Take Those Tunes Beyond Your iPod

Tim Berners-Lee blasts those chipping away at its 'egalitarian principles'

(NEWSER) - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British engineer credited with inventing the World Wide Web, has a message for us: Social networking sites, app developers, and other entities, if left unchecked, will ruin his creation—which now belongs to all of us. "The web evolved into a powerful, ubiquitous tool because it was built on egalitarian principles," he writes in Scientific American , but "some of its most successful inhabitants have begun to chip away at its principles." His complaints:

• Social networking sites: They are "walling off information posted by their users from the rest of the Web," making each site "a closed silo of content, and one that does not give you full control over your information in it."
• Smartphone apps: "It is better to build a Web app that will also run on smartphone browsers," rather than a "closed" smartphone app, he writes, adding that he is especially wary of the iTunes store, which is not an "open marketplace."

Even so, his latest album is available on it

(NEWSER) - “The Internet is the most dangerous thing invented since the atomic bomb,” according to rocker John Mellencamp. “It's destroyed the music business. It's going to destroy the movie business,” and it could lead “some smart people, the China-Russians or something,” to conquer us by hacking our power grid or financial system. He made the dire warnings while promoting his latest album…which was released in stores as well as, yes, on the Internet, Reuters reports . More»

'The Fixer' is their best song in years, however you come by it

(NEWSER) - Pearl Jam has been proudly iconoclastic for years—releasing records on vinyl, eschewing music videos, “bootlegging” concerts, and fighting Ticketmaster—but they’re getting old. So it surprises Jonah Weiner that The Fixer, the single from the band’s new album Backspacer, is “by far the most exciting track the band has released in years,” he writes for Slate. And the rub: It's sold exclusively at Target, with ringtones available from Verizon. More»

Streaming music gets a foothold among listeners

(NEWSER) - The wide world of online music now offers a range of ways to stream your tunes, from pay sites to musical social-networking services. It’s hard to tell which will stick around, but experts say they may help save the music industry, CNN reports. A sampling:

• Napster: It’s back and it’s legal, and for $5 a month, you can stream 7 million songs and download five.

Teen trades his Apple for a Sony for 1 week

(NEWSER) - In honor of the debut 30 years ago this week of the Sony Walkman, 13-year old Scott Campbell tried using the device for a week in place of his iPod. Campbell found the gadget took some getting used to, he writes for the BBC: “It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape." More»