In the ever changing world of MP3, we’ve got together all the week’s news and events, so you don’t have to ;-)

1. Version 2.0 of AT&T’s a2b music player is now available, enhancing this digital method of music distribution with faster downloading, MAC download capability, G2 Real Media streaming, and more flexible licensing options for artists and record labels.

In recent weeks, several top artists have signed on for digital download promotions, offering tracks from Squeeze, Blur, Aerosmith and Alanis Morissette.

http://www.a2bmusic.com/

2. Texas Instruments has teamed up with Liquid Audio to develop technical specifications for a portable music downloading device that would include a copyright protection feature. The device would be a direct competitor to the popular Rio PMP300 device, which has raised the hackles of the music industry because it allows the music to be replayed without paying the artist royalties. Liquid Audio is in talks with several electronics manufacturers and expects that the new devices should be in production by the third quarter of this year.

http://www.liquidaudio.com/

3. Sony thinks it’s solved the recording industry’s digital- music problem. The company on Thursday proposed new copyright-protection methods to the Secure Digital Music Initiative, the industry-standards group formed in response to the surge in popularity of MP3, the wildly popular technology that compresses music files at near-CD quality for easy transmission over the Internet.

Sony said its protection system comes in two parts - MagicGate and OpenMG. MagicGate is for recording and playback devices, and OpenMG is for computers. The company said the two together allow digital music “to be ‘moved’ rather than copied, while preventing unauthorized copying, playback, and transmission.”

MagicGate uses embedded microchips “to limit transmission of music between compliant devices and media,” Sony said. Under OpenMG, a separate piece of hardware installed on the computer serial port would limit transmission to authorized devices.

Sony called MagicGate and OpenMG “near-term solutions” to the challenge presented by MP3. As a longer-term solution, Sony said it would offer up Super MagicGate, an extension of MagicGate and OpenMG that could allow for flexibility in the usage and billing of music downloaded on the Internet.

“For example, promotional tracks could be limited to a single playback, whereas other content could be played back freely, a certain number of times, or over a limited playback period,” the company said. Or, “users could choose to purchase a music track after sampling it once for free or users could receive a limited.”

Sony is one of several companies trying to solve the digital music dilemma with a system answering both the industry’s copyright concerns and consumer desires. Earlier this month, IBM unveiled its Madison project, which it will test in San Diego this spring. Under that system, the testers will download the songs and burn the music onto recordable CDs which are playable on a regular stereo. That effort has the backing of BMG, EMI, Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Music.

http://www.sony.com/

(c) Zentertainment, Los Angeles Times and Wired News resp