industry. The company announced the introduction of its music service for the British users.

Earlier the social networking company that is struggling to catch up with Facebook launched MySpace Music in the United States. MySpace wants to combine music content in the form of songs, videos, artist profiles, playlists and charts with social networking allowing fans to share their discoveries online.

 Citi's ThankYou Network, one of the world's largest loyalty programs, today announced a new rewards experience that allows its millions of members to use ThankYou Points to get music downloads from Sony Music Entertainment. ThankYou Members now can use their points to enjoy superstar artists and landmark catalog recordings.

Nine people were arrested by the police in the UK for using stolen credit cards to buy music they made themselves from iTunes and Amazon, fraudulently netting around $300,000 in royalties. The gang was charged with creating several songs before using an online US company to upload them to Amazon and iTunes for sale.

In a move to answer to Apple Inc's popular iPod digital music player, Microsoft Corp has in plans to implement a new version of its Zune portable media player. This new version is to be available in the United States later this year.

New Zune version is to unite high-definition video, touch screen technology and Wi-Fi connection as well as an Internet browser and a built-in HD radio receiver, offering higher-quality sound than traditional radio.