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A study by Nokia into the musical tastes of nearly 4,000 twins reveals genetic influences on the music people like varies with genre. Yes, your music taste is genetic. Country music-love is less genetic and comes more from training in the trailer park or truck stop. Your love of Dolly Parton is more likely to come from your environment than your family. A love of classical music, however, is more likely to be inherited.

Microsoft has released the new Zune HD touchscreen media player and an update to the Zune PC software. The Zune has an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) multitouch screen, an NVIDIA Tegra HD processor and HD Radio capabilities with software advancements such as the new Quickplay menu, a well-featured web vrowser, and engaging music and video playback features.

The Zune HD website claims, “Zune HD is the only MP3 player with a touchscreen, HD Radio, HD video out, and wireless sync.”

Standard- and high-definition (HD) movies can be purchased or rented through the Zune Marketplace online store, and a new streaming music service on Zune.net lets Zune Pass subscribers listen to music from a web browser. The updates to the Zune hardware, software bring customers instant access to their favorite music and videos anywhere, across their mobile device, PC and TV.

According to The NPD Group, a while CDs remain the most popular format for paid music purchases, digital music sales are making up an ever-greater share of U.S. music sales. CDs comprised 65 percent of all music sold in the first half of 2009 compared to paid digital downloads, which comprised 35 percent of music sales. By comparison, paid digital music downloads comprised just 20 percent of sales in 2007 - growing to 30 percent of the music market last year.

According to NPD MusicWatch, when it comes to the unit-sales volume of music sold at retail - including paid digital music downloads and CDs - Apple iTunes leads in the U.S. with 25 percent of music units sold, which is up from 21 percent in 2008 and 14 percent in 2007. Walmart (including Walmart, Walmart.com, Walmart Music Downloads) remains in second position with 14 percent of music volume sold at their stores and Web sites with Best Buy ranked third.

iTunes also continued to solidify its lead in the digital music arena, as consumer downloads from iTunes comprised 69 percent of the digital music market in the first half of 2009, followed by AmazonMP3 at 8 percent. Walmart leads all sellers of CDs with a 20 percent share of the physical music market, followed by Best Buy at 16 percent and Target and Amazon tied at 10 percent each.

Zune HD, the next  Microsoft  digital media player, is available now for pre-order and will be in stores Sept. 15. The player, available in 16GB and 32GB capacities, is the first touchscreen Zune it will have an HD radio. HD video, OLED screen, Wi-Fi, and full HTML browser.  It will work with online services such as Zune Pass, for connections to music, videos, podcasts and more. The OLED screen if if looks a good as other OLED screens we've seen will be stunning.

Features

Built-in HD Radio receiver. Allows you to listen to higher-quality sound than is available from traditional radio channels, as well as access additional programming through HD2 and HD3 multicast channels from many of your favorite local FM radio stations at no extra cost.

HD video output capabilities. Supports HD video playback from the device through a premium HDMI A/V docking station (sold separately) directly to an HDTV in 720p, making it easy to enjoy better-than-DVD-quality video on your own big screen at home.

OLED touch screen. Allows you to easily flip through music, movies and other content. The 3.3-inch glass screen and 16:9 widescreen format display (480x272 resolution) offer a premium viewing experience.

Built-in Wi-Fi. Allows for browsing, streaming or downloading new music from Zune Marketplace.

Internet browser. Full-screen Web browsing, optimized for the multitouch screen with zoom-in and zoom-out gestures.

Accessories, at home and on the road. Zune HD and AV Dock charges and syncs players while playing supported 720p HD videos on HDTVs. Play HD Radio, music and podcasts from your Zune HD device through your car stereo using the Zune Premium Car Pack.

The Sprint Music Store reported its biggest single day ever, with 25 percent of the tracks sold belonging to Michael Jackson on Friday. Sprint Music Store sales have increased 21 percent on average since news of Jackson's death Thursday.

The week before his death, Jackson ranked 80^th in Sprint Music Store sales. Since he died, he's catapulted to No. 1. The most popular downloaded tracks are "Billie Jean" and "Thriller," both from the 1982 blockbuster album "Thriller." In addition, Jackson ringtones constituted 28 percent of total sales on Friday. Top three ringtones are "Thriller," "P.Y.T." and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."

If customers aren't sure which Jackson songs they want, then they can turn to Sprint Radio, which is offering a Michael Jackson bonus stream through the end of July. The "Who's Bad" radio stream is available for any customer with a basic data plan and access to Sprint TV. The stream includes not only Jackson's vast collection of songs, but also tracks from his early years with the Jackson 5. It also includes songs from performers inspired by his legacy, including sister Janet Jackson and Fall Out Boy featuring John Mayer doing a cover of "Beat It."

Cincinnati Bell is the first U.S. operator to offer the touchscreen Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Phone.

Packed with music and audio playback features, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic comes with an 8GB microSD memory card and a one touch Media Bar. The Media Bar enables one-touch access to a user's music collection, image and video gallery, web browser and other multimedia functions. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic also has a 3.2 megapixel camera enhanced with a Carl Zeiss lens. Images and video are displayed on a 3.2-inch screen in nHD.

Along with the Media Bar, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic also comes with a unique Contacts Bar, allowing consumers to easily keep in touch with their favorite contacts. The Contacts Bar allows for access to a visual history of incoming, outgoing and missed calls, text and multimedia messages and their most recent blog posts.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic measures 4.27 x 2.04 x 0.61 inches and weighs 3.8 ounces,  with features including:

• Brilliant 3.2-inch display featuring a true widescreen format.
• WiFi and Bluetooth v. 2.0 enabled.
• Quad-band GSM allows for international roaming.
• Severalemail options including Mail for Exchange and built-in support for popular consumer e-mail services using the IMAP, POP3, and SMTP protocols.
• Full HTML web browser with Adobe Flash.
• A 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics and video recording capabilities.
• Nokia digital music player supporting .mp3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA file formats.
• 3.5 mm A/V connector.
• Integrated stereo speakers with surround sound.

Taylor Swift Fearless 2009 Tour will offer a number of exclusive interactive activities solely for Verizon Wireless customers. She will perform at Bishop Ireton H.S., there will a context, exclusive songs will be available and fans will perform on the big green screen.
 
One of Swift’s tour stops will be Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Va. for a private concert.  Students won the campus concert by participating in the Verizon Wireless Taylor Swift High School contest and having the highest number of qualified entries of the thousands of participating high schools.
 
The exclusive interactive elements of Taylor Swift’s Fearless 2009 Tour include:

•  xt2Win Contest: Verizon Wireless customers who text “TS” to “8607” will be automatically entered for a chance to win two tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert. Winners will receive their tickets in the form of a bar coded mobile ticket sent to their Verizon Wireless handset and good for the entry of two fans.  Mobile ticket winners will have priority access to the show through a VIP Mobile ticketing entrance. To enter for free, visit www.vzwrules.com/ts.
• Exclusive Taylor Swift music:  Swift will create exclusive music straight from the private on-site Verizon Mobile Recording Studio Bus.  Fans will be able to download these exclusive tunes over the air to their mobile phones using Verizon Wireless V CAST Music with Rhapsody.
  
• Green screen fun: Fans can become virtual video stars at every show.  With the assistance of green screen technology, fans will appear as if they are performing on stage with Swift as she performs her hit songs “Love Story” and “Picture to Burn.” Video clips of the green screen performances  will be sent to participants’ mobile phones to share with friends.

Verizon is now offering the Samsung Trance, a music-centric phone with touchpad navigation and enhanced audio quality backed by Bang & Olufsen's ICEpower amp. The slider Samsung Trance has 1GB of internal memory(expandable to 32 GB with microSD), answers to voice commands, has access to the mobile web and V CAST.

The Samsung Trance from Verizon also has A-GPS,  a 1.2 megapixel camera and MMS. It comes in Piano Black and Electric Red.

Verizon Wireless has priced the Samsung Trance at $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement or you can use the Wireless and Mobile News' coupon-link Instant Phone Rebate Only Available with Online Purchase and you don't have to wait for the rebate, the rebate is deducted from your order.

At CTIA WIRELESS 2009, Verizon Wireless announced it is adding more than 5 million MP3s to its online media store.

Verizon claims that they are the first telecommunications company in the United States to bring MP3s to customers in its online media store. The music can be played on their computers or any MP3-capable devices, including sideloading to Verizon Wireless music-capable handsets.

Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer of Verizon Wireless, said, "Being the first wireless company to add MP3s to our online media store gives our customers a one-stop shopping experience for all kinds of music - ringtones and ringback tones and now MP3s. We have long led in mobile music, and together with the new pricing options we will continue to set the standard for the industry."

Verizon Wireless has tiered pricing for MP3s purchased online which is

• $1.29 for new releases and best-selling releases;
• 99 cents for most major contemporary releases;
• 69 cents for most classic catalog releases.

. Prices for ringtones and ringback tones remain unchanged.

Pandora radio service is now available for BlackBerry smartphone users. After users enter their favorite artist or songs, it creates a radio stream of similar style songs. Dockers saw the opportunity as a perfect partnership to engage BlackBerry smartphone users

The Dockers campaign is live on the BlackBerry Pearl, BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Bold series smartphones. The brand imagery accompanies the launch of the Pandora experience when BlackBerry smartphone users download the application.

Pandora was named the top iPhone app by Time Magazine. The software creates radio stations based on songs and artists that users like based on algorithms from the Music Genome Project.

Dockers imagery is shown on each song of a user’s radio station along side the name of the artist and the song playing at the time. Clicking on Dockers will take users to a special discount code that can be used for purchase of men’s pants on the Dockers website.

Note from Wireless and Mobile News: the secret code is revealed on the BlackBerry Pandora download page and is PANDORA.

Ringtone decline will be displaced by growth and profits from full music dowloas, suggests a report from Jupiter Research.
 
A sharp fall in ringtone revenues will be more than offset by growth in full-track downloads, streamed music services and ringback tones, says Juniper Research which forecasts that global revenues from mobile music services will reach nearly $14.6bn by 2013.
The mobile music report found that many of the key hurdles to mass adoption of full-track services have been significantly reduced, notably handset form factor, memory constraints, and (in some markets) a reduction of data costs. It said that these factors, allied to the increasing willingness of the major labels to participate in mobile ventures and the proliferation of user-generated content in the mobile space, were likely to drive push adoption and usage levels still higher.

Much of the recent interest in full-track downloads across the industry has been stimulated by the arrival of the iPhone and its successor, the iPhone 3G, which delivered Juniper's Future Mobile Gold Award for Mobile Music to Apple.

Music discovery service,Shazam says that since September 2008, Shazam has grown from 20 million users to 35 million worldwide, with over a million tracks now being tagged every day across the world.

Shazam, already deployed by 75 carriers across 60 countries, was recently voted as the Best App Ever for 2008 on the iPhone (downloadable from the Apple App Store), and was also one of the most popular applications on the day that the Android Market launched.

Andrew Fisher, Shazam's CEO said: "Shazam has become a worldwide phenomenon and we have made significant progress in making music recognition ubiquitous on mobile phones. With consumers tagging an average of ten tracks a month, we're confident that this exponential growth of end-user adoption will continue throughout 2009 with an anticipated 50 million Shazamers before the end of the year."

Cricket and LiveWire launched Mobile Music, allowing Cricket customers to download songs directly to their wireless devices and/or personal computers with a special Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em promotion “Kiss Me Thru the Phone.”

Customers can search music by artist, album, song and genre to purchase tracks and download them directly to their Cricket phone for $1.99 each, or receive three download credits for a $5 monthly charge. Songs are available online at www.mycricket.com for $.99 each and customers can use Cricket’s Music Manager software to sideload the tracks to their mobile phone, or buy two copies of each song, one for their PC and one for their phone for $2.25 per song.

To kick-off the new Mobile Music offering, Cricket has partnered with Grammy-nominated artist and record producer Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em for a multifaceted promotion featuring his new hit single “Kiss Me Thru the Phone.”

To honor Black History Month and to celebrate Motown's 50th anniversary, Verizon's V CAST Music will offer exclusive sets of Motown hits each week. The first will be Motown Icons. Motown for Lovers will be available in line with Valentine's Day, followed by Motown Number Ones and then the Ladies of Motown. There is also a contest to win a trip to see the Temptations.

A sampling of the full-track songs coming to V CAST Music during Black History Month are familiar favorites such as "Shop Around," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Please Mr. Postman," "ABC" and "I Second that Emotion."

More full-track songs from artists, including The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Commodores, The Four Tops and The Temptations from Motown's early years to songs from other hitmakers such as Boyz II Men and the Jackson 5, will be available for download and purchase through V CAST Music - either over-the-air or on a desktop computer.

Use V CAST Song ID and be Entered for a Chance to Win a Trip to See The Temptations

Throughout February, customers who use V CAST Song ID to identify any Motown recording will be entered for a chance to win a fly-away trip to see The Temptations in Las Vegas. Participants can also enter for a chance to win via text messaging or for free online. For more information about the sweepstakes and to view all the exclusive content, go to www.verizonwireless.com/blackhistory or www.vzwrules.com/Motown.

Verizon is offering music produced by Timbaland with several of today's hottest artists free to BlackBerry Storm customers.
Rihanna will join Timbaland on the Verizon Mobile Recording Studio Bus today in Los Angeles to launch the first of several new songs for BlackBerry Storm smartphone customers with the debut of an exclusive remix of Rihanna's hit song "Rehab."

The "Rehab" song remix will be available tonight via a free, online download only for Verizon Wireless customers with a BlackBerry Storm smartphone. Using the BlackBerry Storm or any desktop computer, customers can visit www.VerizonTimbalandStorm.com, enter the phone number of their BlackBerry Storm smartphone, then download and listen to the hot, new "Rehab" remix.

"The opportunity to create exclusive music for the BlackBerry Storm with some of the most talented artists in the industry is something I'm really looking forward to," said Timbaland. "The upcoming events will touch thousands of fans across the country and reach millions more through mobile technology. Bringing people together through my music is what I was born to do.

Pandora is now be available for free on compatible Sprint mobile phones with at data plan. The service will be supported by audio advertising.

Users enter a song or artist that they like, and within seconds, Pandora delivers a personalized radio station with a continuous stream of songs that fit the same sound and style.

The songs are selected based on the Music Genome Project, Pandora's proprietary system that utilizes highly trained musicians to analyze songs one at a time. These musicians measure hundreds of different musical qualities for each recording, including every detail of

Pandora on Sprint phones is integrated seamlessly with the online version of Pandora. Up to 100 stations can be saved in a user's account, and they can be enjoyed online at http://www.pandora.com and on Sprint phones. Sprint customers can also create new stations directly on their phones through an easy-to-use interface.

go2 Media has teamed up with Zvents to create go2 Music, mobile music portal that offers local concert recommendations.
 
Mobile users can browse new music reviews, news, venues and local concert picks or to search for known local shows and venues, all for free.
 
"Local music is an area that has been underserved on mobile for too long," said Dan Smith, president of go2 Media.  "Today's mobile consumer needs anywhere, anytime access to trusted, local recommendations that inform and connect them to music events happening in their city.  By combining Zvents' comprehensive local event listings with go2's nationwide local editorial network, we have created a complete mobile experience for discovering local music."

Music discovery service Shazam, has increased its music database from six to eight million tracks.  Shazam users are now able to access a broader range of music.

The claim they have the largest collection of the most important long tail undiscovered music gems and hot pre-release future hit records.

Will Mills, Head of Music, Shazam comments: "This increase in our database cements Shazam's position as the leading mobile music discovery service in the world. With our strong music alliances we gain access to the most relevant music well before many other music services, which ensures users can discover popular and niche music all over the globe.

For more information please visit www.shazam.com

Over 10 millionth Song ID applications have been downloaded by Verizon Wireless phones. Song ID is a free application that lets users  identify songs they hear  by holding their wireless phone up to the source of music. Then the application finds the name and artist in a few seconds. The top song IDed contains sex references and the "n" word.

Verizon Wireless customers will be able to download Beyonce content from her new album "I AM... SASHA FIERCE" days before its Nov. 18 release date.

 On Friday, Nov. 14, Verizon Wireless customers will be able to download and purchase select full tracks including: "Halo," "Satellites," "Broken-Hearted Girl," "Ave Maria," "Sweet Dreams," "Video Phone" and the current single, "If I Were A Boy." Today, Verizon Wireless customers can download and purchase as ringtones or ringback tones all those songs plus, "Disappear," "Radio," "Diva" as well as Beyoncé's current single, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," all before the album drops next week.

 Beyoncé said, "I am happy to have my music available to my fans exclusively on V CAST through Verizon. There are songs here that are so special to me and really tell the story of my life and songs that are just about fun, dancing and celebrating."

Verizon will also send a video MMS message with a personalized message from Beyoncé directly to select subscribers, enabling them to be the first to download and purchase ringtones, ringback tones and full songs from her entire album. Fans can also text "BEYONCE" to 8901 to download the exclusive titles directly to their mobile phones.