Entertainment company Warner Bros. is defending its anti piracy efforts following allegations of abuse, including removing content that it did not own the copyrights to. The claims raise serious questions as to whether current anti-piracy efforts making its way through Congress may punish innocent parties if this is a common occurrence.

File hosting service Hotfile sued Warner in September, claiming that after granting server access to Warner to remove copyrighted content, the media giant not only removed its own but also content it owned no rights to.

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Taiwanese software giant CyberLink has released version 8 of its all-encompassing disc-burning suite, Power2Go. Comprising software for burning data and media to CD, DVD and Blu-ray, Power2Go 8 adds a new tool for creating system recovery discs that allows the user to back up and restore data outside of Windows, plus the ability to mount virtual disk images as if they were physical drives.

Power2Go 8 also sees the introduction of a cut-down free version of the software. Power2Go 8 Essential is essentially a 15-day trial of the full Platinum edition of the suite that reverts to an “Essential” edition capable of only a handful of tasks after the trial expires.

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Apple’s iTunes may not be everyone’s favorite music player or media management tool, but for millions of iPod, iPad and iPhone owners it is the software they use to work with their music collection. We have all experienced problems with MP3s to one degree or another -- a library littered with duplicate tracks, albums that have no ID3 tags, tracks with misspelt name to name but a few -- and this is something that Real Networks’ Rinse can help with.

This is an Adobe Air application that can be used to analyze and fix your music library, comparing the information attached to your files with an extensive online database. If you are the sort of person who likes to remain in control of what is happening with your computer, you may want to work through your music collection one track at a time, confirming any suggested changes that Rinse comes up with.

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Plex, Inc has announced the release of version 0.9.5 of its freeware cross-platform media browsing suite. Now split into two distinct programs, Plex Media Server and Plex Media Center, as well as a mobile app for Android and iOS, Plex 0.9.5 introduces a number of new features as well as major changes behind the scenes.

One key new feature -- the creation of a myPlex account -- aims to make accessing your media content remotely over the internet a simpler task, while PC users can now access their media collections via the first Windows build of Plex Media Center.

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Once upon a time the notion of having access to a free image-editing tool that rivalled commercial packages was nonsensical. If you wanted to edit your photos, you had to pay for the privilege. The GIMP was one of the first to break this mold, but despite a powerful feature set it can be off-putting to the beginner.

In recent years Paint.NET has made a powerful case of being the best free image-editing tool for Windows, boasting powerful features and a relatively accessible interface. But now there’s a new kid in town, a tool that resembles Paint.NET but adds some clever features of its own. A tool that once cost money, but is now free. That image editor is PixBuilder Studio.

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WinAmp used to have a huge following back in the days when MP3 was still something of a new format, and the increased popularity of the Mac and Android platforms seems to have brought about something of a resurgence. While Windows users have long enjoyed the player, Mac users have not been so lucky. All this changes with the release of a beta version of the Mac player along with an important update for users of the Android version of the app.

The curiously names WinAmp for Mac Sync Beta not only indicates that the Mac software is currently in beta testing, but also that there is a strong focus on synchronization. While the player can be used to listen to your locally stored music library, it can also be used to keep your iTunes library synchronized as well as synching music with your Android device.

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BurnAware 4, which ships in Free, Home and Professional flavors, is the latest version of the lightweight but powerful burning tool that handles a wide variety of discs.

Burnaware Free handles most common disc based tasks. You can copy data to all types of CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs, subject to the limitations of your drive. It supports bootable and multi-session discs and it’s possible to make audio discs and disc copies.

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Opting for a consumer video editor doesn’t necessarily mean going short on features, especially if you choose MAGIX Movie Edit Pro MX Plus.

The program comes packed with high-end functionality, from the full HD support, to the 99 editing tracks, the multicam and 3D editing options, powerful sound editing tools, and wide range of output options: file, DVD, Blu-ray, YouTube, Facebook and more.

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Aiming to better compete with services like Pandora, AOL relaunched its radio app on Wednesday. The new service is powered by Slacker, and cuts the amount of commercials in half.

Pandora inserts about 45 seconds worth of commercials per hour, according to recent statements by the company. AOL Radio will now broadcast three minutes of commercials every hour versus six, aiming to respond to the most common complaint about its service: the number of commercials.

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Feature-packed and easy to use, CyberLink PowerDirector has always been one of the better consumer video editors. Of course there’s always room for improvement, though, and the latest version, PowerDirector 10 Ultra, has some very interesting additions.

Full 3D editing support allows you to import 3D videos and photos, or convert 2D media to 3D, then enhance these with 3D effects, titles, transitions and more. New 2D effects include a time-lapse tool, or support for recording hand-drawn animations (signing your name, say), and playing them back within a video.

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The attention of Apple fans has been focused on the imminent release of iPhone 4S on October 14, but before that there is iCloud and iOS 5 -- tomorrow. To make the most of both, a new version of iTunes is needed.  iTunes 10.5 includes iCloud support as well as a number of other important additions.

iTunes in the Cloud is part of the new level of connectivity that is to be found in iOS 5, and it means that any music or video purchases you make are synced online and can be accessed from any of your computers or iOS devices. Tied into this idea are automatic downloads; when you purchase music from iTunes Store, it will automatically sync to your other computers and iOS devices.

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If you’ve ever tried CyberLink’s PowerDirector then you’ll know it’s one of the fastest and most feature-packed consumer video editors around. So you may not be surprised to learn that PowerDirector 10, released today, carries on this proud tradition by adding plenty of essential new functionality, and some very worthwhile speedups.

The program is now a very capable video editor, for instance. PowerDirector 10 can open many native 3D videos (MVC, dual stream AVI, side-by-side, over-under) and some 3D image formats (MPO, JPS); or, if you don’t have any of these, then you can always convert 2D videos and photos to 3D with CyberLink’s TrueTheater 3D.  These can be then be enhanced with many 3D effects, titles and menu templates, and once you’re done may be exported as 3D videos (including the anaglyph format, so anyone with a pair of standard 3D glasses can view them).

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Adobe may have the solution for all those blurry photographs on your digital camera you were about to trash: a YouTube video of a presentation by the company at its annual MAX developers conference shows a prototype "deblurring" feature that may make it into a future version of Photoshop.

The so-called "blur kernel" attempts to decipher how the camera was moved in order to remove the blur from it. By doing this, it then will be able to remove the blur successfully, the YouTube video shows.

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The Nero range of disc burning tools has been updated, and there’s something for everyone in this comprehensive suite of utilities. The company’s flagship Nero Burning ROM allows for the importing of files from the updated Nero MediaBrowser while SecurDisc Surface Scans make it easy to verify burn projects, but it is in the main Nero suite that the bigger changes are to be found, and the various tools that make it up.

One common use for the Nero suite is backing up data, and there have been a number of improvements in this area. As well as support for NAS drives as a backup location, there is now support for incremental backups of your drives as well as the option of creating 1:1 file copies. Related to safeguarding your data, NeroRescue Agent can now be used to work with partitions that have not been assigned a drive letter.

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The Zune saga continues. Is the music player really dead? The drama got a little weirder today, as Microsoft seems to be making a concerted effort to erase any evidence that it said Zune hardware is finished. Passed on. No more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and has gone to meet its maker. It is a late media player. An ex-media player, if you will.

A support page which said that the company was focusing on Windows Phone for entertainment and "will no longer be producing Zune players" was deleted from its website (see the cached version here). Furthermore, in a tweet from the official Zune Support team, it continued the walk back.

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