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Sony has agreed to acquire Gracenote for about $260M.
Gracenote provides a range of music-related solutions including MusicID, which detects which song is currently being played by an application and loads track information for the user (such as artist and album names). MusicID leverages a database of over 6M CDs and 80M tracks. Its technology has been in development since 1995 (previously under the name CDDB).
Consumer music app services such as Apple iTunes, Yahoo! Music Jukebox, and Winamp use Gracenote for their music detection capabilities.
Gracenote will continue to operate separately from Sony after the deal is closed, which will probably happen in late May. Senior management will stay on. [TechCrunch]

Internal Microsoft videos just aren’t what they used to be with Utopian technologies and eye-candy special effects. This internal promotional video for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 was  apparently ‘leaked‘ by an unflattered employee who bluntly called it “stupid”. For those who doubt it’s authenticity (and I don’t blame you), Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer makes a pretty short but lasting appearance. (via Channel9 forums and Neowin).
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IGN has the scoop on the controller for the eagerly anticipated DS version of Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero: On Tour will come with a Guitar Grip that plugs into the GBA slot of your DS and allows players to fret along with a song while strumming digital strings on the screen. The Guitar Grip includes a hand strap and a little storage compartment for the specially designed stylus pick.
IGN reports that the microphone will also be used, probably to activate Star Power mode with a Jack Black-esque rock scream.
On Tour, due this summer, will support both co-op and competitive multiplayer using the DS’ local wireless functions, a battle mode and come packed with more than 20 songs. [Kotaku]

Financial Times reports that Apple is currently in discussions with music companies to allow customers to have unlimited access to the entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and iPhone devices (presumably for the life of the device).
The plan sounds similar to Universal’s Total Music plan in which the cost of music is embedded into the music player itself. Based on the wording of this article, it seems Apple’s version of the plan adds the cost on top of the iPod or iPhone.
The negotiations are currently being held up due to disagreements in pricing. Apple is reportedly only offering $20 per device, while Nokia is playing almost $80/handset for a similar plan. Other possibilities appear to include a subscription based service for iPhone users ($7-8/month, for example) with the capability to keep up to 40-50 tracks/year even after the subscription lapses.
Historically, the Financial Times has been a reliable source of information with early details of Apple’s plans to introduce iTunes Movie rentals well ahead of its release. [Macrumors]

Amazon.com plans to make DRM-free MP3 music downloads from Sony BMG Music Entertainment available to customers on Amazon MP3 later this month, making Amazon MP3 the only retailer to offer customers DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels (in addition to over 33,000 independent labels). I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: “Finally, a real iTunes competitor”. Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 digital music store, where every song is playable on virtually any digital music-capable device, prices songs from 89 cents to 99 cents.
Launched in September 2007, Amazon MP3 offers Earth’s Biggest Selection of à la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes over 270,000 artists. Every song and album (usually priced between $5.99 and $9.99) in the Amazon MP3 music download store is available exclusively in the MP3 format without DRM software and is encoded at 256 Kbps. Anyone want to take bets on how long it will take Microsoft to offer the Amazon MP3 store directly from the Zune software?
“We are excited to offer Amazon MP3 customers DRM-free MP3s from SONY BMG, which represents many of the most popular musicians from the past and present. Our Amazon MP3 customers will be able to choose from a full selection of DRM-free music downloads from all four major labels and over 33,000 independents that they can play on virtually any music-capable device,” said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President for Digital Music. [Neowin]

In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without the copyright protection software that has long restricted the use of music downloaded from the Internet. Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony and Bertelsmann, will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter. Sony BMG would become the last of the top four music labels to drop DRM, following Warner Music Group, which in late December said it would sell DRM-free songs through Amazon.com’s digital music store. EMI and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group announced their plans for DRM-free downloads earlier in 2007.

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