snapshot 8/2/07

Music Piracy Documentary Released As Torrent
"The producers of a new documentary film analyzing global music piracy have decided to 'put their money where their mouth is' by releasing the film as a free Xvid download (hosted by the Pirate Bay, as one would expect). The film explores the blurred line between 'fair use' and piracy, and includes interviews with DJ Danger Mouse (creator of the now infamous 'grey album'), Lawrence Lessig (founder of Creative Commons), the lads from the Pirate Bay, and even some guy from the MPAA. Here is a link to the torrent."


Napster Slims Losses Considerably, Subscribers Slip
Napster slimmed losses considerably during the recent quarter, though subscriber uptake appeared problematic. The subscription and download offering posted losses of $4.2 million ($0.10 per basic and diluted share) for the fiscal first quarter ending June 30th, slimmer than a year-ago drop of $8.5 million ($0.20 per basic and diluted share). Meanwhile, revenues reached a record $32.3 million, up 15 percent over figures of $28.1 million during the same period last year.
Napster credited aggressive cost-cutting and leaner marketing for the narrowed losses. "Napster has substantially lowered its subscriber acquisition costs, and the benefits are clear in our results," commented company chairman Chris Gorog. But subscriber totals dipped 2.5 percent from the last quarter, a move that counts seasonal exits in university accounts. Current subscriber levels now hover around 770,000, up from 508,000 during the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, cash reserves notched upward slightly from last quarter to $67.1 million, though the figure represents a significant decrease from year-ago tallies of $97.8 million.


W32.Deletemusic worm hunts down and deletes MP3 files
Security experts have discovered a worm that might just be the recording industry's dream application: it hunts down and deletes MP3s on infected PCs. The worm spreads via removable flash drives, reminiscent of the way viruses spread via floppy disks decades ago. That may be an attempt by the authors of the worm to bypass e-mail filters and Web gateway filters that block malicious software, Cluley said.


MusicNet, DMX Partner on Sonic Tap Music Subscription Service
MusicNet, the music distribution unit of MediaNet Digital, said on Wednesday that it has partnered with DMX, a provider of music for commercial businesses and cable TV networks, to create a digital music subscription service and download store that also lets users access music collections on both PCs and portable devices. The Sonic Tap service will be powered by MusicNet, which counts a catalog of 4.5 million tracks, while DMX will offer its commercial customers the ability to provide brand-centric digital music services.


Amazon in your living room: today and in the future
Amazon could also become a powerful player in the battle for the digital living room. Yes the company sells furniture, but Amazon also has an impressive list of digital living room-related assets. Let’s look at some of these and how they work together. I’ve speculated in the past that “cloud services” may become an important part of the digital lifestyle, and here too Amazon could have an impact. Amazon Web Services, launched in 2002, is a collection of Internet utility services such as storage (S3) and virtualization (EC2) that could form the basis of a future media-related service.

Amazon is flying under the radar right now, but the company’s unique combination of physical, digital, and information goods could enable it to shake things up in the digital living room at any time.


Wal-Mart Looks to Grab Gains in Gadgets
This year, analysts expect Wal-Mart to make significant gains in electronics, strengthening its market position. Bear Stearns analyst Christine Augustine estimates that Wal-Mart's sales of electronics will increase at a rate of at least 10% to 12% this year, outpacing its projected overall U.S. sales growth of 7%. In a July 26 note to his firm's clients, Bank of America Securities analyst David Strasser cited data from Stevenson Co.'s Traqline service showing Wal-Mart gaining market share in MP3 players, iPods, and less-expensive flat-panel TV sets, often at the expense of Best Buy and Circuit City.

Wal-Mart also has recruited help from outside, experimenting in a few dozen stores with experts from Anderson Merchandising, a firm that distributes most of Wal-Mart's CDs and DVDs, to answer customers' questions about high-definition TVs.


Speeding up iTunes downloads, the Israeli way
Vardi is an investor in Haifa-based SpeedBit, which sells an application for speeding up downloads of games, videos and music. He claimed that by using the application, the download of a movie decreases from more than an hour to 22 minutes.