Author: Paul Lamkin
Spotify to trial audio books service
Spotify is offering Chris Anderson’s new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price
, narrated by the author himself, free to all UK users.
It’s the first time Spotify has made an audio book available although they’re keen to stress that it’s only a trial – for the time being at least. “We’re going to trial it, see what people think and who knows, maybe this is the start of something new for us…” said Andres Sehr of Spotify.
Chris Anderson, the author of the hugely successful The Long Tail and current editor-in-chief of Wired is the perfect guinea-pig for the experiment. He is hugely influential in terms of the internet and web-culture and Free should appeal to a large number of Spotify users.
It’s quite a coup for Spotify as well. Free only been available for a few days in hard-copy and is sure to be a best-seller. It tells the story of new world where the old economic certainties are being undermined by a growing flood of free goods as the result of new technologies, such as the internet.
If you did want to buy Free in its hard-copy format, it’s available on Amazon for a bargain £8.54. The Long Tail is available in paperback for £6.69.
(via Spotify)
Marantz announce the UD9004 – for a mammoth £5,500
If you’ve got a spare £5,500 lying about then you can think about buying the Marantz’s UD9004 Blu-ray and SACD player. If you haven’t, well, join the club.
So what exactly can you expect from your £5,500? Well, the UD9004 is a fusion of the flagship SA-7S1 Super Audio CD player and the very best of the company’s Blu-ray technology.
In other words, this is an absolute beast of a Blu-ray / SACD player. It has a Silicon Optix Realta chip that offers the very finest broadcast quality video processing, including pixel-by-pixel conversion, 1080p upscaling by a 10bit process for standard definition images, detail enhancement, digital noise reduction and high-end analogue video output. You can even run the audio and video via separate HDMI connections just for that extra bit of quality.
For audiophiles there is 32-bit floating point type Analog Devices DSP for the purist audio imaginable with four separate circuit boards and a pure direct mode that shuts down the video playing elements to deliver exceptional, focused audio output.
The machine is built like a tank which will reduce mechanical distortion. The
extensively braced, chassis has a thick bottom plate with machine milled copper feet, sustaining mechanical stability and therefore sound quality. It weighs an incredible 19.2kg.
So, if you’ve read this post to its conclusion you’re obviously still interested. Go get yourself one from Marantz. If you’re feeling particularly flush – and let’s face it, you should be if you’re about to shell out over five grand for a Blu-ray player – order me one too.
Digital Vision announces GiGo – the VCR killer
Digital Vision has launched the GiGo DV-DTR1 Digital Freeview recorder – the first USB stick based recorder on the market.
It’s basically a single tuner Freeview receiver, with the usual EPG you’d expect on a Freeview box, that has three USB ports on the front of it. Users can record programmes using the EPG direct to any storage device plugged in to one of the slots.
Programmes are recorded in MPEG-2 format with an hour’s worth of programming taking up about 2GB. The file name is taken directly from the EPG and programme synopsis is also copied.
Playback is via the GiGo or via any device that supports MPEG-2, meaning you can take your recorded programmes with you on the move.
Robert Musk told Tech Digest (well, me) that he sees the GiGo box as a direct replacement for people who were comfortable recording onto VHS but haven’t got to grips with Freeview recorders and personal planners yet although, to be honest, the GiGo doesn’t look any easier to use than a standard Freeview recorder.
The GiGo DV-DTR1 will be available in Tesco from September for £69.99 initially, although this will probably drop to £59.99. The cheapest Freeview reorder I could find on the Tesco website was £87.89 for a 250GB DigiHome model meaning the GiGo could be a good entry-level Freeview recorder.
DAB receives major setback as Germans and Swiss say no
The future of DAB radio took a bit of a kicking today when Germany and Switzerland’s commercial radio stations refused to invest in developing the DAB system to replace existing FM/AM transmissions. Their argument was that it didn’t make financial sense to do so.
The news has big repercussions for the UK and the rest of Europe. The Digital Britain report stated that the government would “work with our European partners, including the European Commission, to develop a common European approach to digital radio”. Well, it seems like all of the European partners aren’t interested in coming to the party.
The move could also be bad news for consumers. DAB radios are already much more expensive than their analogue brethren and the lack of a Europe-wide market is hardly going to help the cause. Car manufacturers are also less likely to include DAB radios in cars if they’ll only get maximum usage in selected countries.
The whole DAB scenario has been a bit of a shambles from the start really. Some DAB radios in the UK- reportedly as many as 9million – won’t even work if/when the system gets upgraded to the superior DAB+ system.
Campaigns such as Save FM argue that there is no need to take radio digital anyway – with many people arguing FM audio quality is, in fact, superior. The rise of internet radio also raises questions for the need of a digital radio network.
(via The Register)
SHINY VIDEO PREVIEW: The Archos 9 PC tablet
I got my hands on the Archos 9 at this morning’s launch. I have to say I like it. It did feel a tad heavy – but at less than 800g that was probably just an illusion because it is so slight it doesn’t look as though it will weigh hardly anything.
The touchscreen was very responsive and the pop-up keyboard is almost full-sized so unless you’ve got some extremely fat fingers there shouldn’t be any problem.
Also at the event Tony Limrick, MD of Archos Northern Europe told the assembled hacks to keep 15th September free for an Archos IMT Android announcement.
He didn’t give too much information away apart from to say that the IMTs would combine what Archos does best – multimedia playback and so on – and combine it with an Android based telephony system – complete with Google Apps.
Archos launches three portable media players
Not content with unleashing their latest mini-PC range, Archos also used today’s launch event to announce the arrival of three PMPs to add to their line-up.
The vision range’s flagship PMP is the touch-screen Archos 3 vision. It’s just 9mm thick and it only weighs 56g. The touchscreen is 3-inches with a resolution of 400×240.
It has 8GB of storage and supports multiple media formats including…deep breath…MP3, WMA (non protected files), WAV, OGG, FLAC, MPEG 1/2/4, WMV (non protected files), FLV, AVI, RM, RMVB, JPEG, BMP and GIF. It ships with a cable for TV playback and it also plays FM radio.
Playback time is 14 hours for audio and four for video. A cool feature is the FM transmitter which allows you play back your audio via any radio you can sync with it – iTrip stylee.
The real good news with regards to the Archos 3 vision is the price. £89.99 is very reasonable for a touch-screen PMP.
One step down from the 3 vision is the 2 vision. It has a 2-inch screen – not touch screen though. It uses a surface slider control for navigation.
It supports MP3, WMA and WAV as well as photo viewing. It has 8GB of storage although this can be upgraded using the micro-SD slot. It’s only £49.99 – another very fair price from Archos.
Finally, the Archos Clipper is a gym/jog friendly, shuffle-style mp3 player. It’s nearly twice as heavy as the latest iPod shuffle at 20g – but it’s hardly going to weigh you down. It’s 2GB and will only set you back £19.99.
Archos also mentioned the 4 and 7 visions which should be released by the end of the year although they didn’t supply and specific details. I’m not Mystic Meg but I’m guessing a 4-inch screen and a 7-inch screen – I think that’s a given.
The three PMPs mentioned all go on sale next month. Go direct to Archos if you fancy getting yourself one.
Archos announces release details for mini PC range
Archos has officially announced its latest mini PC range, although we told you all about them last month. See our original post for the full specs – we’re far too lazy to type it all out again.
The most exciting of the new releases is undoubtedly the Archos 9 touch-screen Mini PC. It’s due to launch in September and will cost either £449.99 or £499.99 depending on the hard drive size – 60GB or 120GB.
Next up, and in no particular order, is the Archos 13s. This lightweight notebook (the screen is far too large for it be considered a netbook according to our new rules) will be out in August and will cost £549.99.
The Archos 10s – the successor to the Archos 10 – is officially the thinnest netbook around. According to Archos it is anyway. Answers on a postcard if you can find one thinner than 22mm. It will cost £329.99 for a 3-cell battery version and £20 more for a 6-cell. Who the heck would but the 3-cell to save £20? Again, it’s out in August.
Finally is the Archos 9 Classmate – the shockproof, partly water-resistant, kid-friendly netbook. It’s aimed at kids aged five upwards and will be pre-loaded with key-stage educational software. It’s £319.99 and it’s out, you guessed it, in August.
You’ll be able to purchase all of these machines directly from Archos should you so desire.
O2 wins the battle for the Palm Pre
As predicted by yours truly a few hours ago, O2 will be the exclusive network of the Palm Pre.
O2 reportedly beat off competition from Orange – just as it did when it scored the exclusive rights to the iPhone back in 2007. O2 is already the market leader in the UK with a share of 27%. By stocking the Pre alongside the iPhone 3GS their lead will surely increase further.
Nothing has been confirmed by O2 officially and there are no price details as of yet either. You can’t imagine Apple would be too thrilled if the Palm Pre was a more affordable option than the iPhone 3GS though. I fully expect the pricing to be an exact match of the 3GS in terms of plans, although the handset itself might be a smidgen cheaper as it is in the US.
(via The Guardian)
Get your record cut at Abbey Road
Fancy having your music mastered at the famous Abbey Road studios? Not very likely unless you make it big-time. Well, not very likely until now that is.
The legendary studio is launching an online mastering service this month where musicians and producers can send their tacks to be mastered by Abbey Road’s top engineers using the world famous equipment such as the original EMI TG mastering consoles with the SADiE 5 PCM8 digital audio workstation.
Users can upload up to 2GB of audio onto a dedicated server in uncompressed WAV or AIFF format and sit back and wait whilst the experts do their thing. Within five working days users will receive an email with a download link. The link will stay live for a month and the mastered tracks will be in WAV, DDP image file or an audio PMCD. Vinyl will be provided in the format requested – either 7-inch, 12-inch or LP album. Additional copies can also be produced on CD or vinyl.
The cost is on a track by track basis (£90 per track) with a fixed price for vinyl masters depending on the format.
If you fancy giving the service a try go direct to the Abbey Road Studios online mastering service. Your band may not be as good as The Beatles but at least you can get your music mastered at the same place that they did.
Hulu: UK launch is their No.1 priority
A top-dog at Hulu International, Johannes Larcher has announced that the UK is “very ready for a product like Hulu” and that the UK is “number one priority in terms of international expansion”.
Speaking at the IEA’s Future of Broadcasting event in London, Larcher confirmed that the collapse of Project Kangaroo had opened up some possibilities for Hulu.
It is reported that there are still a few stumbling blocks, in terms of advertising control, that need to be overcome before a UK launch is officially announced. A September launch had been touted although it’s not clear if this is still achievable.
When it does arrive, however, expect the service to look somewhat different from its American counterpart. Larcher said: “We will localise our model so we are not perceived as a US company.”
Let’s hope we still get plenty of US content though. I’d take Family Guy and CSI over My Family and Hetty Wainwright Investigates any day of the week.
(via Mediaweek)
