If you’re unlucky enough to live outside of the UK, the US or Germany, then you will notice that the free use of last.fm to stream music has been taken away.

A move that in keeping with the current economic climate, and the acquisition of last.fm by CBS, means that users outside of the 3 lucky countries will have to pay a subscription fee of €3 a month. Of course, if you have access to a particularly fast proxy server in one of those countries, you can escape the charge..

Born from the bowels of the Microsoft Research Labs, Songsmith was deemed not to be a product by the head-honchos there. And for good reason. The software creates a backing track after listening to the microphone of your singing. The problem is the music sounds as though it’s coming out of a Casio keyboard from 20 years ago.. An interesting idea, I think everyone agrees, but the execution & actual output from the program sucks.

But then, how they ever thought they would sell the product with this advert is anybodies guess. Made using the creator’s own money, it demonstrates the software and how well it works – don’t worry if you don’t make it to the end – it’s a bit of an abomination.

AAAGGHHHH!!! Well there is good news from this evil creation – For one thing this particular video has gone viral (for all the wrong reasons of course) but most importantly, people have taken it into their hearts to isolate the singing from well known songs and pass it through Songsmith – and the results are hilarious!

Read all of this article…

The open source alternative to iTunes is downloadable in it’s first major version (1.0.0) for Windows XP & Vista.

Songbird has been in the works for a long time, with the project started nearly 3 years ago, in February of 2006. Since then the music player has seen lots of differences to appearances and usability, but everything being forward thinking and progressive. Sadly missing with this release is iPhone or iPod Touch support, however, but Songbird does still support other iPods & MP3 players – and I’m sure it will be fixed very soon (it’s on their list of high priority bugs). Audio enclosures in RSS feeds (podcasts) are supported, along with SHOUTcast radio integration (much like many media players) and also last.fm support.

This project is exciting and I’m glad to see the first major release, as I’ve been keeping my eye on the media player for a long time. The interface is very clean and inviting, which looks and feels like iTunes – although seems to be slightly less responsive than it’s heavily funded cousin. Podcasts are a little hidden to start with as well (cryptically under the menu as "New Subscription…"). But thankfully, as it’s written around the Mozilla code base (like Firefox & Thunderbird) you know that it’s going to be stable and functional. The player has the ability to have add-ons installed, much like Firefox, to help with things like different music formats (like quick-time, or protected Windows Media files) and other features like the ability to book concert tickets through songkick.com. It also supports tabbed browing, and is very functional surfing the net – with an added bonus that any audio feeds found on the page will pop up for you to download or play in Songbird.

There are more features on the way, and a growing collection of add-ins available. But then in it’s very first release, the team behind Songbird said, "…take a long hard look in the direction we’re pointing. We assure you, this is just the beginning" so we can be sure Songbird isn’t going to stop with version 1. To have a look, and support the project, you can download the latest version from the getsongbird website.

The latest version of Media Monkey now supports the new iPhone 3G and iPod Touch version 2, making it the only application, other than iTunes, to enable you to synchronise your music and podcasts – without using Apple’s abomination.

I know, some people like iTunes, and I say power to them, but since I found Media Monkey I haven’t thought of going back.. Not only does it synchronise iPods and iPhones with your music and podcasts, downloaded with the built-in podcatcher, but it will also synchronise any mp3 player. Rather than having a handful of different programs (all without the power you need to organise and synchronise your music library), Media Monkey can synchronise all of your devices in one place. Add to that the ability to listen to shoutcast radio (Groove Salad is perfect for a Sunday afternoon), a handy selection of web links to popular music sites – all built into the player, and the usefulness of being able to sort and class your music collection according to your own tastes, you can understand why I like Media Monkey so much.

Changes to the recent code include the new iPhone and iPod Touch, more compatibility with other iPod models, plus some bug fixes. You can get a copy of the latest build from the Media Monkey website. There is a free and a gold version. The free version still has more functionality than iTunes, so it’s well worth the download. The free version can also be upgraded in the features if you want some more pro features.

Video Games Live, a show that tours America, is a full sized Orchestra that plays some of the classic arcade game music of the past and present – in front of a big screen showing the game in action. Hearing some of these old classics, expertly re-created is a real treat for the gaming geek!

The new version of the BBC iPlayer is due to be released tomorrow, with features lots of us have been waiting for. The most important below:

• Full integration for TV as well as Radio
• A rewind and Fast-forward function for Radio, as per TV
• Easier Navigation, including Last Played option
• Combined categories for TV and Radio, allowing easier access to relevant content
• Larger TV viewing area
• A TV Schedule for viewer planning

So all-in-all a better experience for your online pleasure. But then we do actually pay a license fee for this stuff, so maybe we should demand it. Either way the iPlayer should be a bit more user friendly for the future after the updates.

Tesco have offered their customers WMA files for a while now, but the really interesting thing with this story is that they will also be offering MP3’s next month – no DRM. This is obvious competition to iTunes, but I think more importantly with be a direct competitor to Amazon when they release their MP3 downloads service in the UK. Are Tesco trying to get a foot in the door early?

I guess it seems as though the consumer is starting to vote with it’s feet. Available in the US only, at the moment, Amazon MP3 are starting to make a mark in Apple’s music store dominance. The DRM-free music available from Amazon MP3 is proving a hit with customers, as sales have driven the new on-line store to second place after just six months of operation. Hopefully over the next six months Amazon will continue to eat into Apple’s 80% share of the market. [SHOW ME]

Firstly Skymonkey.org would like to extend it’s thanks to Russell for taking time out to answer a few questions.

In case you haven’t heard of it, Media Monkey is a music player with a difference. Rather than just playing music (which it does really well) Media Monkey is also a platform for organising your music collection. Not only does it support the normal music file types and MP3 players – including iPods and the such, it also has the ability to rip CDs and convert, for example wma files to ogg. But where Media Monkey really excels is it’s powerful ability to re-organise your music collection. It can take information contained within the ID3 tags of the MP3’s, and use it to create a file structure that suits your needs. Media Monkey is free, but if you purchase the Gold Edition for $19.95, you get extra features such as the ability to monitor directories for updates, and on-the-fly format conversion for MP3 players (just in case your whole library is in ogg format, and you need them in mp3 format for your mp3 player.) You also get all future updates for that version. There is also a lifetime license available that means any new versions that come out will automatically be available for you to download and use in full.

The Media Monkey team consists of 5 people. Russell Samuels, Jiri Hajek & 3 other developers.

Paul: How did Media Monkey first come to being?

Rusty: Jiri was working on Songs-DB because he was unsatisfied with the state of Music Management apps at the time. I was looking for a new business opportunity and had similar thoughts about the need for a music manager that would meet the needs of more serious collectors. We hooked up and MM was born, and since then, it’s been a labor of love.

Paul: Have you written Media Monkey’s front-end with a view to entice current Winamp or iTunes users by providing a familiar interface?

Rusty: We’re always influenced by good ideas whatever their source might be. Early versions of MediaMonkey were designed to use Winamp skins as that was a way of quickly getting a skin library for MediaMonkey, so the player ended up looking like Winamp’s. MediaMonkey’s Tree and Tracklist were modeled after Windows Explorer, the main difference being that MM’s tree is used to model attributes other than location. Newer versions of the player are supported by a better skinning engine, that allows for much more creative designs that can be unique, or modeled after iTunes, Windows Media Player, or any other visually pleasing music app.

Paul: Media Monkey seems to share a few similarities with Winamp. For instance, the Visualisations are compatible with Winamp’s, and the Shoutcast support, plus some other details. Is the code base for Media Monkey completely separate from Winamp, or is it based on, or have pieces in common with Winamp?

Rusty: MediaMonkey was designed to be compatible with many of the Winamp 2.x APIs since that allowed its functionality to be extended in the absence of an active developer base. In early versions of MM, there was common code for a couple of freely licensed input/output plugins. Today, MM doesn’t have any common code with Winamp, though it still supports the Winamp 2.x APIs.

Paul: Are there any plans, other than sales, for monetisation? For instance, are you looking to in the future perhaps fund the free version with ads?

Rusty: We’ve thought about having an ad-supported version, but have rejected that as too damaging to our brand–we don’t want to be labeled as adware. We currently derive a small amount of revenue from affiliate sales of music via Amazon, and hope to grow that with the launch of Amazon’s MP3 store.

Paul: Do you feel the community of users are important to the future of Media Monkey’s ongoing development?

Rusty: Without its community, MediaMonkey is nothing. Our community has translated MM into 15 languages, developed countless scripts, created skins and icons, beta tested, provided invaluable feedback, etc. We try to give back to our community by carefully listening to what they’re asking for, and providing in the free version enough that it is useful for most people. I suspect that with time, our community will become even more critical to MM’s success.

Paul: How do you feel the record industry is coping with the change of people buying more and more music online, and where do you think Media Monkey fits into this change?

Rusty: The record industry’s response to the internet as a distribution medium was to tighten control over content with DRM. We’ve never been a fan of DRM–it’s only caused problems for our users, and believe in a future of unencumbered music such as that offered in Amazon’s MP3 store. But, it’ll still be hard to sell tracks for $1 when they can be found via p2p for free–so the industry will have to provide enough value at any particular price point that makes it worth paying for the track instead of getting it via p2p.

In that context, MediaMonkey will have to get better at helping users find the music that they seek and helping users discover music that they might be interested in, given their tastes. If we do this effectively, it will yield affiliate revenues that will help fund the project in the long term.

Paul: Are there any other plans for Media Monkey in the future?

Rusty: World domination?

Once again, our thanks are extended to Russell for his time. If you are interested, Media Monkey can be downloaded from [HERE]

The government is proposing to introduce a “3 strikes & you’re out” policy amongst ISPs to target illegal downloading of music from the internet. Backed by the record companies it is thought that the policy in this government green paper will make the ISPs comply with their rules, or risk reprisals from the authorities. The 3 strikes will result in: 1) You will receive an email detailing that you have been found to be illegally downloading music, and you should stop. 2) Temporary suspension of your internet access account. 3) Your account will be terminated.

The green paper has been drawn up due to the lack of co-operation between the record industry and ISPs to put a stop to illegal file sharing. Why are the ISPs reluctant to strike a voluntary deal? Because they know that their customers will vote with their feet. The BPI have recently commented on this green paper & the proposed policy – a quote states in the press release that “For years, ISPs have built a business on other people’s music.” This quote alone will make the ISPs even more reluctant to partner with the BPI.

Of course, it does make you wonder how the whole problem of people sharing unsecured wifi will be dealt with, and how the traffic can be monitored correctly. If you are just looking at types of traffic and not the ports, then you could argue that bit torrents can be used for legal means. Whereas if you’re looking at just ports, the ports can easily be changed in any bit torrent program. However, if you’re looking at the physical connections to IP addresses, or even hosting your own governmental “honey trap” server for unknowing file sharers, most people will find a way around it and download something like Peer Guardian. If the green paper is approved in principle then I will be very interested to report on how this will actually work – when drafts are drawn up for the ISPs. Of course, whether you agree with the proposal or not, the idea makes sense and can be argued either way for whose benefit it really is for. The artist or the record industries? – you decide. And if it is successful, will it stop people sharing music or just drive it underground again? Everyone has a USB stick nowadays… [SHOW ME]