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New Song: Subscriptions,Plus
by Brad King
Monday, February 04, 2002 5:00 a.m. EST
It's the lifestyle, stupid.
That's the mantra of second-generation digital music companies trying to convince people to pay for songs they once downloaded for free.
Those complaining that file-sharing networks would destroy legitimate businesses have been pushed aside, replaced by corporations offering exclusive content, in addition to the songs, that isn't widely available through the peer-to-peer networks.
"The real service worth paying for is the agglomeration of chat, concert footage and news. People will pay for the access to content in a mass form," said Aram Sinnreich, senior analyst with Jupiter Media Metrix.
Kevin Conroy, the head of AOL Music, is a true believer in the new business model. The service is a loose collection of premium and free sites throughout ISP America Online. AOL is the world's largest ISP, with 33 million subscribers.
That built-in audience gives Conroy the chance to create a lifestyle music section for a captive audience. The key, Conroy said, is to make AOL Music entertaining by offering people a one-stop shop for news, downloads, live concerts, chats and a streaming subscription service -- something no peer-to-peer service can replicate.
So far, the strategy is working. AOL Music attracts 18 million visitors each month.
"Television wasn't a direct sales vehicle," said Conroy. "The Internet needs to be entertaining first and foremost. We are making lifestyle programming that is compelling. That's how we attract the large number of people."
That's the goal of commercial systems hoping to exist alongside networks that allow people to download any song. New businesses must give music fans a variety of information never readily available before. A pre-release of Brandy's new song drew 750,000 listeners in less than one day, and 2,300,000 watched Britney Spear's video before its television debut.
The company generates revenues through advertising and sponsorships. For now, most of AOL Music is available with AOL's $24 monthly connection. Subscribers have access to Radio@AOL, the Artist Discovery Network and a preview listening service where streamed songs and videos are available before commercial release.
Just as people pay extra for HBO, AOL will add premium services. MusicNet, which offers 100 secure downloads and streams for $9.95, debuts next month. AOL broadband subscribers willing to shell out $55 receive access to live music performances from top clubs along with an archive of 3,500 concerts through the Digital Club Network.
AOL Music also provides access to the second-largest record label, Warner Music, another division of AOL Time Warner. It's an important time for the label, which saw its revenues decline last year. Executives from all five labels are trying to boost revenues, and the online music market is expected to grow into a multibillion-dollar business.
AOL isn't the only ISP hoping the demand for digital files will encourage people to sign up. Speakeasy sells discounted music subscriptions from EMusic.com, an unsecured MP3-download service, and Listen.com's Rhapsody, a streaming music service with major label artists. This spring, the company expects to add video on demand.
"Speakeasy's goal is to bundle various music and VOD services into our DSL package offerings," said Michael Wells, a company spokesman. "In doing so, (we) blend the service fees into the customer's single Internet connection bill. By doing this, we can monetize these services while circumventing the hesitancy or unwillingness to pay for music on the Net."
The price is steep, though, running close to $100 a month for just a high-speed connection and music. The monthly connection fee alone is $50, a three-month EMusic subscription costs $36 and Rhapsody's bill comes to $10.
RealNetworks, the Seattle, Washington-based media company with part ownership in MusicNet, decided to build an entertainment and news channel without an ISP. The RealOne service retails for $10. Consumers get live NBA and MLB radio feeds, video content from shows like Survivor and exclusive content from The Wall Street Journal and CNN. However, Real offers a cable-esque music upgrade with its MusicNet service as well.
The decision to offer video, radio and music through one subscription has proven to be wildly successful in Internet terms. In less than two years, 500,000 people have signed up. RealNetworks' financial future is still murky, but the strength of the service has given executives reason to celebrate.
"The half-million mark is of monumental significance to our industry," said Larry Jacobson, RealNetworks' CEO, in a written statement. "This proves that consumers are willing to pay for premium content and reinforces the strength of the Internet as a tool in generating new revenue streams for our content partners and other major media companies."
Music and entertainment lifestyle service providers are not confined to the Internet. The House of Blues, which runs seven U.S. venues and 20 North American amphitheaters, is turning HOB.com into a destination for concertgoers. Ultimately, the corporation wants to have a "music lifestyle" service with ticket and travel discounts. For now, the website has music and video downloads from selected HOB performances, ticket and tour information and Internet radio stations.
"We want to have communication with our customers," said Sara Dekin, executive vice president of broadcast and interactive services. "We are focusing more on an event-by-event basis instead of creating a subscription-type service."
EEPROM and flash together at 40V
By Chris Edwards
EETimes, UK
(30/01/02 04:39 PM GMT)
German mixed-signal foundry X-Fab has developed a high-voltage process that will embed both EEPROM and flash memories.
Built for 0.6µm design rules, the process allows a mixture of supply voltage transistors, up to 40V. Rather than use a double-diffusion (DMOS) process, which is often used to increase the breakdown voltage, the company opted for a more CMOS-like process.
To increase the maximum supply voltage to 40V, the design uses a drain extension between the gate and the drain itself.
Jens Kosch, chief technology officer, said: "It is not classic DMOS but, if you look at the drain extension, you can think of it as a DMOS-type structure."
Currently designed to survive the load dump from a 12 or 24V battery, X-Fab is working on an extended version of the process within the next year to handle 42V car batteries.
The company is using different memory cells for the EEPROMand flash memories rather than designing a smaller, bulk-erasable EEPROM cell, a technique often used on microcontrollers.
The flash cell uses Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling for programming with the EEPROM, employing hot-electron injection.
"Two years ago, automotive customers said they needed flash only for development. Now they tell us they see a strong trend to flash updates [in the field]," said Kosch.
Voice recognition technology forum boosts ranks
SEATTLE, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A new group backed by Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) and Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) that aims to speed roll-out of voice recognition for computers and the Internet on Thursday added a raft of new members to help ready the technology for prime-time.
The SALT Forum is drafting specifications for Speech Applications Language Tags, a voice-recognition capability that could be used in software, Internet services and devices like handheld computers.
Founded last October by Microsoft, Intel, Cisco Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:CSCO - news), Philips Electronics, and voice technology specialists like SpeechWorks International Inc. (NasdaqNM:SPWX - news) and Comverse Technology Inc. (NasdaqNM:CMVT - news), the SALT Forum is adding more than a dozen new members including Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) and Korea Telecom.
Other new members include smaller companies that focus on voice technology, such as Telera Inc., Sweden-based PipeBeach and Canada's VoiceGenie.
SALT was set up to go beyond VoiceXML, a current technology that has been approved by the W3C Internet standards body but is considered by some to be too limited because it was designed mostly for phone-based voice recognition.
VoiceXML is used to computerize customer call centers, but SALT aims to also be able to combine voice recognition with traditional graphic or text input, a feature termed ``multimodal'' by the industry.
But the intelligent talking computers of ``Star Trek'' and ``2001: A Space Odyssey'' are not around the corner.
``That sort of thing is a long way off,'' said Rob Kassel, a SpeechWorks product marketing manager who is working with the forum.
However, SALT will be important for wireless devices like cell phones and handheld computers, which can be cumbersome for entering and retrieving data.
``In terms of practical applications, take a PDA. Rather than look up a name by clicking with a stylus, you just say the name of who you want to call. But you may want to say that name not only to dial it but you may also want to see the address or get a map for it,'' Kassel said.
When the SALT draft is released in the next couple of months, the forum will look to submit it to a standards body, but is prepared to push on if the approval process is slow.
``We do want this specification to move to a standards body at some time in the near future. But standards bodies tend to move slowly and there's tremendous market demand right now. If we don't move quickly we'll end up with a market that is splintered,'' Kassel said.
Panel examines disruptive technology
By Ron Wilson
Integrated System Design
January 24, 2002 (4:42 p.m. EST)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The concept of disruptive technology and its potential for predicting winners and losers in the semiconductor industry was explored by a panel of business and technology gurus Wednesday (Jan. 23).
The panel was led by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma," the book that introduced the concept of disruptive technology. Christensen summarized his concept: when the technology serving a market begins to exceed the needs of its users, there is a potential for newer, less expensive, less capable technology to displace the original market driver. The displacement of minicomputers by the personal computer illustrates this concept, he said.
Before a disruptive technology appears, the market leaders — typically highly integrated companies, as was the case with Digital Equipment Corp. in the minicomputer world — produce proprietary, highly optimized solutions, which tend to have high profit margins, Christensen said.
But disruptive technologies do not compete on performance, and hence tend to be modular, organized around de facto architectural standards, and provided by a disaggregated supply chain, in which the best margins usually go to the module suppliers, not the OEM. Such technologies also tend to provide utility to a much wider portion of the market than the optimized technologies they displace, Christensen said.
Other panelists — Jonathan Joseph, managing director at Solomon Smith Barney; Richard Newton, dean of the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley; Nick Tredennick, editor of the Dynamic Silicon newsletter; Chris Rowen, president and chief executive officer of event co-sponsor Tensilica Inc.; and EE Times editor-in-chief Brian Fuller — examined this model from the point of view of technology challenges, either in architecture, the ability of customers to use the technology or its ability to predict winning companies in the semiconductor industry.
In an additional presentation, Rowen argued that his company's configurable CPU cores fit the model of disruptive technology, offering a substantial cost/performance advantage over general-purpose microprocessors while opening the realm of CPU design to a wider range of designers.
The fit was not coincidental. Christensen has been a consultant to Tensilica for some time, and is close to Rowen. "Clayton's ideas have become something of a gospel around here," one Tensilica manager commented after the event.
In a question and answer session, Fuller asked if system-on-chip technology was itself disruptive. Christensen suggested that it was, to some vendors such as Intel Corp., but that it could in fact sustain the market positions of other companies. "What's sustaining to some is disruptive to others. It is a very relative concept," he explained.
The author also opined that wireless handheld devices could prove disruptive to personal computers, and that his model suggested that semiconductor processing could shift from the present focus on large batches of wafers to very fast throughput of individual wafers. When asked about data supporting his conjectures, Christensen warned that, in the case of Digital Equipment, the disruption had already become irreversible before market data indicated that it had begun. "In times of disruption, a good theory gives a better view of the future than current data," he said.
Ron Wilson is editorial director of Integrated System Design, a sister publication of EE Times.
Tech Firms Form Group for Mobile Payment Standards Audio/Video Analyst sees LU near fundamental bottom, ditches Sell rating - (ON24) Thursday January 24 5:41 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. and European technology companies said on Thursday they had formed a consortium to set standards for payments with mobile phones. The consortium, named PayCircle, is set up by U.S. computer to printer group Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP - news), telecom equipment maker Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU - news), software firm Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL - news), computer and software company Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW - news) and Germany's telecom equipment maker Siemens (SIEGn.DE). ``The consortium aims to provide mobile device users worldwide a standard means of making mobile payments, regardless of the payment systems used by merchants or service providers,'' the new group said in a statement. Until now, the large number of incompatible payment systems has hindered the spread of m-commerce, it said. PayCircle intends to define open and uniform interfaces based on existing standards, without the need to install any new software. Hewlett-Packard, one of the founding members of the PayCircle alliance, recently also joined another mobile payment consortium, Mobey Forum. Mobey Forum, set up by financial institutions, intends to set global rules for mobile commerce. The forum has so far failed to sign up wireless operators. Mobile commerce refers to the capability to pay for items in shops and on the mobile Internet by using a cellphone.
Toshiba eyes auto apps for voice-recognition middleware
By Yoshiko Hara
EE Times
January 23, 2002 (5:45 p.m. EST)
TOKYO — Toshiba Corp. has developed middleware that can recognize voices in nine different languages, and plans to begin marketing it worldwide this spring for use in mobile and automotive applications.
The voice recognition middleware has two parts: the recognition processing section is not language dependent; the section that depends on acoustic and language models of the language to be recognized is. By combining multiple language-dependent sections with the core recognition algorithm, the system can recognize many languages. Toshiba has prepared phonemic models for Japanese, American English, British English, French, Germany, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Chinese. The phonemic models of each language include some accent variations.
"Embedded software is required to be compact because CPU power and memory are limited. That's the challenge," said Hiroshi Kanazawa, senior research scientist at the multimedia laboratory of Toshiba's corporate research and development center in Kawasaki, Japan.
Multilanguage voice recognition systems, such as IBM's ViaVoice, are already available, but Kanazawa said the compactness of Toshiba's system meets a basic requirement of embedded applications. A standard configuration for a car navigation application would require about 1 Mbyte of ROM and 3 Mbytes of RAM. By minimizing the size of the acoustic model, a minimum configuration of about 500 kbytes could be implemented in a cellular phone with only a slight sacrifice of recognition capability, Kanazawa said.
The small memory requirement limits the number for words the system can recognize. With 3 Mbytes of RAM, it can recognize about 4,000 place names, Toshiba said.
Toshiba said it will supply and port the middleware to a customer's requested environment.
Aside from its compactness, the middleware is also differentiated by its ability to withstand extraneous noise, Kanazawa said. "We have established acoustic models which work well in various environments, from quite to very noisy, where the signal-to-noise ratio is about zero dB. This type of wide noise robustness is to our advantage."
Toshiba engineers said their system recognized about 90 percent of words on average when tested in a moving car, while competitors' systems recognized about 70 percent.
In-car applications are the middleware's initial target. "We believe the car will be a killer application for voice recognition systems," Kanazawa said.
Toshiba has already licensed the middleware to manufacturers of car navigation systems in Japan. The company's e-solutions company will begin sales promotion in Europe and the United States this spring, and in China in the fourth quarter.
Toshiba intends to brush up the middleware's phonemic models for each language at R&D locations in Yokohama, Japan, in Europe, and in China.
Toshiba engineers plan to present the technology this March at the spring meeting of the Acoustical Society of Japan, to be held March 18-20 at Kanagawa University in Yokohama.
DAR Reconfirms Launch
By Amy Gilroy
TWICE
1/21/2002
Las Vegas— iBiquity Digital confirmed at CES the specific markets in which
digital AM/FM radio (DAR) will roll out. Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York,
San Francisco and Seattle will be the initial markets expected to offer DAR
service by April. In addition, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Detroit and Boston are
expected to offer service at the end of 2002 and early 2003, said Jeffrey Jury,
iBiquity senior VP.
As reported by TWICE last fall, Alpine, JVC, Kenwood and Visteon showed DAR
equipment, as expected, with products slated to be available in early 2003.
iBiquity, which develops and licenses DAR, said it has reached an agreement to
"investigate opportunities" to deploy DAR in Ford vehicles.
Partnership slated for set-top box and wireless network markets
PR Newswire (January 18, 2002)
- The Companies Target Advanced Media Solutions
For Wireless Networks and Digital Set-Top Boxes -
RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- High Speed Net Solutions, Inc.,
d/b/a Summus (OTC Bulletin Board: HSNS), a leader in the development of wireless
and mobile multimedia solutions, announced today that it is has entered into a
strategic relationship agreement with Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
Under this agreement, Summus and Samsung agree to jointly develop, market and
generate business opportunities for the wireless network and set-top box markets. As
an initial part of the agreement, Samsung has contracted Summus to begin
development of a cutting edge solution to meet some of the strict requirements of
today's multimedia solutions. Samsung will lead the marketing and sales efforts to
profitably grow market share in the wireless network and set-top box markets.
"This is a major step forward in our collaboration with Samsung, and we are extremely
pleased to expand our relationship with this highly innovative leader in the digital
revolution," said Dr. Bjorn Jawerth, CEO and chief scientist of Summus. "Samsung's
world leading position for consumer electronics provides Summus and Samsung a
significant revenue opportunity and heightens Summus' visibility in the global market."
"Samsung is pleased to have Summus as a key partner in the field of video decoding
and multimedia solutions. This partnership will provide Samsung the opportunity to
showcase a superior video solution for our future wireless digital products," said Hank
Byun, head of Samsung's Digital Convergence Team in the U.S. Operation. "We also
plan to utilize Summus technology in a much greater arena, from consumer
electronics to digital wireless products. Summus will play a significant role in our
future multimedia product development efforts."
About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, NJ, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., markets a broad range of
award-winning advanced digital consumer electronics and information systems
products. The SEA organization oversees the North American operations of Samsung
Telecommunications USA, Samsung Electronics Canada and Samsung Electronics
Mexico. Please visit www.samsungusa.com for more information.
About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., with 2000 sales revenue of U.S. $27 billion, is a world
leader in the electronics industry. The Korea-based company has operations in about
50 countries with 66,000 employees worldwide. The company consists of four main
business units: Digital Media, Semiconductor, Information & Communications and
Home Appliance Businesses. Samsung was recently named one of the world's Top
100 Brands by BusinessWeek magazine.
About Summus
High Speed Net Solutions, Inc. d/b/a Summus, based in Raleigh, N.C., has developed
a series of solutions to change the way information is communicated. Summus'
solutions can be used to enable faster and more efficient delivery of rich media and
more efficient access to information using wireless and mobile devices such as cell
phones and personal digital assistant devices (PDAs). Summus technologies is
currently being used for such diverse purposes as scanning underwater mines for the
U.S. Navy and capturing license plate images for EZPass. Trademarked products
include the multi award-winning video email application, MaxxNote(TM), a ZDNet
Editor's pick. For more information visit www.summus.com .
This press release contains statements that are, or may be deemed to be,
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of
1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking
statements, including but not limited to, the statements regarding the embedding of
the company's video technology in Samsung's consumer products, the marketing of
video-enhanced digital signal processors to the OEM market and the future business
relationship between the company and Samsung, are not based on historical fact, but
rather reflect the company's current expectations concerning future events. By their
nature, these forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or
achievements of the company to be different from those projected in any
forward-looking statements. The following important factors, among others, may
cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements: (1) a lack of sufficient financial resources to
implement the company's business plan, which has resulted in the company's
receiving a "going concern" opinion from its independent accountant with respect to its
audited financial statements as of and for the period ended December 31, 2000; (2)
the company's dependence on the continued growth in demand for wireless Internet
usage; (3) the rapid pace of technological developments in the wireless
communications industry, particularly with respect to the availability of greater capacity
or faster transmission speeds (also known as "broadband" transmission); (4) the
degree of market acceptance of the company as a viable wireless technology provider
and of its wireless data services, including wireless e-mail; (5) technological
competition, which creates the risk of the company's technology being rendered
obsolete or noncompetitive; (6) the lack of patent protection with respect to the
company's technology; (7) potential infringement of the patent claims of third parties;
and (8) the company's dependence on its key personnel and the risk of the loss of
their services. The company hereby disclaims any obligation to publicly update the
information provided above, including forward-looking statements, to reflect
subsequent events or circumstances.
For further information, please contact: Investor Relations, Laurel Moody, Vision
Corporate Consulting, +1-212-446-6109, laurel@visioncc.net; or Public Relations,
Lisa Porter of Porter Creative Group, +1-949-752-5891, lporter@portercreative.com,
both for High Speed Net Solutions, Inc., d/b/a Summus.
MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here
http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X64236253
SOURCE High Speed Net Solutions, Inc., d/b/a Summus
CONTACT: Investor Relations, Laurel Moody, Vision Corporate Consulting,
Wireless Audio Borrows Formats from Internet
CUTTING EDGE DESIGN
Many market analysts and technology researchers
believe that music will be the next killer wire-less
application. So it is hardly surprising that cell-phone
manufacturers, personal-digital-assistant (PDA) vendors,
and wireless carriers are forming partnerships to position
themselves in a market that is estimated to be in the billions
of dollars by 2002.
One example is Samsung Telecommunications
America’s (STA) [www.samsungtelecom.com] partnership
with Sprint PCS (www.sprintpcs.com) to launch the
Samsung Uproar, a wireless digital phone with built-in
MP3 (Moving Picture Experts Group [MPEG] Layer III
Audio Coding) player. While Uproar does not yet have the
capability to wirelessly stream or download MP3 files from
the Internet—files must be downloaded from a user’s com-puter—
it’s a step in the right direction.
Earlier this year, Ericsson (www.ericsson.com)
launched its GSM-base T20 phone, targeted at Europe’s
younger consumers. While it doesn’t have a built-in MP3
player, users can attach the Ericsson
MP3 player.
Qualcomm (www.qualcomm.
com) has teamed up with MP3.com to
develop on-demand access to digital
music. MP3.com, an Internet music
service provider, will work to create an
application compatible with
Qualcomm’s new Binary Runtime
Environment for Wireless (BREW)
applications platform. The BREW plat-form
supports Qualcomm’s code-divi-sion-
multiple-access (CDMA) format.
Or, consider last year’s Motorola
(www.motorola.com) announced that
it would build in PacketVi deo’s
(www.packetvideo.com) MPEG-4
compliant software for encoding and
decoding audio-video media. While
across the Pacific, Japan’s NTT
DoCoMo (www.nttdocomo.com)
i-mode cell-phone terminals also sup-port
wireless MPEG-4 technology.
Up in Canada, a Calgary, Alberta-
Wireless Audio Borrows
Formats From Internet
Popular Internet igital Music Formats
Are Finding Acceptance In Wireless evices.
27 WI R E L E SS SYSTE MS D E S I G N S E PTEMBE R 2001
based startup named Sensate, Inc. (www.sensateinc.
com), that provides wired and wireless Internet audio
solutions, has partnered with RealNetworks (www.real
networks.com) to allow users to download their digital
music files to portable MP3 players, PDAs, and cell
phones across wireless networks.
RealNetworks is also teaming up with Texas
Instruments (TI) [www.ti.com] to deliver high-quality
media solutions for wired and wireless products. This
means that TI’s digital-signal-processor (DSP)-based
Internet and wireless devices will have integrated support
for RealNetworks’ data formats.
AUDIO FORMAT OVERVIEW
Since current Internet audio formats are being used to
support future wireless digital audio applications, like
music, it makes sense that today’s wireless designers under-stand
these data formats. What are the similarities and dif-ferences
between the more common formats like MP3, G2,
BY JOHN BLYLER
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"Music in the Age of Free Distribution: MP3 and Society."
[speaking of piracy- LOL]
This essay is an attempt to present and critically discuss the phenomenon of music piracy on the World Wide Web. The main
arguments in this paper will try to approach the phenomenon from two directions. The first one attempts to present the MP3
phenomenon as a part of the challenges that the music industry had to face. It is argued that in the past several technological
developments have already challenged the music industry's status quo in similar ways. The second direction, is attempting to
situate the MP3 phenomenon in its general technological, economical and political framework. In other words, the MP3
phenomenon should be examined as a part of the cultural transformation that the Internet 'explosion' produces on a global
scale.
Contents
Introduction
The New Technology
The Uses of Technology: A Brief Genealogy of the Mechanically Reproduced Sound
Analysing the MP3 Phenomenon
Conclusion
Introduction
"The cool thing about Napster is that it encourages enthusiasm for music in a way that the music industry has
long forgotten to do"
Thom Yorke (Radiohead), 10 September 2000.
The topic of this essay is the contemporary phenomenon of music piracy on Internet. The new computing technologies have
provided to the Net users the opportunity to download to their personal computers and distribute to the Web, free musical
pieces of art in digital format. This is a result of a file-compressing technology called MP3, which has made the transportation
of music in the Net very easy.
This piratical distribution of digital music has produced a great number of arguments around issues related to how art should
be distributed and consumed and the implications that a change can have to the music industry and the art creation process.
In addition, the MP3 phenomenon is a part of the contemporary discussions about the ethnographies of the Net and in general
about the impacts that the Internet experience has in modern societies.
The ways that this essay presents the topic is firstly by explaining what an MP3 file is and by presenting the story of the two
most popular MP3 sites (Napster and mp3.com) and secondly by following two directions of arguments about the implications
of the phenomenon. The first direction is related to a presentation of the historical development of the music industry as a
result of several technological inventions (phonograph, radio, transistor, vinyl, cassette, and MTV). The main intention behind
this presentation is to show the ways that these new technological developments have shocked the music industry's existing
system of their time, and how they were incorporated by it. In that sense, one can understand that the MP3 piratical
phenomenon is not the first challenge that the music industry has experienced; many previous technological developments
have challenged its status quo before.
The second direction of arguments is mostly related to a critical presentation of the implications of MP3 for the modern musical
industry and society in general. Therefore, this essay is an attempt to present the structure of the first MP3 communities
(although we still do not know much about them), their musical consumption (as a social phenomenon), and the implications
that these have to music industry. Moreover, this essay is attempting to present the impacts that the MP3 phenomenon has on
artists and on the art creation process. Finally, the last chapter of this essay examines the political implications of this
phenomenon, as a subversive political action.
The New Technology
What is MP3?
Before explaining what an MP3 is, a clarification of modern music technology is useful. Music CDs, tapes, and vinyl discs
reproduce sound through a 'so called' analogue format. This means - simply - that various devices can play music by reading
physical bumps or grooves of the surface of the media. In contrast, computers reproduce music by using a digital format. This
is a technology that converts these bumps or grooves into number combinations, called algorithms, which the computer
translates into sound waves (called WAV files). These algorithmic files have the disadvantage that they take a large amount of
space, making storage and transfer difficult. The solution to these problems has come in the creation of MP3.
The acronym MP3 is derived from the group that discovered it. The Moving Picture Experts Group was based in the Fraunhofer
Institute for Integrated Circuits in Germany and its purpose, which started in 1987, was to create a high quality, low memory
music file [1]. They knew that the human ear cannot hear all the frequencies that a WAV file has, so they decided to eliminate
all those sound frequencies that a human ear fails to pick up, thus reducing file size. A WAV can be compressed to 1/22nd the
size of the original by using MP3; as a consequence it can be transferable and easier to store. Does this reduction in size
affect the quality of a MP3 sound file?
A MP3 file is a satisfactory reproduction of a WAV file as long as it is not reduced to its minimum of 1/22nd its original size. In
this case it loses a noticeable amount of sound quality. By reducing the file only to one-tenth of its original size, the resultant
sound quality appears to be unaffected. Consequently, an MP3 file is what researchers were looking for, since it requires less
storage and memory, is an easy transferable file and has the sound quality of a full WAV file. In other words, as Jon Cooper
and Daniel M. Harrison note,
"a telephone modem (56K) can transfer one 4,8-minute song in about 11 minutes, a cable modem can transfer
one in 48 seconds, and faster links make transfer time almost a non issue entirely ... [while] with the rise of
commodity hard drives, storing huge amounts of MP3 files is extremely efficient and affordable" [2].
In addition, the most important advantage is that the change from a WAV to MP3 is completely inexpensive.
Internet users adopted this new technology and started using MP3 for their favourite music files. Thousands of personal MP3
Web pages have been developed during the last three years and the amounts of Web searches for "MP3" have exploded into
unbelievable numbers.
"One company that keeps track of cyber-traffic (www.searchterms.com) reports that MP3 has just surpassed the
word 'sex' as the most popular search category on the Internet" [3].
Anyone, anywhere in the world with access to the Internet can log on the World Wide Web, visit respective Web sites and
download for free into their personal computer music they like. Moreover, with the appropriate devices - CD recorders or MP3
players - they can transform these digital files to 'real' analogue ones.
One could argue that apart from changes in music distribution, MP3 has also produced a change in the ways that modern fans
of music perceive a musical piece of art. As noted earlier, the digital reproduction of music transforms analogue formats to
algorithms that are translated to sound. In other words, physical objects (CDs, tapes and vinyl) are replaced by computer bits
that are stored in the storage devices of music fans, who seem to experience a different 'first approach' to musical expression.
The lack of physical contact with an 'original' copy creates new ways of understanding music and new types of relationships
between the consumer and the product. Similar to the change that music fans experienced when compact discs replaced vinyl
[4], MP3 has changed concepts of ownership and even the idea of the musical piece of art as a whole. Consumers once upon
a time had a sensation of "physically" owning music after every purchase, owning a container in which they they valued
features of the physical container like an album cover and its artwork. These experiences are changing with MP3, and are
characterised possibly by a more direct relationship with the sound experience than ever before. One could claim that the
notion of originality has been replaced by the need for affluence with digital music.
Consequently, one could argue that this new technology, and generally the facilities that computers provide, produce several
new conditions for the 'music world' related to distribution, consumption, copyright and art creation. But the new computing
achievements - which some call a 'digital revolution' - are not only affecting the 'music world' but also many other part of
modern society and everyday life. Perhaps we should regard the MP3 phenomenon as just one example of this 'digital
revolution', which has made a strong impact on just one part of modern society - the 'music world'.
Taking everything into account, one could claim that MP3 technology shocked the traditional 'music world'. This aspect of the
'digital revolution' was unanticipated by the music industry. Changes in music consuming behaviour were not the result of the
appearance of personal sites and the exchange of MP3 files as attachments in e-mail. Everything changed after the
development of MP3 sites based in the idea of 'file sharing', like Napster and mp3.com.
The Story of Napster and mp3.com
In 1999, Shawn Fanning, a student at Northeastern University, created a MP3 Web site that was unlike all other existing sites
at the time. It did not provide access to music files to download, but instead was a file sharing system. His server used a
software program, called Napster [5], which allowed visitors to access music by using a direct file transfer. Any visitor could
obtain the Napster software by visiting his site, and then see what kinds of music was available by typing in a song title or
thename of an artist. The server would then link one Napster user to another Napster user who actually has a specific song on
their computer.
For the traditional music industry, Napster made music piracy on the Web a mass phenomenon, for in just a few months
Napster acquired an astonishing number of users.
"Napster has unleashed the music nerd in a supposed 65 million users. With an incredible 300,000 new users
signing on everyday, Napster became the biggest single user-community the Internet has ever seen in its sort
and surprising life" [6].
Music fans became excited by this new way of music distribution, because most popular music was readily available and
"using Napster was easier than going to record store, and easier than ordering records on-line" [7].
Another popular MP3 site, with a different function than Napster, is mp3.com. Created by 31-year-old Michael Robertson, it
"works for a higher purpose [...] We are providing artists with an option besides the traditional industry route-an avenue in
which they have control of their destiny and keep ownership of their work" [8]. In mp3.com when artists sign up, they agree to
give a free download of their work for visitors to the site. When Web visitors decide to purchase an entire CD, mp3.com
delivers it to their homes. "The artist sets the price of the CD, gets 50% of the retail price on every sale, and keeps full control of
the master recording. Thanks to the free songs, Robertson has built one of the most popular sites on the Web, with 250,000
visitors a day" [9].
Apart from its alternative solution for music distribution to artists and music fans, mp3.com also had another function for
successful artists. If visitors could prove that they own the album of a specific artist, by putting a specific compact disc in their
CD-ROM drive, they could download any song they liked from this album. This might sounds pointless, but anyone could
borrow the relative album and then download it for free; and many took advantage of this opportunity. This was one of the best
ways for Michael Robertson to advertise his site's artists, since he promoted them by taking advantage of the fame of other
artists. Therefore, if any visitor wanted to download songs from say the new Pink Floyd album, they could also download for
free the samplers of artists that belonged to mp3.com.
The incredible number of Napster and mp3.com users and the creation of many similar sites resulted in an immediate reaction
by the music industry. Their fear that customers would stop purchasing compact discs, because their content was free on the
Web, united the five major companies in the music business - Sony, Universal, EMI, Warner, and BMG - under the same goal:
to legally fight against piratical musical distribution and especially against Napster and mp3.com. Toward this legal action
many popular artists were supportive - like Metallica or Elton John and Madonna - while many others were against the legal
fight - for example, Radiohead, Public Enemy, U2, Prince and Neil Young. Metallica in fact started legal proceedings while in
contrast Radiohead, Public Enemy and Prince were among the first popular artists that elected to distribute their new albums
on the Web.
The legal action against Napster and mp3.com, started at the end of 1999 by Metallica and the Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA). Nearly two years later, the music industry and music fans all around the globe are still waiting for the end of
the story. Reactions to the legal battles during this period were many and varied. Some demonstrated their disapproval
towards restrictions on Napster by hacking into several American governmental Web pages [10] or by sending thousands of
e-mails to several American Senators. Also, many Web sites - like BoycottMetallica.com or PayLars.com - were created by
MP3 fans to ridicule those artists that fought Napster and mp3.com. Moreover, the MP3 'hysteria' also led to political reactions
after the German government discovered some Nazi tracks that were exchanged on the Web [11]. Another example is the
sudden police invasion into the homes of MP3 users in Belgium, [12]. Significantly, the 'Napster and mp3.com case' was one
of the questions addressed to the two American presidential candidates, Al Gore and George Bush, during their pre-electoral
political debates [13]. "Orrin Hatch, the usually staid, conservative senator from the Mormon homeland of Utah, suddenly got
Napster fever and began to make appearances with the golden boy (Shawn Fanning)" [14] certainly indicates the popularity of
the MP3 phenomenon. Much of the academic world and famous institutions - like MIT, Stanford and the University of South
California - placed themselves against restrictions by allowing their students to download and exchange MP3 filess until (at
least) the end of legal action.
In spite of the legal actions, the music industry is facing a new reality that is difficult to control, challenging many of the
principles of the existing system. The 'MP3 storm' has already produced a major crisis related to producing, reproducing and
distributing music. As Clay Shirky noted:
"The economics of the Internet are pressing with irresistible force not just against business models that treat
music as intellectual property but against the legal structure of intellectual property itself. The big question is not
whether Napster will win or lose on appeal. It is whether the current legal structure regarding copyright will
hold" [15].
It is obvious that the MP3 reality is testing the entire system, including artists, the music industry, consumers and their relations.
But - as history has shown - this is not the first time that technology is changing or threatening these relationships. We will now
try to make a brief genealogy of the ways in which new technologies 'shocked' traditional relationships, confronting existing
systems and influencing notions of intellectual property.
The Uses of Technology: A Brief Genealogy of the Mechanically Reproduced
Sound
The Beginning of a New Industry
The evolution of the music industry has been deeply influenced by the developments in technology. One could argue that
technology has been many times a challenge for existing modes of cultural production, its economic relationships, and the
law. New technologies often find existing relationships unprepared for changes, so technology becomes the vehicle for
transformation and further development of existing relations. Uusually the first reaction is an attempt to incorporate new
developments into an existing framework and then to use them for profitable purposes. For example, look at the impact of
Johann Gutenberg's invention in the 15th century.
Gutenberg's movable type created in one sense the foundation for the modern music industry. As Russell Sanjek argues, the
"[c]ontrol of the duplicating process had moved from the hands of church into those of the entrepreneur. Literature was
becoming secularised to meet the demands of its new audience, and music too, would soon be laicised as its principal patron,
the church was replaced by the public consumer" [16]. The development of typography altered social relations of the time, and
led to new ways of distributing knowledge and arts. As Garofalo writes:
"In the mercantile economy, the dependency of feudal relations and the elitism of the patronage system were
gradually replaced by the relative democracy of the marketplace ... Slowly a pan-European body of literary and
musical works appeared. As the financial interests of merchant bookseller-publishers expanded, they began to
join forces to lobby for legal protection" [17].
Therefore, the development of the market economy created new economic interests and new ethics about the value of a work
of art and the protection of intellectual property.
Britain created one of earliest copyright laws in 1710, the Statute of Anne, which became the basis of every intellectual law
that followed in England and in international level. Since this beginning, legal issues have addressed the division of profit
between artist and distributor. As Garofalo argues, despite that "the law included an author's copyright and protections for
consumers (by limiting the term of copyright and creating a 'public domain'), it clearly favoured the stationer's guild ... In this
reciprocal arrangement, booksellers fared considerably better than authors or composers" [18]. These fundamental policies
continue even today, protecting the artist by ensuring at least a minimum payment for his work.
Mechanical reproductions of art and information challenged existing systems and their economic interests. After Gutenberg, a
number of inventions followed, each in their own 'shocking' traditions of producing and distributing knowledge and art. With
the first International agreement on copyright in 1886 (known as the Berne Convention), existing system for the organization
and distribution of information organised the means to protect their interests at an international level. Therefore, every
subsequent 'invention' faced a well organised system that fought changes in the status quo, often by amendments to the
Berne Convention or by legal actions at various levels in different states.
One indeed could argue that the technological achievements of the last 100 years ultimately did little to challenge existing
systems, but instead only reinforced them. The invention of sound recordings, for example the phonograph, created the music
industry, as we know it. The response of the music industry over time to new technologies supports the notion that
technologies reinforce, rather than radically alter, existing systems of information creation and distribution.
The Gramophone and the First Steps of the Music Industry
Thomas Edison's phonograph - or 'talking machine' - was simply a new device for the office that could provide assistance with
stenography, teaching elocution, and other mundane chores. Edison used musicians and singers in public demonstrations,
but never envisioned an industry based solely on music. He always claimed that his phonograph was just "a mere toy, which
had no commercial value" [19].
It was the gramophone, not the phonograph, that brought the music industry into existence. Invented by Emile Berliner, he
immediately realised the possibilities for a new niche. "At its first demonstration in 1888, Berliner prophesied the ability to
make an unlimited number of copies from a single master, the development of a mass-scale home-entertainment market for
recorded music, and a system of royalty payments to artists derived from the sale of disks" [20]. Berliner's company - the
Talking Machine Company - in 1901 became a leading force in the music business in the United States and a threat to the
traditional entertainment business. As Martin explains, "the threat that this [recording industry] posed was soon apparent to
piano-makers and retailers, music teachers, sheet music publishers, music hall and vaudeville artists, proprietors and so on"
[21].
Berliner's business plan was based on growth in two areas. First, on the practical side, the basic technology had to evolve to
be easy to use and inexpensive to the consumer and profitable to the Company. Second, new musicians and music had to be
discovered, and demand for that music had to be generated to sell gramophones and related technologies. Emile Berliner
managed to succeed in both. He created the 78 RPM discs that were the industry standard until 1948 (the 33-1/3 RPM disc
appeared in 1948, and the 45 RPM disc was first available in 1949). Berliner hired Fred Gaisberg to find new talent and make
them more widely known through the recording medium [22]. Consequently, Berliner's plans paid off, and soon the music
industry expanded, since many others followed his strategy. From this point and afterwards, the recording industry has
continued 'using' recording directors and talent scouts (like Berliner did when he hired Fred Gaisberg) to promote its business
and has also started producing both the music hardware (in this case the phonograph) and the software (the gramophone
records). Until the new directions that Berliner created, the record-making activities were just an aspect of their marketing of
record players and not a separate commodity.
It is interesting to note that since its very beginning the main source of income for the recording industry was derived from
popular music rather than classical music. As Garofalo claims, "the record companies were slow to learn the cultural lesson
that while the European classics brought prestige to their labels, the steady income - indeed, the future of the recording
industry - was tied more to popular appetites" [23].
One could argue that, like every other successful business, the music industry had to follow and at the same time reinforce the
public's tastes. However, a new (for the time) technological development - radio - would prevent this market from expanding
and it would force the recording industry into its first decline. In the same way that recording techniques threatened the
entertainment business of the nineteenth century, they were themselves challenged by the development of radio and its
consequences.
The 'Magic' of Radio
The early years
The historical development of radio is of great importance in modern history. Beginning in the last decade of the nineteenth
century, as "one of those developments that clearly resulted from an international process of shared knowledge" [24], radio
became one of the most important ways for national and international information and communication. Radio's connection to
politics and governmental decisions was very strong - even in the U.S. (where most of radio stations were private) and in
Britain (the BBC was in principle independent [25]. Radio was very important politically from its very beginning, and until the
growth of television as a popular medium, it had probably the most dominant position in modern society.
Although the first years after the First World War were characterised by a steady growth of the music industry, the late years of
the 1920s and the early 1930s brought a decline. The main reasons were the economic crash of 1929 and the development of
radio. On the one hand, the economic crisis had a deep impact on consumer's attitudes, especially a new product. Radio
made music reproduction available in homes at a much lower cost so as a consequence radios replaced record players.
People could listen to music in their private spaces without having to purchase it. At this point the consuming custom of
'possessing music' - owning a recording - was 'immature' so the market declined. Radio was also not yet tied to the kinds of
products that the music industry was marketing. As Simon Frith argues:
"By 1926 RCA was networking shows via its National Broadcasting Company. There was, too, an early
broadcasting emphasis on 'potted palm music' (to attract relatively affluent and respectable listeners) which
meant that while radio did 'kill' record sales it also left pockets of taste unsatisfied. Early radio stations were not
interested in black audiences, for example, and so the market for jazz and blues records became, relatively,
much more significant" [26].
However, new marketing efforts were responsible for change in the music industry in the late 1930s. The installation of
jukeboxes in thousands of bars and saloons became one of the best ways for the industry to promote and advertise its
commodities and mold tastes. The second practice was related to what was called the 'star system'. As Simon Frith writes,
"companies became less concerned to exploit big stage names [film stars], and more interested in building stars from scratch,
as recording stars. They became less concerned to service an existing public taste than to create new tastes, to manipulate
demand" [27]. In addition, radio and the industry tried to coordinate their efforts, with radio continuously promoting music 'stars'
and their albums [28].
Changes in the copyright laws
At the same time, copyright changed to prevent illegal public performances. The impressive popularity of radio and jukeboxes
became another profitable source of income for the music industry, thanks to royalties for every public performance of music.
Garofalo notes that:
"While both the USA and British revisions added mechanically rights to already existing performing rights,
enabling publishers to extend their reach to the new medium, the British law also included language that was
later used to argue for an additional right, referred to somewhat confusingly as 'performance right'…The
performance right allows the record company to recover a royalty when the record is used for a public
performance, as in a juke-box or the radio" [29].
The music industry grew and became more profitable than ever as radio was becoming increasingly popular. Several new
radio shows were very important commercially like Your Hit Parade on NBC, which tapped into audience responses for
programming decisions. This system was very crucial for marketing decisions in the music industry.
This 'well-balanced' system experienced a 'shock' with new technological developments - long-play records (33 and 45 RPM),
television, transistor radios, and tape - that in turn promoted new cultural realities, rock and roll.
Music industry and radio: the long-play records (33-rpm and 45-rpm) and the transistor
Two of the most important inventions in the music industry were the transistor and the 'long-playing' 33 and 45 RPM (LP)
records. Both were developed in 1948, and changed the musical experience of their time completely.
The transistor was introduced by U.S.-based Bell Telephone. It was a 'revolutionary' machine in its time, because it could
reproduce an improved quality of sound compared to older, tube-based radios and it was much smaller, required less power,
and was more durable. Moreover, its cheap price made it extremely popular and as a consequence promoted music in
astonishing ways [30]. Consequently, it was a matter of time before the old technology was replaced by mechanically
reproduced music - because of the invention of the transistor - to create new realities for the music industry.
The invention of the gramophone made it possible for consumers to own recordings but they were still expensive and fragile.
Early tape recordings were not easily marketable because they were also very expensive. So, when a team of scientists at
CBS labs invented 'high fidelity' or 'long-playing' 33 and 45 RPM (LP) records, it was an incredible breakthrough, because of
their lower cost, great durability, and improved sound quality [31].
The combination of the transistor and the long-playing records was the greatest achievement in the history of the musical
industry, because music as a commodity could easily enter anyone's home. Thse new developments were met with great
enthusiasm and the music industry experienced unprecedented expansion. In addition, musicians were profiting from these
changes, since their music was reaching ever growing audiences. The music industry was safe from any type of piracy, since
there was no other way to reproduce music, except via radio [32]. But challenges were on the horizon for this profitable
situation.
The Music industry in danger: cassettes, tapes and MTV
The introduction of cassette-tape brought many new consumers to the music industry. It was an invention that was aimed at
bringing music into one of the places that consumers spent many hours - the car [33]. But the consumer was not just seeking
music for private consumption; comsumers were also looking for the least expensive way to acquire a product.
As Garofalo argues, the cassette technology may have enabled the transnational music industry to penetrate remote corners
of the globe, but it was also responsible for the industry's two main financial headaches of the 1980's - piracy and home-taping
[34]. Tape technology is portable and recordable, and is one of the easiest ways to duplicate, produce and distribute music.
This technology emerged as a major threat to the music industry [35]. The industry responded by finding a way to profit from
this technological development [36].
As Clay Shirky argues in the review of Sonic Boom: MP3, Napster and the New Pioneers of Music, the fight over Napster is
not just about revenues and profits. It is also about control and the resistance of some labels resistance to outsiders [37]. The
development of music videos and the creation of MTV in the 1980s cemented this attitude by the major labels. MTV provided
music with direct influence of the top recording companies and was extremely popular and profitable [38]. In addition, "MTV's
dominance forced the music companies to shoulder the expense of video production and then pay MTV to air the videos" [39].
The music industry was determined to never let anything like that ever happen again to their business.
Analysing the MP3 Phenomenon
An Internet experience
The MP3 phenomenon - as a crucial contemporary issue for the music industry - is an example of the effect of the World Wide
Web on the structure of global society. To understand and analyse the challenges of MP3, it is really important to 'place' this
reality in its technological and social framework. As a beginning it is important to place MP3 in the context of the Internet
phenomenon, its political consequences and its capabilities as medium.
The World Wide Web, was developed and achieved its popularity in the last decade of the twentieth century in a specific
ideologically structured historical moment. As Jon Stratton notes, the World Wide Web is an ideologically constructed 'tool' for
modern economies and politics, born from an idea that the Internet provides fast - almost immediate - exchange of goods -
capital, information, products - with a minimum of barriers. Therefore, new media are more related to the circulation of goods
as well as information:
"The reification of money, like that of information, leads us back to the reconstitution of communication media as
transport systems. These new commodities are being transported through a hyperspace in which distance does
not exist, and place and extension are replaced by pure movement" [40].
This new direction of modern capitalism was certainly anticipated. David Harvey, for example, imagined the qualitative
transformation of modern capitalism thanks in part to global communicational systems and global markets [41]. So we can
view the Internet as a modern sophisticated system - created in a strong ideological framework - that transcends national
borders and accelerates cultural and economical globalisation [42].
The global response to the Internet has been remarkable. What has made this technological transformation so different from
all previous technological "revolutions" is the Internet's fundamental provision of interactivity [43]. This interactivity allows for
the free expression of ideas and opinions which at times are in conflict with more traditional views [44].
Hence the Internet supports open access and free communication but as a result there may be conflicts with the social and
moral beliefs of some of its users. For example:
"As the text currently stands, it is impossible that a school student in one country downloading music files from a
server located in a second country could be extradited - at the request of a third country - and thrown into jail. A
French citizen resident in the United Kingdom has already spent several months in prison for having
commercially hosted, on a server run by an American company, pornographic images that were legal in both
France and the USA but illegal in Britain" [45].
To put it another way, if copyright laws are ignored in one place in the globe by freely distributing MP3 music in a state where
laws regarding piracy are not well formed or not strictly enforced, it is difficult for parties in other states to stop this sort of
distribution. In addition, the large volume of traffic on the Internet makes it exceedlingly difficult to track messages and files
over time and space.
Given that there are thousands of MP3 sites around the world, with a vast array of musical resources, visited by millions, there
is a new social reality of individuals organising themselves - and their musical passions - by developing relationships in
different MP3 communities.
MP3 communities
These MP3 communities are virtual communities but what is exactly a 'virtual community'? Derek Foster explains:
"The Internet, for our purposes, provides a technological infrastructure for computer-mediated communication
(CMC) across both time and space. The conceptual space in which this communication occurs is referred to as
cyberspace, an environment in which face-to-face communication is impossible. A form of virtual co-presence,
however, is established as a result of individuals' electronic interactions not being restricted by traditional
boundaries of time and space: this is the basis of what is commonly referred to as 'virtual community'" [46].
This social interaction is personal yet physically distant [47]. Traditional sources of identity - like those of the 'neighbourhood',
local communities, and the nation-state - are transformed into new intermediated social groups [48]. MP3 communities are like
other virtual communities, with a focus on music. Millions of sites are dedicated to specific artists or music styles, with fans from
every part of the globe. The Internet provides a vehicle for music lovers with the same cultural capital to 'meet' each other,
organise themselves into specific communities and exchange their favourite songs [49].
These communities use several new technologies to communicate and have their own language and terminology (in English).
This language is evident in chat rooms:
"Serves as the focal point for the audio piracy subculture. It is the electronic common ground to which all pirates
return, and in which primary contacts are made and relationships formed. Each user selects a nickname (or
'nick') such as '_sub-bass', 'niceGuy' or 'BiGFiSH' to signify themselves. By selecting and joining a 'channel'
from a larger set of alternative channels with varying access rituals, audio pirates come to be categorised by
musical genre, type of computer connection, sort of pirate group and other social attributes" [50].
Within these communities, status is affected by a variety of factors, such as connectivity, size and relevance of personal
archives of music, behaviour, and tenure. But the most important characteristic of these communities is their attitude towards
copyright. For many, copyright is simply irrelevant:
"Copyright law does not interest me. It does not pertain to my existence in any way, because it never could
affect me. I buy the software I use for business and steal the software I use for pleasure. I buy CDs that I want to
listen to, but I download MP3 files of music that I do not think is worth buying or that I can not find in reasonable
price. It is not like I can get caught, so why not? [51].
These communities are new social-virtual phenomena. Even though they have only existed for a short period of time, further
analysis would prove fruitful.
Has the music industry really lost out?
The music industry today is an 'oligarchical' organised business [52] with over 70 percent of the global market controlled by
five major corporations. The possibilities for newcomers in the business are few. MP3 was so undesirable because it
represented an application of technology unanticipated by the industry. Given the industry's history of taking advantage of new
technologies, how will it use the Internet?
The future of the business is closely related to computer technology and the World Wide Web. The Internet provides
opportunities to expand markets, transport goods more easily and hence increase sales, and consequently provide for more
profitable results. New computing developments and environments will make the consumption of music easier than ever while
at the same providing products of a much higher quality:
"Systems are being put in place in stores to allow music (be it entire albums or individuals songs) to be
downloaded and burned to CD, DVD or minidisk. Sony, for instance, is making nearly 4,000 titles from its back
catalogue available in this fashion, including many out-of-print titles ... Sony's agreement with
Digital-On-Demand provides a means by which entire albums or individual songs can be downloaded and
burned onto a 'custom' CD for the consumer in a retail store ... We may witness a change in development of
albums, as a result, and potentially a resurgence in the notion of a 'single', insofar as consumers may choose to
purchase individual songs on a custom 'mix' CD of their own making" [53].
Certainly MP3 and especially Napster shocked the music industry by producing new ways of distributing and consuming
music. But this shock provided the industry with a new direction and new purpose, to make new products available in ways
that there undreamed of a decade ago. EMI executive Ted Cohen recognized this:
"Napster is a pretty cool thing ... I think it is one of the coolest things to come around. I also thought the moment I
show it 'My God! This could destroy the whole business' ... How do you take something like this and turn it into
something that the industry really could use?" [54].
Napster forced the music industry to rethink its marketing policies - improving its views of consumers, their consumption
patterns and their use of free time:
"Marked differentiations such as those of A and B films, or of stories in magazines in different price ranges,
depend not so much on subject matter as on classifying, organising, and labelling consumers ... The public is
catered for with a hierarchical range of mass produced products of varying quality, thus advancing the rule of
complete quantification ... Consumers appear as statistics on research organisation charts, and are divided by
income groups into red, green, and blue areas; the technique is that used for any type of propaganda" [55].
The use of a Napster-like program could potentially provide this sort of information in great detail. Beyond marketing and data
collection, one could argue that the greatest contribution of Napster was as a new form of advertising for the music industry.
Napster 'functioned' in many cases as the first, easily accessible album sampler for the consumer. In terms of political
economy, Napster became a way of increasing overall demand for music [56]. In turn, increasing demand usually lowers
prices when the producer has the capability to do so. In this case, the music industry can take advantage of technologies to
lower the cost per unit impressively [57].
Napster induced major changes in the musical industry, such as the invention of sites like MusicNet.com and PressPlay.com. It
had little negative effect on record sales [58]. Napster was not directly connected to a loss of profits; instead it was an 'ethical'
issue for the music industry. Could music really be free?
Consuming digital music
The astonishing popularity of a number of MP3 sites indicates that popular music has experienced a fascinating change in
demand and consumption. What has changed? Technology? Economics? or something else?
If we agree that advertising creates new needs, we can view MP3 as a special kind of advertising on a global scale for the
music industry. It created many new consumers and convinced existing ones to purchased music in traditional formats. MP3
consumers download music with an educational purpose, to learn about recent developments in music, in order to evaluate
products and make appropriate consuming decisions. eventually buy the original albums. As Wilfred Dolfsma argued "as long
as traditional record companies are able to supply physical goods with authentic appeal, sales will not dwindle because digital
music will not completely substitute traditional forms" [59]. The fetish character of the original continues to exist for consumers;
digital copies are not immediate replacements for it.
We also need to consider the new kinds of interpersonal roles that are evolving on the Internet. Virtual interaction provides
opportunities for many to re-assert their entity into a space with different rules than the 'real world'. The anonymity of this
interactivity provides weapons for one to masquerade, to ridicule, or to develop subversive behaviour. Some become music
pirates just to do something illegal, something different. So we could argue that new forms of consumption have been created
that have different characteristics; they are based on interaction and this means that they are dialectical, non-passive, and
complex. Yet, little objective information is available about these new forms of consumption.
Artists
Technological developments have radically changed the entire process of creating music. Artists today can record their music
in high quality digital audio, press their CDs and print colour inserts, all inside their own home. They can also work with other
musicians from around the globe just by using the Web [60].
Probably the most important effect of new technologies has been, and will continue to be, in music distribution. Artists are
increasingly taking control of the distribution of their own music, rather than turn over their music and rights to the industry The
artist now has the opportunity to account for profits without 'middleman' costs. Most importantly, the artist is free of restrictions
that the music industry often set, and consequently become more creative. It is - in other words - what Dave Steward of the
band 'Eurythmics' claimed, "[Napster] makes artists ask why they are not in control of what they are doing. Artists of any worth
of strength will rise up and take control of the situation".
New technologies provide the 'weapons' for artists to fight and regain creative control over the content. This freedom also
allows artists to control their own intellectual properties rather than surrender them for marketing and distribution costs. The
Internet provides a vast platform for an artist to distribute and develop direct relations with audiences, avoiding, abhorrent
record deals and policies of the industry.
However there are disadvantages. The same technology that makes it possible for an artist to reach a global audience can be
used to create illegal copies freely distributed. The industry also has the funds to support extended tours, and few artists are
financially able to take these sorts of risks.
Music piracy as a political behaviour
As mentioned earlier, the World Wide Web is a product of a specific historical and ideological period, and is thought to be a
very useful 'tool' for economic expansion and capital transportation. Consequently, according to the traditional liberal
philosophy, any type of intervention - governmental or private - in a free economy, is undesirable. The market should be free of
interventions, as should the free market tools, such as today's Internet. However, in the past there has been a need for control
under specific circumstances, such as period after the great crash of 1929. These changes in economical policies offer
opportunities for different levels of intervention.
With the World Wide Web, there are two main arguments for changing the existing juridical framework towards more
intervening policies. The first arguments is based on the moral principles of modern societies, attempting to control, for
example, pornography on the Internet. In the second category we find copyright and intellectual property issues as well as
forms of political behaviour.
Hence one could argue that digital music piracy is a political action. Despite the personal motives of those that create
file-sharing Web sites or of those that consume free music, the fact that their actions offend the oligarchical music industry
makes their behaviour political. Their actions are political - in terms of ideology - because they subvert the existing economic
structure of profit with new ways of distributing a commodity, based usually on the principle of an ideal non-profitable equality.
Artists using this technology are also making a political statement. It is a de facto political action because it offends the
organisation of the musical industry, and emancipates artists to develop their music without constraints. Artists in turn are free
to follow their own distribution philosophies, to develop their own political and economic attitudes towards their audiences.
Hence digitally distributed music - regardless of its subject - is a priori political. Music in the age of the digital distribution
cannot be autonomous, without political implications, as l'art pour l'art.
Walter Benjamin argues that mechanically reproduced art destroys the sense of authenticity, and dissolves the rituality that
has been historically attached to traditional arts:
"Originally the contextual integration of art in tradition found its expression in the cult. We know that the earliest
art works originated in the service of a ritual - first the magical, then the religious kind…but the instant the
criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic reproduction, the total function of art is reversed.
Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice - politics" [61].
.
The mechanical reproduction of art in modern societies produces the desire to bring things closer spatially and humanly. So
human-sensory perception is changing and so is the social function of art. People have learnt to search for the copy, to be
satisfied with the copy, and moreover to be possessive of the copy - 'realities' that could never happen without the
technologies of mechanical reproduction.
It should be emphasised that this situation results in a qualitative transformation of works of art. The emphasis on the exhibition
value of a work of art concludes in changing the very meaning of art. The mechanical reproduction produces the semblance of
an autonomic art and its theories - "l'art pour l'art" - disappears forever. The politicisation of art as a result of mechanically
reproduced art forms (to which both audience and artists have been familiarised), has radically changed its meaning and has
overpowered - de facto - ideas that might claim its autonomy. The autonomy of arts is not the issue anymore. The issue is use
and use must be political. Therefore, for Benjamin, modern art is politics and the new (in his age) arts of film technology and
photography are political by nature.
If we apply Benjamin's arguments to digital music, we could argue that the new digital age is changing the behaviour and the
choices of both audiences and artists into political practices and (intervening) actions towards the structure of the music
industry. In addition, despite the fact that the industry is still very profitable and gradually will incorporate technological
breakthroughs into its practices, change has occurred. Consumers and artists are far more interactive and independent in the
history of recorded music.
These realities will generate new ways of viewing art. The conversion of physical bumps or grooves on a medium into
algorithms, which the computer translates into sound waves (WAV files), has created new ways of understanding music. Now
there is a lack of physical contact because music exists solely as bytes. This could result in a less fetishised 'relationship' with
the digital copy, which is immaterial and insubstantial.
Artists could also become victims of the practices of their fans. Apart from the economical consequences, the fact that the
consumption of digital music has become extremely easy and fast can also affect the educational, political and artistic role of
music. In other words, it is possible that many will continue downloading music in an obsessive manner, without identifying
with it or experiencing a passionate attachment. An audience that is only consuming can create an artistic and political
disaster for an artist.
Changes introduced by new technologies have only begun to have an effect on the uses of music on a global scale. With rapid
advances in technology and with the growing technological skills of consumers, artists and the industry, it is perhaps too early
to draw any conclusions about long-term effects on music and its use.
Conclusion
The general aim of this essay was to approach and critically assess the consumption of digital music on the World Wide Web
and examine its social consequences. This phenomenon needs to be analysed as a part of a larger historical, political and
economical framework. Therefore, this phenomenon can only be seen as just one side of the digitisation of culture as a whole,
and the reality of the newly born ethnographies of the Internet. Moreover, the impacts of new multimedia have to be analysed
as parts of the economical and political organisation of modern societies. Consequently, phenomena like digital piracy - that
belong to the larger context of 'e-criminality' - cannot be analysed without defining the word 'criminality' in its social context. In
societies like ours the idea of property is thought as an unalienated human right that has to be protected; any action against it
is illegal. Similarly, every piratical behaviour towards intellectual property is thought to be criminal action. Hence digital piracy
- as well as other Web phenomena - cannot be analysed without presenting the philosophical and ideological framework in
which they were created.
This essay analysed the MP3 phenomenon by examining how technological developments in the past challenged and
produced changes in the musical industry. This contect helps us understand how the industry is approaching new
technologies, adapting them for their own purposes. MP3 is probably just the beginning of technological changes that will
impact society. A close analysis of this phenomenon might provide lessons on the impact of future technologies on society.
About the Author
Kostas Kassaras studied Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Athens (Greece), and recently
graduated from the MA course on the "Sociology of Contemporary Culture" at the University of York. He is interested in
theories of everyday life and the ways in which popular culture is related to subversive political behaviors.
E-mail: kostaskasaras@hotmail.com
Notes
1. The name MP3 is a combination of their initials 'MP' and number 3. The number 3 refers to the three layers in the audio; see
Stevens, 2001, p. 88.
2. Cooper and Harrison, 2001, p. 73.
3. Fantel, 2000, p. 26.
4. Many consumers thought that compact discs were inferior to vinyl in terms of artwork. Some preferred the larger,
'paper-based' versions of art for vinyl containers, than the small - and 'cold' - plastic cases of compact discs.
5. The site took its name by Shawn Fanning's high school nickname, 'Napster'.
6. Wakelin, 2001, p. 84.
7. Alderman, 2001, p. 53.
8. Michael Robertson quoted in Mardesich, 1999, p. 97.
9. Mardesich, 1999, p. 98.
10. Such as by 17-year-old Robert Little during September 2000.
11. See www.in.gr, December 2000.
12. See www.in.gr, February 2001.
13. See www.in.gr, October 2000.
14. Alderman, 2001, p. 55.
15. Shirky, 2001, p. 147.
16. Sanjek, 1988, volume 1, p. 37.
17. Garofalo, 1999, p. 320.
18. Ibid.
19. Sanjek, 1988, volume 2, p. 365.
20. Schicke, 1974, p. 41.
21. Martin, 1995, p. 256.
22. Garofalo, 1999, p. 325.
23. Garofalo, 1999, p. 327.
24. Op. cit., p. 329.
25. "still, BBC radio has hardly been free from government intervention in the censorship of popular music", Garofalo, 1999, p.
330.
26. Frith, 1988, p. 17.
27. Op. cit.
28. "By the end of 1930s [radio] was the most important musical medium: radio gave record companies a means of promoting
their stars, while the record companies provided radio with its cheapest form of programming. Two media which had seemed
to be in deadly competition, had become inseparable. Radio, after all, did not kill the record star"; Frith, 1988, p.18.
29. Garofalo, 1999, p. 327.
30. "on the consumption side, the transistor made possible truly portable radio receivers - teenagers, who were soon to
become an identifiable consumer group, could now explore their developing musical tastes in complete privacy"; Garofalo,
1999, p. 334.
31. "Because these records were lighter and less breakable than shellac-based 78s, they could be shipped faster and more
cheaply. Particularly because these technological advances, records emerged as a relatively inexpensive medium, which held
out the very real possibility of decentralisation in the recording industry"; Garofalo, 1999, p. 334.
32. "Since recorded music was now the rule for radio, recorded companies routinely supplied free copies of new releases to
deejays in the hope that they could turn them into hits ... Eventually, this practice cemented the reciprocal arrangement
between radio and record companies that has defined the music industry ever since: inexpensive programming in return to
free promotion"; Garofalo, 1999, p. 336.
33. "Given this picture of the changing consumer, it was apparent that our market might eventually run away from us if we
remained rooted to the living room phonograph; that we had better do something about making recorded entertainment as
mobile as the consumer himself and that the auto was the obvious place to begin" Irwin Tarr, [RCA Records], in "Current impact
[of the tape systems] in the United States - and the Prospects", see Garofalo, 1980, p. 94.
34. Garofalo, 1999, p. 344.
35. "in 1982 the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimated piracy at 11 percent of the total market
in the United States and Canada, 21 percent in Latin America, 30 percent in Africa, and 66 percent in Asia"; Frith, 1988, p. 93.
36. "The IFPI initiated an international campaign to levy a tax on blank tape and equipment that could be used to compensate
copyright holders for their loss of income ... The legislation mandates that record companies get 38 percent of the royalty pool,
performers 26 percent, and writers and publishers 17 percent each, with the remaining divided among unfeatured musicians
and vocalists", see Garofalo, 1999, p. 345.
37. Shirky, 2001, p. 144.
38. A 1997 study suggested that the numbers of people watching MTV per month were "in the USA (66.8 million households)
and Europe (57.4 million), but equally so in other parts in the world: Brazil - 16.2 million, Russia - 80 million; China - 16.7
million; Thailand - 12.1 million", see Tony Dowmunt, 1998, p. 246.
39. Shirky, 2001, p. 144.
40. Stratton, 1997, p. 256.
41. In his own words, "in the present phase, however, it is not so much the concentration of power in financial institutions that
matters, as the explosion in new financial instruments and markets, coupled with the rise of highly sophisticated systems of
financial co-ordination on a global scale", see Harvey, 1989, pp. 192-194.
42. Stratton, 1997, p. 255.
43. Op. cit., p. 256.
44. Langford, 1998, pp. 110-111.
45. Uaeuq in a special edition of Le Monde Diplomatique(July 2001), at
http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/07/12cybercrime.
46. Foster, 1997, p. 24.
47. Rheingold, 1993, p. 5; Wilbur, 1997, p. 7.
48. Cooper and Harrison, 2000, p. 71; Strinati, 1996, p. 239.
49. "Audio pirates spend varying amounts of their daily lives involved in these activities ... the users we encountered typically
felt that their interactions are of real social significance, as friendships are made and destroyed, and conflicts created and
resolved day in and day out", see Cooper and Harrison, 2001, pp. 77-78.
50. Cooper and Harrison, 2001, p. 74.
51. Op. cit., p. 87.
52. Mahtani and Salmon, 2001, p. 167.
53. Steve Jones, 2000, pp. 222 and 225.
54. John Alderman, 2001, p. 54.
55. Adorno and Horkheimer, 1979, p. 123.
56. "Napster needs the music industry, of course, but the music industry also needs Napster, or at least something like it, to
lower costs and to aggregate the demand in one place. Prohibition taught us that people will pay for a product they could
make for free, as long as they can save time or get higher quality", see Shirky, 2001, p. 148.
57. "The restructuring of the music industry - away from per-unit pricing and toward subscription fees, advertising or
sponsorship - will almost certainly increase total revenues. That is because the industry's current system of per-unit pricing for
physical objects imposes large costs on producers and consumers. With a free-flowing electronic system, the huge percent
demand for music will finally be released", from Shirky, 2001, pp. 148-149.
58. "MP3s actually made users more - not less - likely to go and buy CDs ... In fact US CD sales rose by 4 per cent during 2000
- the year when the industry was supposedly being crippled by Napster", from Wakelin, 2001, p. 86; "1999 and 2000 were
banner years for the record industry, with the same groups that topped Napster sending record sales skyward" see Alderman,
2001, p. 55.
59. Dolfsma.
60. "Res Rocket and DRGN (Distributed Real - Time Groove Network) are examples of networked computer systems that offer
a free public access area to amateur musicians world-wide. Using the site's software and improvisational skill, a blues pianist
in Chicago, a bass player in Greece, and a drum programmer in London can play together live, 24 hours a day", see Steve
Jones, 2000, p. 220.
61. Benjamin, 1999, pp. 217-218.
References
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, 1979. Dialectic of enlightenment. London: Verso.
John Alderman, 2001. "Free for all," Guardian's Weekend (8 April), pp. 50-55.
Walter Benjamin, 1999. "The Work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction," In: Walter Benjamin. Illuminations. London:
Pimlico.
Jon Cooper and Daniel M. Harrison, 2001. "The social organisation of audio piracy on the Internet," Media Culture and
Society,, volume 23, pp. 71-89.
Wilfred Dolfsma, 2000. "How will the music industry weather the globalisation storm?" First Monday, volume 5, number 5
(May), at http://firstmonday.org/issues5_5/dolfsma/.
Tony Dowmunt, 1998. "An alternative globalisation - youthful resistance to electronic empires," In: Daya Kishan Thussu
(editor). Electronic empires: global media and local resistance. London: Arnold.
Hans Fantel, 2000. "Music by mouse, A.K.A. MP3," Opera News, volume 64, part 10, pp. 26-27.
D. Foster, 1997. "Community and identity in the electronic village," In: David Porter (editor). Internet culture. London:
Routledge.
Simon Frith, 1988. Music for pleasure: essays in the sociology of pop. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Reebee Garofalo, 1999. "From music publishing to MP3: Music and industry in the Twentieth Century," American Music,,
volume 17, part 3, pp. 318-353.
David Harvey, 1989. The Condition of postmodernity: an enquiry into the origins of cultural change. Oxford: Blackwell.
Steve Jones, 2000. "Music and the Internet," Popular Music, volume 19, number 2 (Fall), pp. 217-230.
D. Langford, 1998. "Ethics @ the Internet: bilateral procedures in electronic communication," In. Brian D. Loader (editor).
Cyberspace divide: equality, agency, and policy in the information society. London: Routledge.
Minelle Mahtani and Scott Salmon, 2001. "Site reading?: globalisation, identity, and the consumption of place in popular
music,," In: C. Lee Harrington and Denise D. Bielby (editors). Popular culture: production and consumption. Oxford: Blackwell.
Jodi Mardesich, 1999. "Music and the Net: How the Internet hits big music," Fortune,, volume 139, part 9, pp. 96-102.
Peter Martin, 1995. Sounds and society: themes in the sociology of music. Manchester; New York: Manchester University
Press.
Howard Rheingold, 1993. The Virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Russell Sanjek, 1988. American popular music and its business. New York: Oxford University Press.
Charles A. Schicke, 1974. Revolution in sound: A biography of the recording industry. Boston: Little Brown.
Clay Shirky, 2001. "Where Napster is taking the publishing world," Harvard Business Review, volume 79, part 2, pp 143-148.
Al Stevens, 2001. "MP3 Software," Technology Review, volume 104, number 3, pp. 88-89.
Jon Stratton, 1997. "Cyberspace and the globalisation of culture," In: David Porter (editor). Internet culture. London:
Routledge.
Dominic Strinati, 1996. An Introduction to theories of popular culture. London: Routledge.
Irwin Tarr, 1980. "Current impact [of the tape systems] in the United States - and the Prospects", In: Steve Chapple and
Reebee Garofalo, 1980. Rock 'n' roll is here to pay: the history and politics of the music industry. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, p.94.
Philippe Uaeuq, 2001. "I am a cybercriminal. So jail me," Le Monde Diplomatique (July), at
http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/07/12cybercrime.
Bob Wakelin, 2001. "I want my MP3," Q music (May), pp. 84-89.
S. Wilbur, 1997. "An Archaeology of cyberspaces: virtuality, community, identity," In: David Porter (editor). Internet culture.
London: Routledge.
Editorial history
Paper received 28 October 2001; accepted 27 December 2001.
(Washington, D.C.) XM Satellite Radio, an operator of a national satellite
radio service, announced that carmaker General Motors will offer the
company's radios as an option in 23 models beginning this fall. The
company is currently offering XM radios in only two models. GM said that
customers financing the purchase of their car through GMAC will be able to
include the XM subscription in their car payments. XM Satellite Radio
provides 100 digital channels for $9.99 a month.
Oracle Buys Indicast's Voice Software
Tuesday January 15 1:56 PM ET
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. (Reuters) - Software giant Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq:ORCL - news) on Tuesday said it bought the voice software technology of privately held Indicast Corp. in a move to expand its reach in the mobile and wireless space.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In addition to buying the San Diego-based company's technology, Oracle has hired nearly 20 Indicast employees, an Oracle spokeswoman told Reuters.
Oracle will immediately offer Indicast's voice products as a hosted service and intends to integrate the open standards-based technology into its existing offerings.
The acquisition is expected to enable Oracle to sell its customers more complete voice portals, which serve as a hub from which users can get voice access to such things as e-mail, Internet content or business-related software.
Another aim of the purchase is to increase the functionality of Oracle's application server, a software product that serves as the foundation upon which new computer programs are built. Oracle is now locked in a heated rivalry with application server sellers BEA Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:BEAS - news) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news)
``With the combination of Oracle9i Application Server and the Indicast voice portal technology, Oracle will have a significant advantage among software providers in its ability to offer an integrated solution for Web, wireless or voice access to data and information,'' said David Berndt, director of Wireless Mobile Technologies at the Yankee Group.
Oracle shares were up 40 cents, or 2.4 percent, at $16.79 in afternoon trade on Nasdaq.
By: johnqlaw $$$$$....
14 Jan 2002, 04:41 PM EST
Msg. 881546 of 881582
XXXX,
The DataPlay enabled audio player should arrive on store shelves in late March of this year. We are
still Negotiating with top electronic retailers as to exact locations and deliveries, however you will not
have any trouble finding this unit. The DataPlay enabled motion picture player is scheduled for a late
summer release. At the CES the motion picture player was a prototype, however the audio player is
production quality ready for roll out. If you have any other questions please let me know. Thanks for
your interest.
Regards,
Jesse Meyer
Director of Business Development
Evolution Technologies
919.544.3777
jmeyer@nowevolution.com
----- Original Message -----
From: XXXX
To:
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 2:04 PM
Subject: Dataplay Products
To whom it may concern:
Could you inform me as to where and when I could purchase
the Dataplay enabled portable MP3 player and the Dataplay
enabled motion picture player? I am most impressed with the technology, and generally consider
myself to be an early adapter. Are these products at CES just for show, i.e. "prototypes", or are they
production quality, ready for roll out? Thanks in advance.
XXXX
Great post cksla, must read.eom
A "Speed Bump" vs. Music Copying
JANUARY 9, 2002
NEWSMAKER Q&A
Master cryptographer -- and code cracker -- Edward Felten says
technology isn't the answer to digital copyright violations
Edward W. Felten doesn't look like the type to court controversy
-- or to be at the center of it. But the soft-spoken Princeton
University computer-science professor unwittingly became a key
figure in the discussion about the future of the digital-music
industry. In 1999, the Secure Digital Music Initiative, a
music-industry consortium, held a contest to see if computer
hackers could successfully break four digital-music
copy-protection schemes, called watermarks.
Felten, a celebrated cryptographer, and several students took up
the challenge and soon they had cracked all four watermarks. But
instead of claiming the prize, Felten decided to publish a paper --
for research purposes -- explaining how his team had broke the
code.
Here the story gets interesting: When he prepared to publish his
paper six months later, in April, 2000, Felten received an
intimidating letter from the Recording Industry of America
Association (RIAA). In it, Matthew Oppenheim, an RIAA senior
vice-president, warned of legal action if Felten published his
results. According to the trade group, his paper, if published,
would violate the much-maligned Digital Millennium Copyright
Act (DMCA), which forbids the publication or dissemination of
copy-protection circumvention technologies.
At first, Felten went along. But two months later, backed by the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, he sued the RIAA, claiming that
the threat was an attempt to clamp down on free speech. In
November, the case was settled after the RIAA decided not to pursue legal action and Felten had
successfully presented his paper in August. Nevertheless, the case transformed this quiet
code-breaker into a folk hero of sorts, both for free-speech advocates and for those who hope to
revolutionize the music establishment.
On Jan. 7, Felten sat down with BusinessWeek Online technology reporter Jane Black at the
Future of Music conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss his views on the role copy-protection
technology will play in the burgeoning digital-music industry. Following are edited excerpts from
their conversation:
Q: Can any technology completely prevent the unauthorized copying of music?
A: None of them prevent unauthorized distribution. All they do, at best, is make it more difficult,
more time-consuming to copy things. [A good analogy is a] speed bump. You're not putting up a
barrier to prevent copying but a speed bump that will frustrate people who want to copy illegally.
Q: Which type of copy-protection technology is the best speed bump?
A: Each of the technologies lend themselves to different uses. Some try to prevent copying in the
first place. Some try to detect it after the fact. Some technologies are not good at knowing who
copied something but can track how many copies have been distributed.
For the right answer, you have to look at the whole system. Not just the copy-protection
technology but what business model it is embedded in. Given that you'll never be able to prevent
copying, the question is, what can you do to minimize it? What can you do to make consumers
happy enough with legitimate use of the system that they'll be willing to pay for it?
Q: And what might that business model look like? Can you point to any successful
examples where companies are striking the right balance?
A: It's easier to point to failures than success stories. Take this recent development of
copy-protected CDs that are supposed to play in regular CD players but not be copyable. It's not
that the CDs can't be copied. It's that they are designed not to work in the players that are deemed
most likely to be used by pirates.
The problem -- when you cast your net that wide -- is you inevitably catch something you don't
want to catch. And so you hear stories about customers buying one of these CDs, popping it into
their car [player] and finding it doesn't work. At best, you make some customers angry. At worst,
you fail to stop the bad guys from copying, and you succeed at making your honest customers'
experience worse.
No one knows how to give customers [in the digital world] what they want without the copyright
holders being stolen blind. The solution to the problem of illegal copying of music is mostly not a
technology problem. I think there will be a movement toward offering different kinds of services.
Interactive applications that help you find music you like, help you index and search, give you
additional information about the artist you're listening to.
The technology has to evolve to something that is more like an environment for experiencing music
rather than just a way to get a song. I find it difficult to point to a particular technology that is
going to be pivotal. I think we'll see some use of encryption in the material and some distribution
of encryption keys. Overall, the trend will be less emphasis on copy protection and more
emphasis on technologies that make music more compelling for the legitimate user.
Q: Could more legal restrictions be the answer?
A: It's already illegal for people to rip their CDs and post them on the Net. And further legal
restrictions that have been made have not been effective: They do a lot of collateral damage
without actually preventing people from breaking the law. Vigorous enforcement of copyrights
themselves is an important part of the picture. But I don't think that expanding the legal definition
of copyright outside of actual copyright infringement is the right move.
Q: Which brings us to the DMCA, a law you believe hurts the public without preventing
illegal copying. What's your objection?
A: It's the anticircumvention parts of the law that concern me the most. It goes beyond protecting
copyrights. It goes beyond prohibiting copyright infringement -- which of course was already
illegal before we had the DMCA -- by outlawing certain technologies and certain kinds of
discussions.
For someone like me -- I do computer-security research -- I now have this complicated, vague law
in my head all the time. Whenever I'm going to open my mouth to talk about technology, I have to
think if it's safe, or do I have to call my lawyer. At the very least, it scares people away from
topics that most need to be discussed.
I think we all benefit from knowing how well copy-protection technologies work, when they
work, when they don't, and what kind of approaches to building them make sense. Whether you
are a customer, an investor, or a songwriter who has been told this is a safe way to release music,
it's important to talk about this technology and know whether it's going to do what it says it will.
The real danger in the DMCA is a chill of that discussion.
Q: But you ended up publishing your paper. Has the chill really been that severe?
A: I think it does have a detrimental effect. We're in a situation where the solutions that we have
are not good enough. The way to improve anything is to have a discussion about its flaws. To
understand what the one or two or three things are about it that would help fix it. The DMCA
makes it dangerous to have that conversation.
Q: Do you think we'll see changes to the law in 2002?
A: Intellectual-property law changes very slowly. I don't think it's likely to change very soon.
Edited by Patricia O'Connell
50+, "Beauty eh!".Nice find good partner.eom
Content protection plan targets wireless home networks
By Junko Yoshida
EE Times
(01/11/02, 3:01 p.m. EST)
LAS VEGAS — Philips is leading the charge to start yet another industry initiative to tackle digital rights management, this time focusing on the wirelessly networked home, EE Times has learned.
At stake here, said Leon Husson, executive vice president of consumer businesses at Philips Semiconductors, is the "free-floating" copyrighted content that will soon be "redistributed" or "rebroadcast" to different TV sets throughout a home by consumers using wireless networking technologies like IEEE802.11.
Rather than wait for Hollywood studios to raise a red flag over unprotected wirelessly transmitted content, some technology companies want to tackle the issue in advance and develop solutions together with content owners.
"We are dying to lobby Hollywood studios on this issue," Husson said in an interview here. Philips Semiconductors has been discussing the issue with companies like Sony and Samsung, he said, and expected to have "high-level meetings with Thomson Multimedia" this week. Philips has also had a preliminary, "very interesting conversation" with Cisco Systems Inc., he added. The goal of the Philips-led emerging industry initiative is to come up with "the first concrete proposal" that can be taken to Hollywood soon.
One existing specification, called Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP), defines a cryptographic protocol for safeguarding audio/video entertainment content against illegal copying, intercepting and tampering as it traverses high-performance digital buses, such as the IEEE1394 standard. But when DTCP was developed by 5C — a group comprising Intel Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Sony Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. — "the notion for the wireless-connected home was not there," said Husson. Other approaches to content protection don't necessarily ignore wireless transmission, but Philips is actively focusing on that transmission approach, he added.
Now that many consumer electronics companies are beginning to see wireless home networking as the wave of the future, developing a possible solution for copy protection and digital rights management over the wirelessly connected home has gained "a sense of urgency," Husson said.
Trying to apply the DTCP — which requires high-speed encryption and decryption at every digital interface — over a wireless network is not easy, said Husson. It could not only slow down the wireless transmission, but also tax the computing power locally available in digital consumer appliances.
Cisco's scheme
A number of consumer electronics and Internet technology companies have diverging ideas on how to implement digital rights management (DRM) in digital consumer appliances.
For its part, Cisco released last fall Open Conditional Content Access Management (Occam), an end-to-end content encryption and access control technology specification, designed for implementation in hardware for interactive television and portable network devices. The technology incorporates a key management facility that uses the 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard and 1,024-bit public-key encryption.
While Cisco hopes to get network service providers and device manufacturers to use its DRM protocol and key management, some consumer companies, including Philips, don't believe the proposal meets the industry's needs. In the Occam proposal, Husson said, "Cisco wants each digital device within the home to have a separate IP [Internet Protocol] address. That means if you have 20 connected consumer devices at home, you'd have to deal with 20 different IPs." That may be a good scheme for Cisco, which wants to play a pivotal role in promoting its Internet routers, but it won't make life any easier for the consumer electronics manufacturer, Husson said.
If Cisco's proposal sits at one extreme among various DRM schemes, Thomson Multimedia's proposed SmartRight copy protection and content management system may sit at the opposite end. Thomson Multimedia and Micronas this week demonstrated smart card-based SmartRight technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Olivier Lafaye, general manager of advanced projects, content protection and rights management in Thomson Multimedia's research arm, said that unlike 5C's DTCP, which protects only "the link" between digital devices, the SmartRight system provides "end-to-end copy protection" for content entering a SmartRight-enabled home network. And while DTCP requires re-encryption at every digital device border, SmartRight keeps content encrypted from the time it reaches a digital set-top at home until it is rendered, he said.
The SmartRight technology will honor a local "entitlement control message" — such digital rights management rules as copy never or copy once, for example — originally attached to the content. By putting the SmartRight technology in place, which enforces rights management in the home, said Lafaye, "we can help content owners create a new business revenue model." Content owners, for example, can start charging consumers every time their digital content is re-distributed within the home, or viewed several times during a certain number of days specified by them.
Reinhard Steffens, senior marketing manager at Micronas and co-chairman for the copy protection technology group of Europe-based Digital Video Broadcast (DVB), said that because SmartRight uses smart card-based removable security modules, it can provide a more-secure and cost-effective renewable solution if the copy protection scheme is hacked.
'Middle-ground' solution
Steffens said 23 proposals have been submitted in response to a call from DVB. "We hope to come to a consensus and come up with a preliminary working standard by the end of 2002," he said.
But Philips doesn't see SmartRight as the way to go. "If the Occam requires the home network to deal with 20 IPs, for instance, the SmartRight is designed to handle just one node at home," said Husson. Leveraging the technical expertise accumulated by Philips Research, he said, "we hope to create a middle-ground DRM solution that sits between Occam and SmartRight."
The proposal Philips wants to hammer out with Sony, Samsung, Cisco and possibly with Thomson Multimedia will focus on the rights-management issues for wireless home networking, said Husson. Further, the group does not regard the DVB as the right forum to push their proposal. Husson said lobbying efforts must start with major content owners.
While declining to assign a specific time frame to the discussions with Hollywood, Husson was confident that the industry initiative Philips hopes to launch could soon result in putting a concrete proposal on the table. "There is a high-level awareness among consumer electronics companies that this [rights management over wireless home networking] needs to be resolved quickly."
Electronics vendors pursue autos as new horizon
By Charles J. Murray
EE Times
(01/11/02, 1:37 p.m. EST)
LAS VEGAS — In a concerted effort to loosen the economic logjam that has stifled industry growth during the past year, electronics makers and software vendors at the 2002 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week set their sights on a new target: the largely untapped vehicle telematics and multimedia markets.
Makers of satellite radio systems, digital video disk players (DVDs), rear-seat videos, navigation systems and wireless transceivers stepped up their efforts in the automotive arena, in hopes of staking out their territory inside cars and trucks. They were joined by such longtime automotive vendors as Visteon Corp. (Dearborn, Mich.) and Delphi Automotive Systems (Troy, Mich.), which showcased more of their best technologies at CES, rather than at annual auto shows in Detroit and Los Angeles, also held this week.
The emphasis on automotive electronics could signal the beginning of a new era for both the electronics and automotive industries. Industry analysts said that electronics manufacturers and chip makers see automotive as an untapped frontier. Unlike users in the home and business markets, they said, most automotive customers have yet to incorporate electronic gadgetry.
"Companies such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Sun and Microsoft are betting on the market potential of the vehicle," noted Thilo Koslowski, lead automotive analyst and market director for Gartner Dataquest (San Jose, Calif.). "They see it as the one big market that has not yet been bombarded by PDAs, cell phones and video."
Automakers, too, see the telematics trend as a potential gold mine. Some believe it will blossom into a $10 billion to $20 billion market in the next four years, with virtually every car being equipped with a cell phone and many using in-car information and navigation services.
"The growth will be tremendous," said Geoffrey Smith, a product specialist for Mercedes-Benz's Telematics Client Assistance Center (Montvale, N.J.).
Mercedes-Benz backed that belief with a huge presence at CES, even cordoning off a parking lot near the Las Vegas Convention Center to allow show attendees to test-drive the company's newest luxury vehicles.
Industry analysts and vendors at this year's CES agreed that the growing automotive presence is providing a shot in the arm for a struggling electronics sector. "It used to be that the automotive world was known as a boom-or-bust market," noted Robert Schumacher, general director of mobile multimedia for Delphi Automotive Systems. "Now, we're the ones bringing the stability here."
Not just teenagers
Such efforts contrast sharply with those of a few years ago. At past Consumer Electronics Shows, automotive displays consisted largely of booming audio systems, many of which were designed exclusively for teenagers. With the advent of in-car multimedia and telematics, however, the 300 or so exhibitors in the show's automotive pavilion geared their products to a broader audience.
Companies such as Pioneer Electronics USA Inc., whose automotive bread and butter was once almost exclusively car audio, displayed an automotive DVD-navigation system. The company also unveiled an AM/FM/CD system with a built-in 10-Gbyte hard drive.
Similarly, Robert Bosch Corp.'s Blaupunkt car audio group rolled out systems for multimedia, navigation and in-car video.
Even the entertainment systems have taken on a decidedly non-teen flavor. The two satellite radio giants, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, vied for attention with mammoth show booths that included live entertainment and radio broadcasts.
The Consumer Electronics Association, which runs CES, said that the move toward navigation and video systems is currently the strongest new area in automotive electronics. Association representatives noted that five years ago in-car video and navigation was a market that was too small to track. Now it's hitting $900 million per year.
"In-car electronics is not just for teenagers anymore," said Lisa Fasold, director of communications for the Consumer Electronics Association. "Now it's marketed at moms and dads, grandmas and business customers."
Indeed, many in the industry hope that business customers will become mainstay, basing their hopes on the recent growth of the telematics market, which is expected to jump from $1.3 billion in 2001 to $2 billion in 2002, an increase of more than 50 percent.
Some automakers believe the market could reach $20 billion annually. A study by Forrester Research (Cambridge, Mass.), however, puts the figure closer to $6 billion. Either way, many electronics and software makers believe that the automotive telematics field holds more potential for growth than any other electronics sector.
"People have huge, huge hopes for telematics," said Dan Garretson, a senior analyst for Forrester Research. "A lot of companies are trying very hard to ride this wave."
Backseat video
Many believe that telematics is so strong that it ultimately could become the tail that wags the automotive dog, with customers trading in their old vehicles in order to buy a new, telematics-equipped model.
That's why such companies as Delphi Automotive Systems and Visteon saved their greatest thunder for CES, even while the worldwide auto market descended on Detroit for the International Auto Show. At CES, they could preach to electronics-savvy attendees, in addition to dealing with customers such as Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota, as well as such chip suppliers as Intel and Texas Instruments.
"Three years ago, Visteon and Delphi were selling directly to Detroit," said Fasold of the Consumer Electronics Association. "Now they're showcasing their technology here."
Indeed, Delphi rolled out 12 new automotive products and nine new technologies in 11 vehicles on the show floor. Those included a first-ever demonstration of a system that would enable home users to upload and download movies and audio files from home to car using 802.11a wireless technology. Shown on a General Motors Montana minivan, the system uploaded video files at speeds approaching 54 Mbits/second.
For the design of the system, Delphi teamed with Intel Corp., which provided the 802.11 wireless hardware, including an Intel PRO/Wireless 5000 LAN Card Bus Adapter in the vehicle, and PRO/Wireless 5000 LAN access points outside the vehicle. The Intel products operate in the 5-GHz frequency band and are based on the 802.11a standard. Delphi engineers said that, using the system, an MPEG-4-compressed file could typically be downloaded to the vehicle in four to five minutes.
Automakers and vendors hope that such technology will set the stage for gas stations and convenience stores to install kiosks where customers could download music and movie files for play on their rear-seat audio and video systems. The speed of the 802.11a systems makes the idea feasible, they say, because they are approximately 1,000 times faster than cell phone data rates.
For business users, Delphi engineers also teamed with counterparts from MobileAria (Mountain View, Calif.) to demonstrate hands-free Internet capabilities inside a new Saturn VUE sport utility vehicle. Using a MobileAria True Hands Free server, a Delphi Communiport Mobile Productivity Center, a GPS receiver and a Bluetooth-enabled laptop computer, engineers showed how the system could retrieve e-mail and Internet content while the driver watches the road, then read it back to the driver using a text-to-speech engine. As a result, the system enables drivers not only to download Web-based news, but also to some day retrieve up-to-the-second, accurate, Internet-based traffic reports.
Similarly, Visteon displayed a receiver that broadcast content from Sirius Satellite Radio.
The conveniences of home
Automakers see the implementation of such technology as a critical step in building customer affinity. At the show, Mercedes-Benz allowed attendees to test-drive electronics-equipped vehicles ranging from the company's $26,000 C-class sports coupe to the $130,000 CL-600 sedan. They used data capture units to capture names of attendees and built a bond with those who see electronic technology as a critical part of the driving experience.
"These people see their cars as extensions of their homes," noted Michael Smith, national manager for Presence Marketing for Mercedes-Benz. "And they want to put a lot of the conveniences of their homes into their vehicles."
Mercedes-Benz, which has taken the lead in marketing to attendees of shows such as Comdex and CES, believes it has found a critical new marketing approach. During the past two and a half years, the company has boosted sales of its Tele Aid telematics units from zero to 300,000, and has moved from U.S. sales of 60,000 vehicles per year to 206,000 last year.
Analysts believe that the current telematics fever is a double-edged sword of sorts, breathing new life into the electronics industry while simultaneously taking down scores of startup companies in the process.
"This is good for the consumer electronics industry," said Koslowski of Gartner Dataquest. "The consumer home market is approaching some level of saturation, and the business market is still suffering from a poor economy. The vehicle is the only outpost left that's not approaching saturation."
Still, Koslowski said, it may be too much, too soon. "The auto industry will have to come up with some very innovative applications to reach the potential they're describing," he said. "Right now, the price points are too high and many consumers aren't willing to pay for the kinds of conveniences they're talking about."
Analysts Look to Small-Cap Chip Stocks for Value
Friday January 11 4:06 PM ET
By Duncan Martell
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - For investors looking
to profit from a cyclical recovery in semiconductor
stocks this year, analysts and money managers
have this advice: think small.
The rally that took hold late last year in anticipation
of an upturn in chip demand has stretched
valuations, particularly for the big name players, so
investors looking to mark gains in 2002 might want to scour small- and mid-cap
companies, analysts said.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (^SOXX - news), which includes the best-known names in the chip and
chipmaking-equipment industry such as Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news) and Applied Materials Inc.
(Nasdaq:AMAT - news), has already soared 62 percent from its Oct. 2 low.
Now, for investors insistent on buying into the semiconductor sector, which analysts and investors say is
extremely overvalued given earnings prospects for this year, selectivity and focusing on smaller companies
becomes paramount.
Take Intel. The world's biggest maker of semiconductors has a market capitalization of $237 billion and is trading
at 56 times its projected 2002 earnings per share of 62 cents, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. Intel
stock has surged 77 percent since Oct. 2.
``Most of the easy money has been made in the large-cap semiconductor and semiconductor-equipment
companies,'' said Justin McNichols, portfolio manager with San Francisco-based Osborne Partners Capital
Management.
In the fall, portfolio managers made a bet that chip stocks were the right place to be, reasoning that, because
chips had been hardest hit of all the major technology industries in 2001, shares of chip companies couldn't
really fall much farther. It turns out they were right.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN - news), which ranks as the second most valuable company in terms of
market capitalization in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, at $48.9 billion, is a similar story.
CHEAP A RELATIVE TERM
Shares of the biggest maker of digital signal processor chips used in cellular phones have risen only 19 percent
since Oct. 2 lows, but are trading at a sobering 689 times projected 2002 earnings, though that ratio declines to
44 as a multiple of 2003 earnings estimates.
That kind of lofty valuation explains why analysts are looking to smaller chip companies in 2002 to recommend to
clients. In the mid-cap arena, Pacific Growth Equities analyst Jim Liang likes Actel Corp. (Nasdaq:ACTL - news),
a maker of field-programmable gate array chips that customers, often in the telecommunications industry, can
program to fit their product needs.
``We believe this is a company that's well positioned to participate in the anticipated cyclical recovery in the
communications semiconductor story,'' Liang said. Actel's market capitalization is $516 million.
It's also a lot cheaper on a price-to-earnings basis than its larger competitors Xilinx Inc. (Nasdaq:XLNX - news)
and Altera Corp. (Nasdaq:ALTR - news). Actel's forecast 2002 price-to-earnings ratio is 100, compared with 210
for Xilinx and 108 for Altera. Actel stock has risen 36 percent since Oct. 2 while Xilinx' has jumped 93 percent and
Altera's has gained 62 percent.
``To the extent the company can execute on its growth strategy and its new product roll-outs, it could close the
gap on its valuation discount to its peers,'' Liang said.
Some analysts are also pointing to somewhat significant differences in performance between the large-cap
companies they cover and the small- to mid-cap ones.
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
Sidestepping the issue of valuation, Needham & Co. analyst Dan Scovel said: ``For the big-cap guys, business
now is pretty bad, but for the smaller-cap guys, their business is actually pretty good on a relative basis.''
Scovel, while noting that he believes chip stocks are overvalued, said he thinks Zoran Corp. (Nasdaq:ZRAN -
news), a maker of chips used in DVD players, is positioned for a potentially strong year. Sales of DVDs and
players are breaking records as the new technology's popularity is approaching that of videotapes.
``Eighty-five percent of their sales come from DVD players and that market has been very strong,'' Scovel said.
Zoran's market capitalization is about $600 million, and, while its shares have gained 59 percent since Oct. 2, its
forecast 2002 price-to-earnings ratio is a more reasonable 43.
The boom-and-bust chip industry has tended to run in up-and-down cycles of about four years and has
rebounded from downturns quickly in the past. The Semiconductor Industry Association, the leading trade group,
forecast a 6 percent gain in sales this year to $150 billion, but a sharper 21 percent gain in 2003.
``In semiconductor equipment we're looking more toward a particular niche as a strategy and in semiconductors
we're concentrating on valuation and later recovery situations,'' McNichols said.
PATIENCE A VIRTUE
He pointed to LSI Logic Corp. (NYSE:LSI - news) as an example.
``There's really no interest in LSI right now because there's virtually no way they can make money in 2002,''
McNichols said. ``But in late 2002 and 2003 they'll have leverage they haven't had in past cycles.
LSI, one of the largest makers of application specific integrated circuits, or ASICs, has been looking to boost the
outsourcing of its chip manufacturing to companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
(2330.TW), he said. ASICs are used in auto emission control, environmental monitoring, personal digital
assistants and others applications.
LSI shares have gained 42 percent since Oct. 2 and analysts on average forecast the company to lose 43 cents a
share in 2002, according to First Call. The stock was trading on Friday at $15.79 on Nasdaq.
``We like LSI in the low teens,'' McNichols said. ``There really aren't any semiconductor companies that are
established, very well known, have very good books of business and you can say, 'Hey, I can get this for a few
points lower with a lot of upside later in the cycle.'''
Hmmm..Fujitsu "Voice series" voice sythesizers and stereo..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States Patent Application 20010027396
Kind Code A1
Sato, Tatsuhiro October 4, 2001
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Text information read-out device and music/voice reproduction device incorporating the same
Abstract
The present invention has as its object to provide text information to a listener with voice when music is reproduced from a medium on which the text information is stored together with music data and to provide easily and smoothly use of the text information. The present invention is a text information read-out device for reading out text information from a medium on which text information is stored together with music data, including a text information extraction unit for extracting text information, a voice synthesizer obtaining voice data from the extracted text information, and a controller for controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of music data.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventors: Sato, Tatsuhiro; (Inagi, JP)
Correspondence Name and Address: STAAS & HALSEY
Suite 500
700 Eleventh Street, N.W.
Washington
DC
20001
US
Serial No.: 737486
Series Code: 09
Filed: December 18, 2000
U.S. Current Class: 704/260
Intern'l Class: G10L 013/00
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Foreign Application Data
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date Code Application Number
Mar 30, 2000 JP 2000-93906
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Claims
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is claimed is:
1. A text information read-out device reading out text information from a medium on which text information is stored together with music data, comprising: a text information extraction unit extracting text information; a voice synthesizer obtaining voice data from the extracted text information; and a controller controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of music data.
2. A text information read-out device according to claim 1, wherein the controller controls a read-out timing of the voice data to any one of a reproduction start timing of the music data, a predetermined period of time after the reproduction start timing of the music data, and a reproduction end timing of the music data.
3. A text information read-out device according to claim 1, wherein the controller controls a read-out timing of voice data on the basis of a volume of the music data to be reproduced.
4. A text information read-out device comprising: an identification information read-out unit reading out identification information from a medium on which identification information is recorded together with music data; a text information search unit searching for text information related to the music data on the basis of the identification information; a voice synthesizer obtaining voice data from searched text information; and a controller controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of the music data.
5. A machine tangible embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for reading out text information from a medium on which text information is recorded together with music data is recorded, the method steps comprising: extracting text information; synthesizing voice data from the extracted text information; and controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of music data.
6. A storage medium readable by a machine tangible embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps comprising: reading out identification information from a medium on which identification information is recorded together with music data; searching for text information related to the music data on the basis of the identification information; synthesizing voice data from searched text information; and controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of the music data.
7. A music/voice reproduction device which perform reproduction of music data and read-out of text information from a medium on which the text information is stored together with the music data, comprising: a text information extraction unit extracting text information; a voice synthesizer obtaining voice data from the extracted text information; a music data reproduction unit reproducing the music data; and a controller controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of music data.
8. A music/voice reproduction device comprising: an identification information read-out unit reading out identification information from a medium on which identification information is recorded together with music data; a text information search unit searching for text information related to the music data on the basis of the identification information; a voice synthesizer obtaining voice data from searched text information; a music data reproduction unit reproducing music data; and a controller controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of the music data.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Description
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a text information read-out device and, more particularly, to a read-out technique for text information which is effective when music is reproduced in a music data reproducing device such as a CD player or an MD player or an information terminal such as a personal computer or an electronic databook.
[0003] As an information of this type, an music reproducing device using a voice synthesizer disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-16479 or an electronic book device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-101697 are known. Of these devices, the music reproducing device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.6-161479 reproduces data obtained such that a back chorus part of a karaoke performance is stored as a character code. More specifically, the music reproducing device converts the character code into a voice through a voice synthesizer, and reproduces the voice together with music data. In this manner, a reduction in an amount of data in a karaoke device has been achieved.
[0004] In addition, the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-101697 reads text information from an information recording medium. When voice data is added to the information recording medium, the invention reproduces the voice data. When the voice data is not added to the information recording medium, the invention synthesizes voice data from the text information by using the voice synthesizer to output the voice data.
[0005] In this manner, conventional various information providing systems to which voice synthesizing devices are applied are proposed. In addition, as a voice synthesizing system, for example, a voice synthesizing program "Voice series" available from FUJITSU LIMITED is known.
[0006] On the other hand, in addition to music data itself, text information for explaining the titles pieces of music, aplayer's name, and the like is added to a medium, e.g., a compact disk (to be referred to as a CD hereinafter) or a mini disk (to be referred to as an MD hereinafter) in which music data is recorded. Identification numbers which are unique in the world are added to these media. Databases such as music title lists which can be searched by using the identification number as a key can be used on Internet. In these databases, in addition to music titles, player's names, composer's names, release years, and the like are recorded as text information.
[0007] However, the text information added to the music data can be used in only a music reproducing device having a display device for displaying text information, e.g., a personal computer having a music reproducing function as shown in FIG. 16, a CD player having a liquid crystal display (LCD), or the like. The text information has not been always effectively used in a music reproducing device which does not have such a display device.
[0008] Even though a music reproducing device having a display device is used, a user must have had such a posture that the user can see the display device. Therefore, a user has not been able to easily refer to information related to the title, player, composer, and the like of a piece of reproduced music with such a relax posture that the user could listen to music.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention is made in consideration of the above conventional technique problem. More specifically, the present invention provides text information to a listener with voice when music is reproduced from a medium on which text information is recorded together with music data, and achieves easy and smooth use of the text information.
[0010] The present invention employs the following means to solve the above problem.
[0011] More specifically, the present invention is a text information read-out device for reading out text information from a medium on which text information is stored together with music data, including:
[0012] a text information extraction unit extracting text information;
[0013] a voice synthesizer obtaining voice data from the extracted text information; and
[0014] a controller controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of music data.
[0015] Here, the synchronism means that a read-out start timing is adjusted for reproduction of the music data. For example, the controller may control a read-out timing of the voice data to any one of a reproduction start timing of the music data, a predetermined period of time after the reproduction start timing of the music data, and a reproduction end timing of the music data. In addition, the controller may control a read-out timing of voice data on the basis of a reproduction volume of the music data.
[0016] The text information extraction unit extracts text information from a medium on which text information is recorded together with music data. This voice synthesizer converts the text information into voice data. The controller controls a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of the music data. The read-out timing of the voice data is the time when the voice data is output to the outside through a loudspeaker or the like.
[0017] The present invention, as described above, reads out text information for a listener in synchronism with reproduction of the music data when the music data is reproduced from a medium on which the text information is recorded together with the music data.
[0018] The present invention is a text information read-output device may include:
[0019] an identification information read-out unit for reading out identification information from a medium on which identification information is recorded together with music data;
[0020] a text information search unit for searching for text information related to the music data on the basis of the identification information;
[0021] a voice synthesizer for obtaining voice data from searched text information; and
[0022] a controller for controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of the music data.
[0023] The present invention may also be a storage medium readable by a machine tangible embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for reading out text information from a medium on which text information is recorded together with music data is recorded, the method steps comprising:
[0024] extracting text information;
[0025] synthesizing voice data from the extracted text information; and
[0026] controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of music data.
[0027] The present invention may also be a storage medium readable by a machine tangible embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps comprising:
[0028] reading out identification information from a medium on which identification information is recorded together with music data;
[0029] searching for text information related to the music data on the basis of the identification information;
[0030] synthesizing voice data from searched text information; and
[0031] controlling a read-out timing of the voice data in synchronism with reproduction of the music data.
[0032] As described above, according to the present invention, when music is reproduced from a medium on which text information is recorded together with music data, the text information is read out for a listener in synchronism with the reproduction of the music data. For this reason, the text information can be easily and smoothly used.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0033] FIG. 1 is an appearance diagram of a text information read-out device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0034] FIG. 2 is a diagram of the hardware configuration of the text information read-out device.
[0035] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a text information read-out program.
[0036] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a text information read-out program (modification).
[0037] FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the processes of the text information read-out program.
[0038] FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the process of reproducing voice data in synchronism with music data reproduction.
[0039] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation screen of a read-out timing setting unit 22.
[0040] FIG. 8 shows a case in which a read-out timing is controlled by the volume of reproduced music.
[0041] FIG. 9 shows extraction of text information from music data recorded in the MP3 method.
[0042] FIG. 10 shows a data structure given to a voice synthesis program.
[0043] FIG. 11 shows extraction of text information from a music MD.
[0044] FIG. 12 shows data structure of in-music-MD text information.
[0045] FIG. 13 shows text information searching from a database on Internet.
[0046] FIG. 14 shows an example of script including a request of searching text information to a database on Internet.
[0047] FIG. 15 shows a example of text information from a database on Internet.
[0048] FIG. 16 shows a display of text information in a prior art.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0049] A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings in FIGS. 1 to 16.
[0050] FIG. 1 is an appearance diagram of a text information read-out device according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram of the hardware configuration the text information read-out device. FIGS. 3 and 4 are block diagrams of text information read-out programs executed by a CPU 1. FIGS. 5 and 6 are flow charts showing the processes of the text information read-out program. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation screen of a read-out timing setting unit 22 shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 8 shows a diagram showing the process of determining a read-out timing by the volume of reproduced music. FIG. 9 shows extraction of text information from music data recorded in the MP3 method. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data structure given to a voice synthesis program. FIGS. 11 and 12 show extraction of text information from music MDs. FIGS. 13 to 15 are text information searching from databases on Internet. FIG. 16 is a display of text information in a prior art.
[0051] <Configuration>
[0052] FIG. 1 is an appearance diagram of a text information read-out device according to the embodiment. This device is realized such that a text information read-out program is executed in a personal computer 20 on which a CD drive 10 is mounted (a stereophonic system 20a in FIG. 1 is a modification of the embodiment). As shown in FIG. 1, this text information read-out device reads out text information, e.g., "THIS MUSIC IS YESTERDAY OF THE BEATLES AND RELEASED IN 1965." in synchronism with reproduction of music recorded on a CD.
[0053] Here, the synchronism means to adjust a read-out start timing. In the text information read-out device according to the embodiment, a user can select, as specifications of synchronism, time conditions such as the reproduction start timing of music, a time elapsing after the reproduction start timing, and the reproduction end timing, or volume conditions such as a silent timing or a timing when the volume of the music decreases.
[0054] FIG. 2 is a diagram of the hardware configuration of the text information read-out device. As shown in FIG. 2, this device comprises a CPU 1, a memory 2, a hard disk 3, an LCD 6, a keyboard 7, a mouse 8, and a CD drive 10 which are constituent elements of the conventional personal computer 20. In addition, the text information read-out device comprises an MO drive 11 for reproducing music, a modem 12 for accessing Internet, a D/A converter 13a for reproducing music, a D/A converter 13b for reproducing voice, and a loudspeaker 14.
[0055] The CPU 1 executes music data reproduction program (not shown) (corresponding to music data reproduction unit) stored in the memory 2, and transfers music data read from the CD drive or the MO drive to the D/A converter 13a to reproduce music. In addition, the CPU 1 executes a text information read-out program stored in the memory 2 to extract text information and to execute voice synthesis or the like. The synthesized voice is transferred to the D/A converter 13b, converted into an analog signal, and output from the loudspeaker 14. In this manner, by the music data reproduction program and the text information read-out program, the personal computer 20 provides a function as a music reproduction device and a text information read-out device.
[0056] The CD drive 10 reads music data, text information, a serial number (corresponding to identification information) of a CD or the like which are recorded on the CD according to a command from the CPU 1 to transfer the music data, the text information, the serial number, and the like to the CPU 1.
[0057] The MO drive 11, like the CD drive 10, reads music data, text information, a serial number (corresponding to identification information) of an MO or the like which are recorded on the MD according to a command from the CPU 1 to transfer the music data, the text information, the serial number, and the like to the CPU 1.
[0058] The modem 12 is used to cause the CPU 1 to access Internet, to transmit a series of commands (to be referred to as scripts) to a database server in which text information is stored, and to receive text information as the response of the transmission.
[0059] The D/A converter 13a is used when music data reproduction program executed by the CPU 1 converts music data read from the CD, MD, or the like into an analog signal. The D/A converter 13b is used to convert voice data synthesized by a voice synthesizer 23 of a text information read-out program executed by the CPU 1 into an analog signal. The loudspeaker 14 converts the analog signal into music or voice to output the music and the voice.
[0060] <Text Information Read-out Program>
[0061] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a text information read-out program in music data. This program includes a text information extraction unit 21 for extracting text information stored in a CD or an MO, a read-out timing setting unit 22 for setting a timing at which the text information is read out in accordance with the music data, a voice synthesizer 23 for synthesizing voice from the extracted text information, and a controller 20 for controlling these constituent elements of the program.
[0062] An OS 20 controls the personal computer 20 as a whole. The OS 20 causes an incorporated timer to clock a predetermined period of passing time according to the setting from the controller 20 to inform the controller 20 of the predetermined period of passing time.
[0063] <Text Information Extraction Unit 21>
[0064] The text information extraction unit 21 accesses a music medium such as a CD to extract text information recorded together with music data.
[0065] FIG. 9 shows extraction of text information from music data recorded in the MP3 method (the audio data standards of MPEG). In the MP3 method, text information is recorded in a table format having a fixed length determined by standards called ID3 tag. As shown in FIG. 9, the fixed length table is constituted by the title (e.g., "Yesterday") name of the artist (The Beatles) title of the album, year (e.g., 1966), and type (e.g., pops) of music, and a comment. The text information extraction unit 21 can extract text information from the MP3 by using a structure variable consisting of the same element as that of the fixed length table.
[0066] FIGS. 11 and 12 show extraction of text information from a music MD. In the music MD, text information is recorded in the format of Table Of Contents (to be referred as TOC hereinafter) as shown in FIG. 11. This TOC is actually constituted by a pointer table having a fixed length as shown in FIG. 12. The pointer held by each entry of this table indicates the start address of a text region in which the players, titles, and the like of pieces of music in the order of the pieces of music. For example, FIG. 11 shows a case that "Yesterday" of the Beatles is recorded as the first pieces of music. Therefore, the text information extraction unit 21 sequentially traces the pointers of the fixed length table from the beginning shown in FIG. 12, so that text information can be sequentially extracted from the first piece of music.
[0067] <Read-out Timing Setting Unit 22>
[0068] The read-out timing setting unit 22 is used to designate a timing at which voice synthesized by the voice synthesizer 23 is read out (voice is output through the loudspeaker 14). In this manner, a timing at which the text information is read out with respect to reproduced music data is designated.
[0069] FIG. 7 shows an operation screen of the read-out timing setting unit 22. A user can select a desired timing from the operation screen displayed on an LCD 6 by using a mouse 8 or a keyboard 7.
[0070] In FIG. 7, the start of a piece of music indicates that text information is read out in synchronism with a start timing (start timing of each piece of music) at which reproduction of the music data is started, the end of a piece of music indicates that text information is read out in synchronism with the timing (end timing of each piece of music) at which reproduction of the music data is ended.
[0071] Silence/muting indicates that text information is read out at the timing at which the volume of a piece of music to be reproduced is in a silent state or at which the volume is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value. As shown in FIG. 6, the CPU 1 monitors the volume of a piece of music to be reproduced (more specifically, the number of bits of data given to the input circuit of the D/A converter 13a). When the volume is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value, the controller 20 transfers voice data synthesized in the voice synthesizer 23 to the D/A converter 13b.
[0072] A period of time passing from the start indicates that text information is read out at a predetermined period of time after the start timing (start timing of each piece of music) at which music data is reproduced.
[0073] <Voice Synthesizer 23>
[0074] The voice synthesizer 23 gives text information subjected to voice synthesis to a voice synthesis program (not shown) (e.g., "Voice series" available from Fujitsu Ltd.), and instructs the voice synthesis program to synthesize voice.
[0075] FIG. 10 shows a data structure given to the voice synthesis program. This data structure has a table format, and includes text information to be synthesized according to the order of pieces of music. As shown in FIG. 10, e.g., the text information of the first piece of music is "THIS MUSIC IS YESTERDAY OF THE BEATLES, AND RELEASED IN 1965". The voice synthesizer 23 gives the request having the table format to the voice synthesis program, and converts text information of each piece of music into voice data.
[0076] <Controller 20>
[0077] The controller 20 sequentially starts the text information extraction unit 21, the read-out timing setting unit 22, and the voice synthesizer 23.
[0078] The controller 20 outputs the voice data formed by the voice synthesizer 23 from the loudspeaker 14 through the D/A converter 13b in synchronism with reproduction of music data. In the synchronism, the controller 20 receives the notification of the start of reproduction of music data or the end of reproduction (end of apiece of music) by interruption from music data reproduction program (not shown).
EXTENSIVE EDIT TO ALLOW POSTING HERE
[0094] In this manner, according to the text information read-out device, text information recorded together with music data is synthesized as voice data in response to reproduction of the music data, and voice is reproduced in synchronism with reproduction of the music data. For this reason, even in a reproduction device which has no display device such as an LCD for displaying text information, a listener can acquire the text information. In addition, when a listener listens to music by using a reproduction device having a display device, the listener can smoothly listen to the music and can smoothly acquire the text information if the posture of the listener need not to be changed to see the text information.
**ABBREVIATED HERE FOR EASE OF POSTING**
Payment-based systems for internet music
Abstract
One of the impediments to success of fee-based music downloads on the internet has been the fee. Not the amount, but the logistics. Credit cards have high transaction costs, making them unsuitable for purchases of, e.g., less than five dollars. Perhaps more importantly, much of the target audience for downloadable music is teenagers, who don't have credit cards. To redress this problem, digital tokens can be used to pay for downloaded music (or other content, such as videos, on-line games, etc.). These tokens can be exchanged by email and can be acquired in a number of teen-friendly manners, including by pre-arranged periodic disbursement (e.g., from a bank, arranged by a parent as a form of monthly allowance), given away as part of product promotions, exchanged between friends, etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventors: Rhoads, Geoffrey B.; (West Linn, OR) ; Stager, Reed R.; (Portland, OR)
Correspondence Name and Address: DIGIMARC CORPORATION
Not your fathers ATM...
United States Patent Application 20010044747
Kind Code A1
Ramachandran, Natarajan ; et al. November 22, 2001
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
System and method for dispensing digital information from an automated transaction machine
Abstract
An automated teller machine (ATM) (10) includes an input device (16) a card reader (20), a cash dispenser (24), and an output device (18). The ATM is operative to read account information from a card with the card reader and validate a user PIN input through the input device. The ATM may also be operative to dispense cash with the cash dispenser and dispense digital content with the output device responsive to user input selections. The ATM may be further operative to charge a user fee to an account associated with the card for the dispense of cash and digital content. Digital content dispensed by the ATM may include sound recordings such as MP3 files, video files, books, graphics, photographs, and other digital data. In cases where the ATM dispenses visual content the output device may include a printer that is operative to output printed photographs. Photographic image files may be acquired by the ATM from a remote photo processor or other digital information source accessible through the Internet or other network. The ATM may be operated through user inputs to manipulate image files. Image files may also be selectively received from or dispensed to a portable storage medium through a reading device or recording device connected to the ATM. Fees associated with the dispense of the image files may be transferred from an account associated with a user.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventors: Ramachandran, Natarajan; (Uniontown, OH) ; Blackson, Dale; (Canton, OH) ; Church, James R.; (Kent, OH) ; Smith, Mark; (North Canton, OH)
Correspondence Name and Address: RALPH E. JOCKE
231 SOUTH BROADWAY
MEDINA
OH
44256
US
Assignee Name and Adress: Diebold, Incorporated
Serial No.: 775885
Series Code: 09
Filed: February 2, 2001
Actel aims to take on asic designs with upgraded flash-memory FPGAs
By Paul Dempsey
EETimes, UK
(08/01/02 12:36 PM GMT)
Actel has increased the number of gates on its
flash-memory-based FPGAs to one million as the company
attempts to take designs away from asic houses. For the new
family, ProASIC Plus, Actel has shifted production to foundry
UMC, away from the original foundry for the ProASIC, Infineon
Technologies.
The ProASIC Plus family of chips covers a range of densities
from 150 000 gates to one million. Two of the bigger devices are
sampling now with others to follow during 2002. Volume
production is expected to begin in the second quarter.
The Plus family, based on a 0.22µm process, has been under
development for 18 months and follow on from the original
ProASIC 500k series.
Actel is looking to encourage migration from asics by offering
many similar features within the Plus family. Because they use
on-chip, non-volatile memory, the devices can be live at
power-up and require no separate configuration memory, in
contrast to SRAM-based FPGAs.
As with the original ProASIC family, the company says that
existing asic design tools, from suppliers such as Cadence
Design Systems and Synopsys, can be used for Plus.
The Plus family has a number of additional features beyond those in 500K. They include support for
multiple phase-locked loops and up to 198kbit of dual-port embedded SRAM.
The Plus chips have two clock-conditioning blocks, each holding a PLL core, delay lines and clock
multiplier and divider units.
To protect a chip design, a multi-bit key can be encoded to prevent any attempt to read or alter
configuration settings and reverse engineer intellectual property within the array.
Actel plans to offer a service allowing FPGA designs to migrate to asic production for high volumes.
Wingcast and Directed Electronics to Partner
Wednesday, 09 January 2002
SAN DIEGO — Vista-based Directed Electronics and Wingcast announced a
partnership to develop a CDMA-based telematics product for the automotive
aftermarket. The deal was announced today at the Consumer Electronics Show in
Las Vegas.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The first product expected to come from the partnership, according to Wingcast,
is scheduled to be ready late this year. The company says it will offer automatic
vehicle location capabilities that will monitor, track and control vehicles over the
Internet. It will also offer GPS technology, Web-based remote start capabilities
and Geo-Fencing, which phones, pages or e-mails a vehicle's owner if it strays
outside owner-set geographic areas.
The term aftermarket is used to designate products that are installed after a car
is purchased at the option of the buyer.
Wingcast, a joint venture of Ford Motor Corp. and Qualcomm, is already
developing telematics systems that will come preinstalled in vehicles.
Vista-based Directed Electronics is a well-known maker of the Viper car alarm and
other aftermarket electronics.
Web site: www. directed.com
Web site: www.wingcast.com
Wingcast and Directed Electronics to
Partner
Wednesday, 09 January 2002
SAN DIEGO — Vista-based Directed Electronics and Wingcast announced a
partnership to develop a CDMA-based telematics product for the automotive
aftermarket. The deal was announced today at the Consumer Electronics Show in
Las Vegas.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The first product expected to come from the partnership, according to Wingcast,
is scheduled to be ready late this year. The company says it will offer automatic
vehicle location capabilities that will monitor, track and control vehicles over the
Internet. It will also offer GPS technology, Web-based remote start capabilities
and Geo-Fencing, which phones, pages or e-mails a vehicle's owner if it strays
outside owner-set geographic areas.
The term aftermarket is used to designate products that are installed after a car
is purchased at the option of the buyer.
Wingcast, a joint venture of Ford Motor Corp. and Qualcomm, is already
developing telematics systems that will come preinstalled in vehicles.
Vista-based Directed Electronics is a well-known maker of the Viper car alarm and
other aftermarket electronics.
Web site: www. directed.com
Web site: www.wingcast.com
from digitalmediawire...
(Las Vegas) E.Digital, a developer of digital entertainment devices,
showcased several of its line of portable digital music players at the
Consumer Electronics Show and announced that its hard drive and voice
navigation technology will be used in a car audio product developed by
Eclipse and Fujitsu. The Eclipse MP-3 Changer will use San Diego-based
E.Digital's speech recognition interface so that drivers can select songs
without using their hands.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020108/80231_1.html
http://www.edig.com
(Las Vegas) Fullplay Media Systems, a developer of digital entertainment
products, previewed its Darwin Digital Jukebox, a digital home
entertainment center that plays DVDs, CDs and online media, and can be
connected wirelessly to other devices in the home. The jukebox can encode
high-quality digital copies from analog sources such as a cassette deck or
turntable, and features storage capacity of up to 320GB. It can also
stream media from a PC or off of the Internet. Washington-based Fullplay
did not provide pricing information or a release date for the product.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020108/80017_1.html
http://www.fullplaymedia.com
Voice Technology Makes Inroads Among Drivers
Jan 9, 2002 (NewsFactor.com via COMTEX) -- That person in the next car who appears to be talking to himself could soon be doing more than making hands-free cell phone calls. Voice-recognition technology in the works could turn most in-car entertainment and information functions -- from playing MP3s and video to using the Internet -- into completely button-free experiences.
The technology has already shown up on the voice-activated Eclipse MP3 Changer, on display at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The device is being marketed by car-audio system maker Fujitsu Ten and is based on technology developed by e.Digital Corp.
Steve Ferguson, e.Digital's vice president of sales and marketing, told TechExtreme that the in-dash MP3 and CD player includes a 20-gigabyte hard drive, the equivalent of having a 200-CD changer installed in the car.
High-Tech 'Infotainment'
Officials said Fujitsu Ten and e.Digital have collaborated for several months to develop state-of-the-art, car-based "infotainment" systems integrating digital audio, voice recognition, data storage, video and wireless Internet technologies under the Eclipse brand name.
The voice-recognition technology is similar to that developed by e.Digital for a portable digital music player that it introduced in 2001. Rather than scrolling manually through selections, the technology lets users pick folders and titles by speaking out loud.
On the Eclipse system, the voice technology currently controls only the MP3 Changer, but it could eventually be extended to operate complete in-car audio, driver navigation, video and Internet systems.
Getting More Vocal
"We see a lot of other potential products coming from this partnership," Ferguson said.
Vannin Gale, senior marketing manager for the Eclipse brand, said Fujitsu Ten expects the arrangement to yield more voice-activated products for cars.
These would integrate audio systems with interactive video, navigation, e-mail and other functions, Gale said.
Home Connections Coming
According to Jim Collier, e.Digital's chief operating officer, the integration could yield a single voice-activated system that controls the audio equipment in the car as well as the cell phone, the on-board global positioning system (GPS) and video players.
"Technology development will include navigation and control, as well as wireless access and integration with home networks," Collier said.
In November, e.Digital introduced its MXP 100, a portable, voice-activated digital music player. The pocket-sized device, which doubles as a voice recorder, was developed with support from IBM (NYSE: IBM), and high-end versions can store more than 20 CDs -- or up to 32 hours worth of music and voice files -- on a 1-gigabyte drive.
U.S. officials of Fujitsu Ten, based in Torrance, California, could not be reached for comment on pricing, availability and features of the MP3 Changer.
By Lou Hirsh
URL: www.eclipse-web.com
www.edig.com
www.techextreme.com/perl/story/14651.html
Copyright (C) 2002, NewsFactor Network. All rights reserved
E.Digital Paying 49% Interest on New Product Loan (Update1)
By David Evans
Update 1 (does that mean there will be a 2?)01/09 17:13
Las Vegas, Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- E.Digital Corp. is paying an annual interest rate of 49 percent on a $1 million, 15-month loan to finance marketing of a new line of Internet music players it displayed this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
In a November 14 letter to the San Diego company's 80,000 shareholders, President Alfred Falk disclosed the financing, though not the interest rate.
On Monday, E.Digital's shares touched $1.91, giving the company's 131 million shares a market value of $250 million. That was more than 500 times their book value. The stock fell 24 cents today to $1.34.
``It's a cult following,'' said Falk at the company's booth at the trade show. ``I can't tell you how many people I've met who bought our stock who don't know what we do.'' He said many first discovered the company on the Raging Bull Internet message board.
``It sounds like a phenomenon that I'd thought had ended with the dot-coms,'' said Martin Fridson, managing director of global high-yield strategy at Merrill Lynch & Co. ``Hope springs eternal.''
He said the rate was ``about double'' the interest paid ``by the riskiest companies issuing straight debt with warrants'' and tends to occur when lenders believe a default is possible.
Falk explained at the trade show that the money was borrowed soon after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. ``If we had said no to the terms, we might not have been able to get any money,'' he said.
`Effective' Funding
``In the current capital environment, this is an effective means of funding inventory, with a minimum of dilution and financial risk to the company,'' Falk wrote to shareholders in November. The actual terms were buried in the company's 10-Q report, filed the same day with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The loan, secured by inventory and receivables, was for more than double the company's net worth of $445,324 on Sept. 30, according to its 10-Q.
E.Digital has lost more than $54 million since it was founded in 1988. For the six months ended Sept. 30, its loss widened to 2 cents a share from 1 cent, or to $2.1 million from $1.3 million in the year-earlier period. Sales were flat at $1.2 million.
Fans of the company's stock, which trades on the OTC Bulletin Board, are more confident about the company's future than its lenders. They have posted more than 870,000 messages discussing the company on the Internet message board. Thousands were posted in the days before the show began.
Discreet Lenders
E.Digital's stock has at least doubled in January each of the past two years around the time of the Consumer Electronics Show, after issuing press releases about its music player designs, only to decline in subsequent months.
In 2000, the shares soared from $2.92 to an all-time high of $24.50 that January, after E.Digital displayed a prototype of its music player at the show, and announced that it licensed its design to Maycom Co. Ltd. of Korea. By yearend, they were trading below $2.
E.Digital borrowed the $1 million on Sept. 28, agreeing to pay 12 percent interest in addition to providing five-year warrants to buy its stock at 75 cents a share, which the company valued at $496,770. The investors received 750,000 warrants, and another 100,000 warrants were paid as a finder's fee. That amounts to an interest rate of 49 percent per year on the loan, which is due on Dec. 31.
The four individuals who lent the $1 million don't want their names disclosed, said Robert Putnam, E.Digital vice president for investor relations. He said they've provided funds to the company before.
Customers
E.Digital markets music players to consumers on its Web site. The products compete with players from much larger companies, including Apple Computer Inc., which sells the iPod, and Creative Technology Ltd. of Singapore, which sells the Rio line of portable players.
E.Digital also licenses its designs to companies including Bang & Olufsen A/S of Denmark and Musical Electronics Ltd. of Hong Kong.
E.Digital's contract to provide digital recorders to its largest customer, Lanier Healthcare -- which accounted for 67 percent of the company's business for the six months ended Sept. 30 --ended on Dec. 31.
As of Sept. 30, E.Digital had $985,428 in accounts receivable, which amounted to eight months of revenue. Bills unpaid by Lanier amounted to 80 percent of the total.
``They're slow, but they're paying their bills,'' said Falk.
The Many Futures of Music, Maybe
One of Them Real (NY Times 1/10/02)
By JON PARELES
[via MedRare on RB]
ASHINGTON, Jan. 9 — These are some of the possible
futures of music:
a) Everything ever recorded will be available on demand via the
Internet, through a high-speed wireless connection to your
wristwatch.
b) No one will be willing to pay for any of that music, leaving
songwriters destitute and bands trying to make a living from touring
and selling T-shirts.
c) A handful of multinational corporations will control virtually all
recorded music, limiting public access to it while ruthlessly exploiting
musicians.
d) Musicians will reach listeners around the world instantaneously,
with no need for intermediaries, so fans can support their favorite
performers directly.
Those forecasts and others were in the air at the second annual
Future of Music Policy Summit, held Monday and today in Gaston Hall at Georgetown University. Musicians,
members of Congress, recording-company executives, Internet entrepreneurs, copyright lawyers, union
representatives and computer experts gathered to wrangle over what boiled down to a basic question: How will
musicians make a living in the Internet age, preferably without a day job?
The conference was presented by the Future of Music Coalition, which has sought to represent musicians and
listeners while legislation and technology reshape the music business. The coalition, which includes a full-time
lobbyist, has taken up both technological visions and the sometimes numbing but financially crucial technicalities
of contracts, licensing and royalties.
Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the
House Judiciary Committee, spoke to the meeting on Tuesday morning.
"Technology is forcing the record labels and the artists and the writers and the
composers to come together," he said. "The Internet says to the industry that
you folks are yesterday's news, you're following outdated models, your
business strategies don't work anymore, and your profit motive is showing
rather vulgarly."
Last year was a time of disarray and repositioning in the music business. "We
have to rethink our business, and it may not be the record business anymore,"
said Miles Copeland, who owns Ark 21 Records. Soundscan, which tabulates
retail sales, says the number of albums sold in 2001 dropped 2.8 percent from
sales in 2000, the first decline since Soundscan began in 1991.
A panel of recording-company executives at the conference depicted a
beleaguered business in which a major-label album needs to sell at least half a
million copies to break even and only 10 percent of albums ever recoup their
investment. Marketing and promotion costs are high: good placement in retail
stores can cost up to $250,000, and promoting a single Top 10 hit to radio
stations can cost millions.
Representative Conyers said he hoped to hold Judiciary Committee hearings
this year on what he has called payola: promotional payments to radio stations,
often channeled through independent consultants. He also denounced the consolidation of the media business,
saying it pressured musicians into signing unfair contracts.
Five multinational companies now dominate the record business. And since the Telecommunications Act of 1996
removed limits on how many radio stations a single company could own, two companies, Clear Channel
Communications and Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, a subsidiary of Viacom, have come to control the
leading stations in most major markets. "The music business is getting more and more and more concentrated,"
Mr. Conyers said, "which makes it in the end, and not so far away, harder to get into the business and start up."
Musicians and listeners have been looking to the Internet as a way to exchange music without corporate
bottlenecks. The music business has been shaken up by unlicensed file- sharing services: first Napster, which is
dormant, and more recently Kazaa, Audiogalaxy, Music City's Morpheus, Grokster and others.
"If you don't offer it on the Internet, people are going to take it for free," said Cary Sherman, the general counsel
of the recording-industry association. The free file-sharing services do not pay royalties. Late in 2001 the major
labels introduced their alternatives. Two competing paid, licensed music-subscription services have begun:
MusicNet, with music from AOL Time Warner, BMG and EMI; and Pressplay, with music from Sony and
Universal. Both limit the number of songs that can be received and what the listener can do with them.
But the major labels have not licensed their full catalogs to other outlets. Mark Cuban, the founder of the Web
site Broadcast.com and the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, said: "The people who had the keys
to the mall decided to burn it down rather than try to make money from it. The premium wasn't on making
money, the premium was on control."
Record retailers who contacted the major labels for licenses have been offered only the chance to carry
Musicnet or Pressplay rather than designing their own sites, said Pam Horovitz, the president of the National
Association of Retail Merchants, which represents record stores. She said that retailers' credibility depended on
being able to inform customers objectively about albums rather than simply carrying the labels' own promotions.
Konrad Hilbers, the chief executive of Napster (which is now in partnership with BMG), said he still hoped to
license major-label music for a revived, paid version of Napster. But he warned that if the labels continued to
hold back, he would seek government action to spur competition. Representative Rick Boucher, Democrat of
Virginia, spoke at the conference about his Music Online Competition Act, which would require companies to
license their music to all comers on equal terms. But that bill faces an uphill battle.
At the conference, Kevin Murray, a Democratic California state senator, announced that he was introducing a
bill that would make musicians free agents after seven years. In California, personal-service contracts are
limited to seven years except for recording contracts. Mr. Murray wants to remove that exception, comparing it
to indentured servitude.
Recording contracts usually call for a specified number of albums rather than a length of time. The Recording
Industry Association of America, the trade group, released a statement opposing the change, saying, "No one
can compel an artist to record," and adding that the losses from musicians who did not fulfill their commitments
would make it difficult to invest in new talent. To prevent contracts from being signed in jurisdictions outside
California, Mr. Conyers said he wanted to introduce a federal version of Senator Murray's bill.
While it grappled with such pragmatic issues, the conference also featured more utopian notions. Grass- roots
entrepreneurs like Ian MacKaye, the leader of the band Fugazi and the owner of Dischord Records, said that
through simple hard work and without written contracts for the bands on his label, he had been making a good
living in the music business and even providing health care to his employees. Derek Sivers of CD Baby, a
company that sells independent CD's from about 14,000 groups, said he had recently passed $1 million in
payments to musicians.
Sandy Pearlman, a lyricist for Blue Oyster Cult who is the vice president for media development of Multicast
Technology, envisioned having all recorded music available on demand through wireless connections. He called
unlicensed file-sharing a disaster but suggested that an "invisible tax" on Internet connections, paid through
service providers, could be channeled to musicians and copyright owners.
"It really is a pretty trivial accounting problem," he said. "But decisions would have to be made at the highest
levels to stop fighting shadows and deal with the hand we've been dealt."
Eben Moglen, a professor of law at Columbia University and the general counsel of the Free Software
Foundation, supported a similar accounting mechanism but in voluntary form. He urged the conference to think
back to "music before Edison," before it became a commodity in the form of recordings. "Everything that can be
shared will be shared," he said. "But people make music because they love it, and they'll pay for it because they
love it."
Low-cost digital memory card line slated for release
Business Wire (January 8, 2002)
LAS VEGAS, Jan 8, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Thomson multimedia (Paris
Euroclear:18453) (NYSE:TMS), provider of a wide range of audio and video
technologies to consumers and professionals in the entertainment and media
industries, will soon bring a range of affordable, easy-to-use Digital Memory Cards to
market in 2002. This new type of write-once digital semiconductor memory will mean
lower suggested retail prices, convenience, and security for consumers who use
digital cameras, mp3 players and other portable devices.
The new write-once memory cards will be marketed under Thomson's Technicolor
brand name. As the leading global provider and distributor of entertainment media
solutions and services in a variety of formats - including film, DVD, videocassette, and
digital cinema - Technicolor has extensive experience delivering trusted, high-quality
media solutions. Technicolor Digital Memory Cards offer write-once convenience and
security, will come in standard flash formats and sizes, and will work
interchangeablely with existing flash cards. By offering these new memory cards to
consumers, Technicolor provides a valuable digital storage solution alternative that is
uniquely affordable, convenient, and secure.
"As the digital imaging and portable digital music markets grow, we're anticipating the
desires of mainstream consumers who want a more convenient way to store and use
files, and a more secure digital copy of those valuable photographs and mp3 files.
With Matrix 3-D Memory, we can offer Technicolor Digital Memory Cards in familiar
formats and sizes that are convenient, secure, and much lower in cost," said
Thomson's David Geise, Vice President - Accessories Products.
Today, a conventional flash memory card typically represents half the cost of a small
mp3 player and a large portion of a digital camera's system cost, and users of both
must be tied to a PC. By significantly reducing the memory cost and simplifying the
user experience, Technicolor Digital Memory Cards offer a mass-market product with
suggested retail pricing that will be comparable to buying today's 35mm film.
The new Technicolor memory product is an archival memory product designed to store
information securely for many decades. These solid-state cards ideally meet the
requirements of portable electronic products: ruggedness, low system costs, small
form factor, and low power consumption.
"Thomson has recognized the market opportunity for low-cost, convenient, storage for
portable consumer electronics. Today's digital solutions are not yet as easy to use as
consumers would like. With these new Technicolor Digital Memory Cards, Thomson
and Matrix are well positioned to exploit the large new market opportunity for very low
cost solid-state memory cards," said Dennis Segers, President and CEO of Matrix
Semiconductor. "Our success will enhance digital imaging and audio in the mass
market."
Matrix 3-D Memory is the first product based on Matrix Semiconductor's breakthrough
3-D technology. By building ultra-dense chips in three dimensions, Matrix can provide
dramatically lower cost chips. For more information on Matrix and this technology
breakthrough, please visit http://www.matrixsemi.com/.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding prospects for the
future that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that could
cause actual income to differ materially from those expected are the following:
business conditions and general economic conditions, competitive factors such as
pricing and marketing efforts of rival companies; timing of product introductions; ability
of contract manufacturers to meet product price objectives and delivery schedules;
legislative, regulatory and industry initiatives that may affect planned or actual product
features and marketing methods; and the pace and success of product research and
development. For more information on the potential factors that could affect the
company's financial income, please review the relevant SEC filings.
About Thomson multimedia
With sales of 9.1 billion Euros (U.S. $8.3 billion) in 2000 and 73,000 employees in
more than 30 countries, Thomson multimedia (Paris Euroclear: 18453) (NYSE: TMS)
provides a wide range of video (and enabling) technologies, systems, finished
products and services to consumers and professionals in the entertainment and
media industries. To advance and enable the digital media transition, Thomson
multimedia has five principal activities; Digital Media Solutions, Displays and
Components, Consumer Products, Patents and Licensing and New Media Services.
The company distributes its products under the THOMSON, RCA and TECHNICOLOR
brand names. For more information: www.thomson-multimedia.com.
Thomson multimedia Press Relations Marc Meyer Tel : 331.41.86.5003
meyerm@thmulti.com Dave Arland Tel : (317) 587-4450 ArlandD@tce.com Thomson
multimedia Investor Relations Stephane Rougeot Tel: 331.41.86.5297
rougeots@thmulti.com
About Matrix Semiconductor
Founded in 1998, Matrix Semiconductor, Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) has developed the
means to create three-dimensional semiconductors using standard manufacturing
techniques and materials. By optimizing use of a semiconductor wafer's area --
building "up" rather than "out" -- Matrix's 3-D technology produces ultra-dense chips for
high-volume markets at dramatically lower costs than comparable technologies.
Matrix's first product based on the technology, Matrix(TM) 3-D Memory (3DM) will
combine the compact size, ruggedness, and low system cost of solid-state electronics
with the cost-per-megabyte of disk technologies. Comparable in cost and usage
model to 35mm film, audiotape, and other traditional consumable media, Matrix 3-D
Memory will enable the first mass-market semiconductor consumable. The company
has received over $80 million in funding from Benchmark Capital, Skymoon Ventures,
Microsoft, and multiple world-leading consumer electronics manufacturers. Find out
more at http://www.matrixsemi.com/.
Matrix Semiconductor Press Relations Melissa Selcher Tel: 408.969.4815
mselcher@matrixsemi.com Phase Two Strategies for Matrix Semiconductor Phil
Gomes Tel: 415.772.8460 pgomes@p2pr.com
CONTACT: Thomson multimedia Press Relations
Marc Meyer, 331.41.86.5003
meyerm@thmulti.com
Dave Arland, 317/587-4450
ArlandD@tce.com
or
Thomson multimedia Investor Relations
Stephane Rougeot, 331.41.86.5297
OT 4video is this you? What does this compression technology break through?
By John Leyden
Posted: 08/01/2002 at 17:18 GMT
Claims of a breakthrough in compression technology by a Florida research
start-up have been met with scepticism.
ZeoSync says it has developed a technique to compress "practically
random" data by a factor of hundreds to one - once the technology is fully
developed (which it estimates will be possible sometime next year).
Such a lossless data compression technology would have widespread
applications in telecommunications and data storage, for instance,
enabling video and other high bandwidth applications to work over
narrowband networks.
ZeoSync has worked with leading mathematicians at Harvard University,
Stanford University and Moscow State University, among others, and it is
careful to qualify its remarks.
It says that so far it has only applied its " multi-dimensional encoding
technology" on very small bit strings - but this has failed to pacify critics.
In particular the firm's detractors question ZeoSync's assertion that it has
overcome fundamental constraints in information theory, defined by Claude
Shannon more than 50 years ago.
Noted cryptographer Bruce Schneier said, from the information available
so far, ZeoSync's supposed breakthrough looks like "snake oil.. the odds on a
compression claim turning out to be true are always identical to the
compression ratio claimed".
How the technology is supposed to work
ZeoSync's approach to the encoding of practically random sequences is
expected to evolve into the reduction of already reduced information
across many reduction iterations, producing a previously unattainable
reduction capability.
ZeoSync intentionally randomises naturally occurring patterns to form
entropy-like random sequences through its patent-pending technology
known as Zero Space Tuner. Once randomised, ZeoSync's BinaryAccelerator
encodes these singular-bit-variance strings within complex combinatorial
series to result in massively reduced BitPerfect equivalents. The combined
TunerAccelerator is expected to be commercially available during 2003.
ZeoSync has developed the TunerAccelerator in conjunction with some
traditional state-of-the-art compression methodologies. This work
includes the advancement of Fractals, Wavelets, DCT, FFT, Subband Coding,
and Acoustic Compression which utilises synthetic instruments. ®
External links
ZeoSync's statement
versus
Usenet FAQ on compression of random data
and tomorrows entre..Digital Storage 101: Master the Media Market
Session Type: Fee Required
Date: Thursday, January 10
Start Time: 1:30 PM
End Time: 2:30 PM
Facility: North Hall LVCC
Room Number: N257
Description: It’s getting ever easier to receive and store large amounts of digital content. And much harder to keep track of all the storage options and their individual strengths. This session will show you the full range of options now available to consumers, including hard drives, micro drives, DataPlay discs, Clik! Discs, compact flash and portable storage. You’ll discover which media play well together. And how to maximize your buyer’s data-storage dollar. Expect to receive massive amounts of data!
Moderator: Steve Williams, Technology Columnist, Newsday
Panelist: Michael Ludgate, General Manager, Magnetic Products, Iomega Corporation
Panelist: Nelson Chan, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Retail Business Unit, SanDisk Corporation
Panelist: Ray Uhlir, Vice President of Marketing, DataPlay, Inc.
Panelist: Reid Sullivan, General Manager, Entertainment Group, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company
Panelist: Rusty Rosenberger, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Imation Corporation
Panelist: Tom Evans, VP, Media and Application Solutions, Sony Electronics Core Technology Solutions Company
Danl, this one too...Circuit: Home Entertainment Circuit
Session ID: HE6
Session Title: An Inside Look at Digital Audio Products and Digital Rights Management
Session Type: Fee Required
Date: Wednesday, January 9
Start Time: 1:30 PM
End Time: 2:30 PM
Facility: North Hall LVCC
Room Number: N260
Description: If you’re involved with digital audio products in any way, you need to know the full history of SCMS (Serial Copy Management System), media-based copy protection...how that early standard evolved into today’s built-in copy protection on DVD audio players and portable digital music players...and what new solutions and products are on the way. How are Digital Rights Management technologies affecting: The competition between DVD Audio and SACD (Super Audio Compact Disc)? The development of satellite radio? The future of digital audio on the Web? Come and see. This technology affects every facet of the digital audio industry!
Moderator: Mike Langberg, Personal Technology Editor, San Jose Mercury News
Panelist: Andy Wolfe, Ph.D., CTO, SONICblue Inc.
Panelist: Craig Eggers, Director of Product Planning, Toshiba
Panelist: Howard Singer, Ph.D., Principal Consultant, Rightscom
Panelist: Jordan Rost, Senior Vice President, New Technology, Warner Music Group
Consumer electronics manufacturer Sonicblue said on
Monday that it has partnered with Coca-Cola to design, promote and sell a
Coca-Cola and Rio co-branded line of digital audio players in the U.S. The
first such device is slated to be released in the first half of 2002.
Santa Clara-based Sonicblue also announced on Monday that it has appointed
former Intel executive David Huffman as vice president of audio product
marketing. Huffman will oversee the operations and organization of the
company's worldwide line of Rio digital audio players and manage the
company's Tigard, Ore. facilities
Listen.com taps big labels for music service
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 7, 2002, 9:00 p.m. PT
Listen.com has signed music distribution deals with two major record labels, giving it a long-awaited power boost in the race to create the perfect online jukebox.
The San Francisco-based company said it has signed deals with Bertelsmann's BMG Entertainment and EMI Recorded Music, which together represent just under a third of U.S. music sales.
Like many other online companies, Listen.com has been seeking distribution rights from the five major labels for more than a year as it refocused its business on digital music subscriptions. Its product, dubbed Rhapsody, launched in December, offering access to streams of independent-label music for a small monthly fee. The new major-label catalogs will be added to several existing options.
The deals are a big step forward for Listen.com and represent further loosening of the big labels' tight grip on online music distribution. But analysts caution that it will be a long time before Rhapsody or any competing service gains ground with consumers still skeptical of opening their wallets for digital downloads.
"This is great for Listen," said Mark Mooradian, an analyst with Jupiter Media Metrix. "But I have yet to see anything that's going to definitively change the market right now."
Executives at Listen.com say they are realistic about the likelihood of slow consumer adoption. Paid music subscription services launched en masse only last month, with options appearing on RealNetworks, Yahoo and America Online as well as Listen.com. There has been no evident consumer rush to try these services, and analysts say a groundswell of support is unlikely until any single service manages to offer music from all five major labels; currently, no service offers the full range of major-label catalogs.
Nevertheless, the Listen.com deals indicate that the major labels are becoming more receptive to competitors in the online distribution market. This shift comes as record companies see offline revenue dipping for the first time in a decade--and as the Justice Department opens an antitrust investigation into their MusicNet and Pressplay online distribution joint ventures.
Whatever the causes, Listen.com executives say the labels have been more willing to work with outsiders in recent months.
"We found in general the labels are coming around to an acceptable financial model," Listen.com CEO Sean Ryan said. The combination of circumstances "has pushed them over from a self-interested point of view to saying, 'We need to do this.'"
The different subscription models now in the market are turning into a kind of consumer research program as well as actual commercial services. Each offers a slightly different set of features on a roughly comparable breadth of music.
Both MusicNet and Pressplay offer a limited number of downloads and streams of music per month. Pressplay allows some limited ability to burn music to a CD; MusicNet does not. Meanwhile, Rhapsody's service is all streaming music with no limit on the number of songs that a subscriber can listen to in a given month.
This kind of experimentation is critical as the young market gains its feet, said Jay Samit, senior vice president of EMI Recorded Music. EMI distributes music through MusicNet, Pressplay and now Rhapsody, as well as several other fledgling subscription plans.
"No one knows exactly how consumers will react to subscription models," Samit said. Only competition between the services will show the industry which model works, he added.
Reminder, repost digital radio and edig...
by: gernb1 $$$$$
11 Nov 2000, 07:02 PM EST
Msg. 530905 of 861687
Repost: Potential Dots with digital radio and why I think EDIG will be anchored
in digital music for some time to come.
By: gernb1 $$$$
Reply To: None
Thursday, 19 Oct 2000 at 1:18 PM EDT
Post # of 530903
Potential Dots with digital radio and why I think EDIG will be anchored in digital music for some time to
come.
This is all speculation on my part but I would be interested in everyones opinions.
XM Satellite Radio is developing a new band of radio. It will create and package up to 100 national
channels of digital-quality music, news, sports, talk, comedy and children's programming in its
state-of-the-art, all-digital 82-studio broadcast center in Washington, DC. The service will be uplinked to
XM's powerful satellites and transmitted directly to vehicle, home and portable radios across the
country. The company's first satellite is scheduled to launch in December. XM's consumer service is
slated to begin during the first half of 2001 for a monthly subscription fee of $9.95. XM ready radios will
be sold by automotive and retail outlets such as Best Buy and Circuit City. The company has a
long-term distribution agreement with General Motors to integrate XM-Ready radios into its vehicles
commencing in 2001. XM's strategic investors include America's leading car, radio and satellite TV
companies - General Motors, American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Clear Channel Communications,
DIRECTV and Motient Corporation (Nasdaq: MTNT). First there was AM. Then there was FM. And
now...XM Satellite Radio. For more information, please visit XM's new website: www.xmradio.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------
FROM MY #501482 POST: Both LDR and USADR [now Ibiquity] have agreed to use LDR's perceptual
audio
coder (PAC) in the unified standard.
Designed by Bell Labs, PAC is an audio compression algorithm that delivers near-CD quality audio at 96
kbits/sec over existing frequencies without denigrating the transmission of current analog programming.
Figuring they can develop a standard by the end of the year, LDR and USADR executives project that
compatible equipment will be available in 2001. ''We believe we've cut back the timeline about a year or
so,''
Pai says. ''We'll see movement from a number of players on the receiver side to accelerate product
design and
development. This is clearly a great opportunity for receiver and semiconductor makers interested in the
radio
space.'' Receiver makers already on board with LDR include Harmon Kardon and Recoton, while Sanyo
has
an agreement with USADR.
************************************************************************************
United States Patent
6,067,278
Owens, et. al.
May 23, 2000
Digital recorder for car radio
Abstract
An automobile radio/digital recording system is provided in which a digital recorder enables input either
through the radio or
through a microphone to be stored in the digital storage device and be played back through the
automobile's
radio system. Storage of
information in excess of five minutes is available.
Inventors:
Owens; Kenneth R. (Lake Mary, FL); Hrvatin; Bart (Chicago, IL).
Assignee:
Recoton Corporation (Lake Mary, FL).
Appl. No.:
55,628
Filed:
Apr. 6, 1998
Intl. Cl. :
H04H 9/00
Current U.S. Cl.:
369/7; 369/25; 704/270
Field of Search:
369/7, 29, 25; 704/270, 201, 103; 395/2.79; 341/110; 711/103;
364/400.01; 340/568
References Cited / [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
4,287,568
Sept., 1981
Lester
4,713,801
Dec., 1987
Hale
369/7
4,963,866
Oct., 1990
Duncan
341/110
5,263,199
Nov., 1993
Barnes et al.
455/344
5,459,702
Oct., 1995
Greenspan
369/25
5,491,774
Feb., 1996
Norris et al.
395/2.79
5,633,837
May, 1997
Gantt
369/7
5,696,928
Dec., 1997
Grewe et al.
711/103
5,787,399
Jul., 1998
Lee et al.
704/270
5,798,921
Aug., 1998
Johnson et al.
364/400.01
5,835,015
Nov., 1998
Ikeda
340/568
5,839,108
Nov., 1998
Daberko et al.
704/270
5,860,065
Jan., 1999
Hsu
704/270
MTV Delves Into Digital Music
Broadcast giant teams with DataPlay on an MP3 player that can
hold up to 11 hours of tunes.
James Niccolai, IDG News Service
Monday, January 07, 2002
LAS VEGAS -- MTV Networks is slapping its brand name on a digital music player
due out in April that can hold up to 11 hours of music stored in the MP3 format,
the company announced at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday.
The player uses an innovative disc drive developed by newcomer DataPlay. It is
about the size of a matchbook and holds up to 500MB of data. The device will
be able to record and play back songs, and also doubles as an external drive for
storing digital photos, video clips, and documents for viewing on a PC, the
companies say in a statement.
Pricing wasn't immediately available, but DataPlay has said in the past that
players using its technology will retail for $200 and $300, with blank discs priced
at $5 to $10.
The MTV device measures
3.15 inches by 2.7 inches
by .98 inches and stores
music in the MP3, WMA,
AAC, and QDX formats.
Users navigate content
using a small LCD screen on
the front of the device. It
has a USB port for
connecting to a PC and
runs on a rechargeable
lithium-ion battery.
Brand Names
The company manufacturing
the device, Evolution
Technologies, will be
unfamiliar to many, but
having MTV's logo plastered
across the device should help attract users and boost the credibility of
DataPlay's fledgling storage technology, says Richard Doherty, a director with
the research company Envisioneering Group in Seaford, New York.
"MTV may be more important as a partner than someone like Toshiba," he says.
Besides music players, DataPlay hopes its drive will be used in gadgets including
digital cameras, personal digital assistants, and portable games. Vendors who've
climbed on board include Toshiba, Samsung Electronics, and SonicBlue, although
none have released products yet despite DataPlay's original launch target of
late 2001. The MTV gadget could be the first DataPlay device to hit the
streets.
Major record labels have said they will offer DataPlay discs preloaded with
music, although none are available yet. Some prepackaged content may be
available by launch, however.
"The big challenge for DataPlay is achieving a critical mass," Doherty says.
"They need enough device makers and content providers behind them to
achieve momentum."
Tough Competition
The MTV device joins an already crowded field that becomes yet more crowded
this week. Bantam Interactive has said it will launch its Explor BA800 player,
which comes with 256MB of solid-state memory and incorporates a 1.8-inch LCD
for viewing digital pictures.
Luck Technology of Korea will show off its super-slender SlimAudio player, which
is about the size of a credit card and uses a new compression technology
dubbed the Bytero format that the company claims can store three times as
much digital music as a standard MP3 player with the same memory.
Samsung says it plans to introduce new players, including wearable devices and
a combined CD/MP3 player, and SonicBlue also promised a new music player at
the show.
CES officially opens Tuesday, although the show kicks off Monday night with a
speech from Microsoft Chair and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates.
Panasonic Consolidates Consumer Sales Operations
By Steve Smith
TWICE
1/4/2002 12:46:00 PM
Secaucus, N.J. - Just days before the opening of International CES in Las Vegas
next Tuesday, Panasonic announced the consolidation of its consumer sales
organization, merging nine units into one, effective April 1.
Overseeing administration of sales will be senior VP Fred Towns, who operates
Panasonic Specialty Sales Company, will also concurrently head the Specialty
Sales Company. The three other new sales companies and top executives are:
Dave Bearden, current head of Panasonic Company Central, will become
Panasonic Regional Sales Company president; Steve Gold, current head of
Panasonic Company East, will become president of the Panasonic National Sales
Company; and Mike Troetti, who heads Panasonic Home & Consumer Products,
will become president of Panasonic Enterprise Sales Company.
In addition, the company also announced that Mike Aguilar, until now president of
Panasonic Company National division, will take on the position of senior VP
responsible for the Telecommunications, Entertainment, Display, Optical and
Digital Technology Merchandising Groups. Dick Muchanic will also take on
responsibility for personal care and healthcare products as part of his role as
general manager of Home Appliance, Personal and Health Care merchandising.
Andy Takani, president of Panasonic Consumer Electronics, commented, 'The
first and most obvious change for our retailer customers is that we are
transforming our current nine sales companies into a single organization made up
of four sales companies. I believe that our retail customers will find this a
welcome change.'
He added, 'The consolidation of sales operations is one step in a larger initiative
to optimize business processes and effectiveness and improve corporate
performance. The transformation now under way will make Panasonic more
responsive to the needs of our customers.'
Separately this announcement comes soon after reports from parent company
Matsushita Electric Industrial that it is studying alternatives for reorganizing five
of its Group operations. Also in December long time Panasonic executive Bill
Mannion, most recently VP/general manager of Panasonic TV and Network
System Division left to join Microsoft, while Jonas Tanenbaum, national marketing
manager for the same division, joined Samsung as national marketing manager
for its Digital Consumer Electronics Group.
2.4-GHz digital wireless headphones debut at CES
PR Newswire (January 7, 2002)
LAS VEGAS, Jan 7, 2002 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As the world's first Digital
Wireless RF Headphones to transmit audio in true CD quality, Amphony is presenting
it's 2.4 GHz Digital Wireless Headphones, Model 1000 at this year's Consumer
Electronics Show (CES).
By using a proprietary technology, the 2.4 GHz Digital Wireless Headphones from
Amphony transmit audio in a digital format at a data rate of over 3 Million Bits per
Second (Mbps) from a stationary transmitter to one or more sets of portable
headphones.
"Since we transmit audio digitally, noise and audio distortion are absent from our
design which are the major drawbacks of existing 900 MHz analog systems," said
Gunter Fellbaum, marketing director for Amphony. "Further, since we can transmit at a
data rate of over 3 Mbps, we were able to avoid having to compress the audio which
would have resulted in audio degradation similar to MP3 compressed audio. In
addition, the high data rate allowed us to implement an intelligent error correction
scheme which is able to correct transmission errors to guarantee reliable error-free
reception even under difficult conditions."
The 2.4 GHz Digital Wireless Headphones are geared towards the medium and
high-end consumer as well as the audio professional. The Model 1000 2.4 GHz Digital
Wireless Headphones from Amphony have a suggested retail price of $129, and have
already started to ship to U.S. retailers.
"We are also offering a number of accessories to enhance the functionality of the
product," said Mr. Fellbaum. "By using RangeBooster modules, for example, a user
can increase the transmitter operating range almost indefinitely. Additional
headphones which can operate from the same transmitter are available as well."
Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Amphony is a startup technology company
specializing in the development of electronic products and technologies, in particular
high-quality audio transmission technologies. Amphony products include consumer
as well as OEM products. In the U.S., Amphony products are sold by Amphony Corp.,
an affiliated Amphony company.
SOURCE Amphony
CONTACT: Gunter Fellbaum, Marketing, Wireless Audio, of Amphony,
+49-30-2759-2979, or gfellbaum@amphony.com
URL: http://www.amphony.com http://www.prnewswire.com
DataPlay's Tiny Media to Ship Next Quarter
Postage stamp-size discs are taking longer than expected to ship, but retain their fans.
Douglas F. Gray, IDG News Service
Thursday, November 15, 2001
DataPlay, which has developed a new type of storage for digital media players and recorders, is planning to see both its postage-stamp-sized discs and gadgets that use them on store shelves in the first quarter of 2002, company executives said this week.
In January, DataPlay said it planned to have products available in the second half of this year. However, development took longer than expected, Steve Volk, DataPlay chair and chief executive officer, said at Comdex. "It just took a long time," Volk said. "We had to develop the drive, the media, and the manufacturing process."
DataPlay's tiny discs will be available for sale--either blank or prerecorded--for use with digital cameras, portable music players, and personal digital assistants, Volk said. "This is a universal media for all things digital," he said.
Advertisement
The company seems to have enough force behind it to win users for the media, with Universal Media Group--an early investor--EMI Group, and BMG Entertainment all announcing plans to sell prerecorded music on the discs. Users would buy an album on a DataPlay disc, for about the price of a CD, and then be able to unlock additional albums already stored on the 500MB discs, for under $10, Volk said. Blank media will cost from $5 to $10, he said.
Versatile Discs
Players and media are now set to launch next quarter, and while Volk would not disclose who the first hardware manufacturers would be, the price of the players will be in the $299 to $329 range, Volk said. However, DataPlay and Imation had announced earlier that Imation would be the first U.S. manufacturer.
"The discs can also store music videos, Web links, and an up-to-date list of concert dates," Volk said. Users wanting to unlock the additional content can do it through an online retailer by connecting the player to a PC through a USB port, Volk said.
One analyst said that while the company's product holds potential, it won't register until it actually appears on shelves. "Right now, we're very much in wait-and-see mode," said P.J. McNealy, senior analyst at Gartner. "Some of their channel partners are in the same position."
Another analyst said that for DataPlay to be widely adopted, it needs to partner with one of Japan's large consumer electronics companies, mainly Panasonic or Sony. "I think they need one, if not both of those guys," said Danielle Levitas, a program manager with IDC. "Even then, it's going to take years for penetration to become significant."
The devices also double as portable storage devices when connected to a PC through USB, Volk said. Although the discs can fit 500MB of data, they can only be written to once, so when the disc is full, it can only be read, similar to a CD-R disc.
Other Implementations
DataPlay is working with other business models as well. One possibility might be putting all of Stephen King's novels onto a single disc, and letting the buyer have access to the first chapter of every book free, Volk said. Electronic bookseller Rosetta Books has already announced plans to offer books on DataPlay's discs.
At the Consumer Electronics Show, also in Las Vegas, earlier this year, DataPlay also showed prototype devices. Among them were a camera from Toshiba and an MP3 player from SonicBlue.
But the different uses of the media remains a moot point until it becomes available, Gartner's McNealy said. "Clearly their potential to distribute protected media is high, especially with the amount of data they can fit on the discs," he said. "But first they have to produce the discs, then they have to have the right content partners lined up, then distribution partners--until they get all that together, it's difficult to say how they'll do."