iLike, the popular social music service that took Facebook by storm, has always featured free 30-second preview clips of songs, but now they're getting into the business of selling full-length mp3 files. Prices are comparable to what we're used to from iTunes: songs range from 89 cents to $1.29. Songs that are available for purchase will have a "buy" button next to them in your profile.

The buying process is pretty easy: click, enter card info and go. Interestingly, there are "other options" links to iTunes or Amazon in the corner of the purchase screen, although they're small. I'm not sure that iLike can compete for sale with huge players like those, but it's starting with a built-in userbase of several million on Facebook alone. Purchases are only available on the main iLike site so far, but they're coming to the service's various apps soon.

[via TechCrunch]

Microsoft is preparing to launch a chain of retail stores. Apple has had its own stores for a while, but while Apple has a whole line of hardware and software products to sell, Microsoft is first and foremost a software company. Sure, Microsoft could fill store shelves with Zune portable media players and Xbox 360 video game consoles. But it sounds like Microsoft will work out partnerships with hardware makers to sell computers and peripherals capable of running Microsoft products in addition to boxed Microosft software.

Still, I can't help but wonder why Microsoft thinks operating its own stores will be more profitable than selling software downloads and getting physical copies of its software into existing retail outlets. Maybe this is really just a branding initiative, since that whole Seinfeld thing didn't really work out.

Microsoft announced yesteday that it's hired former DreamWorks exec David Porter to head the company's retail store unit.

[via Engadget]

After about three years of preparing and attempting to get into the digital music business, Target is finally offering digital music (320kbps MP3) for download. Currently the only album available is the latest John Legend album "Live From Philadelphia" with SonyBMG as the label. The album is a Target exclusive, so you'll need to shop there if you're lookin' to score the latest of Legend, but it's also available in-store in CD format . The 19-track set will run you $10 online, which is a steal for so much music.

Though it may seem like the digital-download market is starting to get crowded with new services popping up all the time, there's still a lot of room for major iTunes competitors to surface. It's also nice to have options when it comes to shopping. The digital-download market is no exception, so we gladly welcome Target to the new frontier.

[via paidContent]

It's been a little over two months since Amazon launched its MP3 Download store, and the site's still around. So how is it doing? Well, Amazon hasn't publicly announced any numbers yet, but billboard speculates Amazon's captured about 3% of the digital download market and 6% of the physical CD market.

Considering that it hasn't even been three months since Amazon's digital music store opened shop, that's pretty damn good. With Pepsi joining Amazon to give away free MP3s, word of Amazon's new DRM-free store will only spread. Silicon Valley Insider suggests Amazon must be reaching a mainstream audience if Fergie is a top seller at both Amazon and iTunes.

While many find switching download services a hassle, we would strongly recommend taking Amazon's MP3 Download store for a test drive. The Amazon software can be configured to automatically add any music you buy to iTunes, and, best of all, the music comes DRM-free in a relatively high quality MP3 format, allowing Amazon's customers to do whatever they want with their music. Besides, DRM sucks and shouldn't be supported. Isn't that reason enough?

Is there a better way to end a long week than to sit down in front of the screen and do a little shopping? For some, maybe, but how about when you get good deals?

Shopping online. We all do it out of convenience and the fact that we are able to surf around for the best deals from the comfort of our own homes. RetailMeNot is a website that compiles coupons from major online retailers and makes them available to anyone who wants them. They are the coupons that the stores don't tell you about. We covered this site way back in 2006, but since then they have completely redesigned their service.

The RetailMeNot website is simple to use, enter the shopping site you want to check coupons for and you will be presented with a generous list of coupon codes and what their deals consist of. Then use the coupons upon checkout from said stores. RetailMeNot also lets users surf around by popular stores, popular coupons and keywords that they have in their database.

RetailMeNot is a quick and easy way to make sure you are getting the best deal online. Some of the deals might have limited time access, and their success rates are noted under stats for each coupon.

In an effort to get back in to the number three spot, Amazon has announced that they will begin selling MP3's next month.

Apple stole the number three spot away from Amazon, but Amazon has plans to get it back. The online store will soon be offering songs in MP3 format, giving consumers that extra choice with hopes that will boost their bottom line. The alternative to iTunes is said be launching sometime in September.

Wal-Mart is currently the largest seller of music, with Best Buy tucked in the second spot and Apple in third.

Google Checkout has a lot of competition, with you know who (eBay and PayPal) so they have to stay atop their game if they want to make buyers and sellers happy with their transactions.

The Google Checkout team has announced that they have made a few slight adjustments to their seller website amidst some user feedback. So what have they done? Made it easier to navigate, added some reference materials, integration guides, and FAQ's. And keep in mind that all merchant fees are waived until some unannounced time in 2008.

How have DLSers experiences been with Google Checkout? Have you been happy with your buying of selling transactions? What would you change?

Cellfish is a simple online tool that lets PC users store information in a special online locker, then retrieve them later on mobile devices.

When logged into this social network site, you get your own page, like any other social network, and can hook up with friends, so let's just forget about that aspect of the site and get onto the usable part, the Cellfish locker. Users can upload information into their locker and later retrieve them on mobile devices. This includes a giant list of stock photos, music and videos from the Cellfish site.

Getting to your Cellfish locker from your mobile is simple. Visit Cellfish.com from your mobile browser, enter your account information and you will see all items that are stored in your online storage locker. You can choose to download them, send them to friends, save as wallpapers, or store them on your phone.

Users can also send photos and videos from mobile devices using your special Cellfish emaill address. These photos will be stored on your Cellfish user page and can then be placed in other social networks or blogs using a supplied html embed code.

If you're currently using DivShare to store, host and share files you should be pretty excited about this new feature. And if you don't use this DivShare's free service, it could make you want to start.

DivShare launched a Power Uploader application that adds simplicity to the whole uploading process. This new tool provides users with a drag and drop interface with folder tree and file previews for quick and effective uploading of up to 10 files at once.

The uploading tool is a Java Applet and ActiveX Control that provides a pipeline between your hard drive and your DivShare account. Setting for the uploader can be accessed in your main Account page.

Coming out of a private beta, Scribd lets users share and store their stuff, because we all have a lot of stuff to share.

Scribd's users can upload Text files, PDF's, MP3's, MS Office files into a public database. Descriptions and tags can than be attached to the ever-growing database of stuff, making it easier for other users to find, categorize, and vote on. Once uploaded, any items can then be embedded as html, or flashpaper documents onto other social networks or websites..

The Scribd site is filled with a ton of, stuff. With everything from Witty mid term answers to beautiful photography. When viewing documents, depending on formats, you have the option of downloading them in PDF, Powerpoint, Word, and Txt formats. You can also choose to listen or download the mp3 files with a built in player through Scribd's text-to-speech.

So what's the purpose of Scribd? Some say it's a text version of YouTube, I'm not so sure yet. It's a giant social network library of miscellaneous things. I guess its now up to the users, and what they want to accomplish with the service. The team has just got a fresh stack of cash from Angel investors to throw towards development.

Many digital music stores have a written policy to temporarily remove a certain amount of money from your bank account, to verify your worthiness to purchase music from them. Some stores tie up as much as $20/day when I buy a track. Is it that they enjoy the increased emotional stability of having an extra $20 bucks in their pocket? I know I would. The fact that the money isn't mine to use until the authorization charge is reversed gives me a slimy feeling.

So, you might tell me to never buy DRMed music, because it would be bowing to the man, and I'd concur. What about all the people that do buy music by the track? Should their money be tied up just to ensure they don't run off with a buck or two worth of music? Do any music store representatives care to comment on the policy of tying up $20 any day I decide to make a purchase?

Is this a big deal? No, but it hurts the fragile relationship that we as music lovers already have with online music services; It's a matter of trust. Stores should let customers know up front that this will happen in some sort of statement during the sign-up process, in their own best interest. (Maybe they do, who reads EULAs?)

What if the corner store nailed you for an extra $20 every time you bought a pack of gum? Sure, you get the money back but, in all likely-hood you'd never buy a pack of gum from them again. You could even go so far as to say that it's a practice which promotes music piracy. I'd much rather buy from places who don't act like they don't trust me.

After helping thousands of internet users to download illegal copies of music, movies, and software over the last few years, BitTorrent is going legit. The BitTorent Entertainment Network launches Monday, with official support from content producers including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, MTV, Paramount, MGM, and Lions Gate.

The store will feature about 3,000 movies at launch, and several thousand television episodes. There'll also be about 1,000 video games, and 1,000 music videos.

TV shows will sell for $1.99 per episode, which seems to be the going rate. You'll be able to rent movies, but not buy them, with new releases, including Superman Returns renting for $3.99, and older titles costing $2.99. Apparently BitTorrent has permission to sell feature length films, but decided against it after seeing how much the studios wanted to charge users for those films.

The videos will play in Windows Media Player 11 and include Microsoft DRM. That poses a few problems for the new service. First, it means that videos will only be available on Windows computers. Second, while companies like Amazon or Apple are well known companies that have begun offering consumers a chance to download videos in the last few years, BitTorrent is only really a big name among those who are used to using the technology to download videos for free.

If you have a choice of using the BitTorrent Entertainment Network to download a video that you can only watch on one Windows-based PC for a limited time, and you have to pay $3.99 for it, or turning to an alternative torrent network that will allow you to download the same video for free and without any DRM, which would you choose? Because I don't think it's fair to say that BitTorrent is in the same league as Amazon, Microsoft, or Apple at this point. I think the company's main competition will be piracy.

Photobucket is set to make an announcement that will allow users of its personal media management service -- which stores and shares images and videos -- a way to utilize flash to edit video's online.

The free service is said to be open in beta this month to premium customers, and rolled out to everyone in March. The web based video editor will be timeline based and allow users to mix photos and videos stored in Photobucket with captions, soundtracks, and effects through a drag and drop interface.

Photobucket allows users to upload photo and video content to create interactive collages, scrolling images, slideshows, animated image stamps, share video clips, and buy prints. This new initiative will most likely see its approximately 35 million current users increase drastically to see if the flash based video tool can benefit them.

Zlio helps users to start up an online store, quick and easy, and even if you don't have any stock to sell, Zlio can hook you up. Zlio has a stock catalog of thousands of products that you can start selling in your free shop. The US version of this French site launched yesterday, with the French version that launched early last year. When users sign up for stores, they pick their own unique URL, choose site designs from pre-designed templates, and drop in products from the Zlio store to start earning affiliate incomes. Products in your Zlio store can then be tagged and reviewed and descriptions of products can be added in.

Supposedly, after starting a Zlio shop your store will automatically be referenced from the main search engines, attracting visitors without any effort. Good marketing should be dropped into the mix to ensure any success with this kind of shop opening experience.

There are a lot of file sharing/hosting/storing sites out there. A lot. So one of my first predictable questions for DivShare co-founder David Altschul was of course, "Why use DivShare?" His answer: "DivShare sets itself apart from other free file hosts in a number of distinct ways, most notably in that we offer unlimited uploads and downloads, no waiting lines for files, auto image galleries, no popups or spam, an intuitive member dashboard, and all files stay online forever. Perhaps the biggest reason why bloggers and webmasters should choose DivShare over the other free file hosts is our co-branding options. Blogs can quickly and easily add their name, URL and logo to their hosted file pages via the dashboard. An example of co-branding can be seen here (warning: the link may also start a download - you can cancel it - but it's actually a pretty good song).

I have to admit, everything David says sounds great (files stay online forever?!). But how does it actually perform? Well, the aforementioned song downloaded at an average rate of 550KBps, which isn't bad at all. I uploaded a 10MB video, and though there's no fancy Flash-Ajax upload timer, it took less than 2 minutes to complete. On an upstream-weak cable connection, that's pretty darn good. Since DivShare launched this month, only time will tell if the service remains as excellent as it is right now. Happy uploading!

P.S. You can't upload files larger than 100MB.