May 2005

Digital Listening Grows As Radio Declines
More and more people are using computers or portable players for music, even though traditional radio still leads the competition, according to a recent market study.
The report from market researcher, The NPD Group, revealed that approximately 77.2 million customers grooved to music stored on a computer during March 2005 – up 22 percent from the 63.2 million recorded during the same month last year.
Online radio stations also enjoyed an upturn in popularity, with 53.5 million listeners tuning in this March, up from 45.3 million a year ago.
Free streaming of music also saw notable gains, with a rise of 37 percent, to 46 million listeners.
Traditional radio continues to be the preferred medium, but listening audiences shrank 4 per cent to 194 million, down from 203 million a year earlier.
“The rise of digital listening and storage for music continues unabated this year,” Russ Crupnick, president of the Music and Movies division at NPD, said in a statement. “Technology companies are providing new tools to consumers in the form of powerful music-enabled PCs and portable music players; music companies are answering the call for more content; and consumers are responding positively.”
There’s a right royal barney going on in the online music business, with several big names fighting it out for a fat slice of the lucrative download market, currently dominated by Apple’s iTunes store and iPod music players.
Last week, Yahoo revealed their determination to become big noise in the music industry, unveiling a music subscription service that significantly undercuts their rivals.
According to the NPD survey, the number of consumers ripping music onto their computers has more than doubled since March 2004, with a substantial (127 percent) increase in music transferred to MP3 players since last year.
With a 93 percent increase in paid music downloads during the same period registered, online music is becoming increasingly accepted.
The NPD Group
17 May, 2005
Shure E4c Review: Perfect Earpod For The iPod
Summary
While they are expensive, if you want excellent sound reproduction, noise isolation and good looks, these fit the bill.
UK Street Price £190.00
UK Amazon Price £157.58
US Amazon Price $299.00
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Review
Shure have just released their E4c earphones. These are the in-ear type with various mouldings (sleeves) that fit on to the actual phones so you can get a comfortable fit.
There are four types of sleeves, a soft rubber one (that seems to work well) in 3 sizes, a medium rubber one, and a triple flange type (which probably gives the best seal, but you need a biggish ear canal – these would be more suited to studio work) and some foam rubber ones that mould to the canal (compress them [squeeze] before you put them in the ear, and they’ll expand to fit). The foam ones are pretty comfortable, but don’t quite seal as well and maybe more suited to flights or situations where you’re likely to wear them for a while.
Since they are in-ear phones, you’ll either get on with them or not, it depends whether you enjoy things stuck in your ear!
They are slightly fatter than the older E3c phones and though Shure have retained the white colour for the bulk of the barrel, the last section (just before the sleeve) is steel (or metal). They look much better and feel more chunky without being too heavy.
Looks aren’t everything
Of course the main reason for buying earphones is for the sound. The E4c’s do superbly and it seems that bass, midrange and treble have all improved. A big advantage of using in-earphones is that they block off almost all external sound (which can be detrimental to your health if you use them in a situation where you need to hear things going around you). Not being distracted by external noise means the volume of the device you’re listening to can be turned down, which has two advantages i) battery life is extended and ii) more importantly, there is less distortion and notes sound truer.
While sitting on the underground you could just hear the station announcements on the public address system, but not much else. The music playing was ambient dance music and you could really make out the nuances etc. Unfortunately the only downside of blotting out everything made you realise even more how miserable everyone looked.
Looks aren’t cheap
The retail price of the earphones is over £200 (~US$370 ~€293), which is a lot, however if you listen to music all the time and you’re sensible and use them at a low-ish volume, you’ll both appreciate the sound and save your hearing. There are times when they could be invaluable, such as when you’re in noisy surroundings, or using them in a studio.
The packaging has been improved, they come with a selection of sleeves (more can be ordered as well as custom fitted sleeves), replacement inner parts (which can become clogged with wax and become damaged), a wax remover (for the inner part – not your ear), a volume control (which is a separate piece, so you don’t have to use Shure’s, if you’re using it with say an iPod remote), a nylon case to carry the lot in and a mini to big jack adapter.
The only part which lets the units down is the cable itself, which looks and feels a bit flimsy.
Summary
While they are expensive, if you want excellent sound reproduction, noise isolation and good looks, these fit the bill.
Score – 5/5

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16 May, 2005
BBC iMP: Public Trial For 5,000 In September
BBC New Media is to extend trials of its interactive Media Player (iMP), allowing viewers to download material from 500 hours of its television and radio programming.
The latest phase of trials for BBC New Media’s interactive Media Player is scheduled to begin in September 2005 and will run for three months.
The interactive Media Player lets viewers catch up with TV and radio programmes up to seven days after they have been broadcast, with the BBC offering legal Internet download programmes to their PCs.
The latest road test follows smaller trials last summer where the BBC used a limited number of people and a small amount of rights-cleared programmes to test the concept of using peer-to-peer technology and digital rights management (DRM) to protect rights holders.
This time around, the BBC is offering around 190 hours of TV programmes and 310 radio programmes, in addition to local programming and rights-cleared feature films.
The 5,000 trialists will be able to search for programmes they want to watch, filter programmes by channel, select subtitles and, in the case of some series, to collect and watch episodes that they may otherwise have missed.
Ashley Highfield, BBC director of new media and technology, effloresced with a curious mix of similes: “iMP could just be the iTunes for the broadcast industry, enabling our audience to access our TV and radio programmes on their terms — anytime, any place, any how – Martini Media.”
“We’ll see what programmes appeal in this new world and how people search, sort, snack and savour our content in the broadband world,” he added.
Currently, issues with rights, distribution and navigation are limiting the menu, leading to fears that without the necessary killer content to attract audiences, take-up of the service may stall.
Highfield has stated that the BBC was looking to tackle these issues through services like Creative Archive and iMP, and called on the industry to do the same.
The pilot will use DRM software to delete programmes seven days after the programme has aired on TV, ensuring that users can no longer watch the content after that time. The digital rights system will also prevent users emailing the files to their chums or sharing it via disc.
The BBC iMP pilot will use peer-to-peer distribution technology to distribute the content and Geo-IP technology to restrict the service to UK Internet users only, with Siemens Business Services, BBC Broadcast and Kontiki, assisting with the technical and play-out elements of the trial.
The Kontiki system is already being beta-tested by the Open Media Foundation in trials of a public service allowing controlled peer-to-peer distribution of rights cleared audio and video.
BBC iMP
Kontiki
16 May, 2005
AOL Talk Phone Service Challenges BT UK Landlines
AOL today trumpeted its intention to muscle into the UK phone business with the launch of a home service offering unlimited calls for an introductory flat rate of £7.99 (~US$14, ~€11) per month.
AOL UK – which has more than 2.3 million subscribers, including more than one million on AOL Broadband – will be the launching the AOL Talk service for its AOL Internet subscribers tomorrow, with the standalone product going on sale later this year.
The service will include unlimited UK local and national calls of any duration, day or night.
By tempting its users to dump BT and take advantage of their cheaper phone bills, AOL UK is following the lead taken by Tele2, TalkTalk, Tesco, and a host of other providers.
The introductory flat rate, valid until 30 June 2005, applies for the first 12 months of an AOL Talk subscription, after which customers will shell out for the standard subscription fee of £9.99 (~US$5.5, ~€8) per month.
Johnny-come-lately subscribers signing up after 30 June 2005 will pay this standard monthly subscription fee.
AOL claimed that the package also includes “competitive” mobile and international rates, offering an example tariff of 5p/min weekend calls to Vodafone.
Chief executive Karen Thomson said she wanted to give home phone users “competitive, easy-to-use services, with costs that are genuinely transparent and highly competitive”, adding that the flat rate package offers no hidden charges or limits on the time customers can spend calling UK landlines.
AOL Talk is based on Carrier Pre-Select, allowing customers with a BT landline to switch home phone providers without changing their phone number or line.
BT line rental fees will continue to apply to users of AOL Talk, but the ISP may offer wholesale line rental (WLR) at a later date giving consumers the option of incorporating line rental and call charges on the same bill.
AOL UK
AOL And Wanadoo VoIP Services Overview
16 May, 2005
OneCare From Microsoft Gives Live PC Health Check
Microsoft has announced that it would begin testing OneCare Live – a PC-health care fix-it all application – with a general release sometime next year.
Battered by Window’s less-than-glowing reputation as the des res of choice for viruses, Trojans, spyware apps and a host of other lurking undesirables, Microsoft is trying to soothe the worried brows of its consumers and make home PCs safer.
Microsoft says that OneCare, a security-software product, will do more than just battle against malicious attacks that flood inboxes with spam and spawn screenfulls of evil pop up ads.
The company intends to make it a preventive tool that will keep personal computers healthy with an easy-peasy automated system that takes all the guesswork and hassle away from the computer user.
As well as virus, firewall and spyware protection, the program will include performance and reliability tools offering automated maintenance tasks such as disk cleanup, hard-drive defragmentation and file repair.
Windows OneCare will also offer backup and restore capabilities, enabling automated backup of files by category on CD and DVD
“Customers don’t differentiate between security issues, maintenance issues and support issues,” observed Dennis Bonsall, Group Program Manager for Microsoft’s Technology, Care and Safety group. “They just want someone to take care of it.”
OneCare is a separately sold subscription-based service designed to work as a mainly “hands-off” application, quietly doing its good deeds in the background while sending security updates to users’ computer systems without them having to download or install the fixes.
From this week onward, Microsoft will begin testing the OneCare service amongst its own employees, before launching an invitation-only beta version for consumers in the summer
You’d think that the entry of the world’s biggest software maker into the anti-virus and security market would send feathers flying amongst established big names like McAfee and Symantec, but McAfee President Gene Hodges was all chilled out: “For people buying security software, it’s typically all about trust. Who do they trust to secure their computers and do this on a reliable basis? Microsoft, even though it’s a huge, powerful company, is going to have to prove to people that it can build good products and do the job well.”
Symantec were quick to throw an equally nonchalant shrug, issuing a statement last Friday saying that it was ready to compete with Microsoft, while confidently pointing out “the strength of the relationships we have with tens of millions of consumers around the world.”
We remain a little less-than-convinced that Microsoft haven’t the potential to seriously torpedo the profits of the current security big guns, and Van Baker, an analyst at researcher Gartner seems to agree,
Commenting that the Microsoft product could be attractive to less tech-savvy users, Baker opined; “Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro all offer a fairly complex offering and customers don’t know what else they need to worry about,” Baker said. “Microsoft is simplifying what is right now a mess, and in addition to protecting you, it’s also going to make sure that your computer runs well.”
Windows OneCare Live
16 May, 2005
MHP: Examining Launch Strategies
Natalie Mouyal of DigiTAG follows up on her previous piece on Wednesday that reviewed the current position of MHP services in Europe.
As MHP-based interactive services are launched throughout Europe, will they encourage the uptake of digital television services? Country case-studies demonstrate that the strategy adopted for the launch of interactive services does impact the roll-out in the market. Two different types of launch strategies can be used for the free-to-air DTT platform.
In a first strategy, national governments focus on the roll-out of digital terrestrial services using simple (zapper) set-top boxes that converts the digital signal for reception on an analogue television set. This strategy encourages the uptake of DTT services by promoting the purchase of a relatively inexpensive zapper set-top box in order for viewers to access an increase in the number of television programme services. Once the DTT services are accepted by the general population, broadcasters can launch interactive services in a second step. However, this strategy results in a large quantity of zapper boxes in viewer households that will need to be converted in order to access interactive services.
In a second strategy, interactive services are an integral part of the initial launch of DTT services and viewers are educated to understand that television can provide a wide range of new services. DTT is no longer a simple translation of a previously existing television services but rather a new television experience. However, this strategy requires a greater financial investment given the higher cost of an MHP-enabled set-top box when compared with zapper set-top box.
Generally, countries have tended mix the two strategies. Viewers have benefited from both an increase in the number of television service programmes available, as well as interactive television services. Yet, this combination has not always allowed for an impressive take-off of MHP based interactive services. In the case of Finland, consumers could choose between a zapper set-top box that allows them to access more television service programmes or an MHP-enabled set-top box that allows them to access both the increased number of television services programmes as well as the interactive services. However, MHP-enabled set-top boxes make up only 5% of all set-top boxes currently purchased.
So as to encourage viewers to buy MHP-enabled set-top boxes, the Italian government has provided households with a subsidy towards the purchase of their interactive set-top boxes. While this subsidy can be used for any open platform interactive boxes, such as those used to receive TV via fibre optic broadband services, it has encouraged the purchase of MHP-enabled set-top boxes. It is estimated that 1.5 million MHP-enabled set-top boxes have already been purchased since February 2004. In addition, the decrease in subsidy from €150 (~US$190 ~£102) in 2004 to €70 (~US$95 ~£51) in 2005 reflects the drop in price for MHP-enabled set-top boxes following their massive uptake.
The consumption of MHP-enabled set-top boxes has kick started the economies of scale for their manufacture. The marginal cost difference for an MHP-enabled set-top box and a zapper set-top box is now much reduced. By adopting this strategy, the Italian government has successfully prevented its market from being flooded with simple zapper set-top boxes.
It has been assumed that many consumers will invariably prefer the cheaper zapper set-top box to a more expensive MHP-enabled set-top box. However, this reasoning disregards the type of interactive services offered. For example, should viewers find interactive services compelling and easy to use, they may be willing to spend the extra money necessary for an interactive set-top box. Thus, it would seem that consumer education is key to the successful roll-out of interactive services.
Much will depend on the role and importance attributed to interactive services. Should governments wish to promote t-government services, it is necessary to encourage households to purchase an interactive set-top box. Broadcasters may use interactive services as a means to increase their revenue and as a result invest funds in the development of appealing content. The priorities of content developers, broadcasters and governments will impact the successful roll-out of interactive services and likely lead to variations between markets.
Natalie Mouyal, works for Digitag
13 May, 2005
BBC Backstage Lets Developers Fiddle About With Their Innards
The BBC has let rip with a new beta service that invites Web developers and designers outside of the organisation to start fiddling about with their content and “create cool new things”.
Launching in the summer, the BBC Backstage site gives code monkeys, app writers and graphics types the opportunity to bend and twist BBC digital content into new shapes.
The project lets developers get their greasy mitts on a collection of feeds and other tools for “re-mixing” and re-purposing the BBC’s offerings in different ways.
“We want to promote innovation and creativity on the net by opening access to some of BBC’s content and services,” enthused co-project leader Ben Metcalfe.
“Essentially, backstage.bbc.co.uk is enabling developers to create new contexts and user experiences around BBC content, like creating alternative ways to navigate, or remixing it with content and services from other providers like Yahoo,” he continued.
The UK broadcasting goliath made a commitment to support social innovation in response to last year’s Graf Report, and this is echoed in their plans to develop an open community where people can share expertise, ideas, and collaborative efforts.
Contributors can join an email discussion and chat away with technical and design staff from the BBC’s new media departments.
The BBC is hoping that by letting creatives fiddle about with their innards, fun, innovative and just plain bonkers new ways of presenting content may emerge, with the possible spin-off of stimulating a UK market for creative venture capital.
By opening up its content feeds and its “API” – application program interface – the BBC hopes that anyone with the right skills can use the digital content to create new search tools, or groovy ways of displaying that content.
An API is essentially a set of computer protocols and tools for building software applications, and the BBC intends to release new APIs gradually, as negotiations with other parts of the BBC take place.
The project is open to just about anyone, and if some bright spark comes up with a particularly cunning idea, the BBC might take it further in collaboration with the developer.
It’s not all about profit though, with the BBC hoping that contributors will create prototypes on their Web sites to be freely shared with others for non-commercial use.
Users won’t be tied to the BBC either, so if a proposal looks interesting to a third party company, they are free to take them further too.
This approach makes particular sense for applications designed for a specific device – such as a PDA – on which the BBC couldn’t justify dishing out their precious licence fee money.
The beta launch this week is designed to get developers to come up with suggestions about the kind of material they’d like to fiddle about with.
Although it is a significant move for a major content provider like the BBC to publicly offer their APIs, Web big boys like Google and Yahoo have already taken the step of making their APIs available for programmers to create applications.
Opening up material to communities of developers can drive real innovation, although it should be noted that it’s not a free for all, with rules in place detailing what is permitted under the agreement.
“We want to identify online talent and exciting propositions that use that talent and showcase that to the world. We want people to have fun with our content as well,” explained Mr Metcalfe.
BBC Backstage
Graf Report
BBC news cover Backstage
13 May, 2005
Gates Damns Apple iPod And Blackberry With Faint Praise
Microsoft ubermensch Bill Gates foresees mobile phones overtaking MP3s as the top choice among portable music players, while dismissing the popularity of Apple’s iPod player as unsustainable.
“As good as Apple may be, I don’t believe the success of the iPod is sustainable in the long run,” he commented in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“You can make parallels with computers: Apple was very strong in this field before, with its Macintosh and its graphics user interface – like the iPod today – and then lost its position,” Gates added.
Isn’t it just so obvious that Gates hates the success that Apple has found? It drives him crazy. He thought it was going to go away, and has now realised it isn’t.
It’s now clear that Gates and Microsoft are on the attack, gunning for iPod. How do we know that? Well, previously Microsoft used to refer to it in the generic – “Portable music players.”. Now it’s iPod, and Apple are being praised, even if it is damned by faint praise after that. Something tells us that Steve Jobs will be deriving huge pleasure from this.
Apple currently has around two-thirds of the global market for MP3 music players, which can store thousands of songs on compact disk drives or teensy-weensy flash memory chips.
iPods have shifted off the shelves faster than a ferret on a frying pan, with Apple selling more than 5 million iPods in the last quarter.
Apple’s white wonder now faces increasing competition from a mightily miffed Sony who are keen to claw back the dominance it once enjoyed with its iconic Walkman brand, and from mobile phone companies busily integrating MP3 players into handsets
“If you were to ask me which mobile device will take top place for listening to music, I’d bet on the mobile phone for sure,” Gates told the newspaper.
Sadly for old Billy boy, Microsoft’s smart phones have been overshadowed in the US by Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, boasting over 3 million units sold so far with a bright future predicted.
The recent release of Windows Mobile 5.0 reflects Microsoft’s determination to become a big noise in the burgeoning market for digital movies, pictures and music and grow beyond its core Windows operating system business.
Gates said that their new Windows Mobile 5.0 – which pops up e-mails on a user’s phone as soon as they arrive – would be a cheaper alternative. “The BlackBerry is great, but we’re bringing a new approach,” he said.
“With BlackBerry, you need to link to a separate server, and that costs extra. With us, the e-mail function will already be part of the server software.”
“Therefore,” he added, before going for the karate-kick killer boast, “I’d venture the prediction that Microsoft will make wireless e-mail ubiquitous.”
Microsoft
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
13 May, 2005
XBox 360 Launched on US MTV. UK Tonight
Xbox 360, Microsoft’s successor to their popular Xbox gaming console, will be “unleashed” tonight at a celebrity-packed launch broadcast on MTV, which shows at 8pm in the UK. It was launched on US MTV last night.
With a press release positively hyperventilating with hyperbole, Microsoft breathlessly extols the virtues of their new games machine, dramatically waffling on about “a dawn of a new era in entertainment.”
Unlike the manly, chunky lines of the first-generation Xbox, the 360 has been given the ladyboy treatment, with smooth, concave lines covering the rippling muscle lurking below.
And there certainly is a beast in the box, with the unit powered by a custom-made IBM PowerPC-based three-core chip running at 3.2GHz, supported by 512MB of GDDR3 RAM – enough beefy brawn to keep up with even the nippiest modern PCs.
Graphics performance should be speedier than a rocket-assisted rabbit too, with an ATI GPU running at 500MHz, backed up by 10MB of embedded DRAM.
The Xbox will ship with a 12X dual-layer DVD-ROM drive – supporting progressive-scan DVD movies and a host of DVD and CD formats – three USB 2.0 ports, two memory unit slots and support for four wireless game controllers.
Users will also be able to stream media from portable devices or Windows XP PCs, as well as rip music to the Xbox’s detachable (and upgradeable) 20GB hard drive.
Networking needs are catered for with a built-in Ethernet port and support for 802.11a, b, and g Wi-Fi protocols.
“With the first generation of Xbox, our ambition was to change the way people think about video games,” said Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer at Microsoft. “Starting today with Xbox 360, our ambition is to transform the way people play games and have fun.”
Microsoft – never one to understate their case – are claiming that they will “unleash the greatest game lineup in the history of video games” when the Xbox launches in North America, Europe and Japan over Christmas.
They’ve certainly persuaded a gaggle of major league gaming companies to come onboard, with initial releases including NBA 2K6, Call of Duty 2, QUAKE 4, Madden NFL 06, Need for Speed Most Wanted and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06.
“Xbox 360 marks the beginning of a renaissance in video games,” whooped Don Mattrick, president of Worldwide Studios for Electronic Arts. “The unbelievable Xbox 360 games in development at Electronic Arts will accelerate the industry’s mission to make video games the pre-eminent form of all entertainment.”
All the games are designed for high-definition, wide-screen televisions, although they’ll work on regular TVs.
Players will be able to access Microsoft’s free Xbox Live online service, which allows them to connect with friends through Xbox Live voice chat, send and receive text and voice messages and stuff their detachable Xbox 360 hard drive full of downloadable demos, trailers, new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins and community-created content
Gamers who shell out for the premium service, Xbox Live Gold, can join multiplayer online games and enjoy enhanced options for online game matchmaking and a greater ability to provide feedback on opponents.
Naturally, gamers love to customise their experience, so there’s a camera option to let vain players add their mugshots into games or even see their friends onscreen as they frag them to an inch of their worthless lives.
As is the current vogue, the appearance of the actual Xbox can be customised too, with a range of interchangeable Xbox Faces on offer.
Although the system is aimed at mad-for-it gamers, the Xbox is also a full entertainment system offering DVD movie, CD music and photo playback support.
So long as they’re equipped with a USB 2.0 port, MP3 players, digital cameras and Windows XP-based PC port can all plug into an Xbox 360 system to stream music and photos.
Xbox 360 players can also access recorded TV and digital movies, music, video and photos stored on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PCs through any Xbox 360 system in the house.
We’ve yet to get our greasy paws on a machine, but Microsoft have certainly raised the stakes with their new Xbox, although arch rivals Sony have yet to, err, unleash their PlayStation 3, a potentially more powerful box offering support for new high-capacity Blu-ray discs.
With both units enjoying enthusiastic support from game makers and gamers, some of the real bloody battles could soon be taking place off-screen.
Promo video for Xbox 360 (Windows Media)
If you thought Xbox 360 was just about gaming, skip to 3 minutes into the video to see how they’re transforming it into a media centre.
XBox
13 May, 2005
TVOD: Telewest’s VOD Plans Revealed
Telewest Broadband today announced plans to transform its TV service, giving consumers greater access and control over additional digital programmes.
The UK giant intends to roll out TV on demand – where sofa-lolling users pick programmes from a menu and watch it whenever they want – to all its one million digital TV customers by early 2006.
Telewest are also widening the range of on-demand programming available and boosting the existing movie service, currently offering over 200 current and library titles.
The extended service will include the best of the previous week’s programmes, including 60 hours of BBC content, at a cost of jack-diddly-squat to customers.
There will also be a mix of free and subscription services including popular TV series, music videos and niche content.
Customers can view programmes just like watching a DVD or video, with options to watch it when they want, and then pause, fast forward and rewind to their heart’s content.
Following the initial launch of TVOD in Bristol, Telewest will introduce the service in stages throughout the second half of this year, starting with 26,000 customers in Cheltenham who are set to receive the service in early July.
Telewest Broadband has the highest percentage of TV customers taking digital, currently 87%, of any cable company in Europe and North America.
Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer at Telewest sunk deeper into his deluxe executive chair and glossed: “We are transforming TV as we know it by giving consumers both a superb choice of programmes and the flexibility to watch them whenever they want. We don’t ever want to hear our customers say there’s nothing on the box or that they have missed their favourite programme.”
“And while digital TV goes from strength to strength,” he cackled triumphantly, “analogue has finally had its day.”
Digital TV, comms and broadband behemoths Telewest are clearly keen to stamp their feet all over digital TV market, investing around £20 million (~US$13.6m ~€29.3m) in the development of TV-on-demand and personal video recorder (PVR) services in 2005.
Telewest
12 May, 2005

UK Street Price	£190.00
UK Amazon Price	£157.58
US Amazon Price	$299.00
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