Prophecy

The Creative Zii Egg is officially announced, and Jasmine is very confused about the whole thing. Donald's muted attempts to offer clarity are unsuccessful. Also, the MP3 Insiders have caught wind of the potential new S-Series Walkman and are none-too-taken with the Disney design leanings. Plus, a dead-simple (and ugly) new MP3 player from Archos draws scorn, and Donald and Jasmine respond to criticism about talking about Apple too much...and then proceed to dedicate the last third of the show to iPhone apps and the potential for cameras on the iPod.

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How good does a streaming-music service need to be before it replaces your collection of MP3s? That's the question Apple is asking itself right now, as it deliberates on approving the Spotify app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Here, finally, is a streaming-music app (and desktop application) that promises to stream any of over 6 million songs on-demand, give you the ability to create and save ordered playlists of songs, and best of all, Spotify can save your favorite tunes offline so you can play them even when you're not connected to the Internet.

Sound too good … Read more

Donald and Jasmine talk about the top free music apps and best guitar tools for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Also, Donald rants about the transition from portable media players to Netbooks, and Jasmine concedes that her cat wears the pants in the family. Finally, reader e-mails!

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MSN has made several entries--and several exits--from the music service business, but apparently it is ready to try again, at least in the United Kingdom.

"In the coming months, MSN is planning to launch a new music-streaming service in beta via its Music channel in the U.K.," a Microsoft representative told CNET News. "At this stage we won't be confirming the details behind this but more information will be available soon and will be communicated in due course."

Microsoft first mentioned the service in a report in the Telegraph newspaper.

"Music is an … Read more

A filing with the FCC offers some evidence that Creative has a new touch-screen portable media player in the works. Named after the system-on-a-chip processor Creative showed off during CES 2009, the Zii (and the developer-only Zii EGG) include music and video playback capabilities, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and an HD camera on the back.

Little else about the player is revealed in the FCC filing, but it's pretty easy to connect the dots and see that Creative is playing catchup with Apple's iPod Touch. Creative is no stranger to playing second fiddle to Apple, but the company … Read more

With about as much fanfare as a prison release, a new Archos touch-screen MP3 player made an appearance on the manufacturer's Web site this morning, along with a handful of product specs.

The product page shows off a new pocket-size MP3 player called the Archos 3, featuring a 3-inch, color, touch screen, 8GB of storage, photo playback, a voice recorder, a calendar, a stopwatch, and 14 hours of battery life.

Archos isn't saying when we'll see the Archos 3, how much it will cost, what kind of files it can play, or really giving any indication why … Read more

Our suspicions that Apple would soon be offering iPhone and iPod Touch users direct downloads of iTunes video content were confirmed during announcements at WWDC 2009.

The mobile version of the iTunes store will soon offer video download and rental options, in addition to the music and podcast options already available. Currently, users are required to purchase and download iTunes video content using a home computer, where it can be transferred to the iPhone or Touch over USB. After the launch of iPhone OS 3.0 on June 17, this content will be available for download directly to the device. … Read more

In an effort to streamline the development of their mobile products, Sony may adopt Google's Android OS for future versions of their Walkman audio players, mobile phones, and mobile Internet devices such as the Mylo. By using a shared platform between devices, Sony could be hoping to emulate the success Apple achieved with the iPhone and iPod Touch, and their common iPhone OS.

The move to Android may also help to hasten products to market, allowing Sony's developers to repurpose apps and interface designs between products. Sony's latest Walkman, the iPod Touch-rivaling X-Series, only recently began shipping, … Read more

Correction: The Microsoft Zune HD will not be available outside of the United States. The Zune Video Marketplace for Xbox, however, will be available for select countries beyond the U.S., including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Donald and Jasmine give the newly official Zune HD its deserved time in the spotlight as they both gush about the player's design and HD features as well as speculate about pricing and other possible Wi-Fi-related additions. Also this week, the Insiders discuss rumblings about a potential Sirius XM App for the iPhone. Then, Jasmine brings up some of the tiniest MP3 players to ever be reviewed by CNET, while Donald goes off on a tangent about audiobooks. And we musn't forget to give props to the entity that gave this whole digital music thing a violent shove into the mainstream consciousness: Napster, which celebrates its 10-year anniversary this week.

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