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Warner, MTV to clip videos for phones

Warner Music Group and MTV Networks will work together to create short music videos from Warner’s existing collection and distribute them on cell phones and other mobile devices. Under the license agreement, announced Monday, MTV has access to Warner’s global catalog to create and distribute shortened versions of videos. The selection will range from the …

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Record labels tout program to disable swapping

The music and movie industries are giving people who have swapped songs and other copyrighted material over the Internet a new way to repent for their illicit ways. A free program released Thursday, called Digital File Check, will uninstall or disable file-sharing programs on people’s computers. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a London-based affiliate of the Recording …

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Napster president slams ring

A correction was made to this story. Read below for details. LONDON–Napster President Brad Duea has criticized cellular operators that use the popularity of mobile music to exploit their customers. Speaking at Mobile Content World, Duea said consumers should only be charged once for their music–for whatever hardware they transfer it to. “Some operators want to force consumers to buy …

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Podcasts, Internet radio come to Sprint phones

Sprint cell phones can now double as digital music players for select podcasts or radio programs, thanks to a deal expected Monday between RealNetworks and the mobile company. The two companies plan to introduce Rhapsody Radio, an offshoot of RealNetworks’ online music subscription service for Sprint phones. For $6.95 a month, people nationwide with a Sprint phone (specifically, with Sprint …

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Virgin: Apple’s not playing fair with iPod

French online music store Virgin Mega has filed a complaint against Apple Computer, claiming that the company’s refusal to license the copy protection technology used in its iPod is harming competition. The action was filed with the French Competition Council in June and disclosed along with several other legal matters on Thursday as part of Apple’s quarterly filing with the …

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In hot pursuit of Firefox

IBM wants programmers who can work with the open-source browser, while Web surfers in general keep streaming to the Firefox site. IBM on the hunt for Firefox programmers Big Blue looks to hire techies to adapt the open-source browser to work well with its server software. April 13, 2005 Firefox draws 2.6 million surfers in March Popular browser continues to …

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RealNetworks readies new music service

Ten years after the release of its first RealAudio multimedia software, RealNetworks is hoping to kick-start its second decade with a new push into digital music. In New York on Tuesday morning, during a fete complete with a free concert in Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall, the company is slated to make what it has called a “groundbreaking” announcement for …

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Singer breaking from Net to mainstream

Portland, Ore., singer-songwriter Geoff Byrd may be the first artist to break into the mainstream music world from the Internet, but he’s learning that there’s still no free ride. Byrd’s Internet fame has been growing slowly over the past year. As an unsigned artist on the GarageBand.com Web site, his music was consistently rated high, and ultimately drew strong support …

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U.K. court lifts veil on 33 more file sharers

The U.K. record industry has announced that it has won a court order to force Internet service providers to reveal the identities of 33 suspected file sharers. Five ISPs will now have just days to turn over the details of the suspected file swappers, who the British Phonographic Industry claims have posted 72,000 music files to the Internet illegally. The …

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Finns tout new anti

A Finnish company called Viralg is emerging with claims to have a high-powered new way of stopping unauthorized file trading on peer-to-peer networks. The company, which took the top prize at a recent Finnish emerging-technology competition, says it has been working with BMG Finland to protect local music releases on file-swapping networks for more than a year. The company’s method …

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