Physical media such as CD and DVD is very slowly but surely being replaced by digital formats. Whether it’s streaming or downloads, physical is the past, digital is the present and future. As if to prove that, Linn Products is ceasing manufacture of all CD players, instead concentrating on its hard drive-based streaming players. Surely the first of many companies to take this decision.

Sony unveiled plans for a digital download store to sell music, videos and books just like Apple’s iTunes. What the company forgot to mention is that the digital download space is already too crowded.

The launch of popular music streaming service Spotify has already been delayed once in the U.S.A., and now it may be delayed even more due to the record labels not liking the business model.

Music piracy is a huge part of the Internet and, whether you think it’s a major problem as the record labels would have us believe or not, most countries are looking to crack down on it. A new survey suggests that Spotify reduces people’s reliance on illegal downloading of music. So, is streaming the future? Not only for music but for other forms of entertainment as well?

A judge has ordered BlueBeat to immediately halt sales of The Beatles MP3s on its site, but the company is coming back with a rather unique defense.

The Beatles are finally releasing official digital files of all of their studio albums, while also suing a company for selling illegal ones.

Music piracy is evil and those who illegally download and share music with each other are the devil’s spawn. Right? Wrong. In fact, a new survey shows that those who partake of a little filesharing every now and then actually spend more on music than anyone else. So rather than chasing them down with what sometimes borders on a vengeful vendetta, the music industry should perhaps be nurturing these people and appreciating them as music lovers.

Music download site BlueBeat is offering up a treat this Halloween weekend, but we suspect it will be getting a trick come Monday morning.

The latest iTunes update again breaks the Palm Pre’s “unofficial” sync capability in a game of cat and mouse that can only serve to drive away paying iTunes customers.

Google has officially launched a new music component to its search engine which should make it possible for you to find just about any song you want, even if you only know a few of the lyrics.

Apparently when you’re Google, you really want to offer users reasons to never leave your sites, so why not start offering them music to boot?

Pretty soon you won’t be able to throw a rock without hitting an online music store of some type.

Google is celebrating another landmark in online video having become the first organization to chalk up 10 billion clip views in the United States a single month. The figures come as the firm appears close to ending a nine-month standoff which has kept Warner music videos off YouTube.

The Zune business has been a sinking ship for Microsoft. With revenue being dramatically down and sales slipping, it seemed like the company was about to call it quits on the MP3 business. However, despite reported layoffs and revenue drops Microsoft believes the Zune HD will turn everything around.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) are pushing to make double dipping for revenue from digital music the norm. Is the music industry determined to annoy consumers and retailers until we all turn our backs on it for good?

Spotify is already revolutionizing the way we consume music on our computers, allowing the streaming of over 6 million tracks for free and on demand. And now it’s also revolutionizing the smartphone market, with the release of Spotify Mobile on the iPhone and Android platforms.

A plan to combat file sharing by disconnecting broadband users who are believed to be involved in the downloading of unlicensed music files is facing renewed opposition in Great Britain.