Science and Technology

Last week, the one-woman zeitgeist that is Oprah reran her Favorite Things for Spring episode, and along with a bunch of stupid girl stuff, she picked an iPod. At least she’s a little bit funkier than Martha. Has her magic wand contributed to Apple’s recent success and high visibility?

Lilliputians menace Gulliver: Small Internet radio stations, angered over what they say is the recording industry’s effort to wield royalty rates as a weapon to drive them out of business, say they are preparing to file an antitrust suit against the Recording Industry Association of America. The Las Vegas-based Webcaster …

Interesting bit of radio from NPR on EVERYONE’S FAVORITE SUBJECT: RIAA vs file sharers: LAURA SYDELL reporting: The Recording Industry of America, the industry’s trade group, announced it would go after individual file swappers on a Wednesday. On the following Monday, OptiSoft, maker of a file sharing software called Blubster, …

Now this is pretty cool, think I may break down and give it a go my own bad self: Cakewalk and Microsoft Windows XP have joined forces with some of the biggest bands on the Lollapalooza 2003 tour to give you the opportunity to show off your skills creating the …

Flying in the face of the DMCA and the copyright industry, little Studio 321 keeps putting out the goods: DVD software developer Studio 321 is preparing to launch six new applications, including an enhanced version of DVD copying software that is the subject of a US court case brought under …

The survey wars continue: this UK survey says people are using P2P for sampling purposes, actually INCREASING not replacing CD purchases: The survey’s findings oppose the music industry’s long-standing argument that internet downloading is responsible for a slump in CD sales, with album sales falling 5% in the last year. …

Web cartoon commentary on RIAA tactics, “Sue All the World“: Animation – good, singing – bad, humor level – adequate.

BusinessWeek on Hollywood’s digital future: Can Hollywood avoid getting Napsterized? Right now, the pirates are only nibbling at the $65 billion-a-year film and TV business. Downloading a movie is still a clunky affair that can take a few hours, and only 27% of the country’s 66 million online homes have …

Napster busts out o the joint in the first of an animated series tied to its relaunch as a pay service by Roxio.

Napster is comingback in the form of a pay music download service from Roxio. It appears Shawn Fanning is back as well, now selling copyright recognition software to the labels: Napster creator Shawn Fanning is looking for backers of technology he’s developing that would let file-sharing networks distribute music without …