Filed under: Portable Audio
There’s no telling where in the command chain this came from, but Boston talk show host Howie Carr got censored yesterday afternoon for uttering those nastiest of words: Sirius and XM. He was reading off yesterday’s news about the DoJ’s approval of the merger when his producer blanked out his mention of the two companies involved. Howie’s station, WRKO, is owned by Entercom, a major competitor of Clear Channel — who of course has its own opinions on censorship.
[Via Orbitcast]
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Filed under: Portable Audio
Apparently Clear Channel’s new motto is “if you can’t beat ‘em, make life suck on the other side of the merger.” The broadcast giant has dropped a whole big list of requests on the FCC to impose as conditions upon XM / Sirius for a merger, not the least of which is asking for broadcast decency rules be applied to satellite radio. Clear Channel feels the competitive threat of satellite radio could be mitigated a bit if the “edgy” content (Howard Stern) ceased to make terrestrial radio’s edgy stuff look weak by comparison. Of course, the big difference is that XM and Sirius are paid subscription services, and we’re guessing they’re going to pound the “but HBO can do it” argument for all they’ve got, but it seems like these days no request is out of reach for terrestrial radio: Clear Channel also wants another satellite radio competitor, 5 percent “public interest” radio, and zero local programming or local advertising.
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Filed under: Portable Audio
Sony BMG boss, Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, was just quoted in an interview saying that Sony BMG is “working on an online music subscription service.” The service would cost between €6 to €8 per month (about $9 to $12) when launching later in the year and provide full access to its entire music catalog. He goes on to say that customers could own “some songs” even after the subscription was canceled. Interesting on its own, right? Now the kicker: it will work “for all digital players, including Apple’s iPod.” That means DRM-free unless Apple agrees to license its FairPlay DRM… which it won’t. Hell, Sony BMG is already offering DRM-free MP3s to Amazon. If true, then the move could almost turn public sentiment positive in the wake of Sony BMG’s “rootkit” fiasco and its handling of the Jammie Thomas affair. Almost.
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Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio
If Metal Gear Solid 4 truly is the last game in the series (please please no), it’s going to have gotten quite a send-off: a limited-edition gunmetal PS3 in Japan, a new $499 PS3 bundle in the rest of the world, the North American launch of the DualShock 3, and, uh, some wireless headphones. Well, not just any wireless headphones: a limited-edition run of Sony’s hot 7.1-channel MDR-DS7000s, with different artwork on each can. Sadly, it doesn’t look like these are going to be all that easy to get — only 30 will be randomly handed out to those buying MGS4 bundles from the Japanese Konami store from now until June 1. Better get clicking, Sparky.
[Via Gemaga; thanks J]
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Filed under: Portable Audio, Robots
Okay, so after watching this thing bust a move on video, we actually aren’t as perplexed by it as we once were, but there’s no denying that Sony’s Rolly is quite the curious character. Nevertheless, the SEP-30BT (opposed to Japan’s SEP-10BT) has hurtled itself into the open arms of the FCC, assuring Americans that the time has almost come. There’s nothing too shocking within the 70 (!) page manual, but if you just can’t wait for this critter to land at your doorstep, tap the read link below and eat your heart out.
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Filed under: Portable Audio, Storage
SanDisk just dipped its toe into the digital content distribution waters with the launch of Sansa Sessions. Of course, this isn’t an on-line storefront, it’s flash-based naturally in support of SanDisk’s core business. As such, the US-based program relies upon microSD cards to distribute DRM-free tracks of unspecified quality from more than 50 “emerging artists” on more than 30 labels. At the moment, the featured artists include All Time Low, Ladytron, Magnet, Nada Surf, Of Montreal and The Coup. SanDisk has tied a free, 55 track microSD “sampler” card (of el cheapo 512MB capacity, presumably) to the purchase of its 8GB Sansa Fuze MP3 player. While the $0 cost and DRM-free aspects of Sansa Sessions are certainly appealing to us, this seems best fitted as a record / artist promotional tool than it does a replacement for web-based or over-the-air music distribution.
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