Consumer groups, electronics companies and record labels squared off Wednesday in the first full public airing of proposals for antipiracy protections for digital radio networks. Digital radio, which transforms traditional over-the-air broadcasts into the same kind of bits and bytes used in Internet transmissions, promises to boost the audio quality of FM signals to that …

For the first time, the No. 1 album in the United States is loaded with anticopying protections, marking a clear step into the mainstream for the controversial technology. According to figures released by Nielsen SoundScan, Velvet Revolver’s “Contraband” was the top-selling album in America last week, despite being prominently labeled on its cover as being “protected against unauthorized duplication.” The …

update Apple’s worst-kept secret–the imminent arrival of iTunes in Europe–was finally confirmed to the public at large today. Prefaced both by honky-tonk country tunes and old-time crooning piped into a hall the size of Cornwall, the London launch this morning saw the announcement of a catalog of 700,000 songs, plus videos and audio books finally accessible to British, French and …

A day ahead of the launch of Apple Computer’s iTunes music store in Europe, local rival On Demand Distribution, or OD2, on Monday rolled out a new streaming service aimed at bolstering its appeal against the powerful newcomer. As announced in January, the new service will allow listeners to pay just .01 euro (1 cent) per song, without being billed …

Commentary: A tougher sell for iTunes By Forrester Research Special to CNET News.com June 15, 2004, 4:30PM PT by Paul Jackson and Rebecca Ulph Jennings, analysts With Apple Computer’s launch of the iTunes Music Store in Britain, France and Germany, many Europeans can now buy songs from the world’s most successful online music service. But times have changed since the …

Technology aimed at identifying and blocking copyrighted songs as they’re being traded on file-swapping networks is beginning to move into high schools. Filtering technology from Audible Magic has been installed at several high schools around the country, most recently at private Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, Calif., and a technical high school in Cape Cod, Mass., the company said. …

A group of big music stores has mothballed a plan to join forces on the Internet to fight online services such as Apple Computer’s iTunes, a move that highlights painful choices brought on by a digital shakeout. Echo, a joint effort launched with a splash of publicity in early 2003, was supposed to give the big brick-and-mortar retailers such as …

Talks have begun that could finally make the songs of The Beatles available for sale online, sources familiar with the situation said. Representatives for The Beatles have spoken with numerous online music providers, ranging from small companies to Microsoft, which is planning to open an Internet music store this year. The Beatles’ side is asking for a considerable sum in …

The average retail price of full-length CDs fell to $13.29 in the first quarter of 2004–a decline of 4 percent from the same period a year ago, according to a new study. The top 50 CD sellers nationwide sold discs for an average price of $13.36, a drop of 3.1 percent versus a year ago, said a survey released Thursday …

The recording industry is testing technology that would prevent consumers from making copies of CD “burns,” a piracy defense that could put some significant new restrictions on legally purchased music. News.context What’s new: Record labels say CD sales have plummeted as a result of copies–and copies of copies. Now the labels are testing technology that would limit the number of …

Audible Magic, a content-filtering company, announced on Friday a wide-ranging agreement with Sony Music, aimed in part at improving tools to combat peer-to-peer piracy. The record label will provide digital “fingerprints” to Audible Magic, which creates technology that identifies and blocks songs as they are transferred online through file-swapping applications or other tools. Sony will also license Audible Magic’s song-identification …

Several proposals to collect money from Internet service subscribers to pay for online music swapping are bubbling to public attention in the United States and Canada. A trade group representing Canadian songwriters and music publishers argued in front of that country’s Supreme Court on Wednesday that ISPs should pay into a nationwide pool–similar to a tax now imposed on blank …

The recording industry this week claimed progress in a controversial legal campaign targeting individuals who use peer-to-peer networks, but its optimism appeared to clash with at least some of the evidence, which remains murky. By some measures, usage of peer-to-peer software such as Kazaa has been cut in half since the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced in late …

The Recording Industry Association of America said Wednesday it had sued another 41 people in its ongoing legal campaign against file swappers who are trading copyrighted music online. This is the RIAA’s third batch of suits against computer users since early September, bringing the total number of people sued to 382. The group also said it had sent out an …

Australian Web site Ninemsn has announced that it will launch an online music store that will sell music from the big five record labels. Due for launch early next year, the site will offer songs from BMG Entertainment, EMI Recorded Music, Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as from independent labels. The new store …