More ways for phone users to download and play music

SEVERAL online music services will be available here in the coming months, offering fans more ways to download and play songs on their computers, MP3 players and cellphones.

Leading the charge are phone makers Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola, all eager to seize on the booming popularity of multimedia phones which double up as MP3 players.

Nokia will open an online store here in the next three months, while Sony Ericsson plans to do so by the end of the year.

Motorola, which bought homegrown music store Soundbuzz in January, will release a phone next month that will let a user browse its entire music collection. He can then choose which songs to download to his phone.

Until now, music lovers here have only had Soundbuzz and SingTel's MusicVibes service, which catered only to its subscribers.

Ripstyles.com and Ripfactory Introduce Ripserver to North America

Ripstyles.com, a global media conversion company that specializes in converting CDs into mp3 or other digital files, is proud to be named the exclusive North American agent of Ripfactory's innovative new consumer device, Ripserver. Building on the foundation of Ripfactory's expert knowledge of CD ripping and media servers, Ripserver brings a first to the consumer market -- a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device with a fully integrated CD ripping engine. (CD ripping is another way of describing the conversion of a CD into mp3 or digital files.) This agreement extends the existing relationship between the two companies and further solidifies Ripstyles.com as a world-class media conversion company.

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Microsoft launch Zune

Usually, we do not report on .mp3 players. However, sometimes we cannot go around them. Today is one of those times: Microsoft has launched its supposed iPod killer, the Zune. "Not a lot of surprises in the specs department, but they've confirmed the basics we've known for a while, like WiFi, 30GB of HDD, built-in FM, a 3-inch screen and the basic music, pictures and video playback. They also finally let slip the screen res - an unsurprising QVGA - and some better news on the codec front: the Zune supports h.264, MP3, AAC and WMA." .

Analyse your date's iPod

If only you could see that playlist, you would know so much about him, about how compatible you are and gain insights that could otherwise take months of stalking to get. While it has long been said that the eyes are the window to the soul, in this day and age, it may well be the screen of the ubiquitous iPod or any other MP3 player. It can reveal one's past, personality and even whether they are ready for a relationship, or still getting over one. That little screen is the best window to the soul one could ask for, and those who have one carry it around in full view of the world. Gold Coast real estate agent Brinton Keith, 31, has had an iPod for three years and listens to it when out on his speedboat and at the gym. With "anything and everything" among his 7000 songs, he says the ones he plays most reflect his teenage years in the 1980s and 90s in Echuca on the Murray River in Victoria.

Burn4Free CD and DVD 3.9

Burn4Free CD and DVD is a burning solution that's compatible with more than 3,000 DVD and CD burners. Burn data and audio from different file types (WAV, WMA, MP3, OGG, FLAC, WavPack, and CDA). Burn and save ISO files, open and save your project to disk, verify content, print compilations, copy DVDs, and import your audio compilation from M3U and ASX playlists. The drives supported include dual-layer DVD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM (SCSI, IDE, EIDE, and USB 1.0 and 2.0). Version 3.9 improves audio CD creation.

iriver S10 (2GB)

Miniature MP3 players are the stuff of a Lilliputian's dreams. In fact, the smaller, the more geek envy it would draw. The newest iPod shuffle is like that. So is Shiro's cube-shaped AD. They drew more raves for their form factors than their features. But the iriver S10 made the waves when it was first announced due to the ingenious way it melded a screen and the D-Click system onto a 42 x 30 x 10.8mm-sized body.