Livestation - NEW beta 1.0.76.7

Livestation is a free software application that provides a range of live news television channels and radio stations that can be received on a computer anywhere with a basic broadband connection. You can watch television on your desktop, or on your laptop, at home, at work, on the move, or in a hotel room, provided you have a broadband internet connection or wireless access.

Livestation allows you to receive live TV and radio news from the world’s leading broadcasters on your PC, via a multi-channel interactive application on the desktop giving you a unique window on the world’s news. You can watch Livestation full screen or minimised to fit in the corner of your screen, enabling you to carry on with other tasks while also keeping an eye on the news. You can flick between channels, just as you would on your TV set.

new in Livestation 1.0.76.7:

- Personalise your player with your own channels(stream bookmarks).
- Bookmark your own channels, tag them, search for them
- Watch your own channels in Livestation.
- Twitter integration [full changelog]

LiveStation.com

Social·fm Desktop 5.5.0.194

Social·fm Desktop formerly Mercora IMRadio is for the music connoisseur or aficionado who is into music discovery. Social·fm Desktop is the "universal tuner" that connects you to the world's largest and legal music radio network powered by people, dj's and artists just like you. With Social·fm Desktop, you can search, find and listen to thousands of artists and hundreds of genres in near-CD quality sound from webcasters all over the world - you can never find such variety with other online services, AM, FM or even XM. Social·fm Desktop also allows you to legally time-shift authorized webcasts for listening at a later more convenient time or when you are disconnected from the Internet. Social·fm Desktop mission is to catalogue and organize the world's music and make it universally searchable and legally listenable. Social·fm Desktop is free.

Mercora Home Page

Sony to Debut HD Radio Products in July

Sony Corp. says it will introduce its first HD Radio products in July, joining the growing group of companies seeking to make the next-generation digital radio technology a standard feature in audio products over the next several years.

HD Radio is new form of digital radio broadcasting that allows radio stations to deliver extra music content on up to four side channels that piggyback on the frequency it already uses. So far, more than 1,200 radio stations nationwide have adopted the technology, according to the HD Digital Radio Alliance, a group of broadcasters promoting the new format.

A listener, however, needs a special radio receiver to hear HD Radio signals, which also boasts improved sound quality. About 50 models are available already, often sold as part of a car stereo or home audio component, according to the alliance.

"Digital terrestrial radio is the last frontier in audio," said Andrew Sivori, a senior product marketing manager at Sony's personal audio division. "And it's coming to price points that are becoming more reasonable for consumers."

Sony's first HD Radio products will be the XDR-S3HD, a $200 tabletop AM/FM/HD radio, and the XT-100HD, a $100 tuner module for vehicles that will work with most Sony car stereo units.

The HD Radio alliance projects that more than 1.5 million HD Radio devices will be sold in 2007, as prices have dropped significantly from the time the first products debuted more than two years ago at about $800.

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Sirius: Lower Price Plan With XM Buy

Sirius Satellite Radio Incorporated has announced that its customers would get the option to pay below the current $12.95 per month subscription fee for just the channels they want, if the company’s plan to buy XM Satellite Radio Holdings Incorporated goes through. The Sirius filing said the deal would generate cost savings that could allow the company to offer "à la carte" programming. Combined, Sirius and XM currently offer more than 300 channels of programming, although many are identical or very similar. Sirius also said the combination would increase the diversity of programming by eliminating redundancy that would free channel space for additional channels.

Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin appeared at a Senate subcommittee hearing to face questions regarding competition, if Sirius were to buy XM. During the hearing, Senator Herb Kohl, questioned Karmazin's stance that the combined company would face competition from terrestrial radio, MP3 players and Internet radio. Kohl also voiced concern that the combined company would raise prices in the future, particularly if it signed exclusive contracts with sports leagues or popular entertainment providers. Karmazin said he was open to regulatory oversight of price increases as a condition of the merger. Karmazin also told the panel that subscribers would be able to block programming they find offensive if the government approves the deal.

Source: Physorg