Naim today confirmed that the HDX app to control the Naim HDX Hard Disk Player is available from the Apple iTunes app store.

The HDX app, was designed and coded in-house by Naim’s software team.

The HDX app, which also controls the primary output of NaimNet Music Servers, was developed following customer feedback provided via Naim’s long-running and influential forum.

Naim’s HDX App allows you to control your HDX hard disk player remotely. With your music library at your fingertips, you can now sit back and take control. Browse and play any of the music stored on your HDX with the easy-to-use app.

hard disk player hdx iphone app Naim

What Hi-Fi: Fatman has added two new valve amps to its roster. The iTube 202 and iTube 302 will each come with a FatDock (and receiver) and will retail at £899 and £1149 respectively.

The FatDock enables wireless streaming from an iPod or iPhone to the amp, while the latter can of course also be used as part of a standard hi-fi system.

The 302’s Class AB Push Pull design releases 30 watts per channel, while the Class A Single Ended 202 (pictured) fires 20 watts per speaker.

Round the back of the FatDock you’ll find a 3.5mm input and a USB output, alongside the standard Apple docking connection, while a receiver, for connecting to your amp, and a remote are included, too.

The iTubes themselves have three pairs of RCA inputs, another 3.5mm input and a subwoofer out connection.

The Fatman iTube 202 and iTube 302 go on sale in the UK and Europe from April 2010 and will have suggested retail prices of £899 and £1149 respectively.

The above prices include the FatDock and a three year warranty.

docking station iPod valve amp

iPodNN: Volvo at the Chicago Auto show this morning said it would give its XC70 crossover wagon a unique rear seat entertainment system.

The RSEi-500 will be a full-fledged touchscreen computer based on Windows XP but will have its own custom interface for media navigation, including cover art and details for music and DVDs.

It should also have an always-on Internet connection and will uniquely run on a Sprint Overdrive that can share a 3G or WiMAX connection over to both the RSEi-500 and to other devices in the car through Wi-Fi.

The system has its own 500GB hard drive and will link to an unlimited music download service as well as video exploration, but Volvo promises support for outside devices as well. A USB interface should give it access to devices that register as external storage, and an aux input will let it play audio and video from most common portable devices, including iPods and Zunes.

The short-range Wi-Fi access extends resources further by supporting network-attached storage when it appears. Volvo is hinging some of its plans on reactions to the RSEi-500 at the Chicago event but so far plans to make it an option for multiple cars by this June.

Volvo

BBC: A new music file format has been unveiled by some of the key figures behind the development of the MP3.

The new file, MusicDNA, can include things like lyrics, videos, artwork and blog posts, which will continually be updated, as well as the music.

It has been created by Norwegian developer Dagfinn Bach, who worked on the first MP3 player in 1993. And its investors include German researcher Karlheinz Brandenburg, who is credited with inventing the MP3.

British record company Beggars Group, whose labels are home to Vampire Weekend, MIA and The Strokes, has signed up to use MusicDNA, as has US label Tommy Boy.

But no major labels are currently on board and the MusicDNA files are likely to be more expensive than current music downloads.

It will also be in competition with Apple’s iTunes LP, which gives users added content including bonus tracks, lyrics and video interviews.

Speaking at the Midem music conference, Mr Bach said: “We can deliver a file that is extremely searchable and can carry up to 32GB of extra information in the file itself. “And it will be dynamically updatable so that every time the user is connected, his file will be updated.”

MusicDNA is launching a beta, or test, version this spring with a full roll-out at the end of the summer. Mr Brandenburg, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology in Germany, said: “I think it brings together a number of ideas that have been around for a long time. “I remember 10 years ago, a lot of people were saying that we need to enrich the user experience, that legal access to music has to give the customers more than just music, and this is certainly one very nice way to do it.”

MP3 musicdna

Electronista: Online sales of music were up significantly in 2009 but still weren’t enough to compensate for dropping CD sales, the IFPI said today in its annual overview.

The revenue from Amazon, iTunes and other sources climbed 12 percent to $4.2 billion during the year, but a corresponding drop in CD sales is estimated to have made total revenues shrink by 8 to 9 percent to about $15.6 billion.

The international music group again blames piracy for much of the shortfall but notes that it’s no longer as centralized on peer-to-peer services as it was before. Some of it now occurs from direct hosts, including forums and IM, as well as stream rips.

Agency officials allege that copying has had an especially destructive effect on local music, with local releases or sales falling between 60 to 80 percent in countries like France and Brazil.

Gains in digital sales instead were fueled mostly by a 20 percent boost to album purchases: the IFPI believes that switching to variable pricing at iTunes and other stores actually helped album sales as it helped convince some to get the full collection instead of opting for just one track. Single-song purchases were up only 10 percent compared to their 2008 levels.

Other recent efforts like iTunes LP may also help, the IFPI suggested in the report. These provide incentive to buy the full album by supplying photos, videos and other extras that aren’t present in singles. The split is likely to shift as streaming services like Spotify and MySpace Music, as well as music video hosts like Hulu and YouTube’s Vevo, have grown rapidly in the past 12 months.

HotHardware: Yamaha has been creating sound bars for years now, and they’ve been growing increasingly popular in homes where size is a problem.

Apartments and one-bedroom studios haven’t been able enjoy true surround sound due to the inability to shove 5, 6 or more speakers into their cramped living space.

Sound bars have enabled those living places to enjoy faux surround sound, and these two new ones add even more to the mix.

The YSP-5100 and YSP-4100 are the company’s two newest Digital Sound Projectors, with each one using just a single speaker but “dozens” of audio beam drivers.

They’re designed to sit underneath the front of flat-panel HDTVs, and they include four 1080p-compatible HDMI inputs, UniVolume (for keeping the sound of TV programs and commercials and different sources at the same volume level), and one final kicker: yAired.

This is Yamaha’s own wireless technology, which enables iPods and iPhones to send music to the sound bar without any wires involved.

Unfortunately, neither comes cheap. The 5100 is priced at $2199.95 (€1,527), and the 4100 is priced at 1899.95 (€1,319).

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