snapshot 5/18/07

Music, video phones may ride iPhone wave
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070517/tc_nm/summit_iphone_dc_2;_ylt=AtDX942JjB8dNRCguU9Pc0VkM3wV
Cell phones sporting bigger screens, music, video and Web-surfing capabilities may try to steal some of the spotlight when Apple Inc.'s iPhone debuts next month. Although few have seen or used the gadget, it could draw consumer attention to other pricier, high-end handsets, executives at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit said this week.

"One of the great advantages of iPhone for us is that it will heat up the music (phone) market," said Denny Strigl, chief operating officer at Verizon Communications Inc.


Cinram says it plans to expand past traditional DVD business
http://www.contentagenda.com/articleXml/LN614389760.html?nid=3038
Cinram International Income Fund the world's biggest manufacturer of CDs and DVDs, plans to expand beyond its traditional business as uncertainty plagues the future of packaged media. Chief executive Dave Rubenstein said yesterday the company will move into an industry separate from disc-making to counteract the increasingly seasonal sales of DVDs and CDs.

Cinram paid $50 million (U.S.) last month to acquire retailer distribution company Ditan Corp., which is involved in gift card technology. Cinram spokesperson Lyne Beauregard Fisher denied the coming announcement involves future gift card developments.


Verizon Updates Song ID Service
http://futuremusic.com/blog/?p=1444
Verizon Wireless has updated its Song ID service to allow subscribers to immediately purchase products related to the track identified. Verizon is offering the Song ID service as a free download. Previously, subscribers had to pay for each Song ID use, and it did not offer any purchase options. Once the ID information is received to a user’s mobile, they can choose to buy the full-track, ringtone or ringback tone with just one click. Verizon claims the Song ID service can recognize more than 4 million songs, although your mileage may vary.


BitTorrent in Focus: TV-series are Hot
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-in-focus-tv-series-are-hot/
Music (25.9%) and Video (24.2%), followed by Applications (13.3%), are in the lead if we look at the number of available torrents. Games (7.8%), XXX (5.1%) and Anime (4.3%) are less popular.

Even though 50% of the people use BitTorrent to download TV-series, only 10% of the available .torrents on public trackers are TV related. This means that on average the swarms (seeds + peers) are greater for TV-torrents, not a big surprise because an average episode of a popular TV-show like Lost is downloaded by more than 500.000 people in a week.