DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS – WEEK IN REVIEW

– Several companies unveiled quarterly earnings reports this week:

– RealNetworks showed handsome increases in total music subscribers, and remained in the black once again. XM Satellite Radio showed strong subscriber and revenue increases, though profit losses remained problematic.

– Portable MP3 manufacturers iRiver and Creative both showed heavy profit declines. Reports from Napster and Sirius are coming next week, and Loudeye will report on November 9th.

– Apple introduced an iTunes Music Store in Australia, though Sony BMG remained a licensing holdout. And iMesh released a beta version of its much-anticipated, industry-sanctioned P2P application.

– And a new report this week showed heavy returns and an overall lukewarm reception of the Motorola ROKR device. Consumers may have been expecting larger storage capacity, and an experience that more closely resembled stand-alone iPod models.