music+

Fireplace warms the cockles of your iPod

And you thought the iPod bed was weird. The collision of two consumer technology trends--iPod docks and media furniture--may have seen the ultimate mashup in the iPod fireplace.

Yes, you heard it right. Cal Spas, the purveyor of Marin County-style hot tub culture products, has done it again in offering a musical hearth complete with built-in speakers and iPod docking station. It's not just for looks, either. BornRich reports that this "Home Resort" piece puts out a full 65,000 BTUs.

But, believe it or not, there's some stiff competition. Why confine yourself to … Read more

Ringtone Roundup: Predicting the future

Each week, Crave tracks the most popular ringtones.

There hasn't been much change in Billboard's ringtone chart since last time. Chris Brown's "Poppin'" is still on top, and Buck Cherry's "Crazy B****" is still in the top three. Afroman's "Because I Got High" moved up three spots to number seven, and Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" dropped to the ninth spot. Other than that, there wasn't much movement in the top-10 chart.

Despite the lack of movement at the top of the chart, I'm going to put … Read more

DRM-free iTunes songs boost the appeal of non-Apple music streamers

It's the digital equivalent of the first few cracks in the Berlin Wall: soon EMI will be offering the bulk of its music catalog free of DRM restrictions. Steve Jobs was on hand at the press conference to enthusiastically endorse the idea--he did, famously, suggest as much in an open letter just a few short weeks ago. But is Apple simply fashioning its own hangman's noose? If the other major record companies follow suit, the one big advantage of the entire Apple "digital ecosystem"--iTunes, the iPod, and Apple TV--essentially becomes null and void. Jobs says Apple's superior design will keep the company's software and hardware at the top of the must-have list for digital media. For the iPod, maybe--but for the just-launched Apple TV, the answer isn't as straightforward. … Read more

Floating MP3 player isn't shocking

We've seen MP3 players for swimmers, but JVC's Digital Audio Player XA-AW33-W is the first we've seen that's custom-made for the bath. At least, it's the first one we've seen that's made to float.

The player holds up to 256MB of songs, and is battery-powered so that you won't need to worry about frying yourself in the tub. Its stand lets you listen to the player in unfloating mode, and the song-loading process is handled by a USB connection to your PC--when it's out of the tub, of course.

On the … Read more

100,000 free songs

Everyone loves big, round numbers, so when Download.com Music published its 100,000th song recently, we were quick to break out the champagne. Yeah, we admit it, we're suckers for celebrations. Still, there's no question that's a lot of songs--enough to push any iPod (or any sane music fan, for that matter) past its breaking point.

So with a landmark number like that behind us, we were curious: who was the musician who put us over the edge? None other than LA artist Gray Kid. He has a fresh, catchy sound that mixes space-age effects … Read more

Mog sheds beta status, launches Mog TV

Mog, the music recommendation tool and social network left beta this morning and launched a new video channel called Mog TV. The video service scans your music library and offers YouTube music videos that it thinks you'll like. There's also a kitschy feature called "The Magic Button" that can randomly bring up content related to your musical tastes. The button has been placed site-wide, and can be found on user profiles, Mog TV, and artist pages. The only bummer here is the need to install the Mog-o-matic software on your machine for access to personalized recommendations, … Read more

Kyocera delivers wireless music

Beyond showing its slick new cell phones at CTIA, Kyocera also demonstrated its new Bluetooth Music Gateway. This nifty device receives music from any stereo Bluetooth phone or device and then transfers the tunes to your home stereo via a standard RCA cable. You can see it here with the Kyocera E5000 music phone. Though not the first such device on the market, it still caught our eye due to its compact design and simple, easy-to-use functionality. It's also reasonably priced at $79.99. Look for a full review from CNET in the next couple weeks.

The company also … Read more

Get Rhapsody on the Nokia N800

Last night at Pepcom in Orlando, Nokia demoed Real's recently-released version of Rhapsody for the N800 Internet Tablet. Or at least that was the plan: as I'm not actually at CTIA, I can't confirm that the demo ever really happened. What is certain, however, is that N800 owners who also subscribe to Rhapsody will now have direct access to the music service on their tablets (as long as there is a Wi-Fi connection available at the time). Users can search the entire Rhapsody catalog, browse their libraries, listen to playlists and Channels, and read editorial commentary--pretty much … Read more

Sprint songs on the cheap

In addition to unveiling its new UpStage phone Sprint announced today that it would lower over-the-air downloads from the Sprint Music Store from $2.50 per track to just $0.99. The new price will apply to all songs from the store and will go into effect in early April, the same time the UpStage formally hits stores (Sprint did not announce an official day). And yes, that wireless download includes a simultaneous download to your PC. The price drop is more than welcome, and we think it's no coincidence that it puts the carrier's music store on … Read more