TechCrunch, much like the Digital Freedom Campaign, believes we need a Digital Bill of Rights to serve as "a consistent policy governing everything from Internet Protocol regulations to intellectual property on the Web."

The Digital Freedom Campaign focuses on the first three issues laid out in the TechCrunch piece -- "The Right to Use and Reuse Content," "The Right to Control Digital Property On Your Own Device" and "The Right to the Free Flow of Information."

The presidential election gives us a chance to turn the page and move forward, with support and guidance from policymakers, into a bright digital future.

Now let's see if anyone in Washington is listening.

Read more about it at TechCrunch.

And then cast your vote!

Muxtape.com has changed its tune.

A month after the NYC-based music site was shut down by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for copyright infringement, founder Justin Ouellette announced that it will re-launch with a new focus.

The six-month-old site had allowed users to create playlists or mixtapes of up to 12 songs and share the lists with friends. According to a message on the Muxtape home page, the site will now become a service for bands to promote their music on the Web.

The revamped Muxtape will join a long list of Web firms like Nabbr, TuneCore and Music Nation, which are trying to cash in on helping aspiring artists disseminate their music online without signing up with a label. It will have a difficult time distinguishing itself from its competitors, industry observers say. 

More at Crain's New York.

Here's how the RIAA views it.

In the latest attempt to shore up sales of music on physical media, SanDisk and the four major music companies have announced a new format called slotMusic.

SlotMusic will be introduced in mid-October at such retail outlets as Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

Each of these little babies will contain an album, plus extras, on a compact memory card that can be played on mobile phones, PCs and some portable MP3 players. The cards are inserted into vacant slots on phones and other devices. The slots are increasingly common on newer phones, but the placement of the slot depends on the phone model.

SanDisk is a maker of flash data storage card products.

People close to the record companies and retailers said they view the effort as an experiment.

The initial batch of releases will consist of 29 albums, mostly by current pop artists including Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Robin Thicke, New Kids on the Block, Weezer, Usher, Chris Brown, Akon and Leona Lewis. In a nod to older buyers, Elvis Presley is also represented.

The music will be sold in the MP3 format, without digital locks that prevent copying. An adapter will be included allowing users to transfer their music to PCs via their USB slots.

The albums are expected to cost $15 and are likely to be stocked by retailers near CDs and portable devices such as MP3 players and mobile phones. 

More at the Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch.

McDonald's and Microsoft are now offering a side of Wi-Fi for Zune. 

Microsoft Zune users will be able to tap into free Wi-Fi networks at nearly 10,000 McDonald's nationwide under a new partnership.

(Do we put "I'm Loving It" here?) 

A software upgrade lets Zune users instantly purchase and download songs through the player's FM radio application when connected to a hot spot.

The McDonald's feature is made available through high-speed Internet service provider Wayport, which provides Wi-Fi service at the hamburger joints.

Get more at InformationWeek. 

Radio beats CD and MP3s when it comes to music listening, according to a recent survey.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans said they listen to music nearly every day, according to the report.

The radio hasn't lost its luster with music listening fans despite the popularity of CD and MP3 players and other sources to tune into sound, a recent poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports has found.

A plurality of adults (42%) said they still prefer to turn on their radios to listen to music. That beat the 25% of respondents that said they most often use a CD player when listening to tunes and 14% that use an MP3 player.

Just under 10% turned to satellite radio, while only 5% listened over their computer and a scant 1% used a tape deck.

Not surprisingly, young adults (45%) were more likely to use an MP3 player than their elders (22%), the survey said.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans said they listen to music everyday or nearly everyday.

While more popular with younger listeners, 69% of respondents said they rarely or never download music, while 18% said they do that occasionally. Of those that download, 71% said they do it legally, while 3% admitted that they pirated tunes. The balancer (26%) were unsure if they downloaded music legally or illegally.

A vast majority -- 90% -- said they did not belong to a monthly music service. But those who said they download music daily or at least once a week were more likely to do it illegally than those who do it once a week or less frequently. 

More at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

And how many of you remember Elvis Costello's single, "Radio Radio"? (Thanks to Wikipedia for the date.)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the new Apple iPods are not that big ... 

But how about this?

Microsoft will reportedly introduce a wireless service for its Zune music player through which users can download music -- one of several features the company will add to better compete against the Apple nemesis.

The new Zunes will also enable users to tag and buy songs they hear on its FM radio, and Microsoft will begin selling versions with 16 gigabytes and 120 gigabytes of storage for $199 and $250, respectively.

Read more about it in Detroit Free Press and Reuters.

The Cult of Mac claims that the new iPod touch is VoIP-capable on the hardware side:

With 5 wires connected to the Touch headphone jack (instead of 4 on the previous model), the device now supports the external microphone included with some headsets, according to Kyle Wiens of iFixit, who fully dismantled an iPod Touch on Wednesday.

So who needs an AT&T-restricted iPhone? Course, you'll need to be in range of a Wi-Fi network to use VoIP on the iPod touch.

It is worth pointing out that this is not the first time someone has run VoIP on the iPod touch. Touchmods added a microphone hack to the older iPod touch version. Another group enabled a SIP softphone client for the iPod touch to use with the "hacked-in" microphone.

With the new iPod touch - no hacking required.

Apple has sent out invitations for a music-related event next week, and the smart money is on new iPods.

The invitation, titled "Let's Rock," went out this morning inviting media to the Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts in San Francisco next Tuesday at 10 a.m. PDT.

Rumors have been building for weeks that Apple is set to introduce new iPods at what will be its fourth September iPod event in as many years.

Many have been expecting Apple to hold a September iPod-related event since March, when audio chipmaker Wolfson informed its shareholders that it had been shut out of the design of next-generation media players from "a major Tier 1 customer" who planned a third-quarter launch.

Launching in September gives Apple plenty of time to build distribution and marketing for new iPods ahead of the , when the company sells the bulk of its iPods for the year. 

Read a lot more on CNet here.

Is every kid in America (at least at a certain age bracket) heading back to High School (or even Middle School) this week with a cell phone and iPod?

I'm sure there a many other variations of gadgetry in the average back-to-school back pack (or other notebook, pencil, paper, lunch carrying device), but that's got to be the one.

Wait ... Maybe it's just the iPhone without anything else, but that would seem to be more appropriate for a higher demo that what I'm given to thinking. 

Or maybe the real debate is the iPod and a specific model of cell phone in tandem?

Anyway, before I get myself all confused over this burning issue, what do you think? Anybody out there got anything to contribute?

In Singapore, the Dutch consumer electronics maker Philips is designing a multimedia server to stream audio and video through the air, from the Internet to any device in the home.

In Munich, a former unit of Siemens envisions a cordless phone that would double as a music player, wirelessly drawing music from home computers.

In Japan, members of Sony's global "digital home team" are redesigning 90% of the company's home electronics components to connect wirelessly to the Internet by 2011.

Across the consumer electronics industry, the leading players are revamping their audio and video equipment for a future centered around the Internet, a world in which televisions, stereos, computers -- even kitchen appliances like dishwashers and refrigerators -- can communicate with each other over a wireless home network.

Some industry executives say the new focus on Internet content and wireless networks reflects a fundamental shift in home entertainment. 

Expanded lines of "networked entertainment equipment" took center stage this week at the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin, the largest consumer electronics convention in Europe, with 1,200 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors.

Sony is introducing plug-in adapters to enable some of its Bravia television sets to connect to the Internet wirelessly. Philips is demonstrating a line of hard-disc stereo systems that can wirelessly read and play music stored on personal computers or laptops in other rooms, streaming music selectively through the house.

Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp are presenting flat-panel TVs that hook up to the Internet, some with wires, some without. Hewlett Packard's MediaSmart LCD TV will wirelessly stream high-definition video. 

More at the International Herald Tribune.