The digital music space is flourishing, yet at the same time, it remains fractured by a multitude of separate services and apps. It’s a problem that hacktivist collective Anonymous blames on the dominance that major labels still exert over the industry. The solution, the group says, is what it calls a “fault-tolerant and open platform for social music.” In a white paper with that very title, the group outlines its vision for how music could be consumed in the future. While they have historically come to the defense of piracy-related sites and organizations, Anonymous isn’t advocating copyright infringement. Instead, they want to disrupt the music industry by providing universal access to legal music from a single interface. It’s an endeavor not unlike the open source desktop music app Tomahawk , which scans one’s local library and then augments with tracks from sources like SoundCloud, YouTube, Spotify and Ex.fm. Anonymous’ solution is a Web-based app called AnonTune . The concept is quite similar to Tomahawk, albeit with a much more crude user interface. The project is nowhere near completion, Anonymous concedes, but once it’s finished the creators envision it upending the digital music space by breaking down the walls between legitimate sources of music from across the Internet. An Olive Branch to Copyright Holders? Even though Anonymous isn’t taking an overtly pro-piracy position, and even comes close to sympathizing with the industry’s desire to eliminate illegal downloading, it’s hard to imagine the RIAA and major record labels embracing what the hacktivist is trying to do. Even so, AnonTune is designed to avoid legal liability by not hosting any content but rather pulling it from third-party sources. If an unauthorized song from YouTube shows up in AnonTunes, that’s Google’s problem, the group reasons. One of the things that makes Tomahawk so comprehensive is its ability to plug into Spotify’s massive library of music, assuming one has a paid account with Spotify. Given the stake that the major labels have in Spotify, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the service deny the AnonTune Web client access to its library, if it can help it. Right now, the project’s biggest handicap, other than limited content, is the design of its UI. To be frank, it’s hideous. This presumably will be addressed as development moves forward, especially if they want this to be something the average person is willing to use. There are also some security concerns due to the app’s reliance on Java to run, but the developers have denied that their approach presents any security issues. If things work out and the platform turns out to be viable, the people behind it believe it could “facilitate open research and innovation into the music listening experience.” It could take concepts such as Pandora’s Music Genome Project to the next level using things like biometric feedback and sentiment analysis of music. Sound ambitious? These are some high-minded goals. But perhaps they’re not too far off if Anonymous is indeed onto something with this.
When it comes to the history of modern popular music, the importance of the late radio DJ John Peel can hardly be overstated. During his nearly 40-year tenure at the BBC, Peel welcomed hundreds of artists in the studio to record Peel Sessions, from legendary classic rock acts and Grammy winners to under-the-radar indie [...]
Apple, true to form, makes it simple to put media and files on your iDevice but the road really only goes one way. It can be pretty difficult to copy anything (or everything) back to your computer without a lot of trouble and sacrifice, but it’s even harder to find a good, free solution to that problem amongst the many choices available. You could spend the better part of your week sifting through your options, or you could just read this post instead. We’ve tackled this issue before , but things have changed for the better since 2008. Here’s a look at your best options for transferring media from your iDevice back to your computer, free of charge. We’ve broken up this guide into Windows, Mac, and Linux sections, so just choose the one that you need. Windows Mac OS X Linux Windows For quite awhile, Windows was bereft of a solid solution to the problem of transferring media from iDevice to computer. Thankfully Sharepod came along and made the world a better place—at least for those of you Windows users with music trapped on your 'pods. Not only can SharePod transfer the entire contents of your library, but it can also make any changes you want without iTunes. You can download SharePod here . Once you’ve got it installed, here’s how you access your stuff: Connect your iDevice to your Windows PC. Open SharePod. (If you open SharePod prior to connecting your iDevice it will start looking for it immediately and may conclude nothing is connected.) Choose the specific songs/files you want and click the large “Copy to computer” button in the upper lefthand corner of the SharePod window. Alternatively, if you want everything , click the “Backup iPod” button instead. A window will pop up and ask you to choose a location. Decide where you want to transfer the music and how you want them to be organized. When you’ve made up your mind, click the “OK” button. Wait while SharePod transfers your music. That’s all there is to it. If you simply want to play music, just double click on any file in your library and SharePod will start playing it. It’s incredibly simple to use. Mac OS X Mac OS X has long been blessed with Senuti . (That’s iTunes spelled backwards, if you were wondering.) Senuti is very simple to use and can transfer your music back to your computer in just a few clicks. Technically it’s not 100% free, but you can use it to transfer up to 1,000 songs for a trial period of 30 days. There’s also an older, free version you can use if you want to bypass that limitation. Here’s how it works: Connect your iDevice and open Senuti. When you first launch Senuti you’ll be asked a variety of setup questions before you can get started. Don’t breeze through this process because you’ll be asked to set where your music will be copied and whether or not it’ll automatically be added to iTunes. You want to know where your music is going to end up when you’ve finished copying it so don’t click through and ignore these options. Once you’re done you’ll see the main Senuti window. It’ll look like a simplified version of iTunes, with all your playlists on the left and your music/media on the right. Just search for the songs that you want to transfer, or select them from your library, and click the Transfer button in the upper lefthand corner of Senuti’s window. Wait while Senuti transfers your music to the location you chose during the setup process and adds it to iTunes automatically (if you decided you wanted it to do this, also during the setup process). That’s it. Senuti is a remarkably simple app that takes no time at all to use. Linux Linux users should check out gtkpod . As far as we know, it’s really one of the only ways to sync an iDevice in Linux at all. They provide in-depth documentation on how to do everything from just connecting your iDevice to copying files back to your computer . Here’s how it works, according to gtkpod’s documentation: Mark the tracks you want to export and select “Export Tracks from Database” from the file menu (or use the context sensitive menu). A file selection dialog window appears and you can choose the directory you’d like the selected files to be written to. You can specify the output filename in the prefs dialog by specifying a template (e.g. “%A/%a – %t”). You can specify multiple templates for different file formats by separating them by a semicolon (e.g. “%A/%a – %t.mp3;%t.wav”). See the tooltip in the preferences window for a list of identifiers. Although we haven’t spent much time with it, it looks to be your best (and potentially only) option on Linux for managing and syncing your iDevice. If you have experience with gtkpod or another Linux option you like better, let us know in the comments.
( YouTube Link ) Watch this programmed robot arm, complete with creepy pink hand, scratch away on some vinyl like a true turntablist. I don’t know whether to feel amazed by the programming, or deflated by how easy this robotic arm makes the rhythmic scratching of records look. Either way, it can’t compare until the robot arm is switching records, using a crossfader, and syncing songs on the fly. Until then, the DJs of the world are safe from their robotic overlords. And don’t all robots have a tin ear? –via AnimalNY
The European Union’s digital agenda commissioner has hit out at digital entertainment, claiming that the millions of pounds spent enforcing rights issues online has only served to make people hate copyright and hasn’t cut online piracy. Speaking at the Forum d’Avignon conference, Neelie Kroes also told delegates that to stem digital piracy, the copyright system needs overhauling. “Is the current copyright system the right and only tool to achieve our objectives? Not really, I'm afraid,” she said. “We need to keep on fighting against piracy, but legal enforceability is becoming increasingly difficult; the millions of dollars invested trying to enforce copyright have not stemmed piracy.” Sur le pont? “Citizens increasingly hear the word copyright and hate what is behind it. Sadly, many see the current system as a tool to punish and withhold, not a tool to recognise and reward.” So what's the answer? Kroes posits that we need to start over, with “the artist at the centre, not only of copyright law, but of our whole policy on culture and growth.” She also emphasised the need for digital flexibility, describing the current system as “the straitjacket of a single model”. That’s all very nice and seems rooted firmly in fact, but Kroes’ speech highlighted lots of problems without really putting forward any new solutions, instead backing the a “one stop shop” rights database and the importance of making content available at speed. But with music streaming services like Spotify finding that music labels are abandoning ship due to poor returns and the jury still out on movie streaming, the real question is what the digital entertainment industry should try next.
