Top the Holiday Charts with Speakers for the Digital Music Devotee

MILFORD, Pa., Dec. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- It's the classic holiday dilemma: what to get for the person who has everything? Since the introduction of the iPod(R) in 2001, millions of digital music players have been sold in the U.S. So with the likelihood that your "giftee" already has an iPod or other MP3 player loaded with their favorite tunes, what's a holiday shopper to do?

The solution: Accessorize their digital music player with a gift from Altec Lansing's (www.alteclansing.com) expansive line of speaker systems for MP3 players, Bluetooth(R) music-enabled phones and PCs.

Speakers are always a popular holiday gift and this year will be no exception. Since developing some of the first speaker docks for the iPod, Altec Lansing has made great strides in quality, design and acoustic performance.

Amazon signs Sony download deal

The deal means Amazon is now the only company offering tracks from all four big music companies free of DRM.

This makes the Amazon store a more significant rival for Apple iTunes which has long had a commanding lead over rivals in the downloadable music market.

All the 3.1 million tracks in the Amazon store are free of DRM software. In contrast, only songs from EMI and some independent labels are available via Apple's iTunes without copy controls.

In February 2007, Apple boss Steve Jobs called on record labels to stop using DRM in a bid to boost the popularity of downloadable music.

The Amazon MP3 store, which launched in September 2007, is only available in the US. There have been no announcements about when or whether the service will be expanded overseas.

Songs prepared in the MP3 format can be played on any portable music player.