Archive: 2004

Sony Corp unveiled its first MP3-compatible, hard disk Walkman music player on Tuesday in an attempt to recover ground lost to Apple Computer’s iPod.

The world’s biggest consumer electronics maker aims to reclaim the market for portable and personal music devices, which it helped to launch 25 years ago with its first Walkman.

The product will be available in Britain before Christmas at 249 pounds ($462.70) and elsewhere in Europe in early 2005 at 369 euros ($489).

The new hard disk player is the successor of Sony’s first hard disk Walkman, which it introduced this summer but which can play back only music compressed with Sony’s proprietary Atrac software. Atrac is the format Sony uses on its Internet music shop Connect, which opened in Europe this summer.

Putting MP3 playback capability in the new Sony Walkman NW-HD3 means consumers can directly import and export tracks in the MP3 format, which is more popular than Atrac.

Sony Europe President Chris Deering said the new Walkman was important to the success of Connect, whose performance to date he described as “not an entrenched recognizable service.”

Sony has sold 340 million Walkman devices over the past 25 years, including models based on compact disks and on minidisks.

Apple’s iPod, the world’s best-selling hard disk portable music player which works with the most popular music store, iTunes, also allows MP3 playback. At Apple’s online music store, however, consumers can buy only in Apple’s own format.

Mutually exclusive
Consumers who buy songs at iTunes Music Store cannot play these back on a Sony network Walkman, and Connect customers cannot play back songs on an iPod. Microsoft also uses a proprietary compression format on its Internet music store, open only to consumers who own Windows Media-enabled devices.

Sony’s new 20 gigabyte Walkman is 30 pounds more expensive than Apple’s 20 gigabyte product selling for 219 pounds.

But Sony says the device comes in five colors, plays 2.5 times longer on one battery charge than iPod’s 12 hours and can contain 10,000 to 13,000 songs, at least twice as many as an iPod because of Atrac’s better compression technology.

Sony President Kunitake Ando said this summer, at the launch of the new Walkman, that he was determined to take the spotlight in the market for portable music players away from iPod.

“I don’t know if we can take this market back in a year … But this launch is our message that we will work hard to put an end to the dominance by just one company,” Ando said.

Source CNN.com.

Photos by Earl Gardner of the Jennifer Hartswick Band at the Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA on 10/29/04.

It

GorillaPop launches the first social networking service bringing
people together based on their favorite music. GorillaPop’s new service makes it easy, and fun, for people who love the same kind of music to connect from anywhere around the world.

Monitoring songs someone plays on their computer, GorillaPop builds a real time profile of a person’s musical preferences. This data along with other search criteria (sex, age, location, etc…), provide an ever changing landscape of possibilities for people to meet, discover new music, and maybe even find their funk/soul mate.

For more information see – gorillapop.com

Rock ‘n’ roll fans with deep pockets can buy a Beatles guitar or a mugshot of the pop star formerly known as Cat Stevens at what Christie’s calls its biggest auction of show business memorabilia.

The Gibson SG electric guitar, played by George Harrison from 1966-1969, is the star attraction among over 400 lots, ranging from Britney Spears’ book report to a handwritten 1991 letter from the late Kurt Cobain to Courtney Love.

The guitar, expected to fetch around $500,000, was used while recording the Beatles’ “Revolver” album and in two Beatles films “Paperback Writer” and “Rain.”

John Lennon also played it on what is commonly known as “The White Album.”

Another big draw at the December 17 sale is a Keith Richards guitar from around 1964-1965, which he played when the Rolling Stones appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Singer Mick Jagger also played the guitar during the “Beggar’s Banquet” recording sessions. It is estimated to sell for about $400,000.

The Beatles guitar was recently rediscovered and has been on loan to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2002.

Source: cnn.com

For some Southern rockers

The String Cheese Incident will ring in this New Year in the Big Apple. The band is confirmed to perform December 28 and 29 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden and December 31 at Radio City Music Hall. Radio City Music Hall is sold out but a few tickets still remain for December 28 and 29.

In year’s past The String Cheese Incident have announced a NYE theme and audience participatory opportunities. This year the band is forgoing the hoopla, instead opting for a good ‘ole rock &; roll concert. What better place than New York City’s historic Radio City Music Hall for a straight up, no chaser rock show? This SCI New York New Year’s run marks the band’s first NYE on the east coast!

Throughout the year, The String Cheese Incident and their community continued to nurture Gouda Causes, the band’s philanthropic arm. Activities during 2004 included local cleanups close to home in Telluride, Colorado, and as far as Byron Bay Australia. In addition, Conscious Alliance has been on the road with SCI for every show this year. So far this year Conscious Alliance and Gouda Causes have collected over 16 tons of food donations to help feed America’s hungry. Gouda Causes and Conscious Alliance will be hosting yet another food drive along this New Year’s Eve run. Concert attendees are encouraged to bring 10 non-perishable food items to the shows in exchange for an exclusive food drive poster. All donations will go to local affiliates of America’s Second Harvest Food Share and to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

During the beginning of 2005, The String Cheese Incident will be wrapping-up studio time with producer Malcom Burns (Bob Dylan, Chris Whitley, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois). Malcom and the band are to begin recording SCI’s fifth studio album this December, at a private studio in the hills of their hometown, Boulder, Colorado.

They say,

Making a solid album is a difficult task for most jambands – Groovin

Designed specifically for women and girls so their first day on a snowboard turns into a lifetime of riding fun, Women’s Learn To Ride (LTR) provides first-time riders with learning-specific equipment, smaller classes, personal attention and knowledgeable instructors that cater to the way girls learn. The goal of Women’s LTR is to make learning fun so girls return to the mountain and join the snowboarding lifestyle.

“The Women’s LTR Program is a perfect opportunity for women to add the fun of snowboarding to their lives in a comfortable, safe environment,” says Burton Global Team rider Victoria Jealouse. “For me, I need things explained and I want to fully understand something before I try it, and I think this might be a common thing for us girls. So, smaller instructor groups and more attention make a big difference. The chances are very, very high that after a day with Women’s LTR, women will be linking turns and laughing.”

Burton LTR products and programs have brought new riders to the sport since 1998, but have never catered specifically to women until now. To create this groundbreaking new program, Burton gathered a group of experienced women riders and girls who had never snowboarded before to help design and develop Women’s LTR. This season, Women’s LTR is offered at three resorts that will work with Burton to make sure girls and women have the best experience from day one.

Each of the three participating resorts will offer various promotions and special programs that will encourage women to get involved with the new Women’s LTR program. Every participant in women’s LTR will receive a journal, stickers and an issue of SG magazine to take home after her first day on the hill.

More specifics to come on each resort’s special offerings and launch plans surrounding this breakthrough new program for women.