Telecom has cut the price of downloads from its Music Store from a whopping $3.50 to the more competitive $1.99, it announced today.

With the launch last week of iTunes NZ (songs from $1.79), and the November entry of Vodafone to the online download market (songs for $1.99), Telecom’s revised price point has come in line with the new industry standard.

Telecom’s Music Store allows customers to download a track to their mobile phone, up to three Windows PCs, and burn copies on up to five CDs, all for the now-very-reasonable price of $1.99.

Of course, you do still need to own a Music Store-capable Telecom mobile phone before you can start downloading.

How does Telecom stack up? Here’s what the competition are charging:

Telecom Music Store - $1.99
Digirama - from $1.75
iTunes - from $1.79
Coketunes - $1.75
Vodafone - $1.99
Amplifier (NZ artists only) - $1.99
Jiggy (NZ artists only) - $3.50

Posted by Annabel Crerar at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

With hard disk video cameras brand new on the market here in NZ, our correspondent in Japan, Martyn Williams, finds Panasonic has already moved on.
The HDC-SD1 from Panasonic records AVCHD-format video directly to a SD (Secure Digital) memory card. A 4GB memory card, which costs around $350, can accommodate about 90 minutes of video when recorded at 6Mbps (bits per second). The video is 1080i (1,080 horizontal lines, interlaced scanning), which is just below the 1080p (progressive scanning) system judged to be the highest of several video quality levels that fall within the high-definition bracket. It also has a 3CCD (charge coupled device) sensor behind the lens. It goes on sale in Japan in December for ¥180,000 (NZ$2,200) with a bundled 4GB card.
Overseas launch plans have not been announced but you can check it out here; http://panasonic.jp/dvc/.
Coupled with that news, Toshiba has gone on to announce that it has an 8GB SD card ready to go.
Makes you want to have a cup of tea and a lie down.

Posted by at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)