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Of course, apart from RioPort’s own PulseOne service, we don’t know which providers plan to use this
d2d stuff.

TECH ROUNDUP: AS RELIABLE AS A NEW YEAR’S HANGOVER

All the Excitement of CES, Without Those Pesky Porn Stars
MUSIC CHOICE: A STREET TEAM FOR YOUR COUCH
Cable TV outlet Music Choice’s January concert offerings include Radiohead, performing songs from their new live album, I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings, now playing and continuing through 1/13, the Queensryche/Corrosion of Conformity perfs (1/21-1/27) and installments of MC’s Street Team. The nice young people of the latter series will be seen flossin’ and waxin’ with the likes of Nas, Lil’ Bow Wow and JJ72. Audio-only versions can be heard on MC Showcase 1 channel, #802 on DirecTV—just two spaces up from the softcore porn channel you’re watching now. Meanwhile, you can hear tracks from concerts by Five For Fighting, Smash Mouth and others at Music Choice LIVE. In a related story, it’s not easy to work the cable remote with one hand.

RIPORT LEAVES SUB SERVICE USERS TO ITS
OWN DEVICES
You geeks out there are familiar with annoying tech abbreviations like P2P and b2b. Well, the folks at RioPort are about to lay another one on ya: d2d. That stands for "direct-to-device," and is shorthand for the company’s plan to enable users of authorized music subscription services to transfer tracks to their portable digital players. It’s an exciting new way to give customers more while giving them less! You see, DRM (digital rights management) in new sub services is designed to prevent unathorized copying; RioPort claims its technology will respect "timed-out" tracks and other limitations imposed by DRM makers like Microsoft while still letting subscribers transfer music to portables. Of course, apart from RioPort’s own PulseOne service, we don’t know which providers plan to use this d2d stuff. They’re all, "we can’t comment," and we’re all, "but we’re writing a story," and they’re all, like, "whatever," and we’re all, "whatever." But gear and chip makers like TI, Samsung, Sanyo and SONICblue (which makes players with the Rio name) are suitably geeked. "This would be really cool if I owned an MP3 player," noted one consumer as he burned a copy of a friend’s new CD.

TROJANS PIERCE FILE-SWAPPERS’ HARD DRIVES
Now that’s a hot and sweaty headline, no? Of course, habitual users of file-swapperies LimeWire and Grokster are feeling pretty turned off this week, poor dears, as antivirus watchdog Symantec revealed the P2P services had unleashed a Trojan-horse "spyware" virus in their latest versions, according to a CNET report. It had come bundled in pop-up ads from something called Clicktilluwin. While not particularly destructive, the software apparently hijacks user info for unspecified purposes, even if the user believes he or she has opted out of using it. Spokespeople for LimeWire and Grokster were deeply shocked, and though blaming unscrupulous advertisers for the Trojan, vowed to fix the problem as soon as possible. Unless, of course, you consider a system that lets people share millions of copyrighted songs without compensating anyone a problem. They’re not planning to fix that part.

NEAR TRUTHS: SPRING BLOOMS
Here come the big guns. (3/28a)
THE COUNT: COLDPLAY IS HOT, COUNTRY'S COOKIN' IN THE U.K.
The latest tidbits from the bustling live sector (3/28a)
CITY OF HOPE TAPS MARCIANO FOR TOP HONOR
This year's philanthropic model (3/28a)
TRUST IN THE TOP 20
Hip-hop is no longer hibernating. (3/28a)
UMG BROADENS SPOTIFY OFFERINGS
Sir Lucian and Daniel are in harmony. (3/28a)
THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
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