UmixIt makes everyone a DJ
UmixIt
The product: The brainchild of a 17-year-old musician (and son of a former music executive), UmixIt is a technology that, when embedded on a traditional retail music CD or DVD, lets you remix individual tracks of a song. If an artist signs on for the feature, the necessary mixing software will show up on the disc. If you can find a disc with this technology, you'll be able to use some software included on the CD (Cakewalk Media Mixer) to:

• Erase, augment, or lower one of 8 to 16 tracks in a song.
• Add your own tracks.
• Add royalty ACID-format loops, provided on the disc.
• Play back "your" songs with Windows Media Player or a WMP compatible device, or burn them to disc

The prospects: Although UmixIt sounds like fun, we have serious doubts that a large number of big-name artists will sign on to let the masses mess with their pride and joy. So far, Aerosmith has helped launch the technology on its You Gotta Move live DVD, but there aren't many other bands signed up. Time will tell.

By Lindsey Turrentine, section editor, CNET Reviews