Musical tastes get high-tech analysis

Musical tastes get high-tech analysis

A pretty good article covering technology-only recommendations engines and their pros/cons. Personally, I think the hardcore analysis is a good first step, but it needs to be bolstered and refined by editorial content. Professional music editors are fine, but more powerful is being able to leverage my social network to make recommendations.

Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips | CNET News.com

Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips | CNET News.com: "The move also raises questions about Apple's future computer strategy. One basic choice it has in the Intel-based PC realm is whether to permit its Mac OS X operating system to run on any company's computer or only its own. "

Does Apple want OS X to displace Linux as the alternative OS of choice for the 90% of computers out there that use the x86 architecture?

BetaNews | MTV Goes Mobile with 'FLUX' Brand

BetaNews | MTV Goes Mobile with 'FLUX' Brand: "The service will provide subscribers who pay a monthly fee equivalent to $3 USD access to short videos and music through their mobile phones or computers. "

www.eirikso.com � Blog Archive � HTPC Frontend roundup

www.eirikso.com � Blog Archive � HTPC Frontend roundup: "And I must say... wow, now we are talking! Old and boring Microsoft. The company that still does not have a clue about design and media. The company that still delivers their operating system with "Paint" as the hard core imaging tool. The company that thinks PowerPoint is good for presentations and visual work... They have actually done it. They have made an impressive solution. MCE is by far the easiest and most complete HTPC front end I have tried."

A nice roundup of many of the integrated 10' media management/consumption applications.

Bertelsmann Gives P2P Another Try

EContentMag.com: "German media giant Bertelsmann reportedly pumped $85 million into the beleaguered Napster between 2000 and 2002, before Napster finally declared bankruptcy and its remains were scooped up by Roxio. So what did Bertelsmann get for its $85 mil? The short answer is, nothing. However, Bertelsmann did get something from its dalliance with Napster: a profound respect for P2P technology and its potential for content distribution (especially of large media files). "

Personally, I think that the labels should leave the distribution piece of the media puzzle to the content aggregrators, but I'm all for R&D that may make digital distribution easier and more efficient....

Tatung forms strategic alliance with Roku for making Internet-radio MP3 players

Tatung forms strategic alliance with Roku for making Internet-radio MP3 players: "On May 26, Tatung, a manufacturer of consumer electronics and electrical home appliances in Taiwan, signed strategic alliance with California-based Roku, a globally leading designer of digital media players, to cooperate in development and manufacturing of wireless Internet-radio MP3 players which are equipped hard disk drives (HDDs) and able to receive online radio and download paid music."

Live8 Concerts to be broadcast free online by AOL

NMA.co.uk: "All of the Live8 concerts will be broadcast free online, in what is likely to become the biggest broadband event to date."

AOL scores exclusive rights to broadcast all 5 of the concerts live on AOL and AOLmusic.com. Nice.

Wired News: TunA Lets Users Fish for Music

Wired News: TunA Lets Users Fish for Music: "Media Lab Europe, research partner to MIT Media Lab, is testing tunA, a software application that employs Wi-Fi to locate nearby users, peek at their music playlist and wirelessly jack into their audio stream."

Very cool... social/music networking developments continuing to progress very quickly in both the IP and physical worlds. Sign me up.

Why MySpace Is the Hot Place

Why MySpace Is the Hot Place: "Thanks to its addictive appeal, MySpace has become one of the hottest properties on the Web. Only 20 months old, it already has 14 million unique visitors a month, according to market researcher comScore Media Metrix in Chicago. That makes MySpace, more than 50%-owned by InterMix Media (MIX ), far and away the most popular of a new breed of social-networking site, where people use home pages laden with blogs and message boards to create extended networks of friends and acquaintances."

A potential acquistion target for one of the major content aggregators? If not, it probably should be....

XM planning online subscription music service and an XM Digital Music Player? - Engadget - www.engadget.com

XM planning online subscription music service and an XM Digital Music Player? It appears that XM is worried impact of portable music subscription services (as they should be since there is very little reason I need a "live" feed of pre-recorded music content). Just give me a better way to connect my portable player to my car stereo (FM transmitters just don't quite cut it... I'd settle for a simple 5 cent Line In jack on the front of the head unit) and my $15/month is FAR better spent on one of the all-you-can eat music services. I can then listen in my car, at work on my PC, and in my living room on my Media Center Extender. Let the record labels continue to piss off CD consumers with convoluted DRM schemes, I for one no longer have a need for CDs....

USATODAY.com - Music-subscription services can be a good deal

USATODAY.com - Music-subscription services can be a good deal: "I remain an unabashed iTunes junkie. But an alternative model - the 'portable' music subscription - is growing on me."

It seems that subscription music models are suffering the same fate as TiVo - you can't really appreciate the value of it UNTIL YOU TRY IT. Because of my music subscription (tied in with some social networking features), I found 3 new bands that I like... TODAY. I believe that this scenario is just not feasible in the current iTunes model. In fact, you can argue that the audiences are totally different... I (and a wide range of others like me) employ a music service to discover new artists. iTunes users generally discover their music outside the context of the service and then proactively go there to purchase something that is "on their list".

I think the onus is on the marketing departments of these subscription music services to communicate the value of discovery. You are not "renting" music you would otherwise buy... you are discovering new music that you would have otherwise never noticed. For me, that is certainly worth the equivalent price of a few sodas a week.

Yahoo MusicMatch on Media Center

Just when I was thinking that Yahoo was moving everyone away from their MusicMatch products (which they paid upwards of $160 million for), they go and launch a Radio and Music service branded with the old moniker within Media Center's "Online Spotlight". In addition to the fact that it requires you to install yet another media player (MusicMatch) on top of all the others, it had the nerve to crash my machine while doing it.

While a solid radio offering is a welcome addition to MCE, this seems to be a little bit of a contrivance.. Yahoo is pushing you to their new Yahoo Music Unlimited / Yahoo Radio (aka Launch) on your 2' PC UI, but a separate UI and infrastructure when you want to manage your music from the comfort of your sofa. That's just odd.

I work in this industry, and the current state of the market and messaging is confusing enough to me. How is the average Joe Schmo supposed to make heads or tails of which service to use on which device?!

Online Music: Rewriting the Score

Online Music: Rewriting the Score: "And BusinessWeek has learned that mighty Microsoft (MSFT ) is waiting for the right moment to strike with its own low-cost introductory offer. 'When you see us move into the space,' says Rob Bennett, senior director of MSN Entertainment, 'you'll see us try very similar things.' "

Good overview and insight into the typical pricing model of online music distribution and why Yahoo's current prices aren't sustainable (unless they use it as a loss-leader to generate other revenue streams).

Chicago Tribune | MusicNow is future-driven

Chicago Tribune MusicNow is future-driven: "MusicNow retooled its Web site last month, making it more personalized and easier to use."

I can attest to that. The networking feature is extremely compelling and puts the "pick and play" usage models of the past to shame. By being able to listen to what my friends inherently recommend (through their usage patterns), I've discovered more new music and artists in the past month that I have in probably the 5 years prior. Check them out... Mando Diao, The Honorary Title, 22-20's, Mike Doughty. All great stuff that I would have never heard of before without investing the time and effort to seek new stuff out.

Parsons: would consider AOL spinoff -- Fortune - May. 17, 2005

Parsons: would consider AOL spinoff -- Fortune - May. 17, 2005: "'If (the portal strategy) works, this business looks like our publishing business, it looks like our TV business, it looks like our local cable advertising business,' Parsons told Fortune. 'If this doesn't work, then you start to think about AOL much differently. You start to think about AOL in somewhat the same way I think about the cable company...it would have its own currency to go out and do acquisitions or other deals.' "

Let the rumor mill begin....

USATODAY.com - What's ahead for Net, digital entertainment

USATODAY.com - What's ahead for Net, digital entertainment - I haven't read this yet, but it looks like it could be an interesting panel dicussion between a diverse range of people involved in the industry.

BetaNews | iPod to Connect with Xbox 360

BetaNews iPod to Connect with Xbox 360: "The Xbox 360 will enable users to connect a portable music player, including an iPod, to the system and browse or play back music through the console's interface while watching 50 visualizations."

Perhaps the story I just posted below (Sony/iPod relationship) is just a bunch of marketing swirl inflicted upon us consumers in retaliation to this Xbox 360 feature as reported last week by BetaNews?

iTunes/iPod integration with the PS3?

iTunes/iPod integration with the PS3? - Engadget - www.engadget.com: "File this under "rumour mill," but there's talk of Apple and Sony getting buddy buddy enough to work together on support for iTunes and iPod integration with the Sony PS3."

Whoa, this sounds completely crazy on one hand, but a Sony and Apple joining forces to battle Microsoft may make sense to some. It's no secret that Sony's efforts in portable players, proprietary formats and abandoned DRM schemes have left them desperately trying to figure out how to best get into the digital media game. Some have speculated that Apple may exit the hardware game completely and license their hardware designs to 3rd parties. Personally I don't buy it (yet) since the hardware is where they make the bulk of their money... BUT a PSP that syncs to iTunes and/or a Sony-branded iPod could certainly throw a new wrinkle into the quickly chaning landscape. I would assume we will here more this week at E3. I'll let you all know once I get out there.

AirTunes Remote?

It looks like the latest iTunes build (4.8) had tipped Apple's hand. It appears that the next Airport Express will actually include a remote so that you can can navigate and control your iTunes library directly from your stereo. I'm not sure whether they will do an LCD remote a la Creative's SoundBlaster Wireless device or whether it will have some notion of using a
TV as the UI's display. Of course if they more actively pursed the TV UI, then when/if they launch a movie service as rumored, they have all the pieces to do so.

Mossberg on Yahoo Music, Rhapsody & iTunes...

Personal Technology -- Personal Technology from The Wall Street Journal.:

"In the quest to break Apple Computer's grip on the legal online music market, the best approach has seemed to be to try an entirely different model. Instead of selling individual songs outright for 99 cents each, as Apple does, some other companies are renting songs to users who pay a monthly subscription fee.

But the subscription services have had trouble gaining any real traction. So two big players, Yahoo and RealNetworks, are taking interesting steps to change the game. Yahoo has introduced a new service that's priced at just a third of what competing rental services charge, and Real is offering some music free to entice new customers.

I've been testing these two new services, and of the two, I strongly prefer the new Yahoo Music Unlimited to Real's revamped Rhapsody service. Yahoo's offering is bolder, and it works much better. In fact, even though it is still in a beta, or test, phase, I regard Yahoo Music as the new champ among subscription services. Whether it can dislodge Apple is another matter."