snapshot 11/28/07

TiVo and Nero developing DVR software for the PC
TiVo, the company that has become pretty much synonymous with the idea of the digital video recorder plans to create a PC version of the software it uses on set top boxes.The company is partnering with Nero to develop the software. Up until recently, TiVo's Linux-based software was designed to run only on TiVo-branded boxes. But over the past year TiVo has been partnering with cable companies like Cox and Comcast to develop software for those companies' set top boxes. Once the software was portable, perhaps it was only a matter of time before we saw standalone software.


More On eMusic Payouts
But -- and it's a big but -- the per-song payout matters a LOT to the labels in the catalog. And that's where the "health club" business model comes into play for eMusic. Digital "breakage" -- the failure of subscribers to use all of their monthly downloads -- directly affects the per-unit payout labels receive for each downloaded track. From eMusic's label relations page:

Like any subscription business (such as health clubs, mobile phone plans, and cable companies), our model is based on a consistently substantial percentage of subscribers downloading none or little of their paid allotment. Because these subscribers aren't downloading their full allocation of music, there is more revenue to be divided amongst labels. In other words, this "unused" revenue is part of the gross that is split among labels.


Citing Steep Royalty Payments, AOL And Yahoo Could Consider Dropping Streaming Radio Services
Yahoo and AOL, claiming that higher royalty fees levied this past summer are turning their online radio operations into money-losing propositions, could contemplate closing down their webcasting music services if this continues, Bloomberg reports in a slightly speculative story.

Since the 38 percent increase in charges for playing music across their respective internet radio channels went into effect in July, Yahoo and AOL started to redirect users away from their streaming webcasts. Yahoo says it has been concentrating more heavily on its download music and video services, as opposed to its web streams on Launchcast, though Yahoo also said in Q3 earnings that it would be de-emphasizing subscription music for ad-supported, so not sure where this leaves the service overall. The amount of listeners to Launchcast dropped 11 percent to 5.1 million in October, according to ComScore, while AOL Radio’s audience fell 10 percent to 2.7 million from 3 million. Still, neither Yahoo nor AOL have said how long they plan to continue or when they would decide to abandon online radio.


Music Search Engines Tread Fine Legal Line
Music search engines are just one of the many ways to get free music on the Internet (BitTorrent and MP3Sparks, formerly AllofMP3, are other popular ways). But for some users they are a near perfect way to listen to music on demand, and/or round out their music collection. Three that we’ve been tracking are SeeqPod, Songza and Skreemr.

All three index the web, or parts of the web, looking for music files that people have uploaded to servers. Users search by artist or song. MP3s or other non-DRM sound files with metadata matching the query are served as results. Unlike sites like LaLa, Imeem and Pandora (and many others), which are all trying to play by various RIAA rules to deliver music to users, music search engines generally don’t pay royalties of any kind. The music itself is never on their servers, so they have significantly less copyright exposure. More on that below.


Survey: Public rejecting digital media adapters
The public is generally avoiding digital media adapters such as the Apple TV and Sonos' wireless audio system, a new study suggests. The market research group Parks Associates claims that within a reporting group of US broadband users, only nine percent even had a stereo connected to their computer, and of those, 50 percent relied on simpler output techniques such as RCA cables. Only 28 percent used a wired or wireless media adapter. Similarly, a tiny four percent of broadband subscribers had a TV connected to their computer, and 31 percent of those connected to TVs using the likes of S-Video cables. A closer 30 percent did rely on media adapters, however.

Attempting to explain the results, Parks suggests that for most people, adapters are needlessly expensive; whereas RCA and S-Video cables can cost as little $10, adapters frequently cost upwards of $100-200, while offering few extra features. They also require extra time and effort to configure, resulting in little perceived value.


Dell's plan for Zing
Zingspot is likely related to Zing Systems, a company that Dell acquired in August. Zingspot.com is described in the document filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as "an online consumer portal for digital entertainment content acquisition and distribution." Being a hardware maker, it would make more sense to expect Dell to make a device rather than a service. Especially since the PC maker officially pulled out of the portable media player market in August 2006, at the time citing a need to focus more on PCs, TVs, and printers for consumers.
Dell had little to say when it acquired the tiny, Mountain View, Calif., company that makes streaming audio software. But almost four months later and with CES fast approaching, it's interesting to look at what Dell might be doing.