SONY PS VITA TO CAP 3G DOWNLOADS AT 20MB

According to a report from ASCII, game downloads over 3G connections will be limited to a max of 20MB. What does that mean for you, prospective buyer? Well, kiss that 500 - 600 strong library of PSP titles goodbye, and say hello to a catalog of minis. Sure, you could always hook up to some decent WiFi to purchase and play those old favorites uninterrupted, but that kind of defeats this portable's on-the-go design. Rest assured, this download cap could still change before the handheld launches in the US and UK.

UNLIMITED GAME DOWNLOAD COMING TO GAMEFLY THIS FALL

GameFly announced on Wednesday it will soon offer a new service called “Unlimited PC Play” that will allow gamers to download an unlimited amount of games to their Windows or Mac computer. Much like Netflix’s business model, GameFly will provide instant access to more than 8,000 rental discs or more than 1,500 instant downloads for a monthly fee.

The service will require a desktop client that will include news, a feed of HD trailers and screen shots of the latest games. GameFly also said there will be a social component that will allow gamers to interact with one another in real-time. A closed beta will begin on September 8th for current GameFly subscribers and a public launch will occur during the holiday season.

WALMART PULLS PLUG ON ONLINE MUSIC STORE

According to Digital Music News, Walmart's MP3 store will shut its digital doors forever on August 28th.

Walmart's music store was seen as an "iTunes killer" at one time. By deeply discounting MP3s to only $0.88 Walmart hoped to dethrone the Apple king. However, Walmart, even with the discounts, could not overcome the power of the idevice's tight integration with iTunes.

A representative of Wal-Mart noted that older, protected files will still be supported. "We’ve made a business decision to no longer offer MP3 digital tracks as of August 29, 2011," the executive confirmed. In late 2008, the company finally secured licenses to shift away from DRM-protected purchased and towards MP3s. "We'll continue to provide support to our customers who previously purchased digital music through Walmart Music Downloads so they may continue to enjoy and manage their existing WMA files."

APPLE'S FINAL CUT PRO X FACES HARSH CRITICISM, POOR REVIEWS FROM USERS

During our call to discuss Final Cut Pro X earlier this week, an Apple product manager boasted about the product's low price, media management, and ground-up redesign. Unfortunately, when starting from scratch, developers seem to have overlooked a few features that professional users have come to depend on, prompting widespread backlash -- both on internet forums and even on Apple's own App Store, where the $300 download-only app currently has a rating of just 2.5 stars (out of five), including nearly 500 one-star ratings. (Note: you must purchase the app before submitting a rating or review.) The New York Times spoke to product managers about these issues, which include an inability to import old FCP files, no multicamera editing, no support for RED cameras, and no ability to specify QuickTime export settings, among many others. Apple says there are (pricey) workarounds available, or fixes on the way for all but the first issue

APPLE'S FINAL CUT PRO X LAUNCHED

Just as promised, Apple's long-awaited Final Cut Pro X is now available on the Mac App Store for just $299.99, meaning keen editors can immediately grab hold of this suite to crack on with some real-time 4K video editing. Of course, this is assuming that you have a 64-bit Mac rig with beastly specs in the first place.

Accompanying this major software release are Motion 5 and Compressor 4 kits, both of which will cost you an extra $49.99 each, so make that roughly around $400 for the full monty.

Apple has confirmed there will not be a boxed version, upgrade pricing, or "Express" version available. Individual users can purchase a single license to use on multiple machines that they own, while business users will need to purchase one license per machine. Volume education pricing is available for purchase by institutions only.

AUDIBLE AUDIOBOOKS NOW AVAILABLE VIA WIFI

Audible has just announced that over 50,000 of its audiobooks are now available to download directly onto Kindles everywhere through WiFi. Granted, that's still one step away (3G) from being as good as it could possibly get, but it's still a tremendous improvement over the tried-and-true USB sideloading method. For those looking to get started for the first time, the outfit's offering a 30-day free trial of AudibleListener Gold.

ANDROID MARKET ADDS EBOOKS; MOVIES & MUSIC TO COME

Google's Android market has gone live with the URL http://market.android.com/books/. Users can purchase ebooks directly from the Android market and have them delivered to their handset wirelessly.

There are two additional URL's that Google has not gone live with yet...http://market.android.com/movies/ and http://market.android.com/music. This should make those that were disappointed that a music service was not announced at the recent Honeycomb event. No timing on when these additional two services will launch, but we speculate Google is still in negotiations with the content providers. Once agreements have been reached, Google is sure to make them active.

SONY HINTS AT PULLING LIBRARY FROM iTUNES

In an interview with AdAge, Sony executive Michael Ephraim says that music publishers are starting to look for alternatives to iTunes, including Sony’s own Music Unlimited, which will soon be launched.

“Publishers are being held to ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold,” Ephraim is quoted as saying.

Of course, what Ephraim is really saying here is that he’d like Sony’s own version of iTunes, Music Unlimited, to become big enough that they don’t have to pay Apple a cut, or can renegotiate their terms with Apple in a way that is more favorable to Sony.

Bluntly, though, it seems unlikely that Music Unlimited will dethrone iTunes. Apple has all of the momentum and all of the iPods. If Ephraim really wants Sony to pull away from iTunes, they need to look towards alternatives doing something iTunes isn’t doing yet. European streaming music service Spotify is one possible contender… and what do you know? Sony just inked a deal with Spotify. Maybe Apple does have something to fear here after all.

WHAT IS MUSICBAY AND SHOULD THE MUSIC LABELS BE AFRAID?

A few years ago the Pirate Bay crew registered a domain name that until now hasn’t been very active, themusicbay.org. At the time it was registered there were plans to create the most efficient music sharing system ever built, but these were put aside as other projects needed more urgent attention.

In recent days, however, rumors started to grow that The Music Bay domain might be put to use after all. It is currently setup to serve ads for The Pirate Bay website, but this spring it could be hosting a special surprise for the music industry.

The currently active subdomain fear.themusicbay.org is currently displaying a “comming soon” [sic] title so TorrentFreak caught up with a Pirate Bay insider to learn more about the plans for the site. Although the Pirate Bay crew is reluctant to release any specific details, their intentions are obvious.

“The music industry can’t even imagine what we’re planning to roll out in the coming months. For years they’ve complained bitterly about piracy, but if they ever had a reason to be scared it is now,” TorrentFreak was told. “It will be a special surprise for IFPI’s 78th birthday, and we’re thinking of organizing a huge festival in Rome where IFPI was founded.”

IFPI is of course the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, one of the most active anti-piracy outfits and a long-time adversary of The Pirate Bay. Formed under Italy’s fascist government of Benito Mussolini in 1933, IFPI will turn 78 in April of 2011.

TorrentFreak did ask for more details about “The Music Bay”, but the above is all we are able to reveal at this stage. What’s clear from the conversation we had, however, is that the major record labels are in for a big surprise. More details are expected to follow in the near future.

Without any hard evidence all the above can of course be interpreted in a million ways. We simply don’t know what the announced project will be, who will run it and what it will do. For all we know the entire project is nothing more that a domain name, registered and used just for the purpose to put fear into the already quite paranoid music industry.

NOKIA SHUTS DOWN OVI MUSIC UNLIMITED SERVICE

Citing lack of interest by consumers Nokia will be shutting down its Ovi Music Unlimited, aka Comes with Music, service except for in Brazil, China and South Africa. Reuters reports that the use of DRM to lock down content to less-than-cutting-edge devices was a major stumbling block in the rollout of what was originally supposed to be a major iTunes competitor. Those who are already signed up will continue to have access to their music libraries indefinitely, but won't be able to access new tracks once their current subscription expires.

MICROSOFT RELAUNCHING GAMES FOR WINDOWS MARKETPLACE

Microsoft just announced that its new Games for Windows Marketplace online PC games store will launch on November 15th. Think Steam, but not quite. The store offers online web access from anywhere and features fast purchase and download turnarounds to accelerate the time to game play; discounted games; and game search by title, genre or publisher. Games for Windows Marketplace is integrated with Microsoft's existing Xbox LIVE and Windows Live services and will launch with over 100 titles including "Fable: The Lost Chapters" and "Grand Theft Auto III." Anyone with a Windows Live ID can login. [Engadget]

SKYPE 5 FOR WINDOWS RELEASED, BRINGS THE FACEBOOK

Skype 5.0 for Windows has been released.  The interface has been cleaned up and a new Facebook tab has appeared.  When the user logs into Facebook in Skype, the regular news feeds populate but also attaches Skype call and/or SMS buttons to those that have numbers listed in their profile.  Click the button and you are connected to that person.  You can add pictures to your contacts and don't forget about that 10-way calling feature.  Skype also has incorporated the call reconnect feature which reconnects dropped calls.  Click the download link to grab the new Skype. [Engadget]  [Download Skype 5.0]