jukeboxes

For those who don't want to spend $1,400 on the Philips WACS7500 or splash out on one of Sony's Giga Jukes, you could try the HDD-based JB7 from market newcomer Brennan. There are no speakers, no Wi-Fi, no radio, no big colorful display, and no lush extra features. Instead, it's a compact unit with a simple purpose: to aggregate your CD collection with minimal fuss.

Technophobes may appreciate its simplicity--we'll know when we've had a play ourselves--and anyone without a computer will undoubtedly find it a convenient way to break into the jukebox market. … Read more

Although it hasn't exactly exploded into the mainstream music-listening population, the music-sharing application Simplify Media has a growing network of fans--in no small part because it's available for Windows, Mac, and soon the iPhone. When you install it, you must choose to sync with either Winamp or iTunes playlists, although you can change your preferred program after installation. After setup and restarting your music player, you'll see a "Simplify Media" selection in your left-hand navigation. Expand it, and you can browse all of the music available from you and your friends.

Claims of resource hogging … Read more

Ever vigilant for news that might further our pursuit of laziness, Crave featured a French initiative last year for texting-controlled jukeboxes. Now a couple of U.S. companies have partnered for a similar concept with even more ambitious goals.

TouchTunes and LocaModa, which was created by a founder of Symbian, are seeking to linke 30,000 jukeboxes controlled by mobile phones. Beyond the novelty of using the phone as a remote, the companies want to create a social network around the system, displaying all actions as data feeds. "Online users will be able to view and participate in the … Read more

Sony BMG and Warner are both reported to be considering subscription-based music services.

Earlier this week, the AP quoted Sony BMG CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz discussing a subscription-based service that would offer unlimited downloads of all songs in the Sony BMG catalog for 6 to 8 euro. The downloads would be transferrable to all portable devices, including Apple's iPod. DRM would presumably play a part, so that content would be disabled on a device if you stopped paying the subscription.

Warner is taking a different approach, proposing that consumers be charged a monthly fee by their ISP--maybe five bucks--for the … Read more

For many Windows users, Apple's iTunes is a mixed bag. It offers many of the music and video jukebox services we all want, but it's often sluggish and the polar opposite of customizable. A new freeware plug-in called iTunes Control gives us all a chance to remedy at least part of that situation.

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Folks who are tapping into their tunes via the Yahoo Music Jukebox music player may find themselves at risk of allowing a malicious attacker into their computer, according to a security advisory issued Monday by Secunia.

The "extremely critical" security vulnerabilities are found in Yahoo Music Jukebox version 2.2.2.056 and possibly other versions, according to Secunia. The heightened warning comes as exploit code has been made public, which could give malicious attackers a road map to follow should they want to compromise a user's computer.

According to Secunia, users who have the Yahoo Music … Read more

A few select reviewers got an early hand on the Ibiza Rhapsody player from Haier, but CES was my first chance and I walked away quite impressed, and wondering again why Microsoft hadn't done this much--or more--with the 2nd generation Zune player.

The devices are not exactly objects of art--the 30GB player, available now from Amazon.com for $288, is a simple metallic block, and the forthcoming 4GB and 8GB players look like smaller versions of the same design--but the screen is adequately bright and clear, and the company is offering a wide array of downloadable skins and themes … Read more

So whichever gift-giving deity you believe in has smiled on you this season and you're the recipient of a brand-new machine. Or maybe the computer gods have decided that December was the time for your PC to join that great server farm in the sky.

Either way, you're in need of some new programs. Free programs. You're in luck: CNET Download.com has compiled a brand-new Windows Starter Kit, complete with all that your freeware-coveting heart could ever desire. This year we bring you a Web Browser, an E-mail Client, Office and Productivity tools, Image Editors, Music and Video Jukeboxes, … Read more

Back in May, Señor Bell wrote about the new RealPlayer, which promised users the ability to download video in a variety of formats (Flash, WMV, Quicktime) from a variety of sites (YouTube, Comedy Central, and so on) using a variety of Web browsers. Somewhat unsurprisingly, I've gotten a variety of results. RealPlayer is fresh out of beta (download Version 11 for Windows from Download.com)--the perfect time to put it to the test, in my book. Personally, I don't find the latest version particularly useful for my video tastes, but you may find it compelling, … Read more