Radiohead blasted back against a report by ComScore that said only 38% of people paid anything when they downloaded thr group’s new album “In Rainbows”. As we reported earlier this week ComScore released a survey that indicated just slightly over one-third of Radiohead fans decided to pay anything for the band’s new album, only available right now as a digital download. Radiohead decided to release their new work exclusively via the internet and leave it up to the individual to decide how much they should pay to own the record, if anything. In a widely reported news story ComScore found that the results were that Radiohead fans were only willing to pay about $6 for “In Rainbows” and of that number the majority decided to not pay anything at all for the new tunes.

If you could get your hands on this sweet guitar, you could really jam out a great version of “Pac-Man Fever”. It was designed by Specimen Custom Guitars and it not only looks retro-cool, but it also has some cool features. Like the blinking headstock and a variable-speed knob located on the eyeball that can synchronize the blinker to the beat.

Sadly you or I will never EVER get to touch it as it is one of a kind, but it does make our inner geeks very happy in a dot-munching sort of way. Come to think of it, it looks more like a Pac-Banjo then a guitar, but I still want it.

If you needed proof that Star Wars was way ahead of it’s time, here it is. This new Music Stick resembles a small lightsaber. It might even be the most lightsaber like product that is not actually a lightsaber. Of course, it may just be that the manufacturer wants to capture the hearts and minds of geeks everywhere. Either way, this is a slick looking mp3 player.

It features a 2GB or 4GB storage capacity, has a small display for track information, FM radio, voice recorder and a High speed USB 2.0 connection. The formats it supports for playback are MP3, OGG, WMA and WAV (PCM/ADPCM).

When Radiohead made their latest album “In Rainbows” available for download on the internet and left it up to the person on the other end of the connection to decide how much (or not) to pay it was viewed as a bold experiment. Now the results are in and we know how many people decided to open their virtual wallets and purses and how much they thought Radiohead’s work was worth.

According to figures only 38% of people paid anything at all for “In Rainbows” with the average price per digital consumer working out to be $6. Among the citizens of the world Americans were the ones that felt it necessary to pay the most for the new Radiohead album, paying an average of $8.05 for it.

With Live Jam, you can watch your little albino musicians(Who kind of resemble the Pillsbury Doughboy, but more fit) play individually or you can put them together to give performances that will rock your world as they interact with each other.

Each musician can connect with other Live Jam musicians to form a band. Apparently, they have some unseen roadies too, because they have multicolored LED stage lighting that sets the mood. They come in your choice of Drummer, Guitarist and Keyboard player.

There are always going to be some of us who haven’t quite made the leap toward the current media standard. I am sure that one or two of you reading this may have even actually played a vinyl record in your lifetime. Luckily for these people, technology seems to have a “No one left behind, even your grandpa” rule, as there always seems to be a new product to bridge the gap.

Take this CD album, for instance. If you haven’t quite made the jump to digital music and still have a CD player in your car, it will help you keep your eyes on the road. Each album holds 20 CDs. Just record a 3 second voice message for every CD. Then as you are flipping through the album, just listen to the messages telling you which albums they are.

If you are one of those people that feel they have to run the faucet to cover up your strange biological bathroom sounds, then you might want to order yourself Toilet Tunes. But to me, it just seems wrong, using potty time as an excuse to have your own personal party. You are there for business after all. It’s not a library either.

The gadget works via a sensor installed in the toilet lid that plays six musical choices when the lid is raised. The choices include rain, waves, jazz, latin, modern, and stream. Hang on guys, don’t start dancing and throwing off your aim just yet. There’s more.

We all love music. Some of us so much so that we hold on to old media long after it’s time has passed. Take that box of old cassettes you have stashed in the closet, for example. You know who you are. Problem is, tapes degrade over time. Eventually, you either have to buy it anew on more recent media, or convert it somehow.

Enter the plusdeckEX. It mates with your PC via USB and the result is beautiful digital music. A 7.1 channel built-in sound card converts the analog signal from the cassette tape into a digital file format like MP3. It’s just that easy.

The small table top jukebox reproduction stands 36cm high and has a real wood cabinet (veneer) and illuminated tubing that changes colors making it look and act like the real old time jukeboxes.

Instead of being packed with tiny records this jukebox houses electronics to play your favorite old-time music on CD’s through a retractable tray in the front. It also has an FM radio tuner and a USB 2.0 connection to connect and play MP3’s, although the jukebox itself does not have any internal memory or an MP3 player.

Teenie-boppers aside, I don’t know anyone who would sacrifice utility for aesthetic gimmicks. I suppose there are people who want a wine bottle shaped thumbdrive, or a Darth Vader shaped flashlight but I don’t know these people and I’m very glad I don’t. But that won’t stop companies from coming out with cheap devices, the sole selling point of which is a gimmick like the following Lipstick shaped MP3 player I have to dub the most ridiculous item of the day.

What’s in your gig bag? A common frustration for guitarists is not being able to work with an amp when they really want to. An idea pops in your head or you are thinking about the lick that isn’t as tight as it should be but its too late to turn on the amp or simply too inconvenient to bring an amp with. The Pignose and other small amp variants help with that but sometimes you only have what fits snugly in your gig bag and if you have a hard case like I do fitting that Pignose and a cable in just doesn’t work. Enter the Vox amPlug which not only does not require a cable but also does not vie for space with your spare strings, tuner and other misc. we keep in our cases.

The amPlug plugs straight into your guitar and comes in three amp styles: VOX AC30, Classic Rock, and Metal. An AUX jack lets you play along with your CDs or MP3s and gives up to 15 hours of use with just two AAA batteries. The 100% analog circuitry faithfully recreates the sounds of the original amps the amPlug units were modeled after and special attention was given to the gain circuits of each variation to not only recreate the original sounds, but also keep the high frequency and gain sounding good when the volume is turned down.

The solo work of George Harrison has now been added to iTunes making him the last of each of the Beatles to be available through the site, preceded by Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo Star. Unfortunately the Beatles as a group are still not available on iTunes, just the solo work of each artist separately with no word of any Beatles albums as of yet.

For notebook or PC users that want to improve their quality of sound emanating from their machine Asus is pleased to bring to you the Xonar U1. This USB audio device looks like it should belong on the head of a member of Devo but in fact it clears up the electromagnetic interference and removes any residue static created by your computer’s circuitry using a digital to analog converter (DAC).

Two new PMPs by Energy Sistem are now available in Europe. Meet the the Inngenio 4000 DUET HDP M-EX and the Inngenio 5000 HDP M-EX right and bottom respectively. The 4000 model has a smaller 2.8-inch QVGA TFT LCD display compared to the 5000’s 3.5 inch, but exceeds the storage capacity of the 5000 with a whopping 6GB via miniSD in contrast to 2GB SD capacity of its counterpart.

The units understand many common formats including MPEG4, MP3, WMA, WAV and views JPG, BMP, TXT and in addition the Inngenio 4000 plays XVid and posesses an FM Tuner making it seem to be a higher end model except for screen size. The 4000 will fetch about $220 USD while the other is priced at $170 USD.

The verdict is in on the first file-sharing case to go to a jury. The defendant, a 30-year-old single mother named Jammie Thomas, was found guilty of copyright infringement and damages totaling $222,000 were awarded to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the group representing the record companies. While Thomas’ attorney tried to convince the members of the jury that she was not the Kazaa user “Tereastarr” that was logged as downloading 22 songs from such bands as Aerosmith, Journey and Green Day in the end the 12 members found that there was sufficient evidence to incriminate Thomas since the computer she owned was used to download the songs in question. The verdict works out to a staggering $9,250 that Thomas now owes the RIAA for each song illegally downloaded.