Good news to music aficionados! We just got wind that Song BMG has plans to bring in their merchandise through an online subscription service for iPods. Now you can have your fill of music from the artists under the recording label. Know more on this in the full article.

PaRappa the Rapper developer NanaOn-Sha recently teamed up with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to provide owners of Apple's fifth generation iPod an original music visualizer game known as musika. The said game is available now on the iTunes Store for just US$ 4.99.

Basically, users can just have fun with musika and enjoy the rather unique imagery provided by Nanaon-Sha. If you want to progress in the game though, you have to play along by pressing the center button in time with the letters in the song's name to display different visual effects.

"The iPod is a device that revolutionized music and it is now poised to be a progressive gaming platform. Many years ago Apple's tools first opened my eyes to the power of music and multimedia, so it's exciting to release my first game for this device", commented NanaOn-Sha President Masaya Matsuura.

musika was created with the help of video game development studio Method Solutions.

Yearning to hear some geek nostalgia blasting out of your iPod? Here's your chance. According to Next Generation, Konami and Sony BMG Music Entertainment have inked a deal that will bring Konami's library of music to major online music retailers such as iTunes and Rhapsody.

This will be the first time that original music from Konami titles will be available through digital distribution (we're guessing they mean legal distribution here). Some of the featured music included in the deal will come from popular video game franchises including Contra, Castlevania, and Silent Hill.

Next Generation also reports that Konami has said in a statement that the music will also be downloadable through major mobile carriers as well as the official Konami website. To celebrate, here's a vid of one of the best Contra theme covers ever by the insanely great Minibosses.

Quite a few people have had problems with buying songs online through iTunes. and this comes from the fact that customers will often buy just a few singles from their favorite artists. However, should they decide that the album is worth buying, they have to pay full price for the album, regardless of whether they bought some of the songs already. This has led to quite a few choice words from certain audiophiles who feel they have been cheated.

Now, with the newly-launched Complete My Album feature, that is no longer the case. According to Eddie Cue, AppleÂ?s vice president of iTunes, "Music fans can now round out their music collections by upgrading their singles into complete albums with just one click, and get full credit for those songs they have previously purchased from iTunes".

So how does it work? After purchasing a single from an album, the customer is given 180 days to buy the album minus the cost of the singles. Customers who decide to buy any song on iTunes, will have the album of that song added to their Complete My Album page along with the price they have to pay if they wish to take advantage of the feature. Meanwhile, the president of Global Digital Business and US Sales of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Thomas Hesse, has taken note of iTunes and their constant improvements saying that iTunes "continues to revolutionize the digital music industry by offering music fans innovative ways to explore and enjoy new music."

All told, it's impressive on paper, but will it make money for the company?

The internet is filled with interesting reads, and this new statement from Steve Jobs, Apple's head honcho is definitely deserving of some talk. On the agenda for his "Thoughts on Music" piece? Opening up DRM, the future of the music player industry, and... Did we just say opening up DRM?

Well, in a sense. In his article, he discusses the current state of digital rights management and music, noting that Apple doesn't have power over the music it sells:

The rub comes from the music Apple sells on its online iTunes Store. Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the "big four" music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI.

Despite that, music players are big business, which is why he now discusses three possible scenarios for the future of digital music.

The three scenarios? First, there's staying the course and maintaining status quo, where music companies and Apple don't really make that great a profit from the less than 3% of purchased music on all iPods in existence. Second is Jobs' idea to sell their Fairplay DRM, attempting to make it the standard by which all DRM would work. Definitely unlikely, given the nature of business these days. Lastly, and probably the one we all like: the abolition of digital rights management.

You guys should definitely check out Jobs' article and then make your own decision. Which one of the options really piques your interest, eh?

Consumer regulators in Europe claim that Apple places too many restrictions on consumers buying songs from the  iTunes store -- and the winds of discontent are blowing across the pond.

The Free Software Foundation carried out protests two weeks ago at Apple retail stores in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. The issue is digital rights management technology (DRM) which limits what consumers can do with purchased content. These "Defective by Design" protests are aimed not only at Apple, but also at a  growing trend toward legal restrictions that bind digital content to particular playing devices.

"This isn't intended to attack Apple and its innovations, but really to draw attention to the existence of DRM technologies, and how they restrict what consumers can do with their music," says Ted Teah of the Cambridge Massachusetts-based FSF.

Leaflets were passed out at the protests in which Apple CEO Steve Jobs is quoted as saying, "If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own," suggesting that the company is being hypocritical in its use of DRM.

Last year, Sony BMG drew criticism when the company programmed CDs with a hidden code that secretly installed itself on users' hard drives, relayed information back to Sony, and left computers vulnerable to viruses. The result was the recall of  5 million CDs, customer boycotts and class action lawsuits.

Apple's use of DRM  isn't as invasive. Teah says those restrictions may become more onerous, however, and may be used as a basis of legal attacks against consumers by various music industry organizations which have sued consumers found to have downloaded pirated songs from the Internet.

"A teenage girl making a mix tape for a boy she has a crush on could become a target for an expensive lawsuit in the future," says Teah.

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst for JupiterResearch,  says that concerns about the iTunes DRM system are unfounded. "It's fairly innocuous," he says. "You can easily get around the restrictions by burning your songs to a CD, and then reimporting them as an MP3 or any other format you wish."

Let me know if anyone gets reminded of that Epic 2014 video about googlezon taking over the internet when you read this press release.

Google Inc announced the planned opening of the Google Video Store, the first open video marketplace enabling consumers to buy and rent a wide range of video content from a major television network, a professional sports league, cable programmers, independent producers and film makers. This fast growing collection of videos will include prime-time and classic hits from CBS, a full slate of NBA games from this season and outstanding performances from the past, music videos from SONY BMG, Charlie Rose interviews as well as news and historical content from ITN and new titles being added everyday.

"Google video will let you watch lots of high quality video on the web for the first time. You can search and browse, and we make it fast and easy for you to watch," said Larry Page, Google's co-founder and president, Products. "For video producers and anyone with a video camera, Google Video will give you a platform to publish to the entire Google audience in a fast, free and seamless way."

Additional highlights of Google's video collection will include:

• Music videos from SONY BMG. The line-up of launch videos includes offerings from some of SONY BMG's global superstar artists, including Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Kenny Chesney, Destiny's Child, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys, Lil' Flip, Jessica Simpson, Shakira, System of a Down, Switchfoot, Usher, and many more.
• Feature Length Independent Films from Greencine.com. Including works by legendary Polish director Andrzej Wajda (Zemsta), documentary filmmaker Ted Bonnitt (Mau Mau Sex Sex) and independent actor/director Caveh Zahedi (In the Bathtub of the World).
  Historic, news and educational footage from ITN. This material ranges from coverage of key events in 2005 such as the Pope John Paul II's death, back to a recording of the 1896 coronation of Tsar Nicholas II Â? one of the earliest known pieces of moving imagery.
• Charlie Rose interviews. Including interviews with Henry Kissinger, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, Martha Stewart, Martin Scorsese, Harrison Ford, Dan Rather, Charles M. Schulz, Steve Jobs, Jay Leno, Tom Brokaw, and others.
• Cartoon classics from Classic Media. Featuring many of the world's most famous animated series such as "Felix the Cat," "Casper The Friendly Ghost," and "Rocky and Bullwinkle."
• Children's educational programming from Clearvue. Educational video topics vary from teen education on tattoos to explanations about the workings of the human brain.
• Cartoon classics from Classic Media and children's educational programming from Clearvue. Google Video also offers many of the world's most famous animated series such as "Felix the Cat," "Casper The Friendly Ghost," and "Rocky and Bullwinkle." Educational video topics from Clearvue vary from teen education on tattoos to explanations about the workings of the human brain.
• Clips from Getty Images' Archive Films Collection. A diverse collection of short clips that capture personalities, moments and eras throughout history - selected from vintage newsreels and educational film, as well as contemporary news and events from around the world.

iPod and Sony Playstation Portable users will also be able to download and watch any non-copy-protected content from Google Video, and even get it specially optimized for playback on their devices. Google Video Store will be available throughout the world, however purchasing premium content in the Google Video Store will only be available in the U.S

Thanks to Wrdeal24 for the news!