Hasta La Gadget!

We must have missed the memo that informed us of the impending revival sweeping the illicit music landscape, but there’s no denying its potency now. Just weeks after Napster and Pirate Bay decided to right the wrong and morph into legitimate music subscription services (or something of the sort, anyway), the infamous and all-but-forgotten Kazaa has evidently decided to do the same. According to “sources close to the company,” the site is expected to officially exit beta and begin a $20 per month unlimited download service as early as next week, though details beyond that are few and far between. On the surface, it seems as if it’ll be shooting itself in the foot from day one by charging a Jackson per month, but hopefully that includes a little something extra that we aren’t privy to yet. At any rate, it looks like your illegal acquisition options are slowly dwindling down, but hey, it’s not like a little consolidation ever hurt anybody, right?

Filed under: Portable Audio, Software

Kazaa also turning its life around, becoming legal music subscription service originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Jul 2009 01:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, Bose. While almost any other audio company would be properly lambasted for charging $549.95 for a portable sound system with absolutely no hard specifications (driver material, amplifier type, wattage, etc.) to speak of, somehow or another Bose gets away with the practice. All bitterness aside, the fresh SoundLink Wireless Music System is actually rather attractive, and unlike its other models, this one arrives with a USB dongle that enables computers to stream tunes directly to it. ‘Course, we’re not told what kind of technology is used here nor how far you can stray without losing signal, but as we alluded to earlier, this is all par for the course for Bose. In brighter news, there’s a rechargeable battery that keeps it humming for three hours on a full charge, and the bundled IR remote could probably be programmed to control your media app from afar. Oh, and there’s a standard 3.5 millimeter auxiliary jack for linking things up the “old way.” Start saving your pennies quarters, folks — this one ships to those with more dollars than sense on August 27th.

[Via HotHardware]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Bose intros SoundLink wireless music system, charges $550 with a straight face originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While even bigwigs can fudge release numbers from time to time, the word “imminently” just carries a certain aura. Speaking with The Telegraph, executive producer of MSN Peter Bale confessed that Microsoft was “looking at launching a music streaming service imminently.” As in, maybe before the dawn of August. Bale added that it would be “a similar principle to Spotify,” but the outfit is still examining exactly how the business model would work. It’s expected that the service would let users stream tunes for free so long as they listen to ads every half hour or so, but for those with too little time and too many jams, there could be a paid option that strips the plugs. What’s unclear now, however, is exactly how this initiative will tie-in with the company’s Xbox 360 and Zune. There’s no doubt that Microsoft is aiming to make the former an all-encompassing multimedia box, but we’re sure it’d rather not convolute things with Zune Pass all the same.

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Microsoft to launch music streaming service “imminently,” could tie-in with Xbox / Zune originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Without a doubt, Sonos makes an excellent wireless distributed audio system. If we had to nit pick (and we do), then its massive controller, the CR100 is easily the first thing to complain about. For starters it’s a $400 remote control that does one thing, it controls your Sonos audio system. Granted, the CR100 is rugged, splashproof, and turns on in an instant thanks to a built-in accelerometer; features that can’t justify the price, however, in light of the solid Sonos did its user base when it released a free Sonos controller app for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app even one-ups the CR100 with its on-screen QWERTY since the CR100’s scrollwheel isn’t exactly the best interface for typing out the name of an artist search. So imagine our intrigue when we saw a new CR200 Sonos Controller pass through the FCC. The new controller appears to prefer a portrait orientation (instead of landscape like the CR100) and was tested across 802.11g WiFi frequencies with a 24Mbps fixed data rate. While that doesn’t give us much to go on, at least it passed the tests meaning we could be close to an official announcement. Considering the controller’s physical design hasn’t changed since its launch in January of 2005, a few more days or weeks of waiting shouldn’t be a problem.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Sonos CR200 controller outed by the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you haven’t slept in the week since we first got wind of Sony’s MDR-NC300D heaphones and while, sadly, there is (as of yet) still no domestic street date, we do have some more details and a fun little video to tide you over. Billed as the “world’s first” digital noise canceling canal earphones (and we’re inclined to agree) these guys boast 98.4% noise reduction, an integrated S-Master amplifier, 16mm diameter drivers for each bud, and three separate noise canceling modes. For those of you with a more technical bent, you’ll be pleased to know that the ‘phones sport a playback frequency of 6Hz ~ 24kHz, a sensitivity of 103dB/mW, and a 16Ω impedence. And it runs on AAA batteries — meaning these aren’t the iPod killers that we’ve seen in similar devices. This bad boy will hit the streets and shelves of Japan on June 21st for ¥30,975 (around $315).Video after the break.

[Via Sony Insider]

Continue reading Video: Sony’s MDR-NC300D noise-canceling canal earbuds

Filed under: Portable Audio

Video: Sony’s MDR-NC300D noise-canceling canal earbuds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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