The current sound formats have been around for quite a while. It seems we’ve been dealing in MP3 and AAC forever. Neither are perfect when it comes to representing the original sound recording, though most consumers tend not to worry too much about that. A new generation is here, though, bringing in the next generation more »

The other day, I got a chance to talk to Slacker (makers of the portable radio player, Slacker G2). I thought it was a pretty cool device and asked since it was wireless already, why not make the whole thing wireless by adding Bluetooth? The Slacker spokesperson nodded and told me that he could not tell me about that, but to keep an eye out for new developments. When I pressed him to see if they would do Bluetooth, he responded with a laugh and said he couldn’t say anything now.

He then explained how Bluetooth compresses audio and there may be quality issues for other music players when they try to use Bluetooth. The Slacker spokesperson told me that since Slacker uses AAC V2 compression, Bluetooth may be able to handle Slacker’s music without any loss of quality. This explanation on how the Slacker G2 could take advantage of Bluetooth coupled with the knowing laughs of the spokesperson convinced me that Bluetooth is coming.

Blackberry users will have something to look forward to next month. Puretracks, a Toronto-based digital music company is bringing DRM-free music to blackberry devices via its online music store. The online music store for Blackberry devices was announced during the SWSX meet a couple of days ago.

Although this is something that Blackberry users should be happy about, there are some limitations however to the digital music tracks that Puretracks will be offering starting April 1. First, the Blackberry music store will only be available for RIM’s Pearl, Curve and 8800 series handsets. Second, the Blackberry music store will only be available for the US market, although Puretracks promises to bring it to Canada and other markets soon.