NEWS: Steve Jobs condemns DRM use by record labels

In one of the more hilarious stories of late, Apple's Steve Jobs openly condemned major record labels' use of DRM protection on certain CD releases. According to him there is no reason for them to "protect" 10% of their albums at the risk of stifling usability by the users. This is extremely funny considering Jobs' company is notorious for their FairPlay DRM which keeps all iTunes songs exclusive to Apple brand products. It is so notorious that Norways consumer board has taken up talks with Apple threating legal action if they refuse to allow their media to be used on other mp3 players beyond the iPod series. This seems fairly typical of Apple's hypocritical approach towards digital media.

In another release Apple recommended that users avoid upgrading to Microsoft's new operating system Vista. This seems like an obvious statement but their reason for users to delay this upgrade is because iTunes has several critical conflicts with Vista keeping it from functioning properly. All of this after Apple made quite a few jokes at Microsoft's expense due to the time it took Microsoft to finish developing their OS. With five years since XP's release it seems that Apple had more than enough time to get their software functioning on the new operating system.

WEB: The Hype Machine takes mp3 blogs to a new level

Wow... I have found what can easily be described as one of the most amazing music websites ever. Channeling the collective research abilities of hundreds of music blogs along with their tendency to disregard copyright laws, The Hype Machine has created a new and highly efficient way of discovering new music. Most everyone by now knows that music blogs love to post songs, whether they are unreleased, soon to be released, or just the new single. This is very nice but can be extremely frustrating as you attempt to find certain songs while going through old archives and utilizing not so friendly search abilities. The Hype Machine takes all of the guess work out of the process. Simply type in the song or artist you are looking for and they bring up direct links to all of the blogs that have posted mp3s of the requested artist or song. Not only does it make a list of links and quick snippets of information on where the source is, it also has extremely functional play options, allowing you to stream all listed songs from that page in Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes, or their own flash music player. And since bloggers love to be elitists you will find some amazing songs that you never knew existed. The site stays legal considering the fact that they are hosting none of the content, although I can see this site being an easy way for labels to find blogs that have been illegally distributing their music. This website capitalizes on all of the benefits of exploring music through music blogs while eliminating all of the hassles involved with searching for them in a traditional manner. A definite must see for any music fan.