Audio Video News

Whenever the federal government tries some dubious stunt, fails miserably, and decides to fail on an even bigger and more embarrassing scale, it creates a "czar." After all, as a democracy, don't we need to maximize the number of Russian-monarch-like job descriptions in Washington? Those were the thoughts of consternation racing through the minds of electronic libertarians this week as President Bush signed the PRO-IP Act. That stands for Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property.

YouTube is getting into the media retail business. Soon the site that feeds video clips to millions will be selling music, movies, TV shows, games, books, and concert tickets.

I was poking around Amazon last week when I found David Gilmour's new Live in Gdansk album. In fact, I found several versions. It's available in no fewer than six configurations that dole out varying levels of content at prices from $20 to $116.

A judge has issued a restraining order halting the sales of RealDVD, the DVD-copying application from RealNetworks. Well, that was quick.

Who says no one cares about good sound anymore? Thousands of Metallica fans have signed a petition begging the band to remix its new album Death Magnetic, citing poor sound quality.

Netflix has cut deals with CBS and the Disney Channel to make their shows available through its fledgling online service, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Netflix online library has only about 12,000 titles, versus the 100,000 titles available through the chain's brick-and-mortar stores, so the company needs to keep cutting deals like these.

Back when TVs were made in America, General Electric was one of the major brands. Following a half-decade absence, GE's TV brand will return to service in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2009 thanks to a partnership between the General Electric corporation and Tatung, a Taiwanese manufacturer.