News Archive for 06/03/10

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BlackCoat Work iPod jacket

03/10, 3:00pm

iPod jacket available for pre-order

Koyono today announced that its first made-for-iPod garment, the BlackCoat Work, is on sale via the company's website. First unveiled in mid-January, the BlackCoat Work is a light jacket made from water resistant stretch cotton, and includes integrated controls for Apple's iPod digital media players. The fabric interfaces which enable the embedded controls are made from ElekTex--a unique five-layer laminate of electrically conductive materials that transforms fabric into an electronic touchpad. Koyono's BlackCoat Work stretch cotton jacket will begin shipping May 15th for $180. The company also announced that a limited-edition version of the garment made from Nextec Flathead nylon with Epic waterproofing is slated for shipment on March 30th for $250.

Amazon, studios in talks

03/10, 12:10pm

Amazon in talks with Hollywood studios

Amazon is talking with three Hollywood studios about creating a video, TV, and movie download service that will allow customers to burn content onto DVDs. The move will place Amazon into direct competition with Apple's own iTunes Music Store, which currently sells TV shows and short films for $1.99 each. Amazon is currently in advanced negotiations with Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, and Warner Brothers, according to Reuters. Amazon is also in talks with the four largest music labels about starting a digital music service, which would thrust the online retailer into the digital music sector along with iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, Yahoo, and others.

Music labels, price fixing

03/10, 10:25am

Record labels accused of price fixing

A major name in class-action lawsuits has filed a complaint in the federal court, accusing major record labels of fixing prices for internet music downloads as well as CDs. San Diego attorney William Lerach's lawsuit claims that Sony BMG, Universal Music, Time Warner, Bertelsmann, and EMI fought together to keep the online music market from emerging, and then "conspired to fix and maintain" music prices once services like Apple's iTunes Music Store became inevitable, according to a report from the Red Herring. The class-action suit follows hot on the heels of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into online music pricing, and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has initiated a similar probe. The suit alleges that the music labels "use their market power to coerce online music retailers to sign 'most favored nation' agreements that specify that the retailers must pay each of the defendant labels the same amount. By setting a wholesale price floor at $0.70 per song, defendants have fixed and maintained the price of online music at supracompetitive levels," the suit reads.