snapshot 10/01/07

Adobe releases new Flash software for cell phones
Adobe Systems Inc released new software for its popular Flash Player on Sunday that promises to bring the quality of live video on cellular phones closer to that of video on computers. Adobe said more than 300 million mobile devices equipped with previous versions of Flash had already been shipped and it expected more than a billion Flash-enabled devices to be available by 2010.

Adobe's Flash software is installed on about 98 percent of all personal computers and is used by virtually all popular online video sites, mainly thanks to the fact it works independently of the device that the video is displayed upon.


YeboTV brings music-store performances to the Web
The site recently approached Fords, N.J., independent record store Vintage Vinyl with an interesting proposition: namely, musicians' in-store performances streamed live to YeboTV's site. "Retail has always provided organic marketing to consumers," YeboTV vice president of music development Cheryl Shaver said. "Now, we are using new technology to build on that."


Amazon's MP3 Download store--a book report
Many people love iTunes, but installing the software on a Windows computer that you depend on is a mistake, from a Defensive Computing standpoint. I say this for two reasons. For one, iTunes is a large complex program and installing any such program is risky, Windows being what it is. In addition, iTunes includes QuickTime which has been fraught with security bugs. And personally speaking, the fact that I must use iTunes to play music purchased from Apple, rules the whole system out for me.

So, when I heard about Amazon's new MP3 Download store selling normal, ordinary, plain vanilla MP3 songs, I tried it out. The "store" is in beta though, and it shows. The good news is that I did end up with a couple non copy protected MP3 songs. The bad news is that Amazon expects you to install software.


Radiohead lets fans price new CD
Labelless, but hardly penniless, Radiohead are letting their fans set the price for digital downloads of the band's new CD. Fans will be able to pay as little as 1p - plus a mandatory 45p credit card fee - for the In Rainbows album. The trend is being hailed as a iconic gesture that heralds the end of the big, vertically integrated record label. But it really follows the recent trend of rich popstars giving away their recorded material - while keeping more of the bounty for themselves.


Vudu set-top box review round-up
We got to spend a bit of time with Vudu's eponymously named set-top box earlier this month at CEDIA, but those still trying to justify that $399 price tag now have a bit more info to help inform their decision, with a number of reviews of the device now cropping up online. Among the first to churn out a full review were the folks at Laptop Magazine, who seem to have found quite a bit to like in the device, despite some fairly serious limitations. They were especially impressed by the Vudu's "surprisingly good" video quality, which they say "makes you forget you're watching a movie downloaded over the Web." Leading those aforementioned limitations is the fact that those all those movies are "trapped on the Vudu box," meaning you can't offload them onto a portable media or stream them over a network connection. That also proved to be one CNET's big gripes with the device, who also lamented the lack of built-in WiFi, and the somewhat limited 24-hour viewing period for downloaded movies. Those also looking for an unboxing of the device can find that and more in Paul Stamatiou's review, which even goes so far as to rip the device apart for a peek inside. As for how the Vudu works, he too seems to have been fairly impressed by the general user experience, although the movie pricing structure proved to be a major stumbling block for him, as was the device's inability to export movies to a PC.


Music Futurist Gerd Leonhard's New Book "The End Of Control" Free
Best known for his first book "The Future Of Music" and as the founder of Sonific's SongSpots, Gerd Leonhard is one of music industry's few true futurists. In typical futurist fashion, Gerd is releasing his newest book chapter by chapter online, in video or as an mp3 for free here.

"End Of Control addresses the single most important issue underlying many debates about the future of media: who controls what, why, when, and where, and how can digital content still generate revenues when most of the traditional ways of controlling its flow (i.e., distribution) are no longer available." says Leonhard. "In the book I will argue that in the future, controlling distribution is replaced with earning, receiving, and maintaining attention; that in media’s future friction is fiction; and that the “people formerly known as consumers” now literally run the show."


At Starbucks, Songs of Instant Gratification
Starting tomorrow at certain Starbucks stores, a person with an iPhone or iTunes software loaded onto a laptop can download the songs they hear over the speakers directly onto those devices. The price will be 99 cents a song, a small price, Starbucks says, to satisfy an immediate urge.

Impulsive music lovers will have to sign onto the cafe’s Wi-Fi network to discover what song is playing over the Starbucks speakers. With a few taps, users can download the song onto their iPhones (which double as an iPod), or the new Apple iPod Touch with its wireless connection. The 99-cent charge will appear on their phone bills.

First Look Video of Service


Warner burns up Japan
On Thursday, leading Japanese telecommunications company KDDI launched that country’s first download-and-burn service with an impressive line-up of titles from Warner Home Video as well as several leading Japanese distributors.


Tunesquare: Support artists, download free music
TuneSquare is a new ad-supported music download service that lives somewhere in between the world of illegal P2P sites and paid services like iTunes and Rhapsody. Here's how it works. You visit TuneSquare, browse for songs by category or use the search bar, and begin listening to music. While you listen, a video ad will play. If you like what you hear, you can download the track for free. That's all there is to it.Unlike some other free download services (Spiral Frog, we're looking at you), there's no DRM on the songs. You can burn them to a CD, and you don't have to revisit the site 30 days to keep your music collection active.


Microsoft to Debut Zune 2 on Tuesday
Entering the flash-based device market is very important for Microsoft, as the category is by far the most popular. While the Zune has managed to grab a 10 percent share of the HDD player segment, overall that has amounted to about a 3 percent share of the market in general.

Not much change in the Zune's design will accompany the new HDD players, which would look similar but thinner. The flash based players will measure 3-inches by 1.25-inches and are said to look much like the iPod nano. The smaller Zunes will be video capable, and are rumored to include Wi-Fi and higher storage than competing products. About 2.4 million next-generation Zunes will be manufactured during the 2007 holiday season, according to reports. Two-thirds of these players are expected to be flash-based, showing that Microsoft is indeed aware of the much higher popularity of flash players, which are cheaper.