Digital Music Roundup: Player Smackdown; Digital Singles; G8; Copyright

Some recent articles on digital music that caught my eye as I catch up on the past couple of weeks:
Player upgrades, new devices on music horizon: Among the new features anticipated by geeks, WiFi access — something Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg says doesn’t matter to the masses. The biggest shake-up could come if a stronger candidate from the Microsoft side manages to establish competition with Apple.
How silver-haired surfers are bringing the single back to life: From the UK perspective … the 50-plus buyer is boosting singles downloads. Some of the sales come as boomers replace vinyl collections but much of it may be from the availability of more tunes from the 60s and 70s. Also, more artists from those days seem to be direct marketing online. Another factor: the launch of iTunes and Napster in the UK. UK users downloaded 24.3 million singles in the first half of 2006, well ahead of last year’s total 26.4 million.
Call for ‘illegal’ MP3 site talks: As if G8 participants didn’t have enough to deal with … the British Phonographic Industry wanted the subject wants foreign secretary Margaret Beckett to raise the issue of cut-rate Russian download site allofmp43.com with Russian President Vladimir Putin. BPI is suing the site for selling in the UK without a license. The site says it’s in compliance with Russian laws.
Digital music age prompts copyright debate: Bill Thompson: “A value recognition right may not be the way forward, but some rethinking of the meaning of copyright and how that translates into rights that can be licensed, traded and even reserved seems long overdue.”
Sector Snap: Digital Music Stocks Steady: JMP Securities analyst Ingrid Ebeling: “We believe digital music will be the killer app in 2006 and 2007.”

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