Microsoft Discontinuing MSN Music Service

For all those microsoft fans: Microsoft has decided to discontinue the MSN Music Service that allows consumers to plays songs that they have purchased and downloaded onto their new music devices. “As of August 31st, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers,” Microsoft said in an e-mail that was sent Tuesday to former MSN Music customers.

That means consumers who purchased songs from MSN Music and who want to port their library to a new device — in case of, say, a hardware failure or desire to upgrade — won’t be able to do so after the end of August. Given the life of today’s computer hardware and mobile devices, Microsoft’s decision effectively places an expiration date of about three to five years on song libraries that MSN Music customers thought they had purchased for life. Microsoft did not provide a reason for the decision.

Microsoft launched MSN Music in 2004 in an effort to counter Apple’s successful iTunes brand. But the effort failed to take off, and Microsoft killed MSN Music in 2006 after it launched an MP3 music player of its own called Zune. Zune users can now download their tracks from Microsoft’s authorized Zune Store. Microsoft is among the many digital entertainment vendors that employ DRM technologies to ensure that content is not stolen.

The technology sends a message from the user’s playback device to a central server, which verifies a license key embedded in music and video files. If the license key is not confirmed, the file won’t play. Critics of DRM, including the Free Software Foundation, argue that users who purchase digital content outright should not have any restrictions placed on how they can use their downloads.

http://www.aftertek.com/microsoft-discontinuing-msn-music-service.html

Apple To Provide Digital Movie Downloads

The time of the VHS is over and the time of the DVD is vastly becoming the norm for many people. Many Americans don’t even bother purchasing the VHS – no matter how cheap they may be – because they don’t own a VHS player. Yet even with the growing popularity and demand for DVD’s there is still competition out there in the form of digital downloads.

A number of consumers have discovered that they can watch their favorite movies through these digital downloads. Already this has become popular in the music world where all you have to do is pay 99 cents to download your favorite song from iTunes. Apple is taking their success one step further by creating a way for people to do the same with their favorite movies.

for more information, visit the offical website:

http://www.aftertek.com/tech/business

Cingular And Myspace Partner Up

Cingular, one of the largest mobile phone carriers, is getting ready to offer a version of popular internet social network MySpace on its phones in an expansion of their partnership. For an additional 2.99 per month, customers will be able to upload photos taken on mobiles, read and respond to MySpace email, update blog entries and view and search for friends from their handsets.

Media and other entertainment services are expected to be a major areas of growth for the wireless and media industries, analysts have said. MySpace, one of the fastest-growing Internet services with more than 130 million user profiles, is also offered on mobile service carrier Helios. But Cingular’s version will be more expansive, MySpace said.

To use the service, users will need to download a Java application to their mobiles. Initially, about 30 phones will be supported, with another 20 supported in the coming weeks, which will then account for about 90 per cent of Cingular’s mobile user base, a MySpace spokeswoman said.

Although online videos from MySpace will not be viewable on mobiles at launch, it is likely to be a service offered some time in 2007, she said. Media conglomerate News Corpoeration (publisher of AustralianIT) bought MySpace for $US580 million in 2005. Cingular is a joint venture of phone companies AT&T and BellSouth.

http://www.aftertek.com/tech/business

The Million-Dollar Student

It took a 21-year-old a few minutes to come up with an idea which has made him more than one million dollars in four months. So what's his secret?

It started with a blank notepad, an overdraft and a shortage of socks. Now it's a million-dollar business.

Last August, as a three-year degree loomed, Alex Tew lay on his bed in his family home in Cricklade, Wiltshire. It was time for his nightly brainstorming session. The first thing he wrote in his pad was "How can I become a millionaire?" Twenty minutes later, the Million Dollar Homepage idea was born.

It was selling pixels, the dots which make up a computer screen, as advertising space, costing a dollar per dot. The minimum purchase was $100 for a 10x10 pixel square to hold the buyer's logo or design. Clicking on that space takes readers to the buyer's website.

To see his homepage, click the following link:http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4585026.stm

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MySpace lines up music labels to compete with iTunes

MySpace has teamed up with three of the four major record labels, Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal, to make their catalogues available via MySpace Music.

The move aims to convert the site's existing audience of music fans into paying customers, by offering what it calls 'the most comprehensive catalogue of music content available online'. With its reputation as an online destination for music, and an audience of 30m unique users, this move should provide some serious competition for iTunes, as well as Amazon's recently-launched music download store.

The site's users will be able to purchase songs and ringtones from both the MySpaceMusic page and individual artists' pages on MySpace.

The promotion of previously unknown and independent musicians has been one of the site's strengths, yet there is no word yet on whether MySpace will offer music from indie labels. Like Amazon, the downloads will be offered DRM-free, while MySpace Music will also provide ad-supported streaming of music and video.

With Amazon and now MySpace Music, iTunes now has some real competition online, but with so many people locked into using iTunes and iPods it will be difficult to break Apple's early dominance in what is still a nascent market.

http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/365376/myspace-lines-up-music-labels-to-compete-with-itunes.html

Google Adwords

I was looking through internet marketing websites, trying to look for something that was out of the ordinary, something appealing, something captivating, and something i feel many people would be interested in. And to my suprise i came along Google Adwords, where you can basically reach people when they are actively looking for information about your products and services online, and send targeted visitors directly to what you are offering. With AdWords cost-per-click pricing, it's easy to control costs—and you only pay when people click on your ad. By applying online you can create ads and start managing your account—takes just minutes.

http://www.google.com/ads/

Facebook Vs MySpace

Hitwise has some new numbers about social networking sites. Though down, MySpace is still gets the most traffic with 76% of visits in 2007. It’s actually down. Number two, Facebook is up 51%. They monitored 53 different social networking sites to get the data.

What’s surprising it how far behind Facebook is - with just 12.57 percent of visits. People are returning to the sites. In December 2007, 95% percent of traffic to the site are return visits, not first timers. Facebook also has loyal users because 93% of traffic was also returning visitors.

Another measure of stickiness is how much time people spend on the site.

In December 2007, the average time spent on Bebo averaged a full 30 minutes and 24 seconds. That is a long, long time online.

http://onlinemarketingupdates.blogspot.com/2008/01/facebook-vs-myspace.html

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Captain Abu Raed

Captain Abu Raed is a universal story of friendship, inspiration and heroism set in contemporary Jordan.

Abu Raed is a lonely janitor at Amman’s International Airport. Never having realized his dreams of seeing the world, he experiences it vicariously through books and brief encounters with travelers.

Finding a discarded Captain’s hat in the trash at work one day, he is followed by a neighborhood boy who spots him wearing it as he walks home. The next morning he wakes up to find a group of neighborhood children at his door, believing him to be an airline pilot. And thus the friendship begins. Happy for the company and attention, he takes the children to colorful places around the world through his fictional stories and inspires them to believe in their own ambitions.

Murad, an angry outsider to the group, vindictively attacks Abu Raed and the sense of hope he instills in the children. In his quest to prove that Abu Raed is a liar and a fake, Murad begins to discover new possibilities in his life. Meanwhile, Abu Raed’s friendship with Nour, a real female pilot, begins to grow as she deals with her own set of pressures from life in modern Amman.

Captain Abu Raed is the story of everyday people intersecting across social boundaries. It is a story of dreams, friendship, forgiveness, and sacrifice.

http://www.captainaburaed.com

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Whats Hot!

Wave Festival in Rio.

The communication festival that was lacking in Latin America.

May 19, 20 and 21, 2008.


The Wave festival in Rio will be hosting the largest advertising festival in Latin America. This event will consist of three days filled with seminars and exhibitions. Including a meeting of leaders, the greatest Latin American Advertising talents exchanging ideas and discussing the new market trends.

http://www.wavefestival.com.br/