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Sony Corp.—the fairly big Japanese company who invented the Betamax—announced that it was planning to become a top global player in cell phones and mobile computing devices. The company currently sells most of its cell phones in Europe, having withdrawn from the U.S. cell phone market last year. Sony CEO Kunitake Ando said the company plans to return to the U.S. market in 2001 or 2002. "Sony now has more than a 20% share in the 10 trillion yen ($95 billion) global market for audio-visual market," Ando told Reuters. "But that's not the reason we're getting into cell phones and mobile computing devices. Those two items are simply the only technological gizmos we don't currently make"… MP3.com unveiled its new Music Service Provider (MSP) Platform 1.0 at today's (6/20) MP3 Summit 2000 in San Diego. The new MSP offers customers a suite of personalized music content and services, including built-in security, access to statistical data, targeted marketing opportunities and digital rights payment systems. "The MSP Platform 1.0 powers our partners' music solutions by providing content and services while creating new revenue opportunities," said MP3 Chairman/CEO michael robertson',390,400);">michael robertson',390,400);">Michael Robertson. "And you don't see those ravenous pirate bastards Napster doing anything like that, now do you?"… ClickRadio Inc. announced today that it has been granted an interactive radio license from independent label Koch Entertainment, home to artists such as The Kinks, Amy Rigby, Mo' Thugs and others. This follows similar agreements granted by Universal Music Group and BMG Entertainment. The site uses Lucent Technologies' ePAC compression and playback system, which delivers secure digital music while protecting artists' rights. ClickRadio's Internet radio offers a customizable experience for customers, who can vote on the songs they hear. Now, if only that same technology could be applied to the tired shticks of morning DJs… Today, digital music distribution company DigMedia Inc. released the $499 MusicStore, a device that combines a CD player, digital jukebox and a portable MP3 player/docking station that can record, store and manage up to 200 conventional audio CDs using a rights-secure MP3 format—all while preparing a perfect Caf Mocha. The device is idiot-proof, automatically converting CDs to MP3 format (and storing them on the unit's 6.4GB hard drive) as they are played. DigMedia proclaims that the MusicStore, with its ability to store 200 CDs, can replace an entire CD collection, proving that the company has never seen the room-consuming libraries of any music critic… Musicland announced that it has chosen Liquid Audio as the preferred provider of digital downloads on all its music destination sites, including SamGoody.com, Suncoast.com, OnCue.com and MediaPlay.com. Liquid's Retail Integration and Fulfillment System (RIFFS) will enable the sites to promote and sell Internet singles with CD-quality sound, online lyrics, liner notes and album art. Musicland execs admitted it wasn't so much the technology of RIFFS but the cool rock and roll acronym that swung the deal… BMI songwriters, composers and independent music publishers can now register new works online at the company's Web site, thanks to the company's new BMI eNet service. The online registration system automates much of the data input process through the use of an online "wizard" customized for each songwriter, which takes advantage of data already entered into the system, thus reducing the amount of inputting from the songwriter. Industry insiders predict that it is only a matter of years before record labels take advantage of this model and create an e-service that will automatically screw bands with minimal effort from both parties.