ReplayTV is eliminating the PVR’s abilities to skip commercials automatically and send shows through the Internet, two of its best features, sealing its own doom – good thinking: Executives at DNNA, the D&M Holdings Inc. subsidiary that bought the Replay line from Sonicblue Inc., said they made the concessions to …

Fascinating copyright debate on the NewsHour between Larry Lessig and the RIAA’s Matt Oppenheim: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued four students on April 3 for allegedly operating music-sharing Web sites, accusing them of enabling large-scale copyright theft. Although the RIAA initially asked for $98 billion in damages, …

DVDs now the kid’s format of choice, and TV cartoon series are out in abundance: Only recently ”have we started seeing a significant amount of children’s programming coming to DVD,” says Jan Saxton, an analyst with Adams Media Research. ”It’s gotten hot.” Indeed, Paramount last year began releasing DVDs of …

With Hillary Clinton’s book “wildly popular” and the new Harry Potter book right around the corner, things are looking up for everyone associated with the book trade: The publication of “Living History,” the memoir of the Democratic U.S. Senator from New York and former First Lady, has sparked some record-busting …

There was a time in the ’80s when I was absolutely obsessed with Bill James’ vision of baseball and thought his creative statistical insights into the REAL game had the ring of TRUTH. His insights and persistence have finally seeped into the official basball world, as evidenced by Michael Lewis’ …

Are your URGENT REQUESTS FOR ASSISTANCE going unheeded no matter how many emails you send out? Learn from the Nigerians: Breakfast Kickoff Session: Your choice: A hard boiled egg, or two slices of white bread and a cricket. Keynote Address: Dr. Hamza Kalu’s adds some historical perspective in his keynote …

Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback is preparing a consumer-friendly digital copyright bill that he could present as soon as this week. In what must be taken as a good sign, it has the RIAA spitting: “This draft legislation is weighted down with a variety of bad public policy judgments hostile …

The MCA label brand is going away, along with a goodly number of employees: The restructuring of MCA Records and the move to eliminate the MCA brand began Monday, when about one-third of the label’s staffers were let go, sources said. The cuts had been expected. A spokeswoman for Interscope …

Give Apple credit for taking the risk and proving the viability of a relatively user-friendly digital music store. Now will the world’s biggest butts squish Apple? Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc.’s America Online unit are among the companies expected to launch services to compete …

Cher’s “Farewell” tour goes on and on: With a new round of shows recently put on sale, Cher continues to extend her North American “Living Proof — The Farewell Tour.” The year-old trek now extends to the end of August, with more cities yet to be announced, according to promoter …