Despite iPods and Walkmen, Rates of Hearing Loss Dropping

Despite all the Walkmen, boomboxes, 8-tracks, iPods and Bluetooth headsets that have delivered raucous noise to the ears of Baby Boomers, hearing loss appears to be declining among adults. Wired Science reports.

This counterintuitive finding from the first study of long-term changes in hearing loss is that for every five years a man or woman was born later in the 20th century, their chance of having hearing impairment dropped 13 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

A key suggestion of the report is that other, positive changes in the last 50 years — reduced noise levels at work and better overall health — are more important than the rise of headphones and other entertainingly noisy new products.

Read full article.

Related:

-- Apple wins appeal over alleged iPod hearing loss

-- Headphones linked to hearing loss?

-- Another warning about earbuds

-- iPod warning: turn it down

-- Mobiles could lead to hearing loss among college kids

-- Siemens phones may cause hearing damage

-- Groups Wants Loud Warnings On iPods, MP3s

Judge lowers Jammie Thomas' piracy penalty

Last June, a federal jury in Minnesota found Jammie Thomas-Rasset liable for willful copyright infringement and ordered her to pay nearly $2 million. Michael Davis, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, chopped the amount to $54,000, or $2,250 per song. News.com reports.

The need for deterrence cannot justify a $2 million verdict for stealing and illegally distributing 24 songs for the sole purpose of obtaining free music," wrote Davis.

... It's important to note that Davis did not in any way condone illegal file sharing. He wrote that even reduced damages are still "significant and harsh." He also ordered Thomas-Rasset to never infringe the music industry's copyright again and to destroy music she obtained illegally.

Gaza calling: ringtone exports evade blockade

Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip not only restricts imports to the enclave but has also crushed traditional exports like fruit, flowers, furniture and ceramics. Reuters reports.

But a year after a war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas Islamists, some Palestinian entrepreneurs are turning to the Internet to gain access to new foreign markets.

Haitham Abu Shaaban of Tatweer Business Services, working with a local recording studio, has a new contract with Dubai telecoms company du to make personalized cell phone ringtones that he hopes will sell well across the Arab world.

Egypt's mufti says Koran ringtones inappropriate

Using Koranic verses and the call to prayer as mobile phone ringtones is inappropriate and violates the sanctity of the word of God, Egypt's highest religious legal authority, Mufti Ali Gomaa, said on Wednesday.

[via Reuters]

Related:

-- India. Fatwa Issued Answering Cell Phone during Aayat - A Muslim organization has issued a fatwa over using verses from the Koran as ringtones, saying that answering the call while the aayat (verses from the Koran) is going on is a sin.

-- Saudi Arabia. A Fatwa Against Ringtones - An imam at a Mosque in Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa against mobile phones after one rang during prayers on Saturday, playing Arabic pop music.

Lost and found: a lorikeet that imitates ringtones

A red-collared lorikeet found in Brisbane and brought in to the RSPCA shelter turns out to be a wonderful mimic, performing at least three different ringtones. You can listen here.

[via ABCNet.au]

Related:

-- Birds Mimic Ringtones - Birds have learnt to imitate the ring tones of the omnipresent mobile phones, say German ornithologists, backing up a Danish gentleman's similar claim a few years ago (in 2001, the sparrows in his garden were chirping the Nokia classic tone).

-- Mockingbird Sings Ringtones - Combining tunes from other birds along with the disparate notes from doorbells and cell phones, the mockingbird can render up to 200 unique harmonies. It can also mimic the songs of 36 different songbirds.

Ringtones single out Talibans

From The Financial Times:

While difficult to differentiate the Taliban and their sympathisers from ordinary villagers out for an evening stroll, it is their mobile phone ringtones that give them away.

Ringtones featuring Islamic religious hymns have become a distinctive hallmark of the Taliban and other hardliners averse to music they consider unIslamic.

Related:

-- Kirkuk Ringtones Reflect Rivalries

-- In Iraq, having the wrong ringtone can get you killed

-- Baghdad Brigade Sunni militia look for mobile phones with “unIslamic” ringtones

Ringtones' requiem

Customized cellphone rings are so 2004. But the music industry has a new source of revenue – it's all about the ringback tone, according to Fortune Brainstorm Tech.

U.S. ringtone revenue this year will reach about $750 million, down from $881 million in 2007 — and the business will be nonexistent in 2016, says IBIS World, a consumer analyst group.

...But the music industry, which reaped great rewards charging $3 for 15 seconds of content, still hopes to milk the mobile market for revenue even as ringtones fade. The ringback tone (a song that plays for inbound callers instead of a ringing signal) has seen tremendous growth. Ringback revenue has more than doubled since 2005, and it brought in almost $200 million for music labels last year, according to analyst group SNL Kagan.

Read full article.

VoiceBand iPhone app

Voice Band app for iPhone introduces a revolutionary new way to make music - with your voice.

In their own words: By simply singing into your phone, Voice Band transforms your voice into ten different instruments in real time. Voice Band doesn't simply change your voice to sound like an instrument, it actually plays a real sampled instrument which follows your singing. Want to jam to a guitar solo with your favorite bands? Voice Band lets you play along with your iPod library, too.

Voice Band features a recorder which lets you build a song, one instrument at a time. Auto pitch mode helps you stay on key, and if you're a musician, you'll appreciate the adjustable scale and metronome. Voice Band also includes a built-in effects processor with distortion, reverb, and delay.

[via Trendhunter]

eMusic Inks deal with Warner

Music from artists on labels owned by Warner Music Grou will be available to U.S. subscribers of digital music service eMusic, the companies said on Tuesday. Reuters reports.

The deal will make 10,000 catalog albums from artists like REM, Depeche Mode and Aretha Franklin available for downloading. But the deal does not include newer hit records.

The new deal is just one of the steps in a concerted plan by eMusic to expand its 400,000 subscriber base.

Muslims should not download verses from the Quran as mobile ringtones

A Senior Bahraini religious leader has warned Muslims against downloading verses from the Quran as mobile ringtones. Those who do so are disrespecting the words of Allah, according to Discover Islam Sharia adviser and director Shaikh Essam Ishaq. Gulf Daily News reports.

He said the motive for using such ringtones was often respect for Islam, but revealed people who did so could be unwittingly undermining their religion since incomplete verses could change the meaning of the Quran completely. "Quran is the spoken word of Allah and for guidance, but not for ringtones," said Shaikh Ishaq.

Related:

-- Somali Rebels ban musical ringtones

-- Islamic Militants Ban Ringtones

-- Mobile ringtones using Holy Quran verses are banned in Saudi Arabia

-- Religious leaders squabble over Koran ringtones

-- Muslim clerics in India: No Quran verses as cell phone ringtone

-- Egypt's Mufti bans Qur'anic ringtones

BMI sues T-Mobile USA over ringbacks

Performing rights organization BMI has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against T-Mobile USA, alleging the operator sold ringback tones without the necessary licensing agreements in place. FierceMobile Content reports.

The BMI suit follows on the heels of a 2009 ruling that ringtones played aloud in public do not constitute a true performance, rejecting copyright violation charges lodged by ASCAP which filed a lawsuit against AT&T in June 2009.

Read full article.

Related:

-- Court Approves Ringtone Lawsuit Settlement

-- Links to ringtones and lawsuits

Thumbplay’s Music Subscription Service

New York-based Thumbplay launched a private beta of its music-subscription service called Thumbplay Music. mocoNews.net reports.

The application will be available by invitation-only on some BlackBerry phones, and is available as an Adobe Air app on the desktop.

The subscription music service provides unlimited, on-demand access to millions of songs from the four major record labels: Universal Music Group, Sony, Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music.

More in press release.

Elvis app to commemorate 75th birthday

To commemorate Elvis' birthday, who would have turned 75 on Friday, an iPhone application - the "Pocket Elvis and Ringtones" - is available in the app store, meant to honor the singer's birthday with 20+ ringtones and 150 assorted phrases voiced by British vocal impersonator Mitch Benn.

[via The Washington Times]

Music Sharer Asks for Reduced Fine, Retrial

The student ordered to pay US$675,000 for sharing music online has asked for a new trial and for a reduction in the amount of damages he must pay. He is calling upon a precedent set by a Supreme Court case that ruled damages are invalid if they are oppressive and disproportionate to the offense.

[via PC World]