Friday, June 20, 2008

snapshot 6/20/08

Chant #1 Classical Before CD Release
I have seen the future of music and it looks like Chant. Chant - Music for the Soul on Decca debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical Chart and remains the #1 classical release at the iTunes Music Store. Chant, a niche recording even by classical standards, made it to #1 as a digital only release exclusively through the iTunes. The recording will be released physically in-stores nationwide on Tuesday, July 1st.


Last.fm enters the iPhone realm through the back door
The firm responsible for building the database upon which the Last.fm Internet radio service is built, has created software to enable iPhone users to use Last.fm -- if they want to risk it. Even though the iPhone has obvious ties to its iPod roots, the availability of streaming music for the device has still has remained something of a mystery. NPR has a streaming news service, and Pandora has brought its Pandora Everywhere Platform can be used on the iPhone, but very few other alternatives are available to users.

Last.fm is a music site built upon the Audioscrobbler engine, where users are able to stream music to their PC and save ratings on Apple's iTunes music service. Now owned and operated by CBS, the service uses a custom made algorithm that analyzes a user's music ratings and will be able to provide music bases on a user's music interests. The service is available for free to jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touch MP3 players. "Jailbroken" is a term used for unlocked iPhones that are able to run third-party applications, at the risk of voiding the iPhone's warranty and possibly turning the device into a shiny black-and-silver brick.

The MobileScrobbler service offers users a number of capabilities, including: to queue songs while offline and have them automatically submitted when they first connect; to listen to Last.fm's radio service over Wi-Fi or EDGE; to tag songs; to view album artwork; to cache data for offline viewing; to see the stations your friends are listening to; and to "scrobble" songs as a user listens to them -- which means, they get added to users' personal profiles.


Ex-Yahoo Music GM Ian Rogers Launches Topspin Media
Ian Rogers , the former GM of Yahoo Music, has finally taken music startup TopSpin Media out of stealth mode. The new company will offer a marketing software platform for music artists to maximize their fanbase and brand exposure. TopSpin Media describes itself as a technology company (not a “marketing services” company) aimed at helping artists better market themselves. For now TopSpin’s platform is only available to a few select artists, but the company plans to eventually open it to “anyone who would like to make a living from their art”. You can read more about the company on its first blog post here.


Movie Booth DVD rental kiosks head for UK, Ireland
DVD rental kiosks have been lighting up pharmacies and supermarkets across the US, but it seems that UKers and Irish lads / dames will soon have the great, great privilege of interfacing with Movie Booths in the near future. This particular unit doesn't seem all too different from other variations we've seen, boasting a simple touchscreen display and a built-in android tasked with fetching your selected title and spitting it out for a nominal (read: undisclosed) fee. Apparently, trials have been deemed a success in outlets like Tesco, Centra and Applegreen, thus paving the way to see these pop up everywhere by the year's end.

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