Google announced today a search service, available only in China, to find and download MP3s from popular artists through partner Top100.cn, a Chinese music site funded by basketball star Yao Ming. Baidu, the search company which emerged from China's homegrown bubble and producers of crazy ads, has had MP3 search available since 2005, and many attribute its lead in its home market to that feature. [News.com]
We knew Microsoft had a Herculean — nay, Sisyphean — task when it rolled out its Zune MP3 player last year. It didn't help matters when Microsoft "designers" chose putrid brown as a launch color. Despite Microsoft's pledge of continued support of the product, it looks like it — or a major retailer left with unsold stock — is dumping Zunes on the cheap. Woot, the deal-a-day online retail site, is currently selling white Zunes for $150 apiece, a 50% discount over the retail price. While the site doesn't list available stock, hot items are known to sell out quickly. This obviously doesn't describe Zune, though.
Wal-Mart cut a deal with Universal Music Group and EMI to sell digital songs without digital rights management software, or DRM. They're also rolling back prices to 94 cents a track. The end result for Apple? Increased iPod sales, we bet, since the MP3-format tracks are compatible with its music player. [PaidContent]
It's almost certain to be tied up in appeal for quite some time, but a federal jury awarded Alcatel-Lucent $1.52 billion in damages versus Microsoft for patent infringement on the MP3 music format. Microsoft had paid a German consortium for use of the format years ago, but Alcatel-Lucent contended they were due cash as well, since one of their corporate forerunners (Bell Labs) was also involved in MP3 format development. Whatever happens to Microsoft, this represents a potentially serious headache for anyone else making MP3 players (hardware or software). Apple declined to comment, so perhaps we'll see Steve Jobs's "Thoughts on MP3 Patents" soon.
