Your results:
You are Iron Man
| Inventor. Businessman. Genius. |
Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...
What are you?
Sunday, December 31, 2006
I aaaaam Iron Man (da na naa na naa na na na naaa naaa naaa)
I came across this personality quiz that tells you which superhero you are most similar to. Here I am...
Your results:
You are Iron Man
Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...
What are you?
Your results:
You are Iron Man
Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...
What are you?
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Virb - Yet Another Music Network
Mashable has a story on Virb...
Coming from the makers of PureVolume, there’s also a strong musical element: a download called Virbtunes works like MOG or Last.fm, tracking the music you listen to in iTunes and making recommendations. And just like on MySpace, bands also have special pages from which you can grab tracks to populate a player on your own profile.
It's hard to fathom yet another network, but the folks at Unborn Media have done some really nice things with PureVolume (particularly with their design and UI). So, while it may have a hard time convincing anyone to switch (or create yet another profile) - I'm sure it will at least be one of the better looking ones.
Coming from the makers of PureVolume, there’s also a strong musical element: a download called Virbtunes works like MOG or Last.fm, tracking the music you listen to in iTunes and making recommendations. And just like on MySpace, bands also have special pages from which you can grab tracks to populate a player on your own profile.
It's hard to fathom yet another network, but the folks at Unborn Media have done some really nice things with PureVolume (particularly with their design and UI). So, while it may have a hard time convincing anyone to switch (or create yet another profile) - I'm sure it will at least be one of the better looking ones.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Mugshot.org: Another Personal Feed Aggregator
Check out Mugshot (from the folks at Red Hat). It is very similar in function to what the AIM folks are doing with AIM Buddy Updates (and others like Suprglu). It's got a nice interface, is easy to use, and for us music freaks - it even includes some nice embeddable "now playing" widgets (pulling from Audioscrobbler/Last.fm). I had some trouble getting the live widget to work, so here's a screenshot of one of the many themes...
Mashapalooza - All Crazy Style
Ah, the beauty of the open web... Last.fm has benefited as much as anyone in the proliferation of sites that leverage their APIs. Yesterday I talked about Last.tv, and today I added another one to my sidebar. AllCrazyStyle.com is simple, but useful for live music fans. It looks at who you listen to (from Last.fm) and which of those artists are playing in your area (from Upcoming.org) and returns a feed of matches. Yeah, Last.fm has added events recently too, but it doesn't yet appear to be exposed as a feed. So until that time, AllCrazyStyle seems to fit my bill.
I've then taken that feed an added it to my AOL Alerts - now any change to the feed will send an alert to my both via AIM and SMS.
I've then taken that feed an added it to my AOL Alerts - now any change to the feed will send an alert to my both via AIM and SMS.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Last.tv - the YouTube/Last.fm Mashup
I love this concept (although I'm not much of a music video watcher) - it is a mashup of YouTube and Last.fm. Basically, it builds your own personal music video channel based on artists you like (pulled from your Last.fm profile). Others have done similar things by bouncing your Now Playing information up against the YouTube library to find videos from that artist - but this is more of a continuous experience. It will string together a continuous playlist of music videos from artists you have listened to before (or your musical "neighbors" have listened to).
last.tv
last.tv
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Gaining Momentum - Music 2.0 Wiki
Wow, what started as a combination of Paul Lamere's idea for a wiki, and my ever growing list of companies/services, has obviously hit a sweet spot.
Some great coverage over at The Digital Music Weblog....
I'm going to be on vacation over the holidays, but I'm going to try and spend some time (by the pool) adding to the wiki and building some templates. Please... any/all ideas are welcome.
Some great coverage over at The Digital Music Weblog....
I'm going to be on vacation over the holidays, but I'm going to try and spend some time (by the pool) adding to the wiki and building some templates. Please... any/all ideas are welcome.
Pandora Gets Profiled
Pandora is ramping up their community - as they and Last.fm continue on their paths towards each other's feature sets (or, if you can't wait then check out the Pandora/Last.fm Mashup from Real-ity). Specifically, they have now included:
Listener Profiles: Now you can use Pandora to maintain a complete description of your musical preferences, a kind of musical biography, and share it with the world. Just click the "Pandora Community" button above the player, select "View Your Profile," and tell the world a little about yourself and the music you love.
Listener Search: Find other Pandora listeners that share your musical tastes, hometown, school, or place of work. Explore their favorites songs and artists, listen to their stations, and leave them comments. Even bookmark them so you can check what they're into later. Just click the "Pandora Community" button and select "Find other Listeners" to get started.
Artist "Fans": Browse profiles for other folks that are listening to each band we play. Just click the "more about the music" button above the player, search for a favorite artist or song page, and start exploring. Or once you've made a station, find other people listening to similar stations by clicking the little triangle next to your station's name in the player and selecting "Find Other Fans of this Artist".
Station Search: Search a universe of listener-created stations... looking for "Electro Goth"? no problem. "Romantic music"? yep. You name it, someone out there has probably built a station around it. Build a 'station page' for each of your stations to ensure that your own creations show up in the search results. When you find a station you love, leave the stations creator a comment on their station page.
They are actually also, like Finetune, coming at personal broadcasting from the angle of.... "you tell us what you like, we create the station, you embed/syndicate it". I can only think that the Labels are watching this very closely as the definition of "interactivity" of the DMCA gets tested.
Listener Profiles: Now you can use Pandora to maintain a complete description of your musical preferences, a kind of musical biography, and share it with the world. Just click the "Pandora Community" button above the player, select "View Your Profile," and tell the world a little about yourself and the music you love.
Listener Search: Find other Pandora listeners that share your musical tastes, hometown, school, or place of work. Explore their favorites songs and artists, listen to their stations, and leave them comments. Even bookmark them so you can check what they're into later. Just click the "Pandora Community" button and select "Find other Listeners" to get started.
Artist "Fans": Browse profiles for other folks that are listening to each band we play. Just click the "more about the music" button above the player, search for a favorite artist or song page, and start exploring. Or once you've made a station, find other people listening to similar stations by clicking the little triangle next to your station's name in the player and selecting "Find Other Fans of this Artist".
Station Search: Search a universe of listener-created stations... looking for "Electro Goth"? no problem. "Romantic music"? yep. You name it, someone out there has probably built a station around it. Build a 'station page' for each of your stations to ensure that your own creations show up in the search results. When you find a station you love, leave the stations creator a comment on their station page.
They are actually also, like Finetune, coming at personal broadcasting from the angle of.... "you tell us what you like, we create the station, you embed/syndicate it". I can only think that the Labels are watching this very closely as the definition of "interactivity" of the DMCA gets tested.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Amazon to Sell Unprotected MP3s
Hypebot broke a story about how Amazon has decided (again) to enter the digital music sales arena. What's different? They are going the eMusic route and said to be focused exclusively on unprotected MP3s. For what it's worth, I applaud this approach. As a conspiracy theorist, I'm now wondering whether the rumors that eMusic may be for sale is related to this story. It would be a great way for Amazon to jump start their entrance into this market. And, by focusing on DRM-less MP3s, they can bundle/subsidize virtually any portable device (including iPod) that they want with this....
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Wiki, Wiki, Wiki - Music 2.0
I decided to go ahead and start a "Music 2.0 Directory" over on Wetpaint - since my tagroll of companies is growing so fast. It is a wiki, so everyone please jump in and start adding your companies. I've only really built out the framework right now, but let's see what we can do with it.
http://music2dot0.wetpaint.com/
If it starts to take off, I'll get a proper domain for it and clean it up a little. Ready, set.... go!
http://music2dot0.wetpaint.com/
If it starts to take off, I'll get a proper domain for it and clean it up a little. Ready, set.... go!
More on Buddy Feed/Updates
I was showing some people the other day how you can leverage some of the new features of AIM 6.0, in conjuction with a bunch of other personal feeds, to do some cool things. So, I figured I'm memorialize it so other could do the same.
Below, I'm showing what the Buddy Updates feature does (see post below). Basically, users enter all of their personal feeds into their Buddy Update Settings. All of the feeds then get aggreatated and spliced. AIM goes out an polls these feeds every 30 minutes or so. If something new has been added, it lights up the "i" icon next to your name as it appears on the buddy list.
Below, I'm showing what the Buddy Updates feature does (see post below). Basically, users enter all of their personal feeds into their Buddy Update Settings. All of the feeds then get aggreatated and spliced. AIM goes out an polls these feeds every 30 minutes or so. If something new has been added, it lights up the "i" icon next to your name as it appears on the buddy list.
When you friends click on that icon, it launches the Buddy Profile window (below) - that displays all of the recent updates.
Now, the coolest part for music lovers is bringing in the combination of my Last.fm "Just Played" feed and leveraging the AIM Gadgets plug-in bundle. The most useful of which is the "myPlaylist" plug-in - which will screen scrape the Now Playing information out of iTunes and/or Winamp and display it in your Buddy Profile window. So, the AIM plug-in handles what you are listening to in real-time, and the Last.fm feed provides a historical reference of what I listened to prior (since it doesn't Last.fm's feed isn't updated until the song is over).
Try it out. Personally, I think it is one of the best features of the new AIM client.
Another option is Sigamp. They have plug-ins for many popular media players - and they basically do something similar to the "myPlaylist" plug-in. They pull now playing info, then feed it into an image that can be easily be put into email signatures, blogs, etc.
A nice touch is that Sigamp links this metadata back to Rhapsody. So if you want to listen to what I'm listening to, just click it. Then leverage Rhapsody's 25 free tracks/month feature to see what you think.
My problem with Sigamp is that they don't have an image that will fit into my sidebar, and they charge a monthly fee for any other/better image design. Personally, I'd rather have a small text ad as an option.
I love having music related information in my email signature. But I opt to burn a feed of my Top Artists (I get mine from Music Now, but you could get them from Last.fm, MyStrands or a host of others) with FeedBurner, then use their "Headline Animator" to create an animated GIF of that feed. Whenever you get an email from me, you will see a scrolling image of my most listened to artists of late.
I didn't mean for this to be such a novel, but hopefully some of you will find it interesting and useful. Any other ideas? I'd love to hear them.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Buddy Feed + 30 Boxes = Timeline
Not sure who has seen this yet, but if you populate your AIM buddy feed with enough inputs, then dump it into 30 Boxes (www.30boxes.com), you can get a pretty nice timeline of your day.
For those that haven't used AIM's Buddy Update feature yet, I recommend it. It's basically a feed splicer (mine includes my Last.fm Just Played, Flickr, Blogger posts, YouTube and Delicious). When you update something, your buddies (that use AIM 6.0) will see an "i" icon light up next your name in the buddy list. By clicking it, they will see all of your updates.
Just check out the "View Timeline" badge towards the bottom of the sidebar.
The other one to try is www.mytimelines.net, although I've had trouble getting that to embed properly on Blogger.
For those that haven't used AIM's Buddy Update feature yet, I recommend it. It's basically a feed splicer (mine includes my Last.fm Just Played, Flickr, Blogger posts, YouTube and Delicious). When you update something, your buddies (that use AIM 6.0) will see an "i" icon light up next your name in the buddy list. By clicking it, they will see all of your updates.
Just check out the "View Timeline" badge towards the bottom of the sidebar.
The other one to try is www.mytimelines.net, although I've had trouble getting that to embed properly on Blogger.
eMusic for Sale?
PaidContent is reporting that they are hearing rumbles that eMusic may be for sale.
That would be big. I don't know particularly who would be the best/most likely suitor for them. It could be any of the current players that wanted to hedge against their DRM-strategies. Maybe a carrier? Maybe even Apple looking to absorb their closet competitor and simultaneously test a (pseudo) subscription model? Microsoft looking to jump start Zune? Techcrunch posted a story about Bill Gates' thoughts on DRM that maybe gives insight into why eMusic may be an interesting target. I have no idea, but it will be interesting to watch.
Here we go... this is the beginning of the great music service provider shakeout.
That would be big. I don't know particularly who would be the best/most likely suitor for them. It could be any of the current players that wanted to hedge against their DRM-strategies. Maybe a carrier? Maybe even Apple looking to absorb their closet competitor and simultaneously test a (pseudo) subscription model? Microsoft looking to jump start Zune? Techcrunch posted a story about Bill Gates' thoughts on DRM that maybe gives insight into why eMusic may be an interesting target. I have no idea, but it will be interesting to watch.
Here we go... this is the beginning of the great music service provider shakeout.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
(my) Best Albums of 2006 (or close)
As everyone is starting to compile their "Best Albums of 2006" lists, I got motivated to do the same. I remembered that I had started using Wists earlier in the year to track these (think Delicious with thumbnails). So I just went back and added few more for consideration. Below are my finalists (others may be to come). Granted, they were not all techincally released in 2006 - but that is when I first came across them - and after all, I am the center of my own universe. :-)
Feel free to recommend others or let me know what I may have missed. In no particular order:
Feel free to recommend others or let me know what I may have missed. In no particular order:
Monday, December 11, 2006
More on Music 2.0
Paul Lamere over at Sun picked up on my post yesterday on "music 2.0". I'm glad I'm not the only one that has trouble with that label, but he takes a good shot at getting more granular with it:
http://blogs.sun.com/plamere/entry/music_2_0
As a starting point he suggests:
http://blogs.sun.com/plamere/entry/music_2_0
As a starting point he suggests:
Music 2.0 sites fall into a number of camps:
- music services - places like iTunes and Rhapsody where you can purchase or subscribe to music
- Music discovery - places that help you find music - these fall generally into 3 subcategories:
- Social - wisdom of the crowds sites like last.fm, iLike. Goombah and Qloud
- Content-based - recommendations based on the music content - Pandora, SoundFlavor, MusicIP
- Expert based - Music recommendations from people - music blogs, irateradio.com
- Music experience augmentation - sites to make your music listening experience more enjoyable - this includes playlisting sites like MusicMobs, fiql and Webjay - music dashboards like sleevenotez or Snapp Radio
- Music meta data - add to the data surrounding the music - MusicBrainz, All Music Guide, Gracenote
He also is suggesting a wiki-approach to creating the "ultimate music 2.0 directory". If you are interested in contributing, check out his post and volunteer.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Music 2.0 Companies
Yeah, I don't really know what "Music 2.0" is supposed to mean either, but I've compiled a list of companies that I've come across the are doing something interesting with music online. Some are subscription services with APIs that make syndication easy, others are informational sites, a handful are social networks (some arguably not really music-centric), a few are search engines, and some are recommendation engines.... and at least a couple, I'm guessing, are probably not legal.
Feel free to comment an add to the list. I've highlighted some of my personal favorites, and ones that I use with some regularity. In no particular order....
Mystrands: http://www.mystrands.com
Last.fm: http://www.last.fm
Pandora: http://www.pandora.com
SHOUTcast: http://www.shoutcast.com
Soundflavor (formerly Siren Systems): http://www.soundflavor.com
Musicip (formerly Predixis): http://www.musicip.com
Mog: http://www.mog.com
uPlayMe: http://www.uplayme.com
Genielab: http://www.genielab.com
Upto11: http://www.upto11.net
Fiql: http://www.fiql.com
Qloud: http://www.qloud.com
Audiobaba: http://www.audiobaba.com
Musicmobs: http://www.musicmobs.com
Doublev3: http://www.doublev3.com
Echonest: http://www.echnonest.com
iLike: http://www.ilike.com
The Hype Machine: http://www.hype.non-standard.net
Elbo.ws: http://www.elbo.ws
Sleevenotez: http://www.sleevenotez.com
Rhapsody.com: http://www.rhapsody.com
Napster.com: http://www.napster.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com
Musichawk: http://www.musichawk.com
Plurn: http://www.plurn.com
Purevolume: http://www.purevolume.com
Streampad: http://www.streampad.com
Haystack: http://www.haystack.com
Mixmatcher: http://www.mixmatcher.com
Finetune: http://www.finetune.com
Muiso: http://www.muiso.com
Sonic Breakdown: http://www.sonicbreakdown.com
Audiri: http://www.audiri.com
I Rate Radio: http://www.irateradio.com
Clinko: http://www.clinko.com
Indiscover.net: http://www.indiscover.net
Webjay (Yahoo): http://www.webjay.com
Podbop: http://www.podbop.org
Mercora: http://www.mercora.com
Bebop: http://www.bebopular.com
Jamendo: http://www.jamendo.com
Art of the Mix: http://www.artofthemix.com
Foxytunes: http://www.foxytunes.com
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com
Project Opus: http://www.projectopus.com
MusicNation: http://www.musicnation.com
Crackspace: http://www.crackspace.com
Spot DJ: http://www.spotdj.com
Sonific: http://www.sonific.com
Lala.com: http://www.lala.com
Songbird: http://www.songbirdnest.com/
Blogmusik: http://www.blogmusik.net
Spiralfrog: http://www.spiralfrog.com
Google Music Trends: http://www.google.com/trends/music
Yes.com: http://www.yes.com
Moodlogic (AMG): http://www.moodlogic.com
Burnlounge: http://www.burnlounge.com
Mp3tunes: http://www.mp3tunes.com
The Tripwire: http://www.thetripwire.com
Orb: http://www.orb.com
Jambase: http://www.jambase.com
Tagworld: http://www.tagworld.com
Bandnews.org: http://www.bandnews.org
Musicovery (with LivePlasma): http://www.musicovery.com
The Filter: http://www.thefilter.com
Soundloud: http://www.soundloud.com
AOL Music Now: http://www.musicnow.com
Playlist Radish (aka Scope Creep): http://www.playlistradish.com
Splashcast: http://www.splashcast.net
Qtrax: http://www.qtrax.com
Project Playlist: http://www.projectplaylist.com
Yoogli: http://yoogli.com/products-services/index.php
Splicemusic: http://www.splicemusic.com
Snapp Radio: http://www.snappradio.com
Rate Your Music: http://www.rateyourmusic.com
Foosic.org: http://www.foosic.org
Owl Multimedia: http://www.owlmm.com
Goombah: http://www.goombah.com
UPDATE: I've now got a running list on delicious (with the tag "music2.0"). Not sure why I didn't do this in the first place. I've also displayed as a linkroll in the sidebar towards the bottom of the page. Either way, here's the link:
http://del.icio.us/rss/jherskowitz/music2.0
Feel free to comment an add to the list. I've highlighted some of my personal favorites, and ones that I use with some regularity. In no particular order....
Mystrands: http://www.mystrands.com
Last.fm: http://www.last.fm
Pandora: http://www.pandora.com
SHOUTcast: http://www.shoutcast.com
Soundflavor (formerly Siren Systems): http://www.soundflavor.com
Musicip (formerly Predixis): http://www.musicip.com
Mog: http://www.mog.com
uPlayMe: http://www.uplayme.com
Genielab: http://www.genielab.com
Upto11: http://www.upto11.net
Fiql: http://www.fiql.com
Qloud: http://www.qloud.com
Audiobaba: http://www.audiobaba.com
Musicmobs: http://www.musicmobs.com
Doublev3: http://www.doublev3.com
Echonest: http://www.echnonest.com
iLike: http://www.ilike.com
The Hype Machine: http://www.hype.non-standard.net
Elbo.ws: http://www.elbo.ws
Sleevenotez: http://www.sleevenotez.com
Rhapsody.com: http://www.rhapsody.com
Napster.com: http://www.napster.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com
Musichawk: http://www.musichawk.com
Plurn: http://www.plurn.com
Purevolume: http://www.purevolume.com
Streampad: http://www.streampad.com
Haystack: http://www.haystack.com
Mixmatcher: http://www.mixmatcher.com
Finetune: http://www.finetune.com
Muiso: http://www.muiso.com
Sonic Breakdown: http://www.sonicbreakdown.com
Audiri: http://www.audiri.com
I Rate Radio: http://www.irateradio.com
Clinko: http://www.clinko.com
Indiscover.net: http://www.indiscover.net
Webjay (Yahoo): http://www.webjay.com
Podbop: http://www.podbop.org
Mercora: http://www.mercora.com
Bebop: http://www.bebopular.com
Jamendo: http://www.jamendo.com
Art of the Mix: http://www.artofthemix.com
Foxytunes: http://www.foxytunes.com
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com
Project Opus: http://www.projectopus.com
MusicNation: http://www.musicnation.com
Crackspace: http://www.crackspace.com
Spot DJ: http://www.spotdj.com
Sonific: http://www.sonific.com
Lala.com: http://www.lala.com
Songbird: http://www.songbirdnest.com/
Blogmusik: http://www.blogmusik.net
Spiralfrog: http://www.spiralfrog.com
Google Music Trends: http://www.google.com/trends/music
Yes.com: http://www.yes.com
Moodlogic (AMG): http://www.moodlogic.com
Burnlounge: http://www.burnlounge.com
Mp3tunes: http://www.mp3tunes.com
The Tripwire: http://www.thetripwire.com
Orb: http://www.orb.com
Jambase: http://www.jambase.com
Tagworld: http://www.tagworld.com
Bandnews.org: http://www.bandnews.org
Musicovery (with LivePlasma): http://www.musicovery.com
The Filter: http://www.thefilter.com
Soundloud: http://www.soundloud.com
AOL Music Now: http://www.musicnow.com
Playlist Radish (aka Scope Creep): http://www.playlistradish.com
Splashcast: http://www.splashcast.net
Qtrax: http://www.qtrax.com
Project Playlist: http://www.projectplaylist.com
Yoogli: http://yoogli.com/products-services/index.php
Splicemusic: http://www.splicemusic.com
Snapp Radio: http://www.snappradio.com
Rate Your Music: http://www.rateyourmusic.com
Foosic.org: http://www.foosic.org
Owl Multimedia: http://www.owlmm.com
Goombah: http://www.goombah.com
UPDATE: I've now got a running list on delicious (with the tag "music2.0"). Not sure why I didn't do this in the first place. I've also displayed as a linkroll in the sidebar towards the bottom of the page. Either way, here's the link:
http://del.icio.us/rss/jherskowitz/music2.0
Monday, December 04, 2006
Musicane
I just started to dig into Musicane, which is basically a platform for independent artists to embed and sell their content directly from their sites (or others via a viral embeddable player widget).
For those of you that know me for a long time, you may remember my brief foray into the label side of the business with Prodigal Sun Records - which I started in 1994 and ran while I was in grad. school. Well, my one an only artist - Biohio - is long gone (although you can still find the guys kicking around in bands like Emmet Swimming, Quitter UK and The Device.), but I used their debut album as my guinea pig. Check it out below...
For those of you that know me for a long time, you may remember my brief foray into the label side of the business with Prodigal Sun Records - which I started in 1994 and ran while I was in grad. school. Well, my one an only artist - Biohio - is long gone (although you can still find the guys kicking around in bands like Emmet Swimming, Quitter UK and The Device.), but I used their debut album as my guinea pig. Check it out below...
Buying Guide: Online Music Services (PC Magazine)
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ZDM/story?id=2693675
Nice coverage of Music Now, with it being heralded as a "standout service". The conclusion being:
"Unlike its rivals, Music Now requires no client software. All you need is a browser, and you can play any song or playlist in the entire catalog. You can listen at the office, a friend's house, or a Web café as easily as at home. The music videos are a great addition, and the new XM Radio section really rounds out the service. Unfortunately, you don't get remote access to your locally stored music library, and support for the Firefox browser is weak."
Rick's points are valid, but in the meantime if you are looking for remote access to files - I'd suggest checking out the latest build of Winamp, which integrates Orb's great remote access services.
Nice coverage of Music Now, with it being heralded as a "standout service". The conclusion being:
"Unlike its rivals, Music Now requires no client software. All you need is a browser, and you can play any song or playlist in the entire catalog. You can listen at the office, a friend's house, or a Web café as easily as at home. The music videos are a great addition, and the new XM Radio section really rounds out the service. Unfortunately, you don't get remote access to your locally stored music library, and support for the Firefox browser is weak."
Rick's points are valid, but in the meantime if you are looking for remote access to files - I'd suggest checking out the latest build of Winamp, which integrates Orb's great remote access services.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
iPhone
Cnet is reporting that Taiwanese ODM, HonHai, has received an order for 12 million iPhones from Apple. They further speculate that the phone will be an unlocked GSM phone that would work out-of-the-box with a T-Mobile or Cingular GSM card. Only downside to that approach.... no contract means no hardware subsidy. So be prepared to pay full price for the iPhone (expected in Q107).
Real should buy MusicGremlin
Someone asked me the other day what I thought of MusicGremlin. Fact is, I think they've got a pretty killer little wifi media player grafted on to a fairly standard MusicNet-powered service. The devices does everything that Zune wants to do - but doesn't yet. A little company like MusicGremlin is never going to be able to compete on the same marketing scale as Apple, Microsoft or even Napster. Which is sad because I hate to see good products and services wither on the vine.
So, Real should take the cash from $700million dollar settlement from Microsoft and acquire the little company with the Zune-killer. Wouldn't that be sweet revenge for Real? Use Microsoft's money and MSN's ad placements (part of the settlement) to buy the device that does well the one thing Zune gets most hammered for.... direct-to-device dowloads and device-to-device sharing. They could also totally abandon Windows Media DRM (Plays For Sure) in favor of their own (like they have done with SanDisk).
Real could then subsidize the hardware when users commits to a year or more of Rhapsody-to-Go. I'm sure I'm not saying anything that others haven't said (or may be considering for all I know). But as a consumer, I'd buy it.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
A VC: Yottamusic - Rhapsody The Way I've Always Wanted It
A VC: Yottamusic - Rhapsody The Way I've Always Wanted It: "A service called Yottamusic launched. Yottamusic is basically a new front end on top of Rhapsody which has opened its web service."
I'm guessing that this can't be monetized beyond the affiliate dollars? Once/if advertising starts getting added, then the wrath of the labels will be felt as they demand their pound of flesh. I would actually think this would make Rhapsody nervous and potentially curb their openness in the future.
I'm guessing that this can't be monetized beyond the affiliate dollars? Once/if advertising starts getting added, then the wrath of the labels will be felt as they demand their pound of flesh. I would actually think this would make Rhapsody nervous and potentially curb their openness in the future.
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