Take this one for whatever it's worth, but reportedly, Amazon's digital music store is set to open up shop this month. Apparently, the firm has "tentatively set a mid-September target for the launch of its music service," but unsurprisingly, no one from Amazon was available to comment on the hunch. 'Course, it's not like we've got long to wait before this gets proven one way or the other, right?

[Via Reuters]

Part of its new "Ovi" initiative of online mobile services, Nokia has announced its Music Store service today. Offering up a feature that seems like a perfect (if not obvious) use for HSDPA speeds on handsets, Music Store will offer seamless over-the-air music purchases and downloads directly from handsets combined with automatic two-way synchronization to the host PC. Other features include dynamic music recommendations and a "Mix Me" feature for creating playlists of recommended songs based on genre preferences. The192Kbps (DRM protected, only) WMA tracks will run €1 (about $1.36) with entire albums starting at €10 ($13.66); PC streaming will also be available for €10 a month. Look for it in Europe before the year's out, expanding to other markets thereafter.

In case you haven't heard, Nokia's blowing it out tomorrow, London style. We can't be certain what exactly is going to get announced until the curtain drops, but as the date and time draw near, we're hearing whispers from across the 'nets about what we can expect. Latest across our desks is this itinerary from The Nokia Blog, detailing the day's events; from it, we can see that the N81 and 8GB N95 are both on the docket, ensuring that the high end will be well represented. Also up are the rumored music store and the revamped N-Gage platform we've been hearing a solid buzz about recently. Stay tuned, we're just a few hours away now!

Joining Sony Ericsson in the growing list of cellphone-related patents unearthed today, it appears that Apple is doing a good bit of work behind the scenes to ensure that future iPhone users will be able to access and purchase tunes (and video?) from the iTunes Store. Apple's recently filed "Configuration of a computing device in a secure manner" patent lays out in a good bit of detail how users of a mobile device (wireless iPod?) could access the iTMS and perform "transactions." It goes on to speak of "digital signatures" that would presumably have to be validated before any unexpected downloads took place, and it also pictures a handset (props to Nokia candybars of days past) communicating with an actual PC, which then contacts the "content and commerce" servers on the other side of the wire. In other details, there's photo evidence that some sort of downloadable upgrades / expansions could be available, probably referring to future firmware updates that could be initiated through the iTunes application. Granted, the whole mess of legal jargon is a bit hard for the layman to truly grasp, and it seems that Apple was simply throwing out as many vague words and possibilities to encompass anything that actually gets decided, but be sure to hit the read link anyway for more textual confusion and pictorial delight.

What do you do when a judge slaps down your case and leaves you no hope whatsoever? Apparently, you just do whatever the heck you want, including ditching that whole "DRM" idea altogether. Yep, as shocking as this may sound to we Americans who are essentially forced to juggle some sort of DRM on a daily basis, the French VirginMega store is planning to offer up quite a few (200,000 to be exact) tunes directly through its online music that are devoid of any DRM whatsoever, and moreover, are encoded as 256kbps MP3 files. Of course, we aren't certain if these tracks are on major or indie record labels (aside from V2Music, who has already signed on), but regardless, this is certainly a move that will elicit smiles on those fed up with proprietary formats not playing nice with a wide variety of DAPs. So if you're not too picky on what tunes you listen to, and you're down with supporting DRM-free music regardless of genre, keep an eye out for the new catalog opening up to French users this March.

[Via DJing]

It wasn't too long ago that ole Steve opened a few of his famed keynotes boasting about just how much money was flowing into the iTunes Music Store, and now we've even got the option to snag feature films and TV shows if our wallet so desires, but it appears that even the streamlined, previously trendy iTMS may be on the decline. It's no secret that folks looking to pick up some new tunes would like to avoid DRM at all costs, but instead of seeing CD sales skyrocket, there's simply been a general decrease across the board in the whole "music buying scene." While digital downloads initially looked to fill the void, that theory seems to have been short lived; since January, the monthly revenue going into Apple's iTMS has fallen by "65-percent," with the average transaction size falling "17-percent." Notably, it's not just Apple suffering the cashflow drought, as Nielsen Soundscan reports that the digital download "industry as a whole" is steadily declining. Additionally, research has shown that the "median household" spent just "three dollars" about six times per year, showing that digital downloads aren't exactly "replacing the CD," but rather complimenting hardcopy sales at best. Interestingly, analysts are theorizing that the DRM-era may actually be winding down in favor of "blanket licensing," which was cast aside just years ago in favor of the "per purchase" approach. Discussions are already taking place in the UK to test the waters of such a bundle package, but we don't realistically expect the business model here to change overnight -- but considering the duties the RIAA wants to toss on anything digital, we wonder just how attractive a new plan will be.

UPDATE: Based on Forrester's reports, the data cited was from the first six months from the previous year, which leaves open the possibility of seasonal swings skewing sales.

We aren't exactly sure who's getting the shorter end of the stick in Universal Music's "deal" with Microsoft to extract a set fee from every Zune sold, but now its oh-so-mettlesome CEO is thinking of putting the same pressure on ole Steve. While Jobs has certainly had a rather sour relationship with the labels over the years, and has flat our refused to boost music prices (twice) at the iTMS, this predicament could be a fair bit stickier. Doug Morris is reportedly considering asking demanding a royalty fee from every iPod sold now that he's already won the war over at Microsoft, touting Universal's massive music collection on iTMS as something fairly essential to the program's continued success. But things aren't as clear cut as the previous deal, as the Zune Marketplace was (and still is) in a position trying to grab any sliver of market share it possibly can, while Apple's rendition basically owns the digital download realm already. While it's easy to assume that both companies will agree on a ridiculously small fee just to save face, it begs the question of other labels trying to cash in at Jobs' expense if this deal goes down -- but hey, what goes around, comes around, right?

Now that Microsoft has semi-abandoned PlaysForSure for their new closed Zune system in a bid to dethrone the iPod, all those puny device manufacturers, music store operators, and retail chains are starting to look rather silly for their commitment to "open standards" and "interoperability." So now SanDisk and Real are teaming up to integrate a special Sansa e200R Rhapsody-edition lineup of the #2 DAP manufacturer's popular Sansa line with the new version 4.0 of the Rhapsody music store, one of the more popular subscription-based services. The respective market shares of both companies pales in comparison to the complete dominance of Apple's iPod/iTunes combo, but the team-up might be necessary to survive in the current market climate. Having Best Buy's weight behind the partnership shouldn't hurt either. They'll be offering their own "Best Buy Digital Music Store," which will be powered by Rhapsody, and will be offering a free two-month unlimited subscription to purchasers of a SanDisk Sansa player, after which users can continue with the service for the same $14.99 Rhapsody To Go price currently charged. The service and players are available now (Best Buy's official launch date is October 15th), and the new Sansa versions will be priced as they are now: $180 for 6GB, $250 for 8GB.

Read - BestBuy to launch music service
Read - Sansa Rhapsody

We know that not everyone shares our need to obsess over every MP3 player to hit the shelves, but anyone who has ever set foot in an electronics store can probably recognize Virgin's Digital Starter Pack as a novelty. Features on the included 256MB player look sparse, consisting of a tiny screen with color-changing backlight, a voice recorder, and the seemingly useless ability to mess with the playback speed of your music. The £30 ($52) package also comes with a booklet explaining how to get started and a coupon code for five "free" song downloads from Virgin's own online music store, but unless you're insistent upon donating to Sir Richard Branson's hot air balloon fund, you'd probably be much better off dropping the same amount of dough on Napster's 1GB player . It might not have a backlight that changes color, but it will hold a lot more than 60 songs and won't get you laughed at by the gadget snobs.

[Via Shiny Shiny]

Just a few weeks after the launch of their Microsoft-supported music service Urge, MTV has tapped European company Mini Media to produce two MP3 players emblazoned with branding from Viacom franchises such as South Park and Pimp My Ride. The lower-end MIVI-P1GB sports 1GB of storage (expandable with SD), WMA playback, an FM tuner and a voice recorder, while the higher-end MIVI-P1GBV1 adds photo/video playback on a 1.5-inch CSTN screen. Yeah, the specs are nothing special but MTV is hoping the wacky rubberized finish and cheesy graphics will be enough to separate consumers from their cash after the European release slated for September. No word on price or plans for a US release yet, but we're betting we'll see these before we ever see that other MTV player again.

[Via I4U]