Big news today for music fans. Apple today announced that in April 2009 the iTunes Music Store will begin offering music for 69¢, 99¢, and $1.29 per individual track (most albums will still sell for $9.99). However, the bigger news in my opinion is that Apple is expanding their DRM-free iTunes Plus library (encoded at 256-Kbps AAC) to 8 million songs from their store’s total 10 million tracks. The last 2 million songs are planned to be available by March 2009. What’s more, all iTunes users can update their entire library with one-click to the higher quality DRM-free tracks at 30¢ a piece (or 30% of the album price). On the iPhone front, owners will be happy to learn that they can purchase songs – at the same price and quality – over their cellular 3G network as they have via Wi-Fi. MORE »

OMG. What unholy union has D-Link created here? D-Link today is unveiling to the world a cross-segment device that combines a 802.11n Wi-Fi router, 3.2-inch photo frame / data display, NAS server with UPnP / BitTorrent / FTP functionality, and SharePort server for printer and scanner sharing. Ok… so after all that has sunk in, it’s really not that bad. In fact, combining a NAS server with a wireless router is pretty cool. The big mystery is the LCD. The company’s press release states: “the vibrant LCD screen [...] displays device status via graphical gauges, digital photos, streamed video, weather forecasts and other live streaming Internet content in up to 1.6 million colors.” Something tells me D-links want you to place this device right on your desktop or bookshelf. Price, availability, and storage capacity: TBD. MORE »

For those looking for an enterprise strength home server that offers the ultimate in storage expandability in a compact enclosure, check out QNAP’s latest RAID configurable beast with full on 256-bit data encryption and Load Balancing. Honestly, this is probably overkill for the majority of homes, but if you’re intent on collecting a ginormous media collection of Blu-ray / DVD movie rips, lossless audio, and hi-res photos that will be served around the home to multiple computers, then the QNAP TS-639 might just be for you. Attached below is the press release with more details to whet your appetite and a video showcase produced by QNAP. MORE »

The day all you iPhone and Slingbox owners have been waiting for has just about arrived. Sling Media will be demonstrating a version of the SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone at Macworld this week, which the company says should be available in iTunes the first quarter of 2009. Also on display will be the new SlingPlayer for Mac HD that will allow Slingbox PRO-HD users to stream HD content to their desktop or laptop. Interestingly, the new SlingPlayer is a web-based application that’s only accessible via Sling.com. Additional details are provided below. MORE »

LG is announcing the company is getting set to launch a new LCD and plasma “Broadband HDTV” line that will be capable of streaming Netflix video from a subscriber’s Watch Instantly queue via their broadband connection over Ethernet – similar to the company’s BD300 Network Blu-ray Player. According to the press release, users will also be able to to browse Netflix’s available library and make further selections right on the TV using the accompanying remote. In addition, people will also be able to read synopses, rate movies, and, of course, play / pause / rewind / fast-forward movie selections as they’re streaming. No word on pricing or availability other than: sometime in 2009. MORE »

Interested in finding an economical, plug-n-play home media server to add to your network for PC backup, file sharing, and media serving duties to digital media adapters (including DLNA certified devices)? If yes, have a look at this little gem just released by Iomega called the Home Media Network Drive selling for just $229.99 with 1TB of storage (500GB @ $159.99). Product highlights include: Gigabit Ethernet, UPnP A/V Media Server, iTunes Server, Bonjour device discovery, USB print server functionality, browser based administration, and a copy of EMC Retrospect for scheduling (Windows / Mac) PC to network drive backups. All in all, the Home Media Network Drive not only sounds like a great deal but it appears to be a very capable device with all the right ingredients for a connected home environment. MORE »

Scoot over, Netflix. Roku and Amazon have announced a partnership to provide the Roku Digital Video Player (notice Roku finally changed their device’s name from “Netflix Player by Roku” to the Roku Digital Video Player — good move) users access to Amazon’s Video On Demand library in the early part of 2009. Soon users will be able to rent new movie titles (launched the same day as their DVD counterparts) and TV shows ranging in price from 99-cents to $3.99 with a 24 hour viewing window. Users will also be able to purchase videos to own, which will be stored in “your video library” at Amazon.com for convenient access from any PC, Mac, or TV. It’s also worth pointing out that Amazon VOD videos will be encoded in the advanced H.264 codec and will stream at the best quality possible (either 300, 600, 900 or 1200 kbps) automatically according to your detected bandwidth connection speed. Full press release below. MORE »

CE Pro Magazine gave subscribers an early sneak peek at ZeeVee’s upcoming ZvPro rack mountable, HD over coaxial cable distribution appliance in its latest edition. Unfortunately, the details in ZeeVee’s ad spot were a bit thin for our taste, but it looks like the ZvPro will be able to screen shift (if that’s actually a technological term yet) the feed provided by a DVR, media server, HD set-top box, and even a PC. What’s more, with a PC connection, ZvPro users gain access to “unlimited video on demand from the internet, plus email, web surfing, and more [on all your] HDTVs.” How it will do all this is a mystery, so stay turned – an official press release should be hitting the wires later this week. [via]

Looks like the guys at LG aren’t threatened by the likes of Samsung’s BD-P2500. LG is announcing that in the next few weeks owners of their BD300 Network Blu-ray Player will gain access to CinemaNow – including its HD library – and YouTube content directly from their player. These new enhancements are in addition to LG’s recently added Netflix HD streaming support. Now, if someone can pass the word along that us, connected home enthusiasts, would like to see UPnP functionality added so we can stream our stored media from network PCs and NAS servers, that would be very much appreciated. MORE »

I get and respect Cisco’s desire to dig deeper into the home, but I am not convinced that a piece of consumer electronics gear is the way to do it. According to the NYT, Cisco is looking to develop a “a digital stereo system that is meant to move music wirelessly around a house.” MORE »