Microsoft has said this week that the upcoming Xbox 360 software refresh will "significantly" improve the sound quality of the headsets.

The update is expected this fall, alongside the launch of the Kinect motion control system.

With the software update, Microsoft will "upgrade the codec and audio infrastructure that underpins the quality of voice communication from Xbox 360 to Xbox 360, and should make for clear chat between gamers when they play online," says Xbox Live Studios boss Jerry Johnson, via Eurogamer.

Explaining further, Johnson says: "The codec we used when we first launched was a low bit rate codec and we stuck with that."

Concluding: "We launched and we said we required broadband. We required a 64k connection, which not many people think of as broadband any longer. But that was the minimum requirement to run the service at the time.

"It's time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening - a crackly headset on the top of your head – not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment."

Voice communication was started by Microsoft in 2002, with the launch of Xbox Live.

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Joel Tenenbaum, the graduate student who was convicted of illegally sharing 30 tracks via P2P will appeal his already reduced fine, says his lawyer.

Tenenbaum was originally fined $675,000, but the fine was reduced to $67,500 during the summer, after a judge deemed the original penalty unconstitutional and "excessive."

The student says he still cannot pay the reduced fine, and is seeking a further reduction.

If Tenenbaum gets his way, the RIAA says they will appeal any reduction.

"Sixty-seven-and-half thousand dollars only sounds reasonable because it was so much before," said the student.

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YouTube has started YouTube's Movies in the UK this week, adding 400 movies to the catalog right at launch.

The movies will either be free and ad-supported or on-demand, costing a certain fee to rent or buy.

YouTube is making the movies available thanks to agreements with Sony Pictures, MGM and a revenue share with the UK video service Blinkbox.

165 movies from Blinkbox will be ad-supported, and the service will share ad revenue. The titles normally cost £1.99 per rental.

The move follows YouTube's slow and delicate expansion into online rentals in the United States, which has so far been a disappointment.

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