There's money in them thar audio files! Not much, yet, and obstacles abound, but podcasters are mining everything from commercial sponsors to paid guest appearances in the quest for profitability. By Steve Friess.

Originally by Wired News: DAT's Entertainment, 9:58 PM

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SirNuke writes "Harvey Danger, a Seattle based rock band, has released their newest album Little by little for free mp3 download. They are doing this partially as an Internet publicity experiment, and partially as a stand against the Music Industry's attack on filesharing. From their website, 'In preparing to self-release our new album, we thought long and hard about how best to use the internet.  Read more »

CD sales keep dropping, but there's some good news for the music industry in the form of sales via download. Will the trend continue if the RIAA, et al start messing with pricing models?

Originally by Ars Technica, 9:49 PM

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Electronic Arts agreed to settle a suit by ex-employees who say the videogame firm owes them overtime pay.

Originally by WSJ.com: What's News Technology, 9:43 PM

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'Swedish MP3 player manufacturer Jens is to be hauled before the courts for flatly refusing to pay a charge designed to compensate copyright owners whose music is copied to a different format for private use, reports news site The Local. Jens says the surcharge, administered by Copyswede, is unreasonable and that "it's not our problem that the record industry hasn't come up with its own solution". Apparently Apple doesn't pay it on their iPods either.'

Originally by Hemos at Slashdot: Your Rights Online, 5:18 PM  Read more »

'A news release at Warcry writes that the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) plans on filing suit in Michigan to overturn the recent Violent Games Act.'  Read more »

The World Cyber Games completed its United States finals on September 10th. Does competitive video game playing have a future as a professional sport in North America?

Originally by Ars Technica, 8:46 PM

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'APRA's monopoly over Australian and international performing rights is set to continue, following a draft decision by the competition watchdog to re-authorise its collective administration arrangements.'

Originally by CCH Australia, 8:36 PM

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Gadget Guy writes "Apple has been denied on their quest to patent the iPod software interface. According to AppleInsider - 'Standing in Apple's way appears to be a prior filing by inventor John Platt, who submitted a patent application for a similar software design for a portable device in May of 2002 - just five months before Robbin submitted his claims on behalf of Apple.'" The Register also helps to shed a little additional light on the subject.

Originally by ScuttleMonkey at Slashdot: Your Rights Online, 12:25 PM  Read more »

As the BBC prepares to announce the tremendous success of its free Beethoven downloads, the Independent reports that classical labels are less than rhapsodic:  Read more »