fm

Get an 8GB iPod Nano knockoff for $39.99 shipped

If you hold it at arm's length and squint a bit, you might mistake the V-Bop media player for a third-generation iPod Nano. They're definitely kissing cousins, at least in the looks department. But where features are concerned, the V-Bop blows the iPod out of the water.

Buy.com has the 8GB V-Bop media player for $39.99 shipped. That's a rebate-free price on a new, not refurbished, unit.

So what does the V-Bop offer that the Nano doesn't? For starters, a microSD slot--pop in an 8GB card, and you double your available storage. (Newegg has … Read more

Songs: Ohia, 'Farewell': Free MP3 of the Day

This is the last Free MP3 of the Day on Download Music, so we figure "Farewell" by Songs: Ohia would be fitting good-bye song. Tune into Last.fm to keep hearing more great free music!

About Songs: Ohia... Having weathered his frequent comparisons to Will Oldham, Jason Molina (the chief force behind Songs: Ohia) has matured as a writer and also branched out as a musician, shifting between slow-moving moments of melancholy and more vigorous Midwestern guitar-rock anthems, like something off "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere." The latter's what you'll find here, so crank … Read more

Get a 2GB Creative Zen V Plus for $19.99

Much as I love seeing an iPod Shuffle for $29, here's an MP3 deal that's even better: Creative has refurbished 2GB Zen V Plus players for just $19.99. Shipping will run you 5 bucks, but that's still an amazing deal on a player that does video as well as audio.

Yep, you read right: The Zen V Plus features a 1.5-inch OLED screen and support for uncompressed AVI and software-transcoded videos. Granted, 2GB of storage isn't enough to hold much, but it's nice to have the option if you want it.

Of course, … Read more

CNET Download Music will redirect to Last.fm

Dear friends and fans of CNET Download Music,

We have some important news to share. On Wednesday, March 11, 2009, the CNET Download Music site will begin redirecting all artist pages and category doors to corresponding pages on our sister music site Last.fm.

We're extremely proud of our close association with Last.fm because, like CNET Download Music, the site shares the same spirit of independence and discovery--not to mention ease of use and a large song catalog--that we find so vital to a satisfying online music experience. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 916: Fiber to the butt

Natali opens with some rage against Verizon Fios over a billing problem after she canceled the service. She feels somehow, well...Jason explains it best in the show. We also get a Molly rant over Ireland's new content filtering on the Internet and TechCrunch's reporting that Last.FM was giving data to the RIAA. Which it was not.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 916

Microsoft asks for severance back from laid off employees http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10169119-75.html

Workers ’stealing company data’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7902989.stm

Xbox Live denial … Read more

Twhirl, AlertThingy expand supported services

Twhirl (download) and AlertThingy, two social-publishing tools that run exclusively on Adobe's AIR, have been freshly updated to support more services and come with some cool (and useful) new features:

As we blogged about a few weeks back, Twhirl was working on giving Seesmic users a way to record videos, not just view them. The new version lets you do that and also adds Ping.fm support across the board, letting you cross post to other accounts you may have.

Other new goodies include a spell checker, Bit.ly link shortener, and an option to have any search pop … Read more

For Fring mobile VoIP app, a Last.fm add-on

Although Fring has long let you chat with friends over Skype, IM, Facebook, and Twitter, the recent introduction of a Last.fm add-on is the start-up's first foray into streaming content.

Starting this week, Symbian Series 60 users with the latest version of Fring (for Symbian 9.1 | 9.2) can sign on to their Last.fm accounts from the Fring add-on's screen.

From there, you can play custom- and public-streaming stations, with the familiar controls to stop, skip, save, and ban a song. There's album art on the mini player interface, and basic details about the … Read more

Daily Tidbits: Wikipedia users asked to edit 'Wikipedia' book

"Wikipedia: The Missing Manual" by John Broughton has been made available for free on Wikipedia, O'Reilly Books, its publisher, announced Tuesday. The book is being delivered in Wiki format, which means users can edit the text as they see fit. Peter Meyers, the "Missing Manuals" managing editor, said O'Reilly may use those edits in a second edition, if it's made available. If you want to read the book (or improve it), it's available now on Wikipedia's help page.

AllFacebook, a blog that covers the world of Facebook, launched a tool Tuesday … Read more

Daily Tidbits: Last.fm makes its way to Android

Last.fm announced Friday that it has launched a mobile version of its social radio platform for Google Android-based phones. The Last.fm app, which is already available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, allows users to listen to the company's streaming radio stations and plays in the background while users perform other functions on the device. Last.fm's Android app is free and available now in the Android Market.

URL shortening service, Bit.ly, announced Thursday that it has updated its Twitter plug-in for Firefox. The update now provides users with the context of a Twitter conversation … Read more

Three-way merge: Seesmic, Twhirl, and Ping.fm getting together

Two services I use, Twhirl and Ping.fm, and one I don't, Seesmic, are getting integrated this week in ways that will likely help all of the products.

First up, Seesmic CEO Loic LeMeur just announced that the multi-posting tool Ping.fm now supports Seesmic, a video microblog service. Seesmic has a new API, which has made it possible for the Ping.fm team to allow embed a recording function for Seesmic videos within Ping.fm. It's very simple to use the Ping.fm service now to create a Seesmic video, but the real benefit is that you … Read more