E-Commerce Blog

Microsoft is giving an early holiday gift to people who pay for all-you-can-listen access to the Zune digital music store: 10 songs to keep each month, included in the $14.99 monthly subscription fee. The decision may appeal to people who have been reluctant to test out the subscription model, preferring to own their music instead of rent it. Microsoft’s Zune Pass, RealNetworks’ Rhapsody and others give users unlimited access to millions of songs in exchange for a monthly fee. But as soon as the user stops paying, the music stops playing unless he or she buys each track.

See more here:
Microsoft Lures Zune Subscribers With Free Tracks

Before he ran for president, Barack Obama quit smoking. Now that he’s won the job, he may have to break another addiction: checking his BlackBerry for e-mail. The president’s e-mail can be subpoenaed by Congress and courts and may be subject to public records laws, so if a president doesn’t want his e-mail public, he shouldn’t e-mail. Also, there may be security issues about carrying around trackable cell phones. Though no decision has been made public, it seems unlikely he’ll carry his BlackBerry, and he may be in for some withdrawal pains.

Here is the original:
Yet One More Challenge for the Prez: Life Without BlackBerry

A video for the title track on hip-hop veteran Common’s forthcoming album, “Universal Mind Control,” begins with a digital music player pulsing to the beat. The viewer is pulled through the screen into the gadget’s guts, where the cool, collected rapper lets loose an easy stream of lyrics. It takes hitting rewind a few times to notice that the music player isn’t one of Apple’s slim new iPods. It’s a Zune, and it’s made by Microsoft. Since it first landed two years ago, the Zune has been the butt of many jokes.

Here is the original post:
Will Zune’s Latest Marketing Song Make Buyers Dance?

A study conducted by the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks company, determined that Best-in-Class organizations were able to leverage their investments in mobility to drive significant improvements in customer satisfaction, workforce productivity, and employee retention. The employee retention benefits discovered point to mobility’s role in recruiting new talent and encouraging existing employees to stay longer. Aberdeen’s newest survey, “The State of Wireless LAN 2008,” is trying to find out even more about how companies are deploying and optimizing this technology for their workforce.

View original post here:
Enterprise Mobility and Collaboration: A Better Work/Life Balance

Dell, struggling to recharge its lineup of consumer product offerings, indicated Monday that a digital music player is not in the computer maker’s near-term plans despite speculation that such a product is in the works. The company said in a blog posting that its digital entertainment strategy “has never been about a music player.” The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Monday that Dell decided to postpone the launch of a music player.

More here:
Dell Dispels Music Player Rumors