The push for DRM-free music has reached a dead-end in the UK. The U.K. government has rejected a call for a digital rights management ban, but acknowledged that the technology could undermine consumer rights. The decision was in response to an online petition at the U.K. government’s e-petitions Web site calling for digital rights management to be outlawed.

The government published its response to the petition on Monday and claimed that DRM could bring value to consumers.

“DRM does not only act as a policeman through technical protection measures, it also enables content companies to offer the consumer unprecedented choice in terms of how they consume content, and the corresponding price they wish to pay,” said the government, in its response.

“It is clear though that the needs and rights of consumers must also be carefully safeguarded. It is reasonable for consumers to be informed what is actually being offered for sale, for example, and how and where the purchaser will be able to use the product, and any restrictions applied,” the government added.

via CNET

The RIAA is increasing the pressure it puts on colleges and universities to restrict activities on school networks, sending thousands more complaints to top universities this school year than it did last year.

A few schools, including Ohio and Purdue universities, already have received more than 1,000 complaints accusing individual students since last fall. For students who are caught, punishments vary from e-mail warnings to suspensions.

The Recording Industry Association of America identified the schools that it considers its top offenders:

• Ohio
• Purdue
• The University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• University of Tennessee
• The University of South Carolina

“It’s something we feel we have to do,” RIAA President Carey Sherman said. “We have to let people know that if they engage in this activity, they are not anonymous.”

Toronto, ON-based digital music store Puretracks has announced that it will sell a full catalog of MP3 music files for purchase and download, free of Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions. The new DRM-free MP3 catalogue will initially feature 50,000 titles from a number of major independent labels, priced from $0.79 cents per song. Additional tracks will be added on a weekly basis.

“DRM can be used to support unique business models, like subscription services, that deliver value to music fans,‚Äù explained Alistair Mitchell, President and CEO, Puretracks Inc. ‚ÄúBut equally, there is also the burning issue of device interoperability, one that can no longer be ignored. There is a time and place for DRM, and there is also a time and place for selling music without it. Together with the labels partnering on this undertaking, we’re blazing a trail by giving our users choice and ultimate flexibility to enjoy their music any time, anywhere.”

Unfortunately, the site isn’t currently friendly to Mac users:

Puretracks will need to address this is they want to get any mojo off the current anti-DRM buzz.

Viacom has announced that it will be a content partner and will offer its full range of brands and programming for free to consumers via Joost. Joost is a new Internet video site, now in beta, designed to provide interactive video content while providing copyright protection.
Under the agreement, Viacom’s divisions – MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures – will provide television and theatrical programming on the Joost platform. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The move is a setback for YouTube, giving an upstart competitor access to popular content while YouTube is being asked to remove thousands of videos from its site.

Cisco and Apple today announced that they have resolved their dispute involving the “iPhone” trademark.

Under the agreement, both companies are free to use the “iPhone” trademark on their products throughout the world. Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark.

In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.

Podtrac today announced the Podtrac Media Planner, a new online service designed to demistify advertising in podcasts and serial video clips by helping advertisers learn about audio and video podcasts, view demographics and reach, and sample more than 4000 audio and video podcasts.

According to Podtrac, the serial nature of audio and video podcasts provide both advertisers and audiences with predictability in the type, quality, length, periodicity, and format of serial online audio and video content. When cross referenced with the company’s database of podcast listeners and viewers, indexed to Mediamark‚Äôs Survey of the American Consumer (MRI), podcasting and the company’s Media Planner offer advertisers advanced targeting and predictability regarding the attributes of the audience using each audio or video podcast.

Life Fitness announced this week that it plans to offer commercial exercise equipment with seamless iPod integration.

This connectivity makes it possible for iPod users to plug in and charge their iPods, watch video on the equipment’s large LCD screen and control the playing of their iPod music libraries from the console. The first Life Fitness product featuring iPod integration will be demonstrated at the upcoming IHRSA(International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association) Convention in San Francisco and will be available in March with the rest of the line to follow later in the year.

‚ÄúWe are excited to introduce products that take the integrated entertainment experience to the next level,‚Äù said John Stransky, president of Life Fitness. ‚ÄúIn the last decade Life Fitness has led the revolution in merging entertainment with exercise equipment, so it‚Äôs only fitting for us to offer integration with the iPod, which many of our customers use while they exercise.”

‚ÄúWe‚Äôre delighted that Life Fitness offers seamless iPod integration to their customers,” said Ron Okamoto, Apple‚Äôs vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. ‚ÄúWe think iPod owners are going to enjoy this innovative way to use their iPods while working out.‚Äù

The iPod-integration will allow exercisers to sync their iPods with the equipment’s LCD screen to conveniently view their playlists and enjoy video content while working out. The connection also powers and charges the iPod. Users can plug headphones directly into the equipment console or their iPod for audio while safely storing the music player in the iPod holding tray.

The recordings of a British concert pianist who found fame in the last years of her life have been exposed as hoaxes – by Apple’s iTunes music player.

Joyce Hatto, who died in June 2006, has become a cause célèbre with fans of classical piano. A series of recordings appeared to show her masterful command of a wide range of composers including Liszt, Schubert, Rachmaninov, Dukas and more.

Last week, a critic at the Gramophone magazine got a surprise when he put a Hatto recording of Liszt’s 12 Transcendental Studies into his computer. The iTunes player identified the disc as being recorded by another pianist, L√°szlo Simon. The critic dug out the Simon album and found it sounded exactly the same as the Hatto one.

iTunes had stumbled on a hoax. The Gramophone critic tried another disc, this time of Hatto playing Rachmaninov, and again iTunes identified it as belonging to someone else.

Examinations of the waveforms of Hatto recordings confirmed what iTunes had suggested. Many are direct copies of other pianist’s work, while some are tweaked versions where a recording has simply been slowed down.

Hatto’s husband, who produced and released the music, says he cannot explain the similarities.

via New Scientist Technology Blog

The Valley Forge National Historical Park and energy utility PECO this week have announced the creation of the PECO Podcast Through History.

The Southeast Pennsylvania gas and electric utility has given a $20,000 donation which will fund the creation of a podcast series that can be accessed at the park or from home, that will guide visitors through the park and a seminal event in the birth of our nation.

“Technology offers us new and tremendous opportunities to offer our visitors choices and access to the compelling stories Valley Forge has to tell, from the first-hand accounts of those who were part of the action to those who are working to preserve the objects that were used at the time. The grant is helping us to broaden that range of services for all of our visitors,” said Mike Caldwell, Superintendent.

Visitors to the Park will have the opportunity to sample some of the podcasts, which include the film, “Valley Forge — A Winter Encampment.” Other topics include Muhlenberg Brigade interpretation, Native Americans at Valley Forge, Hannah Till — An African American cook in Washington’s Army, Author Thomas Fleming, the Valley Creek Watershed and the Rifleman’s Role in the American Revolution.

Next week, the Park will launch the “View from the Forge” a monthly podcast of Park news and events. These podcasts are available on the Park’s web site, www.nps.gov/vafo and can also be downloaded from iTunes.

“It is a pleasure to partner with the Valley Forge Historical Park in order to make learning fun with new technology,” said PECO president Denis O’Brien. “Once The PECO Podcast Through History is up and running this Spring students, young and old, will be able to download an audio file from their home computer, load it into their cell phone or MP3 player, and take an exciting trip through the history of Valley Forge.”

During National Tourism Week in May, the Park plans to unveil a complete series of PECO’s Podcast Through History and expects to launch additional podcasts later this summer.

Valley Forge National Historical Park educates present and future generations of Americans about one of the most defining events in our nation’s history by preserving the natural and cultural resources that commemorate the encampment of the Continental Army at Valley Forge in 1777-78.

Warner Music Group Corp. confirmed today that it has approached EMI about a possible acquisition of the entire equity of EMI. Unlike previous hostile attempts at taking one another over (in 2000 and 2003), this proposed acquisition seems to be mutually desirable, with Warner’s confirmation issued in response to an earlier announcement by EMI.

This confirmation also comes on the heels of an agreement between Warner and the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association (IMPALA), an organization which had previously brought a legal challenge against the 2004 proposed merger of industry giants Sony Music and Bertelsmann’s BMG. (The Sony/BMG merger was quashed last summer by the European courts, but are being reexamined and a decision is expected to be issued by March 1.)

Warner Music Group “believes that there is a compelling strategic, commercial and financial logic in a combination of the two companies and that such a combination should maximize benefits for the shareholders of both companies.”

Industry analysts speculate that the proposed acquisition will boost the beleaguered EMI. The world’s third-largest music company and home to artists Robbie Williams and Coldplay, EMI issued its second profit warning in as many months last week.

Warner, the world’s fourth-largest music company and home to Madonna and recent Grammy honorees Red Hot Chili Peppers, has also struggled recently, reporting a 74 percent drop in quarterly profit. It is thought that the proposed acquisition would give both sides access to more music and the ability to cut costs.

It would also help solve EMI’s historical problem of having the smallest market share of the four music majors in the United States, the world’s largest music market.

IMPALA said it had an understanding with Warner that Impala would support any tie-up in return for support for the independent sector. Warner’s press release says that they will be “providing specified funding for (but taking no equity participation in) the recently announced Merlin initiative, the new global digital rights licensing platform established by the independent music labels to represent the world’s independent music sector.”