digital music downloads

Ambient/space music label AD Music has announced that it’s releasing all its albums as digital downloads.

Here are the details:

All releases from 2008 onwards are high quality MP3 format at 256kbps Stereo and come complete with artwork. Back catalogue titles are 160kbps and we are slowly upgrading these to the higher rate and to include artwork. So the digital files are ready for your iPod/MP3 or computer player without any problem and full spec artwork in jpeg format is ready for you to print if required.

The albums vary in length, but all are at least 50 minutes long – most are 70+ minutes. The file sizes are around 60 – 80 meg, so please bear this in mind if you don’t have broadband. The file you download will be a ZIP file – just double click this file to open it up and reveal the individual MP3 player.

Payment is by PayPal secure server, you do not need to open a PayPal account and can pay with most debit/credit cards.

Returning customers who have already downloaded the 160kbps MP3 versions will be given the option to download the 256kbps versions and artwork as we continue to upgrade the back catalogue and add new titles.

AD is an important label for fans of space music, ambient music and instrumental electronic music in general, so this is good to see.

DanceFuel (www.dancefuel.dj) is a digital music store that’s sort of like the iTunes Store for DJs.

What makes the site unique is that they offer mp3 downloads of electronic music with Key and Code info designed to make the tracks Harmonic Mixing Ready”. “Harmonic Mixing Ready” tracks are now available in the Top 100 and in the Category’s Top 10, and is planned to be available for the full 110,000 tack catalog. Read more…

A new file format that offers separate volume controls for each musical instrument, such as guitar, drum, base and voice, is being considered as a new Internet standard.

The new .MT9 file format, which a commercial title of “Music 2.0″, was selected as a candidate for consideration at a regular meeting of Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), the international body of the digital music and video industry, held in France late April.

“We made presentations to the participants and they were all surprised to see it. They immediately voted to make it a candidate for the digital music standard,” said Ham Seung-chul, chief of Audizen, the company behind the format.

Ham says that the music industry should change its attitude to the market as music is becoming a digital service, rather than a physical product.

One other feature that could be popular is the lack of DRM on .MT9 files.

“It’s like having a CD or cassette tape. Once you buy it, you can lend it to your friends. We don’t want to be too fussy about DRM (digital right management),” he said.

The idea behind .MT9 is cool – and I could see it being very useful for remixers and DJs.

If you know anything more about .MT9 “Music 2.0″ files, let me know in the comments.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today announced Apple’s new lineup of iPods at an event at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

Here are the highlights:

• The iPod shuffle appears to be on life-support. It got new colors.
• The iPod nano got a bigger screen, video capabilities and an interface update.
• Big iPods are now iPod classics, getting a new UI and hard drive capacity up to 160GB. This looks like the one to get if you’re a fan of Internet video.
• The most anticipated introduction, the iPod touch, brings the iPhone touchscreen interface to the iPod line. It’s basically an iPhone without the phone capabilities, with 8GB and 16GB capacities.
• The price on the iPhone was cut to $399, and the 4GB version was dropped. The iPhone is a success, but not the runaway success that Apple expected. Slashing the price by over 30% should bring it to a price range that’s palatable to a larger audience.
• Jobs also introduced the iTunes WiFi music store, which will allow users to browse and purchase songs via wireless connections. Purchased tracks are copied back to your computer at next sync.
• Apple’s podcast directory has hit a milestone of 125,000 podcasts, 25,000 of which are video podcasts.

While the new iPods aren’t especially surprising, Jobs introduced an extremely strong lineup that should solidify Apple’s position in the portable media player space, strengthen Apple’s venture into smart phone territory and reinforce Apple’s iTunes as the de facto standard for portable Internet media.