Great American Group, a leading retail liquidation firm, announced today that it will be liquidating Tower Records and all of the company’s assets. The sale, which also includes various leases and properties, was given final approval today by a Federal bankruptcy judge.

Liquidated will be all of the merchandise and equipment at Tower Records’ 89 stores across the United States. Included will be hundreds of thousands of music CDs, music and film DVDs, and various audio equipment.

Tower Records, which has 89 stores in 20 states and owes creditors about $200 million, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in August. The industry-wide decline in music sales, downloading of online music and competition from big-box stores such as Wal-Mart was cited by the company as the reasons for its financial problems.

The filing came two years after a reorganization that resulted in bondholders forgiving millions of dollars in debt but taking an 85 percent stake in the company, leaving founder Russ Solomon and his family with 15 percent.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Google today announced plans to make Sony music videos available for online streaming at no cost to users. They also announced plans to let Web publishers embed Sony music videos on their sites and share in advertising revenue.

Starting this month, users can watch thousands of Sony music videos on Google Video. In the coming months, users will also be able to access Sony music videos through Google’s partner websites in its AdSense network.

For example, a fan site devoted to a particular artist could run ad-supported music videos from that artist. Each time a user is interested in the accompanying ad and clicks on the video, the web publisher, Sony, and Google will split the revenue.

The companies also plan to work together to create a new service that will allow music fans to access user-created music video content featuring material from Sony’s library of recorded music, while at the same time respecting the rights of artists and copyright holders.

Google’s service promises to offer much of the same content as YouTube, but respecting the copyright of the content creators.

HitWise, a company that specializes in competitive Web intelligence, has charted the rise of YouTube against Google Video:

YouTube’s market share, shown in red, surpassed Google Video, shown in light blue, around the first of the year. By last month, YouTube had a market share 4 times greater than Google Video.

Google added a Video link to the Google homepage in August, which accounts for teh jump up on the graph. The change led to a 179% increase in visits to Google Video from July to September 2006, but hasn’t led to sustained growth.

YouTube’s market share of visits increased by 24% in the same July-September period.

Michael Robertson, formerly of MP3.com and now of MP3tunes, is predicting that the Microsoft Zune will be the biggest technology flop of 2007, that Microsoft will pump $100 million or more into promoting it, and that it will sell 50,000 units or less.

We’ve previously noted Five Reasons the Zune is a Disappointment, that Zune podcasting support is missing in action, that the Zune’s WiFi support borders on being useless and suggested Seven Things Microsoft Needs to Do to Fix The Zune. Robertson is going further, though, suggesting that, not only is the Zune hardware disappointing, but that the Zune represents everything bad about Digital Rights Management (DRM) and proprietary digital music.

He explains why:

The wow feature of the device is wifi – a wireless way to connect to the Internet. Great – I can get music directly to the device without a PC Wrong. In a baffling move Microsoft has crippled the wifi so it cannot load music from the Internet. Youll need to attach it to your PC and run their software just like every other MP3 player. The wireless connection is only used to connect to another Zune device to move songs which will then vaporize after 3 days or 3 plays even if you own the music and both devices. Astonishingly the one feature which could fundamentally improve upon the iPod is worthless. If this device sounds familiar its been tried before with the MusicGremlin which I wrote about earlier this year when I called it the “most disappointing device” from this year‚Äôs CES Consumer Electronic Show.

Robertson also predicts that the Zune will be a failure:

GreedTube is a new video-sharing site that doesn’t look like it will be long for this world, unless it makes a few changes.

It’s a very YouTube-like site, with a very YouTube-like name and a very YouTube-like logo that lets you post videos and share in the ad revenue.

Rumors of a Google acquisition of YouTube, which started at the TechCrunch technology blog, have run wild over the last few days.

The Wall Street Journal followed the TechCrunch post by reporting that Google is in talks to buy the popular video-sharing site, citing the TechCrunch blog and a person familiar with the matter. Since then, the rumors have been picked up by The Mercury News, Business Week and the Chicago Tribune.

Neither Google or YouTube would substantiate the rumor.

While there are plenty that think “GooTube” would be moronic, there are also plenty of reasons why Google should be interested in YouTube.

GigaVox Media has introduced a new free tool for enhancing podcast audio files prior to posting them online.

The Levelator is a Java application that automatically adjusts the audio levels within your podcast, compressing and normalizing the file to provide more even sound levels. The tool is designed to take audio files and even out the overall volume, and then adjust the volume so that the loudest parts of the audio file are at a standard level.

The Levelator complements popular podcasting tools like Garageband that let you create polished podcasts, but don’t have the control over audio levels to create optimal Internet audio.

Motor Trend has announced the launch of a new podcast, Motor Trend Radio.

The four-hour weekly radio show is archived and available in its entirety and commercial-freeas a podcast, starting with broadcasts from June 2006. Additionally, a monthly 30-minute “Best of” podcast recapping the highlights of the month’s finest radio moments will be available on the first of every month at www.motortrend.com, along with a comprehensive collection of show highlights from the past year.

“Auto enthusiasts are committed and passionate consumers of content,” said Bob Long, host of the podcast. “Motor Trend as a brand is always looking for new ways to connect and engage our readers. Podcasting is significant because it is functioning as the new ‘audio VCR’ and has become an important part of the audio broadcasting business.”

Motor Trend Radio is hosted by automotive veteran Bob Long and features interviews with its award-winning editors, influential industry leaders, and other fascinating personalities in the automotive industry, along with the latest news and insider information about motor sports, road tests, future products and live coverage of major events and auto shows.

In addition to satellite radio broadcasts and podcasts, the show can be heard on the Talk Radio Network’s 116 terrestrial affiliates.

Logitech has introduced the Logitech FreePulse Wireless headphones, its second-generation cordless headphones for iPod and MP3 players.

According to the company, the new version delivers twice the performance as well as enhanced bass. The headphones use Bluetooth 2.0 Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) wireless technology to deliver music from an adapter, which connects to MP3 players, to the headphones.

Logitech´s adapter and headphones are paired during manufacturing so that when they are charged and powered on, they automatically connect. They have a wireless range of up to 33 feet (10 meters). The foundation of Music Anywhere technology incorporates Bluetooth wireless technology. By using Bluetooth 2.0 EDR technology, the headphones can stream larger files with greater clarity and less interference.

The headphones and adapter, with the embedded rechargeable batteries, have a play time of more than six hours on a full charge.

The FreePulse Wireless headphones work with any audio device that features a standard 3.5 mm headphone port, and are expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in October. The suggested retail price in the U.S. is $99.99.

The National Association for Music Education announced a new podcast series, Notes from the Clef. The series will feature interviews with MENC members, MENC leaders, professional musicians, and individuals representing MENC’s many partners in the world of music education and music advocacy.

‚ÄúWe hope our series will provide our members with information that will help them do their jobs, and at the same time raise awareness of the need for strong public support of music education in our schools,” said Mahlmann.