"A lot of people want to see their labels in order to see which ones have unread messages, but they don’t want a long list of label names cluttering up the left hand side of their inboxes," says Gmail software engineer David de Kloet.

"This is particularly handy if you use your inbox as a to-do list where unread messages are the outstanding things you need to take care of," adds de Kloet. "If you use that method along with labels like "Home" and "Project X," it’s easy to see all your to-dos in context. With this Labs feature on, labels with outstanding to-dos will be bold and have a number next to them; everything else will be hidden in the "11 more" section."

The feature can be accessed by turning it on from the labs tab under Settings.

Gmail has a number of other label-related features that users can turn on in the labs section. They have "customre label colors," which let you create your own combination of colors for labels. The "go to label" feature lets users enable keyword shortcuts "g" and I’ to display a popup for selecting a label to go to. The "multiple inboxes" feature lets you add extra lists of emails in your inbox. New lists of threads can be labels, starred messages, drafts, or other searches. The "hide unread counts" lets you hide the number of unread messages in your labels. The "hide labels from subjects" feature lets you eliminate labels from subjects to save space on smaller screens.

That last one might be of particular interest to a number of Gmail users, now that Google has announced the push for iPhone feature, which allows users to sync their Gmail accounts to thier iPhones.

In regards to email, are you a label or folder fan? Tell us.

New labels location

With the upgrade to Gmail you’ll notice that your labels have a new home. Instead of your labels having their own section, now they’ve been grouped with your Inbox, Drafts, Chats and other "default" labels.

New label features

Gmail now only shows you the labels you use the most, and automatically hides the rest. If you ever find yourself needing a label that is hidden by Gmail just simply hit the "more" link to see the rest.

Gmail adds drag and drop

I do believe this is going to become one of my new favorite features of Gmail. It will allow me greater Inbox maintenance. Drag and drop essentially does the same thing as "Move to", with fewer steps. In addition to moving messages, you now have the ability to drag labels onto messages.

The best part about the labels is that with the new changes they’re becoming more folder like… and we all know about folders vs. labels argument. In regards to folders vs. labels, Todd Jackson, Gmail Product Manger, told WebProNews the following…

"An interesting aspect of this launch is how it relates to the folders vs. labels question. We’ve always felt that labeling and searching are the easiest and most efficient methods for navigating email – yet we still had users who wanted folder-like functionality. This new version of Labels offers the best of both worlds, largely removing the need for a labels vs. folders debate."

With the new changes to the labels within Gmail this means the end of Right-side Labels. A post on the Gmail blog explains the reasoning for the early lab retirement…

"This is the first Labs feature we’re retiring. (The idea behind Labs was always that things could break or disappear at any time or they might work so well that they become regular features. More on that soon…) Now that labels aren’t in their own little box and take up much less space, moving them around the screen didn’t seem as important. We realize quite a few of you used and liked Right-side Labels, so if you feel strapped for left nav screen real estate without it, try turning on Right-side Chat in Labs instead."

So, how do you feel about the new changes? Tell us.

McGuinness played to the crowd at France’s Midem music industry trade show. An audience of music insiders from the RIAA, IFPI, and similarly affiliated groups warmed to his exhortations that companies should save the music industry.

A report at FT.com said McGuinness wants to see pressure on ISPs, telcos, and device makers, all of which he sees benefiting from “these countless tiny crimes” of file sharing.

Microsoft, Google, AOL, Yahoo, Comcast, Vodafone, Facebook and Apple, should be helping “not on the basis of reluctantly sharing advertising revenue, but collecting revenue for the use and sale of our content,” he said in the report.

Apparently there is some kind of ideal world where in McGuinness’ imagination ISPs bundle in a fee for music along with the usual charges for service, and that revenue gets shared “between the distributor and the content owner.”

I have a question, one that I ask as a long-time fan of U2, as someone who has helped carry amps up staircases and kept drunks from interfering with friends during their sets. Actually, two questions.

First, where exactly does the working musician, be it U2 or a newly signed group, make money from this? I’m old enough to remember the late Kurt Cobain wondering, at the height of Nirvana’s popularity, weren’t they supposed to be some rich rock band?

Evidently the labels, with their rich history of making their stables of artists if not hugely wealthy then at least profitable (that’s sarcasm, by the way), will accomplish this when the money starts flowing in from these offending companies. To quote more than one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld characters, pull the other one, it’s got bells on.

Second question, this one for Paul. Any chance you can arrange for the lads to make a listenable U2 album, something they haven’t accomplished since Achtung Baby in 1991? Just between you and me, I think there’s money to be made from a CD that’s really good from start to finish.

I very much want to see deserving musicians get paid. Maybe the key isn’t for those artists to let a label make the kind of deal McGuinness suggested.

Artists have always gravitated toward collectives. Wouldn’t it make more sense for like-minded musicians to cut out the labels entirely, negotiate collectively with Apple for iTunes or Amazon or Microsoft, and keep more of the money for those who make the music?

Someone get Trent Reznor and Thom Yorke on the phone. I’ve got an idea.