The iPod is losing its grip in Japan. Last week, for the first time in four years, the iPod was not the #1 selling music player in Japan. Instead it was Sony’s Walkman digital player. Sony’s music players increased to a 43 percent share, while Apple was at 42.1 percent share. Apple held its lead in Japan since January of 2005. Read more…

If you’re idea of “deep” and “meaningful” storytelling revolves around characters whose primary defining features involve being quirky, then you’re probably a huge Wes Anderson fan. But whatever you think of the (sometimes) brilliant director of Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited, you can’t argue his serious style credentials. So now that Anderson’s revealed to ThisRecording.com his “perfect mixtape”, “cool” people are clamoring to catch a listen. Luckily for them (you?), we’ve already done the dirty work.

Being the internet junkies that we are, we’ve noticed that there’s always at least one audio clip from viral videos that makes us here in the COED office laugh harder than any other part. Which got us thinking, wouldn’t it be awesome to have viral video ringtones? Well, now we do! From Rimjobs to Bill O’Reilly, here are 14 rad viral video ringtones, which you can download in either .Mp3 format or for your iPhone. Enjoy! (more…)

Beastie Boys fans (aka, everybody), get excited: the reissue of their ‘92 classic, Check Your Head is now available for download! The re-release includes 36 remastered tracks, including 16 B-sides and rare tracks, and is also available in a 4 vinyl set, eco CD and a 2 vinyl set (as well as MP3 format). But to get in on the action immediately, just head over to BeastieBoys.com, where you can…

• stream all the tracks off Check Your Head and all of the B-sides, too
• listen to the audio commentary about Check Your Head
• watch nine videos- both CYH music videos and Beasties TV appearances
• play the game Wave Skate, where you collect records and change characters by hopping through the clouds
• add a picture of yourself to a collage (just like the album art for CYH)
• add your Beastie Boys story to the world map
• grab some online trading cards
• play with a mixer for “Gratitude”- drag the cursor around to hear different instruments/vocals
• purchase the album as a Digital Download, Ecopack Double CD, Standard Double Vinyl, Exclusive T-shirt Combo, or Collector’s Vinyl

So you’re tired of spending your valuable bucks on $.99 downloads from the iTunes store? Me too! (Stupid economy…) MySpace Music Store is set to launch later this week, but even there you’re going to have to pay close to $1 per song.

Lemme throw this controversial questions up against the wall – what happened to good ole pirating? I miss the days where I could jack the equivalent of $500 worth of music in one sitting – for free!

Well, screw you, Steve Jobs and your DRM protected music, I’m not putting up with it anymore.

Fortunately, in my endless hours of surfin’ the net I ran into a secret website (that probably isn’t so secret) that allows you to convert YouTube videos into MP3’s. The sound quality is outstanding, it takes only a matter of seconds and it’s 100% free.

Here’s how you do it: (more…)

Most people’s first encounter with the ultra hip, uber talented band, The Ting Tings can be attributed to Steve Jobs and his brilliant iPod commercials. Their song, Shut Up and Let Me Go, was catchy, fun and piqued everyone’s interest…in more than an MP3 player. Fortunately, that song wasn’t the only trick up The Ting Tings’ sleeve.Their newest album, We Started Nothing, is further proof of this duo’s serious talent. Unable to get those songs out of our heads, COED just had to get the story behind the band. So, we did. The good news: Katie White is just as down to earth and cool as she is talented. And, though we didn’t get to chat with Jules, we are pretty sure the same goes for him.

COED: We Started Nothing is chock full of textured beats, irresistible melodies and witty lyrics- where do the songs come from?
The Ting Tings: We didn’t intend to form in a band so I think it came from a very honest place, because when we wrote these songs we didn’t think anyone would ever hear them. We just wrote them to play for our friends at parties. We were both feeling quite frustrated at the time and very sort of, I don’t know, like, invisible. We had been in a band that hadn’t worked out, we had a bit of a horrible time with it; I think it came from a real frustrated point of view, but they weren’t negative songs; they were just songs to make us feel better.

COED: Could you describe your song writing process?
TT: It’s completely different for every song. Both myself and Jules write everything together. Sometimes it will be that I will come up with something on the guitar and then we’ll come up with an idea on top of that. Or Jules might come up with something on the guitar or drums, or we’ll play keyboards or we’ll just have this little percussive sound. We just turn to sing like guy vocals and then an idea will come out of it. (more…)

Learn how to romance a girl with one semester of Spanish put to a catchy song.

Download the exclusive mp3 for free at www.runawaybox.com

If you’re anything like me, nothing is better than listening to a favorite album while falling asleep – but that’s hard to accomplish if you dorm is inhabited by a loud, obnoxious roommate. To be perfectly fair, you may be the problem, with your horrible taste in music. While headphones for you (or earplugs for them) offer a quick solution, both choices aren’t optimal. Enter the Sound Asleep Pillow.

I’ve been waiting for an invention like this my whole life: the Sound Asleep Pillow has a built-in speaker (with a phone jack for your iPod/MP3 player, natch) buried deep in the center of the pillow, providing you with the comfort of your music (and your roommate with the comfort of not having to hear it).

You tune in while they tune out. (more…)