Zune vs iPod: Microsoft Take On The Icon

Microsoft has confirmed the rumours that it is developing "a number of music and entertainment devices" the first of which could launch by the end of 2006.

"Under the Zune brand, we will deliver a family of hardware and software products," said Chris Stephenson, the firm's general manager for marketing. "We see a great opportunity to bring together technology and community to allow customers to explore and discover music together."

Apple currently enjoys 50%+ of digital music players and iTunes Music Store has a 70% share of the music downloads market.

Ofcom To End iTrip Ban

The iTrip and other low-powered FM transmitters which broadcast MP3 audio over very small distances, are to be legalised by 2007 by Ofcom, reports the BBC.

The Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949 currently forbids the use of radio equipment without a licence or an exemption.

International Herald Tribune Launches Personalised Audio News Feed

IHT claims it is the first English language website to launch a service where audio articles are 'dynamically generated' using the voices of professional readers. The site - which receives 2.7 million unique readers a month - is using audio versions of its text stories for the news service.

Articles are converted into audio by a web speech-enabling service provided by Swedish company ReadSpeaker. Visitors to IHT.com can either stream stories or download articles from the site.

The service also allows the creation of a personalised audio feed - either to iTunes or other podcasting software - from 16 different news categories such as business, arts and leisure, sports, editorial and commentary.

Last week BBC director general Mark Thompson announced plans to offer 'personalised' radio online, to allow audiences to create personal radio stations. UK broadcaster Channel 4, which recently launched an online radio station, has similar plans to create a 'user unique' radio service. - Oliver Luft, via Journalism.co.uk

Ofcom Chairman Objects To EU Podcast Regulation

LORD CURRIE, the chairman of Ofcom, hit out yesterday at European Commission proposals that could lead to regulation of podcasting, saying that the market was too diverse for tighter controls. In April Ofcom expressed its objections to European proposals to regulate video weblogs, and Lord Currie said yesterday that this also applied to the diverse nature of podcasts.

Ofcom believes that regulation of these markets would be too complex and practically impossible because of the number of sites that would have to be regulated.

The EU move comes as the Commission seeks to update the 17-year-old Television Without Frontiers Directive and includes for the first time rules to govern “non-linear audio- visual services”. - Amanda Andrews, Times Online

See also the Open Rights Group wiki page on the directive.

BBC To Offer Personalised P2P Radio

"The BBC wants to allow audiences to create personal radio stations from its content, its director general has said. The planned service, provisionally called MyBBCRadio, was revealed by Mark Thompson at the Radio Festival in Cambridge.

It aims to give audiences more control by combining existing services such as podcasts and the BBC Radio Player.

It will be part of the BBC's iPlayer, a free service which will also offer seven days of BBC TV on demand.

Thompson said MyBBCRadio would use peer-to-peer technology to provide "thousands, ultimately millions, of individual radio services created by audiences themselves".

The BBC hoped to share these ideas with the commercial sector, he added." BBC

In May, audiences downloaded 4.5 million BBC podcasts.

US Government Asks Internet Users To Comment On Net Future

How do you see the future of the internet and its governing body, ICANN? The United States Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is asking for your comments. Offer closes on 7th July 2006, no purchase necessary..

SUMMARY: The United States Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) seeks comment on the continuation of the transition of the technical coordination and management of the Internet domain name and addressing system (Internet DNS) to the private sector. In June 1998, the Department issued a statement of policy on the privatization of the Internet DNS, which among other things articulated four primary functions for global Internet DNS coordination and management, the need to have these functions performed by the private sector and four principles to guide the transition to private sector management of the Internet DNS. On June 30, 2005, NTIA released the U.S. Principles on the Internet’s Domain Name and Addressing System further elaborating on these issues. The Department of Commerce seeks comment regarding the progress of this transition and announces a public meeting to be held on July 26, 2006, to discuss issues associated with this transition.

DATES: Comments are due on or before July 7, 2006. The public meeting will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on July 26, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted by U.S. mail to Fiona Alexander, Office of International Affairs, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 4701, Washington, DC 20230. Paper submissions should include a three and one-half inch computer diskette in HTML, ASCII, Word or WordPerfect format (please specify version). Diskettes should be labeled with the name and organizational affiliation of the filer, and the name of the word processing program used to create the document. Alternatively, comments may be submitted electronically to DNSTransition@ntia.doc.gov. Comments provided via electronic mail should also be submitted in one of the formats specified above. All comments will be posted to NTIA’s website at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/dnstransition.html.