Actor Morgan Freeman and his production company Digiboo are trying to break ground with sales and distribution of movies via USB.  We love the idea!

USB Movie sticks might become a thing of the future as Digiboo plans to launch over 100 kiosks in Hollywood Video stores next year; the first will roll out in January. People will be able to plug a USB device into the kiosk, download movies to rent or own, and then plug them in to any USB 2.0 or 3.0-compatible devices.

Before you ask, yes, DRM is layered into the movie content so put away your ideas of bit-for-bit USB copies to pirate your movies.  However, you now own the content on a portable device which will pug into just about anything including xBox or game consoles, cars, computers and set top boxes.  No word on how transferable the format will be to get the rented video from USB to something like a iPhone or PDA for portable playback.

About two years ago we started reporting on the USB music albums and now it appears we’ll see more articles about USB movie sticks.

GetUSB has seen the Record to USB players from Ion Audio before and we’ve seen these filter into Costco, Wal-Mart and even Urban Outfitters, and now Thanko has joined the ranks with their new USB Record Player.

Granted, it’s not designed with the same conversion tools that Ion Audio has, but it does work with Windows Sound Record or Mac’s Garage Band, so conversion of vinyl to MP3 is totally possible.  In fact, many might prefer their standard apps to do the conversion rather than deal with a 3rd party software package.

Either way, the Thanko USB Record Player is a nice addition to that old-school sound for just $100 bucks.

Thanko hasn’t released a US version yet, but you can get one now from Japanese retailers here.

GetUSB has reported many times over the popularity of USB music albums and how we feel this format will eventually overtake the CD for distribution of music.  Sure that day is a long time coming, but we’ll get there.  Here is another example:

Through a sister company of GetUSB we had the pleasure of helping create a USB Music Album for The Kin.  If you haven’t heard of The Kin, please read on.

The two brothers not only have a great, contemporary sound, but they also use current methods for MP3 data distribution.  The band put together a collection of USB sticks for different albums, including their most recent album “Live From The Pussy Cat Club.”

Click the USB music album image below to begin a free download of their single track hit “New Day.” (more…)

Digital Rights Management have surrounded music ever since the MP3 standard was set back in the late 90s.  We’ve slowly seen labels and artists go the route of DRM free music, and today Datz.com is trying it again.

The program Datz.com is promoting is a $100 membership fee which gives you access to download as much content as you want.  The membership comes with a CD and a loaded USB stick.  It seems the USB music album continues to grow in popularity.  The fee will last you 12 months, but what you accomplish in downloads is yours for life.  Transfer, burn or copy those MP3 to any number of players you want.

Some of the record labels Datz.com is claiming you’ll get include EMI, Warner Bros Records, Beggars Group and The Orchard.

What’s the catch? Well, there’s an ominous phrase in the press release, “…a wide selection of new music released in 2009 will be available to Datz Music Lounge members,” indicating that perhaps not all of the new releases will be available?

In either event, if you love music and can part with a C note - Datz might be worth a shot.

Source:  ShinyShiny.tv.

I’ve written about USB albums many times before and even a microSD music disk from Ricky Martin, but I thought he was going out on a limb.  Apparently not.

SanDisk just announced a sponsorship in association with the Billboard Latin Music Conference and Awards from April 6-10 in Hollywood, Florida.  I guess the sponsorship is a reflection on SanDisk’s marketing campaign to “Wake Up Your Phone” by providing pre-loaded entertainment on microSD cards.  “Wake Up Your Phone” is focused on informing mobile phone users how they can capture their experiences and take their music with them by expanding the storage capacity of their mobile phones - or between the lines - “hey consumers, don’t forget to stuff your memory slot with a microSD card for $30.”

The Billboard Latin Music Conference will also offer attendees the ability to download additional multimedia entertainment to the microSD cards, such as photos and video, in the attempt to show there is more to do that just microSD music cards.

“This year’s Billboard Latin Music Conference is all about exploring the new way of doing business, so it is extremely fitting that SanDisk Corporation is an in association sponsor of the event,” said Leila Cobo, Billboard’s Executive Director of Content & Programming for Latin Music & Entertainment. “From ringtones to video, understanding and utilizing mobile technology is crucial for any artist or company that wants to succeed in the Latin music business, and we’re thrilled that SanDisk will be giving our attendees the opportunity to experience the true power of mobile entertainment through its microSD cards.”

To increase awareness for how microSD cards can be used SanDisk launched this very entertertaining website WakeUpYourPhone.com.

Update: Nexcopy reports the USB duplicator will duplicate 30MBs of data to all 20 flash drives in about 40 seconds. The USB duplicator will copy 250MBs of data in about 3.5 minutes. So the USB duplicator has good performance on data copy speeds.

Nexcopy announced earlier this week their USB200PC USB Duplicator is available for purchase. This unit appears to be the easiest and most economical way to load content to USB flash memory. The USB duplicator is a PC based system which copies fro m a master location to 20 slave ports. I would think this an excellent product for those looking to produce interactive product information, sales presentations or even USB music albums on flash memory.

Granted this could all be done on CD or DVD, but the idea I like about USB flash, is it being extremely portable, more durable than optical media (no scratching or damage from direct sun), and can be reused again and again as a big, fat floppy drive by the user.

The USB duplicator concept seems to be a great method to manage an arsenal of flash memory, whether it be content loading to a new set of flash drives for a trade show, or updating a rotation of information to a group of USB drives (say for sales force or medical applications).

The Nexcopy USB200PC USB duplicator has some interesting features. The software will not only duplicate data, but an option to duplicate only new and newer data. Meaning, if you don’t want to over-write current data on the device, selecting the Copy New and Newer means it will only add data to the existing drive. This function also updates an old file with the newer version. This feature in itself makes USB drive flash management extremely easy and convenient.

The Nexcopy USB duplicator is priced at $1,299 for a 20 target USB copier so the solution wont kill your budget (like some $10,000+ systems I’ve seen).

Nexcopy USB Duplicator product page.

Mars Volta has joined the ranks of artists who’ve introduced music via USB Albums.  Their latest album, The Bedlam in Goliath is was available on a 1GB drive but is now sold out due to popular demand.  The drive included album artwork and music video Wax Simulacra and what’s interesting about this Mars Volta offering - after Feb 29th connecting the USB music album to your computer allows unique content download from the Mars Volta website.  Including B-side material, webisodes and limited edition wallpaper.

I’ve mentioned before about the death of the CD because of the recent trend in USB music albums and with dropping flash memory prices I believe this music trend will continue and grow in strength, numbers and popularity.

Here is the Mars Volta web page and the dedicated order page (sold out now) for the USB music album ($29).