Dygital's Blog - AOL Announces Acquisition of MusicNow

Dygital�s Blog � AOL Announces Acquisition of MusicNow: "This is good, and competitive to iTunes. Though, realistically, iTunes has more marketshare and more opt-in users with iPods; this does offer people with that Microsoft �PlaysForSure� crap an option to use this service. This is a pretty cool service, for the same price as iTunes and integrates with your AOL/AIM login. I wish they had a PayPal option, but heh, I guess its okay as it is. This service is better than MusicNet that AOL has been offering for a while now. Glad to see some more progress."

Variety.com - AOL retunes to MusicNow

Variety.com - AOL retunes to MusicNow: "While similar in content and pricing to musicstores run by Napster, Rhapsody and Yahoo!, AOL's will be the only one that's fully Web-based and doesn't require that users download an application. That could give it an edge in drawing in casual users surfing around the AOL.com site."

AOL Ramps Up Tunes, Buying MusicNow - Yahoo! News

AOL Ramps Up Tunes, Buying MusicNow - Yahoo! News: "MusicNow holds its own against the competing services currently, but AOL must build on what's there in order to make it compelling and unique, Schadler says.
'It allows me to pick songs and express preferences and see playlists of people like me. It's pretty good,' he says. 'If it's about other people finding me based on my profile and contacting me over this Web site saying, 'Dude, you've got to check this out,' that's not happening.'"

Hey, I'll take it. It's not a rave review, but I'm not even sure if they checked out the new features that launched this week. But, I'll keep my eyes open and post more reviews here when I find them.

Web-based tunes--music to bloggers' ears | News.blog | CNET News.com

Web-based tunes--music to bloggers' ears | News.blog | CNET News.com: "Many are welcoming MusicNow and the overall movement, which runs counter to Apple's iTunes model of delivering downloads through a separate software application."

Digital music's move back to the Web | CNET News.com

Digital music's move back to the Web | CNET News.com: "The biggest to take this step so far is America Online, which announced Thursday that it had purchased the Circuit City-owned MusicNow and would adopt its Web-based music service as AOL's main store. "

Awwwww.....yeah!

Daily Playlists

Now featuring My Daily Playlist! See the sidebar -->

How to: Top 10 Email Signatures

Below is a step-by-step instruction on how to create an email signature that includes your personal Top 10 songs (based on playcounts). When another user clicks on the animated image, then Windows Media Player will launch and begin to play your Top 10 "hotlist". If that user is a MusicNow subscriber, then they will enjoy the full playlist. If they are not, then they will experience 30 second snippets of each song in the list.

Sincerely,


NAME
TITLE
AOL
Phone: (xxx) xxx-xxxx
AIM: aolscreenname
Music Profile: [PROFILE NAME]

1. Find your MusicNow profile ID # by going to "view my profile" and looking at the URL (following "id=")




2. Your personal "Top 10" feed is available by typing:

http://www.musicnow.com/rss/a/?ac=user_top&id=58868597 (but replace my id # with the one you got from above) By entering this URL into a browser, you will be taken to a simple text page of your Top 10.

3. Go to http://www.feedburner.com/ and create a free account.

4. "Burn a feed" by copying your new feed URL (as created above in Step 2).

5. "Activate" your feed by clicking the button at the bottom of the confirmation page

6. Click on the "Publicize" tab, then click on "Headline Animator" in the left-hand column of the page. Make sure your newly created feed has been used to create the animated graphic.

7. Click on "Activate".

8. Copy the HTML that is generated. It should look something like this:






9. Create a new HTML email signature.
The easiest way to do this is to open Notepad* and paste in the following HTML , making sure to replace the ID number in the "Music Profile" line so that it matches your ID. Also enter your own personal information for the rest of the signature field or simply edit them to what ever you want;

















And then paste the HTML from Step 8 below the Music Profile line so it looks like this;

9a. For AOL you need to add some HTML tags before you paste in the HTML code snippet you created above.

• Then select all of the text you have just created, right click and select Copy to copy the HTML to your clipboard.
• Go to AOL Mail and click Write Mail (or just click Write).
• At the bottom right of the letter template it says Signatures.
• Click Signatures and then highlight and click Set Up Signatures.
• A window will open, click Create.
• In the upper field of the new window, type "Top 10" .
• In the lower field, paste in the signature HTML you created that is now in your clipboard.
• Then click OK.
• Click Default on/off to turn your signature on or off.
  

9b. For Outlook, the process is very similar:

• Open Outlook > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Signatures
• Create a New Signature by selecting "Start with a blank signature":

10 . Choose your signature preferences, alter the font, formatting, etc.

Done, and done!

* Notepad comes standard with all installations of Windows, you will find it in your Start menu under Accessories or just click on Run in your Start menu and type in notepad. Then click on OK and it will start up.

AIM Presence

AIM Presence: "Now, visitors to your Web site can see when you are online with AIM through this simple cut-and-paste code. AIM Presence uses the familiar Running Man icon to let your visitors easily see when others are online and available to chat in real time. "

Just updated my blog to support this "official" API. Before it was kind of a hack....

AOL Radio

Is it possible to launch AOL Radio's "Adult Alternative" station from this page? Let's see....

Also, one of the XM Station's such as "XM Fred".

OQO Model 01+

OQO Model 01+
Originally uploaded by jherskowitz.

The ultimate portable media player? If you've got $2K burning a whole in

your pocket and your don't mind waiting for a full-blown XP machine to boot

up, then this may be kinda cool for you music and videos. No sync

required... just download via WiFi and enjoy.

Treo + Windows Mobile 5 = Plays for Damn Sure

Treo + Windows Mobile 5 = Plays for Damn Sure
Originally uploaded by jherskowitz.

Awww yeah.... this is definitely a step in the right direction. A Treo

running Windows Mobile (and thereby Window Media Player) means that these

will be "Plays for Sure" devices fully capable of syncing and listenting to

all your subscription music content. Note to carriers - this is the

beginning of the end for your walled garden approaches. Once there is an

open platform and open access to the network(s), there is no reason the

public will pay a premium for content to be delivered specifically to their

phones.

BetaNews | Apple Maintains Margin with iPod Nano

BetaNews | Apple Maintains Margin with iPod Nano: "iSuppli dissected a 2GB iPod Nano and found $90.18 USD worth of parts. Combined with the $8-10 it costs to produce each model, the Nano ran about $100 USD to produce, said iSuppli. The player retails for $199 USD, meaning a profit margin of just under 50 percent."

It's interesting to see what Apple's costs are, but the margin quoted above is misleading since the retailers have to get their piece of the pie too. It's been a while since I've dealt with product that was sold through retail outlets, but in the past the Best Buy's and Target's of the world demanded at least 20 points of profit...

Art: Dan Sutherland

Art: Dan Sutherland
Originally uploaded by jherskowitz.

So, my brother-in-law (and artist extrordinare) has FINALLY gotten a site up. Between my complete lack of artistic talent and his technological aversion, we make quite a pair.

Here is one of my favorite pieces of his recent work. Check out www.dansutherland.net to see some of his other stuff. The site and images don't really do it justice (as you can imagine), particularly considering many of the paintings are 5' tall....

E-Commerce News: Personal Tech : iPod Slayers Misdirecting Efforts

E-Commerce News: Personal Tech : iPod Slayers Misdirecting Efforts: "'When you combine the iPod and iTunes, there's still not much that can top that combination,' he said. 'It's more than just one or the other.'"

This is essentially stating the obvious, but it is the piece that everyone is missing.... there needs to be tight integration and working relationships between the music service, the PC software and the device to create an Apple killer. Samsung, get on the phone with Microsoft and a top tier music service provider, and make something compelling.

TIME.com: Dear Google, I Have Found Another Suitor -- Sep. 26, 2005 -- Page 1

TIME.com: Dear Google, I Have Found Another Suitor -- Sep. 26, 2005 -- Page 1: "Negotiations are now at an impasse over key technology issues, such as whose instant-messaging platform would be used. But a variety of proposals remain on the table, including the creation of a separately traded company. 'We could take a more modest approach with co-marketing agreements,' the source tells TIME, 'but the bias is, if we're going to do this, let's really play to win.'"

The saga continues....

Media Center on Vista

Media Center on Vista
Originally uploaded by jherskowitz.

Some of the first screenshots are now making their way online...

BetaNews | Report: Mashboxx May Acquire Grokster

BetaNews | Report: Mashboxx May Acquire Grokster: "Mashboxx is in talks with file-sharing service Grokster over a possible puchase, a move that could be seen as an attempt to keep the embattled file-sharing service alive. "

Here comes the industry shakeout....

Microsoft Said to Be in Talks on Forming Link to AOL - New York Times

Microsoft Said to Be in Talks on Forming Link to AOL - New York Times: "A deal with AOL could provide widespread distribution for Microsoft's search system and a platform for developing Microsoft's own Internet-based services. An AOL merger would also provide a graceful exit from MSN's stagnant dial-up Internet service business, which still has several million subscribers. "

Offered without comment....

Add muSick in the Head to the new My AOL Page

Just added... one click support to add this feed to your new personalized "My AOL" page. Scroll down to the Feeds section in the right hand column of this page and just click on it. Voila!

Alternatively, if you are just interested in some of my music-related charts (like my Top 10), then I've added this support to just that piece of this page.... then every time you go to your My AOL page you will see my latest Top 10 list.

CoolSmartPhone.com

CoolSmartPhone.com: "But wait - just to add to the excitement comes news of the Samsung i300, pictured right. It's going to be exclusive to o2 and will begins selling in October for around 79.99 Pounds. The 3Gb internal hard drive is capable of storing up to 1000 music files and features scroll-wheel navigation, enabling you to search tracks with ease You can also enjoy 3D sound through its stereo speakers and download music online. "

To go along with my last post.... here is the latest object of my affection. And it is going to sell for only $149?! I'll take three. Granted the iPod Nano is cool looking, but for less money I can get this... supports subscription music services, sports Windows Mobile 5 and WiFi (I believe). Best of all, it limits the number of devices I have to carry down to one. It's the day I've been dreaming of for 10 years.