Apple's entry-level eMacs keep getting better for the value conscious with today's price break / speed bump. The US$799 eMac now features a 1.25 GHz G4, 333 MHz DDR SDRAM, three out of five USB ports making the leap to USB 2.0, and faster ATI Radeon 9200 graphics. The US$999 model replaces the combo drive with a SuperDrive and double the hard drive from 40GB to 80GB. The machines got the upgrade to USB 2.0 instead of FireWire 800, but that makes sense: many consumer devices now use USB 2.0, particularly those aimed at the PC market, but consumers should be perfectly happy with the speed of FireWire 400.

This week begins MacMusic's exclusive wrap-up / closer look at Musik Messe. Tune in all week for a look back at the deluge of new products out of Frankfurt!

One favorite from Musik Messe has to be the new Native Elektrik Piano, due in stores 22 April, just one of a number of new products from Native alone. Given an unlimited budget, a larger apartment, and new muscle tone, I'd be more than happy to lug around a Fender Rhodes MK ITM and MK IITM, a Hohner Clavinet E7TM, and a Wurlitzer A 200TM. Until I've bulked up and bought a pickup truck, though, the Native plugin looks like the best alternative: all four of these classics packed into one piece of software.

According to ZDNet : "Apple Computer was investigating a reported security flaw Friday in its OS X operating system that could allow vandals to trick Macs into opening dangerous files, such as Trojan horses and viruses."
Does a new era begin ? Time will tell. The first OS X trojan is born. Pffff.

LilyPond is an Open Source score editor coming from the linux community. Notes can be entered using any text editor (using LaTex language). Output is possible in Postcript format (easy to convert into Pdf files or image files). LilyPond has a very comprehensive manual (170 pages, 400 exemples...) and works on MacOSX using Fink. Moreover this software is completely free !