Amazon already offers its AutoRip service, which began in January and provides free digital copies of purchased physical CDs. The company has just announced an extension of that service to include purchased vinyl records from Amazon dating back to 1998. For every vinyl purchase, Amazon will provide MP3 versions to the consumer’s Cloud Player immediately and for free. Every major record label is represented on AutoRip. Continue reading Amazon AutoRip Service Updated to Include Vinyl Records

Redbox Instant by Verizon officially launched last week, opening to the public after a three-month-long closed beta test that drummed up interest from thousands of consumers, according to Redbox Instant CEO Shawn Strickland. He said the beta test period was a great learning opportunity for the company and the service, which offers subscribers access to 4,600 subscription titles and four DVD rentals for $8 a month. Continue reading Redbox Instant By Verizon Offers DVDs and Streaming

At South by Southwest this week, BitTorrent officially launched the open beta for its BitTorrent Live streaming service, which allows anyone with a camera to stream live video to an unlimited number of viewers. Those broadcasting can either stream with a webcam or use an app such as Flash Media Encoder to stream their content. Users will need to download the BitTorrent Live plugin to view others’ streams. Continue reading BitTorrent Launches Live P2P Streaming Service at SXSW

Subscription Video On Demand services are helping ease the film industry’s pain regarding slumping DVD sales. But is it happening fast enough? Speaking at the Film Finance Forum West, Eli Baker, a partner at Hemisphere Capital Management, noted that determining whether the industry is making that money back dollar-for-dollar is a difficult thing to pinpoint — though he does say there’s reason to be optimistic. Continue reading Subscription VOD Earnings Do Not Offset Falling DVD Sales

Rising royalty costs are causing a problem for Pandora, the popular music streaming service that will now have to limit the amount of free music users can access on mobile devices. According to a blog post from Tim Westergren, the company’s founder, users will face a limit of 40 hours per month on mobile devices, a change to take effect this week on the free streaming service. Continue reading Pandora Limits Free Mobile Streaming Due to Royalty Costs