Digital firms playing a new tune in music sales

You might have 40,000 songs on your MP3 player, but in one sense they're all rather boring: They sound the same every time you play them.

For all the changes in the music industry, today's artists usually enter a studio with a mind-set little changed from 50 years ago: They hope to produce a static song. A recording might end up in millions of MP3 players, but it always sounds the same.

Now a start-up in Paris called Musinaut claims to have a fresh way of doing things with a format called MXP4. The format allows for a song to be recorded and played back in many different ways, and for extras such as notes, videos and lyrics to be included in the file, as well. Think of it as MP3 on steroids.

Qtrax forced into humiliating U-turn

A website which promised to give music lovers the world's first legal file-sharing service was forced into a humiliating climbdown today after it emerged that the company had not secured the backing of the record industry.

Qtrax aims to offer iPod-friendly tracks

A revamped online file-sharing service aims to woo legions of music fans by offering unlimited, free song downloads that are compatible with iPods, and all with the blessing of major recording companies...

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Digital music sales up 40%!

Record companies' revenue from digital music sales rose 40 percent to $2.9 billion over the past year, but the growth is still failing to cover losses from collapse of international CD sales, the music industry's global trade body said Thursday...

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Post your comments on whether you think this is good for the music industry or not.

U2 concert film debuts in 3D

After a career playing to sold-out stadiums, U2 did what their fans have done for years — stood in line to see U2 perform.

That concert was "U2 3D," a film of the band's 2005-06 Vertigo tour, shot at several shows in South America with new 3-D technology....

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Slim Fast want Eminem

Eminem has been targeted by Slim Fast after his weight ballooned to 15 stone (210 lbs), it has been claimed. The rap heavyweight was rushed to hospital over Christmas with pneumonia and required treatment for a "serious heart condition"....

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