Apple Computer’s iTunes music store now sells more music than Tower Records or Borders, according to analyst firm the NPD Group. The research company tracks downloads from digital music stores, as well as people’s purchasing habits at offline retail stores. During the past three months, iTunes made it to the U.S. Top 10 sales list …

Though Sony BMG Music Entertainment faces a torrent of criticism and lawsuits stemming from copy-protection software on some of its CDs, the so-called rootkit controversy has not yet had much of an impact on sales, according to market trackers. Certainly, the pressure on Sony is mounting. On Monday, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott charged that the entertainment giant violated Texas’ …

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The EMI Group record label said music from its copy-protected CDs will soon play on Apple Computer’s iPod digital music players, but the iPod maker disagrees. For more than a year, the anti-copying technology loaded on some major label compact discs has been compatible only with Windows-based computers. Those CDs have allowed listeners to move digital files onto the computers, …

A file-swapping network that let college students download movies and music at blazing speeds on the Internet2 research network has closed its doors, the latest casualty of entertainment industry legal pressure. The i2Hub network emerged in early 2004, taking advantage of the supercharged network that connects college campuses to let students trade files at speeds far faster than is possible …

Jac Holzman’s, who today launched Cordless–the first all-digital music label operated by a major record company–said he’s trying to infuse the new venture with the spirit of the independent labels he created and managed for 30 years. For example, artists get to keep ownership of the master recordings they release under Cordless. If they want to release their music elsewhere …

Forty years ago Jac Holzman left a deep mark on popular music with the release of The Doors’ first album on his independent Elektra music label. Today he wants to do the same with Cordless Recordings. Holzman’s Cordless label is the first all-digital music label operated by a major record company, the Warner Music Group, launching Thursday on the Web …

For several years, most companies selling music online have had an overriding strategy: Follow Apple Computer’s iTunes in as many respects as possible. That now seems to be changing in at least one important way. In the past few weeks, several of the biggest digital music providers said they are moving portions or all of their services onto the Web, …

The new iMesh, launched last week as the first record label-approved file-swapping service, has a Led Zeppelin problem. Like its peers in the digital music business, from Napster to Apple Computer’s iTunes, iMesh does not have the legal rights to distribute recordings from the popular 1970s rockers. But using the company’s new service, it requires only a quick point and …

America Online announced on Thursday that it has acquired MusicNow. With the technology of the Chicago-based online music service, which Circuit City Stores bought in 2004, the Time Warner Internet company plans to revamp its music customization and personalization features. AOL will gradually upgrade its current MusicNet AOL subscribers to a new service, called AOL Music Now. Competition among online …

With competition on the rise, America Online buys MusicNow, MySpace starts a record label and Napster gets a boost from Samsung. AOL’s got MusicNow Time Warner’s America Online acquires company in a move to revamp its music customization, personalization features. November 3, 2005 MySpace.com creates own record label Networking site, recently acquired by News Corp., expects its popularity among musicians …

Apple Computer’s biggest competitors in the digital music downloading market are illegal music file-sharing services such as Kazaa and BitTorrent, said iTunes Vice President Eddy Cue. On the day Apple launched the Australian version of its music store iTunes, Cue said that people now have an alternative to illegally downloading music and that he believes they are willing to pay …

Sirius, the satellite-radio company, on Tuesday said it has plans to unveil an exclusive commercial-free radio channel for “The Boss.” The channel, Bruce Springsteen.E Street Radio, was named after the singer’s famous band. It is expected to go live on Nov. 1, about two weeks before Columbia Records plans to release a re-mastered version of Springsteen’s 30-year-old album, “Born To …

SYDNEY, Australia–Apple on Tuesday launched the long-awaited iTunes Music Store in Australia, despite failing to come to a licensing agreement with music heavyweight Sony BMG. Songs are priced at A$1.69 (US$1.27), videos at A$3.39 and most albums at A$16.99. The move–foreshadowed by ZDNet Australia last week–finally means iPod owners can legally download music to their players, with more than 1 …

Yahoo is boosting the cost of a key part of its digital music subscription service, after launching it six months ago with a price tag startlingly lower than rival offerings. The company sent an e-mail message to subscribers late Thursday night saying the cost of its portable subscription service–the plan that lets listeners download an unlimited amount of music per …