AOL-prepped MusicNet born in the USA

AOL launches music subscription service based on MusicNet. More than a year after music subscription services Pressplay and MusicNet hit the play button, AOL thinks the public is finally ready to pay for its online music. MusicNet on AOL boasts 250,000 tracks from all five major labels and others that have joined up to the MusicNet project. ...more

Music industry renews legal war against file-sharers

The music industry has recommenced its legal assault on p2p file sharing with the announcement of more than 8,000 cases against alleged sharers in 17 countries. Internet users in three countries, Brazil, Mexico and Poland, are being targeted for the first time. The IFPI, the major record companies international umbrella group, estimates that in Brazil alone, where record company revenues have fallen more than 40 per cent since 2000, more than one billion music tracks were downloaded last year. ...more

Fears grow over EU data retention law

Experts fear that new EU rules on data retention could be "gold-plated" by the UK government. The EU Data Retention Directive came into effect on May 2006. The directive obligates all ISPs and network operators of mobile, fixed and internet telephony, email services, messaging and Internet access to retain traffic and location data for between six months and two years. ...more

HP lifts lid on new Compaq tc4000 Tablet PC

Delegates of HP's Mobility Conference in San Jose were given a rare chance to examine the tc4000, the company's new Tablet PC. Unlike HP's previous Tablet, the tc4000 is a convertible. This means it can be used as a conventional notebook, or the screen can be swivelled around and folded back upon itself to create a slate. ...more

Lloyds' euro rollout starts in Spain

Lloyds TSB has launched its online bank, evolvebank.com, in Spain today, ahead of its UK launch. Lloyds has watched from the sidelines the troubles that have hit other online banking ventures and so has proceeded with a cautious rollout - the service has been available to a controlled sample of 100 Spaniards in the last couple of months. ...more