SiliconValley.com carries an AP wirestory concerning the widely predicted death of SDMI (Where's SDMI? Digital music protection effort flames out). Unfortunately, the SDMI website "is temporarily unavailable while we move the data another server." The article also announces the creation of the Digital Media Device Association which has been meeting since January and intends to pick up where SDMI left off. The group is rather secretive; beyond a paragraph blurb, their website gives only a meeting schedule and contact information. IDG.net carried a similar story about SDMI in February (Why Secure Digital Music Initiative is falling apart).
C|Net News reports that struggling digital audio distributor Liquid Audio has announced a new service that permits customers to burn songs to CDs and transfer them to portable devices (Liquid Audio to let subscribers burn music). Problem is the new service (Burnitfirst.com) only allows customers to burn music to CDs three times and export it to portable devices five times. While this may sound like an improvement, it completely misses the point of music portability and will likely suffer the same ignominious death as SDMI. CD-Rs are cheap, I get them in bulk for less than $0.25 a piece. Consequently, I burn new mixes of music for parties or car trips quite frequently. When I tire of a particular mix, I throw it away. Burning a CD or transferring music to a portable player isn't like making a permanent record or backup, it is a spur of the moment transitory experience.
In a related story, it looks as if consumer-friendly computer manufacturer Gateway is considering moving deeper into the music business, according to this C|Net report (Gateway tests waters of music business). For one thing, Gateway notes that it has a chain of retail stores, a possible alternative for music distribution. While the move is a good one for consumers, it isn't so clear that it is a good one for a struggling PC manufacturer.
C|Net News also carries a Reuters wirestory concerning Fox Entertainment's decision to pull out of a joint movies-on-demand venture with Disney, aka Movies.com (Fox slinks away from Movies.com venture). Doesn't appear as if Hollywood has learned anything from the experience of the recording industry.