The iPod Blog: Tower Records debuts digital download

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June 29, 2006

Tower Records debuts digital download

Filed under: Portable Audio Although there are already numerous options on the market for filling up your non-iPod DAP with digital content, Tower Records has managed to find what it thinks is an untapped niche of music aficionados who are looking for both better sound quality and more variety than current solutions are offering. Enter Tower.com/Digital, a Puretracks-powered service going live today that company executives say will leverage the experience and industry connections of the nationwide retail chain to give music fans access to a "broad and deep catalog" with tunes not available from other sites -- even if the other sites offer more total tracks than Tower's 1.2 million. Plus, the WMA-formatted downloads are said to be encoded at a higher bit rate than songs from competing services, and can be burned to disc for playing on "many existing CD players." Despite their supposedly higher sound quality, Tower.com/Digital (they've got to rethink that name) tracks will still sell for the usual 99 cents, with whole albums also adhering to generally-accepted pricing and going for $9.99. [Via Cnet] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

From Tower Records debuts digital download

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio, Wireless

Sure, it might look exactly like those iPod shuffle knockoffs floating around a bit ago, but this new FlashPhone F4K has more going on than just an ugly paint job. The F4K, from the same Mplat that brought us the sexier F2K, is one of those VoIP phone on a USB stick setups, except that this version includes Bluetooth to allow you to make those calls wire-free. Mostly designed for softphone use, the F4K can handle Skype, MSN, Google Talk, Xten, SIP Phone and more, so you shouldn't have much trouble working it from most computers with an Internet connection -- we just want to know why it needs MP3 playback controls. A bit of audio on the go would be nice, but either way we can't really complain with this thing priced at $40 for the 128MB version. [Via TRFJ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

From Keepin' it... wait, that's a Bluetooth Skype

GUBA on Monday announced that it is now selling and renting feature films and TV shows from Warner Bros., including The Matrix, Batman Forever, and Syriana, as well as Babylon 5, The Dukes of Hazzard, and The Flintstones

From GUBA Sells, Rents Warner Bros. Movies, TV

Filed under: Portable Audio

Philips finished off another relatively low-end flash portable audio player line for ya, and you can call it the SA1200. These tiny low end flash devices aren't ever really anything to write home about, but they still have a leg up over Apple's randomizing stick of chewing gum with a 32 x 128 display; otherwise you've got the usual MP3 and WMA support (no indication of PlaysForSure, though) and a replaceable AAA cell. You can snag yours in 512MB (SA1200/02, right) or 1GB (SA1210/02). If you're German, anyway, since so far as we can tell these are only for European release. [Via DAPReview] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments