This annual review showcases the significant events in the digital music world that we were lucky enough to cover. In this article you'll find a selection of cherry-picked articles covering the many aspects of digital music such as: top news stories; free music services; essential software; MP3 players and PMP players that stood out from the crowd in 2010.
Digital Music Services in The News:
- Last.fm drops Its Free Streaming Music Service
- Pandora Gets More Social With Facebook
- Apple Shuts Down Lala Music Service
- HMV Canada Launches Digital Music Store
- Digital Music Service Amie Street Acquired by Amazon
- Court Orders LimeWire to Shutdown its File Sharing Servers
- Sony Launches New Cloud Music Service
Humorous News Reports in 2010:
- Universal Music Group Loses Legal Battle With Dancing Baby
- John Mellencamp Likens Digital Music to an Atomic Bomb
Free Digital Media Services:
- Meemix Review - A good Internet radio station that we felt was a decent alternative to Pandora. With a quick and easy way to discover new music, and a powerful interface for creating customized radio stations, we gave a high mark for this free service. Meemix also surprised us by having a good social networking platform and a unique mood control option to help you tweak suggested tracks based on your listening mood.
- Top 3 Websites For Watching Music Videos - Seeing that most people these days have a fast Internet connection, it made perfect sense to review some of the best free music video sites out there. This visual experience is a great resource for us digital music fans in discovering new artists and bands.
MP3/PMP Players:
- SanDisk Sansa Clip+ - With the addition of new features such as a microSD card slot, more supported audio formats, and enhanced menu options (i.e Replay Gain), the Sansa Clip+ once again impressed us -- especially considering its a budget MP3 player with superb sound.
- SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ - Another winner from SanDisk that surprised us with its friendly 'invisible touch' controls. With even more support for audio and video formats than before, and an iPod nano-beating video screen, the Sansa Fuze+ got high marks for being a great value budget media player.
Software:
- Nero Music2Go Review - Nero Music2GO impressed us when reviewed. For Nintendo DSi users who love their music collection and want to listen to it via a flash card, Music2Go got good marks for being simple, inexpensive, and technophobe-friendly -- what more could you ask for?
- Bliss Review - This album art organizer exceeded our expectations when we put it through its paces. This multi-platform software program runs in the background and keeps your music library artwork in check at all times. Definitely a winner if you've got a constantly changing digital music library.
