Rumors are circulating that Apple will announce a $99 iPhone sans the 3G. I think this is good since most users don’t know the difference between 2G and 3G.
There are many ways to sync your devices these days; your desk, the cloud, Web, etc. What is the best way? Rene takes a look at this in his most recent article!
Well, this would be rather sweet should Apple decide to do something like this, but I think it would require a lot of hardware on Apple’s end, and considering as how they can’t do email effectively, I put this one to rest.
If you were the competition, your jaw should be hitting the floor right about now. At this rate, it will be impossible for anyone to catchup with Apple. But then again, I am not sure of the competition needs as many fart apps. I was amazed one of my friends downloaded one the other day. Armageddon is upon us.
Well, obviously it is, it was supposed to come out in September 2008 if memory serves. However it looks like Apple might be waiting for their new Snow Leopard OS to hit the server market before unleashing thousands of notifications to iPhone users…
Sure this can’t be that hard to make. My bet is there is some heavy, heavy negotiations coming. I hope it’s free, because if there is a fee involved, I am not signing up.
Oh yeah. Didn’t we already know this? I am still amazed that there is essentially one phone on one carrier in the US… imagine if it was on all carriers… ah, to dream.
Chris writes: "Gratis can be a good business. How? Pretty simple: The minority of
customers who pay subsidize the majority who do not. Sometimes that's
two different sets of customers, as in the traditional media model: A
few advertisers pay for content so lots of consumers can get it cheap
or free..."
Back in late 2008, I wrote something very closely related to what Chris is saying, here: "To me, the bottom line is that most of what used to work just fine in a disconnected world of 'totally segregated consumers and producers' will simply not work in the future". In other words, the traditional media model will not work in Online Media, going forward - the mechanics are entirely different. And this is where Free or Freemium plays a crucial role - and it's a huge mission to figure out how this ecosystem will generate rivers of cash, not just data. And it will involve Collaboration between content companies and creators, telecoms, social networks, search engines and device makers.
Chris goes on: "With physical stuff, samples must be doled out sparingly -- there are
real costs to be paid. With bits, the free versions are too cheap to
meter and can be spread far and wide. That's why so many people
businesses (expensive!) are turning into software businesses (cheap!),
which is why your cranky tax accountant has morphed into free TurboTax
online, your stockbroker is now a trading Web site and your travel
agent is more likely a glorified search engine..."
Yes, indeed: this is why I think that the content business - starting with music - is turning into a software business, too - witness the explosion of app stores for mobile devices, and how much $$ people are paying for iPhone apps. Now imagine that content (starting with music) will be bundled into such apps, and people will perceive it as BUYING SOFTWARE or buying a cool app for their phone but in fact the content is included (yet paid for i.e. packaged). I think that if permitted by the rights-holders Pandora could easily sell a mobile device application that could include video, audio, feeds and images - I am dead certain people will pay for that. I will have a separate post on this sometime later this week.
Chris then hits the nail on the head: "Expect the shift toward open source software (which is free) and
Web-based productivity tools such as Google Docs (also free) to
accelerate".
Totally. Then, Chris warns (and I agree - that's why I am also hard at work on next-generation advertising models): "The standard business model for Web companies that don't actually have
a business model is advertising...Two problems have
emerged with that model: the price of online ads and click-through
rates. Facebook is an amazingly popular service, but it also an
amazingly ineffective advertising platform..."
And I also like his conclusion (and this is the first time that I see it spelled out like this, from Chris): "Does this mean that Free will retreat in a down economy? Probably not... "Free" has as much power over the
consumer psyche as ever. But it does mean that Free is not enough. It
also has to be matched with Paid. Just as King Gillette's free razors
only made business sense paired with expensive blades, so will today's
Web entrepreneurs have to not just invent products that people love,
but also those that they will pay for. Not all of the people or even
most of them -- free is still great marketing and bits are still too
cheap to meter -- but enough to pay the bills. Free may be the best
price, but it can't be the only one"
I call this challenge the '21st century content economics' challenge (yes... borrowed from Umair Hague's brilliant post on this topic), and it's the main topic for my work this year. If we can figure out how to generate many new revenue streams based on Feels Like Free access to content, then we can start modeling the business plans for the next 5 years. More soon! But what do you think? Comment below.
MUSIC NEWS - Orange County, CA rockers, Avenged Sevenfold have extended their current tour, adding March North American tour dates to the second leg, which started last month on January 28th. The tour, a co-headlining jaunt with Buckcherry that began last fall, has been a big success for the group with demand for tickets and sold-out shows. Filling out the bill are Papa Roach. The tour recently made news in Oakland, CA when guitarist and crew member from opening act, Saving Abel were arrested on felony sex charges. The charges have now been dropped !
The Avenged Sevenfold have been on the road for more than a year, playing to packed arenas on the fourth annual Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour, as well as a European tour with rock legends Iron Maiden. The band is touring behind the self-produced Avenged Sevenfold (buy CD here) , which topped the Billboard Alternative, Hard, and Rock charts the week after its release in October 2007. It also won the award for “Best Album” at the 2008 Kerrang! Awards. The follow-up to 2005’s million-selling City of Evil (buy CD here) , Avenged Sevenfold debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200, marking the biggest sales week ever for the quintet. Avenged Sevenfold recently captured their spectacular stage show in an acclaimed DVD/CD package called Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough (buy here) , whichfeatures the band’s jubilant hometown show at the Long Beach Arena headlining Taste of Chaos in April 2008, as well as previously unreleased b-sides and other never-before-heard material.
Microsoft has split the Zune team into separate hardware and software units, and folded those units into other Microsoft organizations, according to a CNET report.
The move seems to further signal a shift in Microsoft’s focus from Zune hardware to Zune software and services. The software group is going to the Media Center TV division, led by Enrique Rodriguez.
The fact that the Zune team does not exist as a separate entity any more is concerning to me. This does not seem a strategic measure for Zune so much as a cost-cutting measure. (They’re not doing this with Xbox, after all.)
The official reason, from Rodriguez, is that the reorganization was about “bringing more heads together to work on a unified entertainment approach… a more cloud-based approach.”
It smells like a cost-cutting move to me. Collapsing organizational units into a smaller set can cut a lot of overhead costs. In a different fiscal environment, I doubt that Microsoft would be doing this. Rodriguez’s comment is telling: “We’re just being very pragmatic and even more so in a world in which not even Microsoft can afford to over-invest.”
It also seems apparent that Microsoft feels it has more to gain from Zune software and Zune Marketplace than it does from Zune hardware. As Zune software and services extend into other 3rd-party devices, the software grows in importance and the Zune player ceases to be the centerpoint of the Zune strategy.
There’s one variable that could change this: how well the next Zune player is received. I mentioned before the excitement that I’m sensing from the Zune hardware team about this. And the new player line will almost certainly come out this fall. That might not change the emphasis on Zune software, but it could ensure a continued focus on Zune players in the years to come.
As Rodriguez notes, “The reality is, [the Zune player] will continue to be the one vertical device that we control every…aspect of it all the way to what it says on the box,” he said. “So shame on us if it is not the best.”
And here’s the word from Brian Seitz of ZuneInsider (emphasis mine): “For our current customers, this internal, organizational adjustment won’t result in any changes. Like I said above we’re still committed to delivering the next wave of the Zune hardware, software and services – and we will do so this calendar year, so stay tuned.”
Rollo & Grady Interview // Gerd Leonhard - Los Angeles Music Blog - Good read. Here are some of the best snippets:
R&G: Can the labels regain the trust of “people formerly known as consumers?” Gerd: They may not be able to, and this is the
Number One problem. I think it’s a very tough road. The only chance
they have – and that goes for everyone, not just the majors, but also
the indies – is to drastically open up, put their cards on the table
and start doing business like everybody else. This means being
transparent, sharing, putting deals on the table and making them
public. They need to create real value rather than pretend to do so.
R&G: You’ve talked about how the record industry should adopt Twitter. Can you elaborate? Gerd:Twitter is a mechanism of micro
communication, like RSS feeds. Therefore, it becomes something that is
completely owned by the people who are doing it, rather than by the
people who are making or receiving it. It’s a completely viable
mechanism that is cost-neutral, at least to us. It becomes a very
powerful mechanism for peer response and viral connections. That is the
principle of what music is all about. It’s word of mouth, connecting,
forwarding and sharing. A musical version of Twitter would be a
goldmine. It already exists to some degree in blip.fm,
but the music industry should use that mechanism to broadcast directly
to fans. They’re starting to do that, but the problem is that many
music companies perceive their primary mission as gatekeeper for the
artists rather than getting the music out. That is a big problem today,
when you’re in an economy where everybody wants a snack before buying a
sandwich.
R&G: What other technologies do you think are necessary for the do-it-yourself artists and managers of the new music world? Gerd: Widgets and syndication have made YouTube the
world’s leader in video. 60% of videos are not played on YouTube.com
but on blogs and other people’s sites. Music has completely overlooked
that very powerful tool. That is this whole idea of syndication –
getting people to transmit music to each other and then reaping the
attention on the other end.
R&G: Are you saying they need to recognize any revenue stream they can generate from their content? Sell CDs, subscriptions, etc.? Gerd: The flat rate is the next CD. Its simple
mathematics. If you charge or indirectly earn one dollar from each user
of a network, that dollar can be ad-supported. It can be supported by
bundling, so the user won’t feel it, so to speak. If you look at the
total number of people who are active on digital networks, which is
somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 ½ billion people, they’re not all
going to pay a dollar because they’re in different countries. But the
money that comes in from such a flat rate is humongous.
Right around Macworld-time, Zengobi released Curio 5.4, which included a healthy dose of Evernote integration. I had fallen for Evernote before I really figured out Curio, but lately I've found both to be key elements in my organization arsenal. I especially like Evernote's mobile capabilities and cross-platform sync. At home, I organize nearly all of my projects and related materials in Curio. Now, with Curio 5.4 and Evernote's very thorough API, we get the best of both worlds. All of the notes I take on my iPhone by photographing, recording and typing show up automatically -- and with full search capabilities -- when I sit down at my Mac. I also do a lot of research on the web, and this new integration means I can clip web pages to one place -- Evernote -- and have the information immediately available in Curio.
Evernote's various software clients are free, and premium accounts (allowing for any filetype and much more storage) are available for $5/month or $45/year. Curio is more pricey; the standard version is $99, and the pro version is $149 (there are significant academic discounts available). If you're already a Curio user but not an Evernote user, I'd recommend you sign up for a free Evernote account and start enjoying the benefits of the integration. You can always upgrade to a premium account if you find it indispensable (a fairly common occurrence). If you're an Evernote user considering Curio, use the coupon code EVERNOTE at Zengobi's online store (or Academic Store) to get a 20% discount on a Curio purchase. If you use neither, and don't want to, shouldn't you have given up reading this about a paragraph ago? Nah, thanks for sticking around.
Finally, here is the video and audio version of my presentation at MidemNet 2009, in Cannes France. I put a ton of work into this presentation and, well, honestly... I think it's one of the best I have ever done on this topic. Hope you enjoy it - and please comment, below, and / or spread the word! Thanks to the Midem organization for providing the DVD with this video.
The topics: why the
music industry needs to license the Internet just like it has licensed
Radio (i.e. with a collective license), why criminalizing the users
& fans will not work - and why those efforts should be re-directed to the creation of a new 'Music 2.0' ecosystem that actually produces growing revenues,
where those new revenues will come from, and how the music flat rate -
aka music like water - would work. See my previous blog post for more details and the PDF of this presentation. The MidemNet blog is here. My free book, Music 2.0, is here, btw;)
Watch the demo above - basically, it’s a little cartoon robot, and you swipe up to three fingers on the screen to create crazy synth noises, while tweaking various settings to make them sound even more crazy. And the robot looks like he’s making the noises. If you own an iPhone and have £1.19 spare, buy it now. Trust us, it’s great. Especially as it can be used on top of playing whatever music’s stored on your iPhone.
Daft Punk or Justice should so pay the developer to make them a branded version…
Stock earbuds are the nasty surprise that come packaged with almost all MP3 players. Sure, they let you listen to your new purchase, but they're not particularly comfortable and they certainly don't sound all that good. The best solution for this problem is to upgrade to a pair ...
It's that time again....this week, we've got some special "guests" in this blog post - a few of the Zune MVPs! MVPs are folks from the community who help to spread the Zune word by blogging, forums, and other public activity. They rock! Let's see if their music does, too!
NSILMike is listening to a playlist that includes O.A.R., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cat Stevens, U2, Santana and Collective Soul. He says he's listening to this list for two reasons:"1) I'm old enough to have heard the older ones when they were owners of 'recent' hits... 2) My college age kids intro'd me to O.A.R."
Tromboneforhire recently started a series of blog posts called Jazz 101 on his blog - Inside the Circle. So he says, "Well right now, because of my Jazz 101 thing, I've re-discovered my passion for the music of J.J. Johnson, specifically his albums "Quintergy" and "The Brass Orchestra" (J.J. was the reason I studied trombone). Outside of the jazz realm, I've had my ear on "Oceanlab" from Above & Beyond. I'm totally digging that record from top to bottom."
Indmusic adds, "I've really been into Beastie Boys lately. I've also been coming out of a (month long) Candlebox craze. Their new album is really good. I'm also really into the new Scott Weiland album. He does a really great cover of David Bowie's "Fame" on his new album."
EnzoTen has kudos and a recommendation for me! "Very nice on the Deadmau5 Jessica - that's a killer album. There is a mixed version that keeps the day flowing a bit better. Also on the electronic side I have been listening to Aphrodite - "A Break In Reality" and the slightly more old school "Aftershock." Somewhere you profile said you need more drum and bass in your life... that might do the trick."
Solar257 says, "Recently, I discovered Mark Ronson's first album "Here Comes the Fuzz." I love all of it. I decided to take a look at M.I.A.'s album "Kala." The original version of 'Paper Planes' could definitely be remixed with T.I.'s 'Swagga Like Us.' I also saw a few tracks on NSILMike's Zune Card that reminded of an album I hadn't heard in a while; the Verve Remixed series. Does anyone else pull tracks off of their friend's Zune cards? I love the flow of the first half of Q-Tips 'Move' and the entirety of 'Stranded in Your Love' by Sharon Jones. Changing aural gears a bit, two tracks on Sparkadia's debut album, "Postcards," that are catchy are 'Morning Light' and 'Connected.' Speaking of debut albums CSS's debut album "Cansei De Ser Sexy" is a complete win all the way through."
As for the Zune Insiders, Justin (The Social) is listening to The Lonely Island - a band consisting of Andy Sandberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone of SNL. "I can't stop listening and laughing to the ironic genius of the album they just dropped this week: Incredibad. It's a collection of their best SNL music videos and some really great new songs, including I'm On a Boat featuring none other than T-PAIN!"
Matt - Skipdeez - is going back a year with "Day & Nite" by Kid Cudi. "The song is simple but extremely catchy. If Kid Cudi sounds familiar, you may recognize him for his work he did on Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak album on the track “Welcome to Heartbreak”. Download it and you’ll be hooked!"
Candice (Bliss16) says, "I have the song ‘Bum Like You’ by Robyn on repeat. She is one of my fav breakout artists from 2008 and this song is the highlight of her album, but all the other songs are great too!"
As for me...I found some new Toby Emerson tracks on a compilation disc that I really like, and I'm listening to my bro EnzoTen and discovering Aphrodite. And there's some new Chris Lake in the Marketplace too - the newer stuff I've found is more chill, great to listen to while I'm at work.
OK, that's it! Post what you're listening to in the comments!
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