Sonos today announced the release of 2.1 which allows users to play their library of Windows Media DRM protected files. This brings the Sonos to pinnacle of being the premiere digital music player for the home and office. Users will now not only able to play non-protected MP3, AAC, and other common audio files but also play music from many download music sites such as AOL® Music Now, MTV Networks’ URGE, Napster™, Wal-Mart®, Yahoo! Music™ Unlimited, and the Zune Marketplace.

“We know from our customer surveys that Sonos users in more than 60 countries are listening to more music than ever,” said John MacFarlane, CEO of Sonos. “We are determined to make the entire universe of music available to our customers and today’s software release is a very big step towards this goal.”

Sonos late last year released 2.0 which allowed users to listen to Rhapsody® Online Music Service natively on the Sonos player without need to run a computer brought DRM protected music to a new chapter in digital music. With this release, Sonos is proving it is truly the authority in bringing your digital music library to your ears no matter where you are in your home.

Just in time for Christmas, NOTION Music, Inc., the creators of music composition and performance software, introduce PROTÉGÉ, a new program that is easy enough for beginners and yet robust enough for seasoned musicians.

PROTÉGÉ allows musicians of all skill levels to write, rehearse and perform their compositions as if they were working with a full ensemble of musicians. By including more than 100,000 sounds recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, and offering add-ons that include rock and rhythm section sounds, PROTÉGÉ gives users the freedom to explore their imaginations while composing music.

Available for £79 through the NOTION website, www.notionmusic.com, PROTÉGÉ has been designed to:
• improve sense of pitch and tonality;
• allow musicians to edit, save and practice songs based on their own interpretations;
• accompany primary instruments or small ensembles;
• create playback directly from notation;
• compose, explore and manipulate in-depth scores; and
• upgrade to more complex programs to match skill-level as needed.

“PROTÉGÉ was created to bolster creativity by allowing musicians to focus on the music, not the technology,” said Lori Jarrett, founder and CEO of NOTION Music, Inc. “It is perfect for student musicians, hobbyist musicians or more advanced musicians who want to be accompanied by a full ensemble anytime, anywhere.”

From orchestral to jazz to rock, NOTION is dedicated to delivering the sounds of the world’s finest musicians. NOTION software is currently being used on Meat Loaf’s concert tour, allowing the 16-piece orchestra backing him to sound like a 60-piece orchestra.

“The sounds are great and the way the program works is so user-friendly, and so band-friendly, that we couldn’t ask for more. It’s fantastic software,” said Kasim Sulton, music director and bass player for Meat Loaf.

Additionally, NOTION Music’s inaugural Realize Music challenge is open through November 30. An expert panel of judges will select winners from compositions created using NOTION software. The winner will be receive a recording session with the London Symphony Orchestra. Competition details and a free demo are available at: www.notionmusic.com/win.

I’ve never been a real fan of Poison (I yelled at them at the Ratt concert they opened for in 1987 that they were all girls…and even though I was front row, they couldn’t hear me) so I kinda don’t care about their 20th anniversary edition of the album that started it all for them, Look What the Cat Dragged In which is now on iTMS. Yet, well, curiosity struck this cat and I had to see what was so different of this version as “remastering” a compressed file format doesn’t make much sense. What I found was a good laugh…and an empty album! Just in case the blunder is fixed soon after this writing, here’s a screen capture of my iTunes client looking up this delightful album.

What happened, I don’t know, but someone obviously messed up somewhere or maybe this really is what the album should have been to begin with, silence.

If you want the original, iTMS has that in stock no problem. And please, don’t talk dirty to me in the comments. Thank you.

We’re tired of saying Apple needs to bring wireless to the iPod as we’ve been saying it for over a year, but in light of the Microsoft iPod-killer rumors, we’ve got to say it again.

It now looks like that Redmond-based Microsoft will be trying its best shot against the mega-popular Apple iPod with its very own digital audio player (DAP) ready for this Christmas. It’s said it’ll have a bigger screen than the current iPod (how much you want to bet it’s like .2″ bigger?) as well as built-in wireless. For what you ask? Um, downloads direct from some new Microsoft music store. “Wow, isn’t that what SvenOnTech has been recommending Apple do?” Yup. Guess Bill Gates reads our page and took our advice.

Supposedly, the new device will allow users to purchase and download music directly to their new Microsoft DAP anywhere a Wi-Fi connection is. To further entice iPod defectors, Microsoft is going to buy you every iTunes Music Store purchased song from the Microsoft music store. For free. On Redmond. It’ll be interesting to see how it handles customers like SvenOnTech who did really well in the Pepsi cap “game” two years in a row (over 300 songs just from that) and whom liked using all those hundreds of dollars in gift certificates. I’d say we here at SvenOnTech easily have over a grand in music in our iTunes library.

Anyway, Microsoft is doing the right thing, it’s taking music lovers to the next level. For what ever reason Apple sits on its fanny on this, who knows. It is most likely that Apple is working on this and it’s that full-screen LCD that is slowing down the announcement of the next great iPod. Heck, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this out by Christmas from Apple, either, but man, Apple has had so much time and with its past releases being so quick, one has to wonder if Apple has become too comfortable in its supremacy.

We welcome Microsoft’s new wireless DAP. It’ll be nice to have duplicated iTMS music in WMA format…on Microsoft. Now we’re curious if the packaging will be anything like this.

SvenOnTech has been calling for some advancements in the iPod for some time now. One of those is built-in Wi-Fi. Apple has been pretty quiet on any upcoming improvements to its DAP and rumors really haven’t made any mention of a wireless data connection (other than Bluetooth.)

Well, it seems someone else sees the power in Wi-Fi and with the release of MusicGremlin Direct, you can now download any of the offered 2 million songs from the service directly onto your DAP via Wi-Fi. MGD (MusicGermlin Direct, not the beer) is just another name for PlayForSure, so you won’t have to worry about yet another new service competing for iTunes Music Store customers. The DAP itself has 8 GB of storage and a small 2-inch QQVGA display. Also included is USB 2.0 that supports charging when plugged in, line-in, and an FM receiver, along with the aforementioned 802.11b radio. Only WMA and MP3 formats are supported. All this for $300 plus the $15 month subscription fee.

The true beauty of this device is its ability to find a hotspot, log into the service, and allow you to pick and choose a song or songs for immediate download and enjoyment. Even cooler is if a friend has an MGD, you can set up an ad-hoc network with each other and share songs! Why isn’t Apple doing this?

A direct connection to iTMS via your iPod would be a great feature, especially if movies are coming. To be able to just download a new song or movie in an airport, coffee shop, or even in the lobby of a company while waiting for a meeting to start, would increase the cool-factor of the iPod, as well as the usefulness. Sharing songs between other users would probably be a bit more difficult for Apple to pull off due to licensing; however, under current agreements, you can sync your iTMS DRM protected music with an unlimited amount of iPods. Maybe Apple was thinking of the future?

Apple really needs to be bringing this technology to the iPod. These features along with the ability to sync with your iTunes in the other room of your house would be nice. No, great. Hopefully Apple sees that and maybe with MGDs release, it will heighten its awareness to this.

It seems that $1.99 just isn’t cheap enough to entice the masses. When Steve Jobs nabbed Hollywood for some content, he was pushing for cheap downloads and thought he had that at the two dollar mark. However, ABC just completed testing free online viewing of its shows at abc.com and the results are staggering. In just its first month alone, 11 million people viewed ABC shows with commercials and all. And just to see if the sponsors made an impression, ABC exit polled the free-bee viewers. 87 percent could remember which brands where being pushed on the viewers of the low-resolution content without a single hitch. Mmm. On the other side of the Hollywood pond, Apple has only sold 8 million episodes of ABC content in eight months total. Does this mean that people would rather suffer through advertisement than pay money for a show? Looks to be the case.

Some have questioned the $2 price Apple has been charging its customers for TV shows. The compliant is that for a low-resolution program that airs on television, it should carry the same price tag as the music that resides on iTMS. At worst. But would 99 cents even do it? Maybe. Maybe not.

Knowing this, the rumored price that Steve Jobs is pushing for movies, $9.99, may not go over too well either. In fact, many comments around the Internet are already in on the price and it seems that it will bomb at this point. If Hollywood gets some bright ideas (don’t they always?) then maybe it’ll start streaming some of its flops movies to us with an ad here and there. For free, you know. And don’t under estimate Hollywood’s greed.

How this new data from ABC will effect future shows on iTunes is hard to say. Its doubtful that Apple will be able to get the shows any cheaper and most likely we’ll see more “free” shows on the networks web site. While this most likely won’t effect sales greatly on iTunes, it will certainly give Hollywood the idea that it now has an option and will use that against Apple in future dealings with computer-gone-multimedia company. Let the gloves come off.