On Friday, the United States Copyright Royalty Board announced new royalty rates for webcasts, effective from 2006 to 2010. The new rates force webcasters to pay for each traditionally copyrighted song streamed to each user, and increase over the next few years as follows: 2006: $0.0008 to stream one song to one listener 2007: $.0011 […]

TASCAM has introduced a new MP3 player specifically designed for musicians, the MP-GT1. The portable audio player features variable-speed playback, guitar effects and pitch-shifting. MP3s can be played at slower speed without changing the pitch, and sections can be seamlessly looped while practicing tricky passages. Song playback can be pitched up or down to match […]

A top Microsoft executive said Thursday that in three years, the bulk of its nearly $1 billion in U.S. ad spending will be in the digital sphere. “We’re actually pretty confident that by 2010, the majority of our media mix will shift to digital,” said Mich Mathews, senior vice president of the company’s central marketing […]

March 04: It‚Äôs 31 Days of Free Music month at Podcasting News. Every day in March, we‚Äôre going to do our best to hook you up a great free music podcast. Previously, we‚Äôve highlighted a free electronic music podcast, a classical music podcast., and a free music podcast from guitarist Ottmar Liebert. Today’s free music […]

March 03: It‚Äôs 31 Days of Free Music month at Podcasting News. Every day in March, we‚Äôre going to do our best to hook you up a great free music podcast. Previously, we’ve highlighted a free electronic music podcast and a classical music podcast. Both of these podcasts are radio-show style podcasts, combining music and […]

MXL Microphones has introduced the MXL USB.007 stereo mic for direct to computer stereo recording on a PC or Mac. No special software or drivers are needed, just plug the mic into your portable or desktop computer, set your preferences and enjoy instant studio quality recordings. The mic uses dual gold diaphragm capsules in a […]

HHB has introduced the FlashMic DRM85-C Cardioid Microphone, an innovative mic that combines a Sennheiser capsule with a broadcast-quality Flash recorder. The mic is designed to be a portable recording solution for broadcasters and podcasters. The mic joins HHB’s original, omni-directional FlashMic DRM85. Both FlashMic models share the same feature set, which includes 1GB Flash […]

A little-known Texas firm, Texas MP3 Technologies, is suing Apple, Samsung Electronics, and Sandisk for patent-infringement, based on their use of MP3 technology. Texas MP3 Technologies alleges infringement on U.S. patent 7,065,417, which was awarded in June 2006 to multimedia chip-maker SigmaTel and covers “an MPEG portable sound reproducing system and a method for reproducing […]

The New York Times has published an introduction to podcasting authors and audiobook podcasts. The article focuses on author Scott Sigler, who helped pioneer audiobook podcasting with his sci-fi thriller, Earthcore. Sigler introduced an Earthcore podcast in 2005, describing it at the time as the first podcast-only novel. After being snubbed by publishers for years, […]

March 02: It‚Äôs 31 Days of Free Music month at Podcasting News. Every day in March, we‚Äôre going to do our best to hook you up a great free music podcast. If you haven’t discovered it yet, check out DJ Steveboy’s Podrunner podcast. DJ Steveboy is an LA DJ that creates two podcasts, Podrunner, which […]