The RIAA Hits Below The Belt

Trouble is brewing this holiday season for all you CD rippers out there…“the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer…The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation.”  What kind of democracy are we living in if we’re legally forced to buy additional digital copies just to be portable?

TV Watchers Also Watch Content on Alternative Devices...

“According to the recent release of The ChoiceStream 2007 Survey of Viewer Trends in TV and Online Video, 55% of connected consumers who watch TV watch some type of video on devices other than their TV sets, including their computers, mobile phones and digital media players (e.g., iPod). Not surprisingly, video-watching on these alternative devices is more popular among younger consumers (66%) than older ones (36%).”

 

New Open Source Internet Radio Recorder - RAIMARADIO

“Luckily, the open source community has been hard at work and what Screamer Radio leaves out, RaimaRadio is now bringing to the table. Raima Radio is a powerful freeware program that fuses features like wishlists, program scheduling, and video support with the traditional features of most stream ripping software. This combination turns a tremendous amount of power over to the consumer and will certainly have the RIAA taking extra heartburn medication (when they find out about it). If they didn’t like XM’s limited subscriber base having the ability to record satellite radio, then they’re going to hate this program… Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection now has the ability to time shift radio to an MP3 player.”  - Davis Freeberg

 

New DRM White Paper

Thanks to DRM Watch, I just found out about a new White Paper - DRM-protected Music Interoperability and eInnovation. According to Bill Rosenblatt, “This white paper, written by Urs Gasser of the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) Research Center for Information Law and John Palfrey of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, is a watershed in serious multidisciplinary scholarship on DRM. It draws on research in economics, public policy, law, and security technology to examine approaches to and motivations for (and against) DRM interoperability.”

(I haven’t actually read it yet, but perhaps I can get to it on the plane ride to CES…..)

iPod touch is more than an iPhone without a phone

Here’s a great LINK to Apple’s Bill of materials (BOM) and direct conversion cost estimate for the Apple iPod touch (US$)

 

“On the outside, Apple's iPod touch looks a lot like its iPhone. On the inside, there's a strong resemblance too, but a dissection conducted by iSuppli's Teardown Analysis service reveals the touch sports a distinct design and unique advancements compared to the iPhone….”

 

Optical Zoom to become Standard Feature

Digitimes is reporting that Camera modules with an optical zoom will become a “standard feature” for handsets with a built-in 5-megapixel camera…

 

 

 

 

New Association of Downloadable Media Brings Standards to 'Podvertising'

HERE’s a good article about the newly formed ADM…“There is a misconception that one needs an MP3 player to tap into podcasts, and the explosion of the mobile industry can only benefit podcasting. ADM co-founder Chris MacDonald, EVP of Business Development and Operations at LibSyn reasons: "Podcasting and other downloadable media delivery mechanisms are uniquely positioned to exploit this growing area. We believe that while there is still a lot of desktop consumption occurring now and in the future, the new developments in rich media devices in the pocket present extremely exciting monetization opportunities. The trick will be to address the various needs of consumers, producers, advertisers and vested industries to come up with a reliable, consistent and replicable model from a business standpoint."

Piracy as a leading indicator of sales

I've been saying this for years, but here's another angle: "The hope is that distribution of content this way will lead to new viewers who wouldn't have been reached through traditional marketing means."

 

 

Microsoft Re-Brands PlaysForSure

Another silly idea from Seattle’s behemoth…”The licensing change to ‘Certified for Windows Vista’ is Microsoft's attempt to beat market leader Apple using a similar combination strategy of branding and DRM technology.”  When will the music/technology/media industries realize what consumers really want and then work towards that instead of the complete opposite direction?

LinkedIn Adds New Twist...

Here’s a great blog post by Anne over at Gigaom…..“The new partner relationship with BusinessWeek shows how LinkedIn might reach out to succeed. When you’re viewing a Business Week article with the new LinkedIn feature, you can hover over a company name and find out how you’re connected to the company via your professional contacts…This flips news personalization on its head. Usually, personalized news means a service recommends articles to you. In this version, articles you’re already reading are personalized by virtue of their association with your professional network.”

 

Nokia Launches Streaming Video Service

Nokia is certainly building up some mobile momentum...the more devices the merrier!

 

“Expanding further into Mobile Media, Nokia has launched Medeo, a streaming video service focused on entertainment and lifestyle content. Created in partnership with mobile services firm Starcut, Medeo is accessible through the www.nokia.mobi portal features celebrity news and interviews, movie trailers, and music and fashion-related videos. The new ad-supported video service is available on all Nokia E- and N-series phones. Earlier this month, Nokia launched Comes With Music, a new program letting consumers purchase a year of unlimited music downloads through handsets bundled with its Ovi Web services platform.”

 

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72569&Nid=37294&p=441819

 

Free Copies of Divx Pro!

The Divx team is again giving away their Divx 6 Pro software for free in a DivX Pro holiday download. All you need to do is download the Divx 6 Pro version and enter your email address to receive the serial number which will unlock the Pro features of the Divx software.  Divx 6 Pro retails for roughly $20 so make sure you grab your copy before the offer expires. Divx 6 Pro can be downloaded for Windows and Macs

3ivx MP4 Codec Hacked

Here’s a LINK to a recent article about a new bug related to 3ivx and MP4’s..“Attack code has already been released for the bug, which has been confirmed in a codec used by older versions of Windows Media Player, made by Microsoft, and in AOL's Winamp. A Symantec researcher has warned that users of other players may also be at risk because the vulnerability itself resides in a commonly used MP4 codec produced by a company called 3ivx Technologies.”

The MPAA Infringes Copyright!

Thanks to cyber buddy David Touve, I recently found out that the MPAA has recently released a software toolkit designed to help universities detect instances of potentially illegal file-sharing on school networks.  The only problem though is that many of the components in the Ubuntu Linux distribution, including the Linux kernel, are distributed under the General Public License (GPL)….I’m glad to see DMCA takedown notices being used for what they were originally designed for J.

Wi-Fi industry to ship 300 million chipsets in 2007

“Wi-Fi chipset sales are poised to reach 300 million units this year, according to new data released by the Wi-Fi Alliance and In-Stat. Driven by ongoing strength in the PC networking market and new growth in consumer electronics and handsets, this milestone represents a 41% growth from 2006, in which 213 million chipsets were shipped.”

Universal Tightens the Preview Belt on MySpace

According to Digital Music News and Wired, every recording artist currently signed to Universal has to reduce their full song previews on embedded sites like MySpace down from full length to ~1:30.  Another bad move in a series of blunders…Obviously, this will immediately affect everyone who is using a Universal artist for his/her profile.  Also, how is this going to make me want to purchase more music again…..?