Music

PocketParty Review: Clip-on iPod speakers
PodGear PockParty
The PocketParty is a speaker unit that plugs onto your iPod (1st generation iPods aren’t supported). It’s a white lump about 3 inches long and 1 inch square with 2 speaker grills at either end. It holds an AA battery and claims to have about 10 hours life per battery (it’s rated at 1W).
Having its own battery should mean (as claimed) it doesn’t use the battery of the iPod, but since it’s driven through the headphone output means there must be some drain on the iPod itself.
There’s a little switch on the side that allows the unit to be turned off which should conserve power when not in use.
PocketParty – a party in your pocket!
The PocketParty is reasonably loud, however it’s not a replacement for a set of external speakers. Using it in your car is going to be a disappointment, engine noise will drown it out.
You’re not going to be able to hold an open-air rave in the middle of a field with it, unless it’s just for a small collection of friends.
Where it can sound fine is in a tent or some other quiet environment not distracted by other noise.
Settings the EQ makes a huge difference, the PocketParty can sound quite flat (the speakers are only an inch square), using in dance mode made it sound fuller.
Is this something to buy? It’s VERY convenient as it’s so small and does easily fit in your pocket (as the name suggests) and it can be heard by a a group of people in the right surroundings.
It’s not going to burst your eardrums, but then that’s probably a good thing.
Star rating: 3/5
PodGear
NOTE: To hear anything the iPod volume had to be set at least half way, to get reasonable volume at least 3/4’s. This was on a European iPod which have their max volume scuppered due to EU regulations. There are “hacks” that can be found to remove the EU limitations and allow the volume to be cranked up to the same levels as the people with bleading ears in the US.
7 July, 2005
Tiscali To Webcast Reading Festival
It used to be that attending a festival was more akin to a long trek in a distant country, with festival-goers vanishing for days on end, uncontactable by the outside world.
When they returned, battle weary and hungry, they could be assured of a ready audience as they retold their tales of epic mudbaths, day-long guitar solos and beery quagmires.
Sadly, festival goers might find the folks at home a little less interested in their stories as they can now view the entire thing, live and direct, from the comfort of their home PC.
Like Glastonbury, Live 8 and several other big music festivals, band’s performances at the Reading Festival will be available to view over the Web via a streaming Webcast, with official sponsors Tiscali providing the coverage.
The streams will be available through Tiscali with further exclusive archive footage streaming after the Festival itself.
Tiscali will also launch and host exclusive Tiscali Sessions in a specially created backstage Tiscali VIP Tent during the festival, with private performance footage being made available after the Festival.
Richard Ayers, portal director of Tiscali.co.uk converged: “Already many of the Reading audience will be buying most their music online so our involvement in bringing The Carling Weekend: Reading Festival experience to millions of online viewers only serves to prove further that broadband and entertainment are excellent bedfellows.”
The festival, now corporate branded into the “Carling Weekend Reading Festival”, takes place over the August bank holiday weekend.
Reading Festival
5 July, 2005
iTunes Live8 McCartney/U2 Track Fast Release
Hot on the heels of the hugely successful Live8 concert in London, Apple’s iTunes Music Store has made the opening performance of The Beatles’s “Sergeant Pepper” (sung by McCartney with U2) available for purchase through its store.
With the Guinness Book of Records monitoring proceedings to see if the venture qualifies as the fastest-ever global release of a live track, the speedy release reveals how digital technology has vastly accelerated the distribution of content.
Straight after the live performance, the opening track was transmitted by satellite to BBC TV Centre in London and then relayed to UK radio broadcast company, Capital Radio.
A direct digital recording was captured there for Universal Music, which edited, mastered and transmitted the track to its production centre in Hanover, Germany.
The final master was forwarded on to Universal’s global electronic distribution warehouse in the US, and made available for real-time delivery to online retailers around the world, ready to be purchased as the “first Live 8 download”,
Distribution is to be exclusively digital, so there will be no physical product. All profits are to be donated to Live 8, “and the fight for the future of Africa”, according to the iTunes Website.
A further message on the site reminds users: “100 artists, a million spectators, one billion viewers, and one message: stop extreme poverty in Africa”.
Despite battling hard with unhealthy levels of cynicism all week – a feeling not helped by Apple’s self-serving publicity and the presence of Bill Gates at the Live8 show itself – I can only applaud anything that raises awareness of the obscene disparity of wealth in the world.
Let’s just hope that people don’t think that downloading the track is anywhere near enough.
iTunes
Live 8
4 July, 2005
VeeStream Enables “i-Pod-Like 3G Music Video Service”
Vidiator Technology has declared a “world first” for their VeeStream mobile music video service, launched in Scandinavia.
There’s currently more than 50 live broadcast channels on offer, letting mobile subscribers “use their phones like i-Pods”, with an unlimited hard-drive housed on the mobile network.
The service enables subscribers to watch and listen to music through mobile streaming on their video-enabled mobile phones. After a free trial from May-Aug 2005, mobile subscribers can shell out a monthly fee under US $7.00 (~€6.00~£4.00) and gorge themselves on unlimited programming.
After launching with an audio service in May 2005, video is scheduled to follow in June with radio coming in July.
“Vidiator is one of the key partners who enable us to be the innovator in the Scandinavian Market,” insisted Shlomo Liran, CEO of 3 Scandinavia. “We are a mobile video company, not just a mobile voice company. Vidiator streaming technology makes it possible for us to deliver new services and to stay ahead of our competitors”.
The service uses VeeStream, a rich media streaming platform, which delivers high quality audio and video streaming content on-demand for 2.5G and 3G network operators, regardless of format player, handset or network.
The clever boffins at VeeStream claim to have solved the problem of network bandwidth availability by using ‘dynamic bandwidth adaptation’ (DBA) a patent-pending, open-standards based technology.
The real-time DBA does its stuff by optimising throughput over scarce radio frequencies, while creating a higher ratio of delivered streams than competing technologies.
With the 3GPP/3GPP2 compliant VeeStream being player-agnostic, mobile streaming can be enabled to a broader range of networks and devices, which should bring costs down for wireless operators.
“Vidiator is a solutions provider, not purely a software company,” said Connie Wong, Vidiator’s CEO.
“VeeStream is the most proven carrier-grade wireless streaming technology in the market due to its robustness, scalability and modularity. Carriers like 3 Scandinavia only have to ‘plug and play’ off their existing Vidiator streaming platform running other applications to add 50 audio and video channels, including live broadcast services like Big Brother.
This scalability enables quick time-to-market for new content, lowers system configuration and operation costs and boosts revenues”.
Personally, I’d rather sit bare bottomed on a bag of angry live crabs than try to watch Big Brother on a squinty little mobile phone screen, but there’s no denying that such pap can help drive network take up and revenues for 3 network providers.
Vidiator VeeStream
28 June, 2005
iRiver Knocks Out Four MP3 Players
In a deluge of announcements, iRiver has paraded four new flash-memory based music players before the SEK exhibition in Seoul this week.
Most interesting is the U10, a strikingly designed multimedia player, operated through a 2.2in, QVGA (320 pixel by 240 pixel), landscape-oriented touch screen.
Looking like something that’s escaped the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the curvy white player device packs in a ton of features, with MP3, WMA, ASF and Ogg music playback supplement by Mpeg4 video support (but no DivX). Apple’s FairPlay protected AAC music files can’t be played on iRiver devices.
Also lurking within its compact 69mm x 47mm x 16 mm form is a FM radio, a voice recorder and a photo viewer.
The U10 comes in 512MB and 1GB capacities and will be priced at $283 (~£155, ~€232) and $335 (~£275, ~€232) respectively in the US. No UK launch date or prices have been announced.
The second player is the H10 Junior, a flash-based Mini Me version of the popular H10 player, which some patronising marketing genius has declared as “One For The Ladies”.
Served up in 512MB and 1GB capacities, the player complements iRiver’s existing hard disk-based H10 range – currently available in 5GB, 6GB and 20GB capacities – and offers a FM tuner/recorder, voice recorder and line-in encoder.
The Junior offers a 1.2″ (260k) colour LCD panel on the top part of the fascia with and an up-down scroll bar beneath it.
Replacing a (comparatively speaking) chunky hard drive with flash memory means that the dimensions can be slimmed down to a teensy weensy 42mm x 72mm x 16mm, with the unit weighing a feather-threatening 50 grams.
Availability in South Korea is scheduled for late June, but we haven’t heard a peep about pricing or international distribution.
Wrapping up iRiver’s latest product shifting marathon is the T20 and T30 flash music players.
Both the diminutive players can churn out MP3, WMA, ASF and Ogg Vorbis audio formats and come 256MB, 512MB and 1GB varieties. Battery life is quoted as up to 20 hrs, powered by a single AAA battery.
The T20 features a built in sliding USB plug that lets users hook it up directly to a computer’s USB port, while the T30 sports a natty Toblerone-esque triangular styling.
Pricing and international launch details for the T20 and T30 were – you guessed – not announced either. They just want to tease us, I guess.
(Writer congratulates himself on writing an article on no less than four MP3 players and not mentioning the phrase “iPod Killer”)…
iRiver
22 June, 2005
iTunes “Essentials cards” In Glastonbury 2005 Promotion
Apple is elbowing its corporate presence onto Glastonbury Festival with a launch at world famous music event later this week, according to a report in MacWorld.
Details are nearly as scarce as festival tickets, but the site cites third-party reports suggesting that all will be revealed on Friday, June 24 at the East Dance stage, where the first act up listed in the official Glastonbury Festival website is called, “iTunes present…”
This will feature winners of a competition run between iTunes and Hit40UK which asked budding musos to create a five-song iMix of tracks they felt appropriate for kick-starting the Dance stage this year.
The competition page ran the blurb: “Runners-up will also bag themselves some great iTunes Glastonbury Essentials cards which get them 75 tracks of the hottest Glastonbury tunes on the iTunes Music Store”. Apple’s Glastonbury Essentials compilation was listed as being worth £19.75 (~€30, ~US$36).
MacWorld mulls over the suggestion that these iTunes “Essentials cards” could auger an extension of Apple’s existing band promo cards.
These take the form of fan-tempting collectible iTunes cards stuffed full of band-specific artwork and special codes that let mustard-keen fans download tracks from a specific artist or album.
These cards have previously been used as tickets to events like Apple’s “Live from London”.
Naturally, we’ll be at Glastonbury trying to get our hands on some of these “Essential cards”, but with thousands of more interesting non-corporate offerings on display, we can’t promise that we won’t get hopelessly sidetracked at the world’s greatest festival.
Hit40uk
MacWorld
21 June, 2005
Legal UK Music Downloads Grow 75% In Twelve Months
According to a survey by Entertainment Media Research, UK legal digital music downloads have grown by a thumping great 75% in a year.
The 2005 Digital Music Survey also predicts that UK consumers will spend 60% more on buying music downloads in the next six months
Although 40% of UK music lovers are still grooving to music files illegally downloaded to their MP3 players and PCs, the survey found that 35% had bought legal downloads with a further 23% intending to start purchasing downloads soon.
Legal downloads are continuing to find favour with consumers, with over two thirds of illegal downloaders claiming they will download less in the future.
The survey revealed that the dwindling enthusiasm for dodgy downloading was due to user concerns about prosecution (44%), fear of viruses (29%) and inferior audio quality vs legal downloads (21%).
These findings are supported by the news that legal digital downloads have accounted for 8% of Coldplay’s recent album sales in the US – the biggest share for any new release to date.
Dutifully dissecting the digital demographic, we can reveal that the fear of getting into trouble with The Man worried 13-17 year olds (50%) and women (47%) the most, while 35-44 year olds (35%) and women (34%) were most concerned about the prospect of downloading infected and unauthorised files.
Spoddy, EQ-adjusting audio aficionados of the male variety were the most put off by the audio quality of the unauthorised tracks, with the difficulty in finding the exact right track particularly troubling music-obsessed blokes between 25-44.
The survey discovered that legal download demand is being fuelled by immediacy over price, with nearly two-thirds (63%) claiming immediate availability as being the key reason.
The ‘must-have-that-record-now’ ethos was most reflected by men in the 18-24 age group, with the price of downloads relative to CDs seen as a less important factor (43%).
Two fifths of those surveyed preferred digital downloads because they were only interested in one or two tracks, while 29% downloaded music to sample an album before purchase.
The survey revealed that 45% of legal downloaders buy current singles, unlike older consumers (45 years plus) who tended to know what tracks they want and were more likely to purchase 1-2 tracks from an album.
Russell Hart, Chief Executive, Entertainment Media Research, rummaged through the figures, mulled for a moment and then declared, “The findings indicate that the music industry is approaching a strategic milestone with the population of legal downloaders close to exceeding that of pirates.”
The survey was undertaken in association with law firm, Olswang, with their senior partner and Digital Lifestyles chum John Enser, commenting, “Clear deterrents to illegal downloading are emerging with fear of prosecution running high and close behind is the sense that unauthorised downloading is “not fair on the artists,” suggesting that the industry’s messages, led by the BPI, are being communicated effectively.”
Entertainment Media Research
20 June, 2005
Sony BMG Rolls Out Copy-Restricted CDs
Sony BMG Music Entertainment has announced that it intends to add copy-restricting software to its latest CDs.
The software is designed to limit consumers to making no more than three copies of a CD, and marks Sony’s determination to bolt on restrictions to a twenty year-old music format that currently makes copying and digital distribution a breeze.
This year has already seen more than two dozen copy-restricted titles released – including albums from the Backstreet Boys, the Foo Fighters and George Jones – and Sony has flagged its intention to beef up their anti-copying campaign.
Rival US companies haven’t been too impressed with the restrictive software thus far, saying that the software was too easily defeated and that working versions did not allow consumers to transfer music to portable devices and music players as freely as the industry would like.
Instead, they’ve been badgering Apple Computer to amend its software and “make its technologies compatible with copy-prevention tools”.
A major sticking point is that the restrictive software used by Sony BMG is currently incompatible with Apple’s popular iPod.
This doesn’t affect Apple computer users – they can freely copy and transfer music from the restricted CDs to their iPods – but consumers using Microsoft’s Windows software won’t hear a note, although they will be able to transfer music to Windows Media-supporting devices.
Thomas Hesse, president for global digital business at Sony BMG, said Apple could “flick a switch” to amend its programming to work with the restrictive software.
“It’s just a proprietary decision by Apple to decide whether to play along or not,” Hesse said. “I don’t know what more waiting we have to do. We think we need to move this forward. Time is ticking, infringement of intellectual property is happening all over, and we’ve got to put a stop to it I think.”
Analysts suspect that Sony is playing to the gallery a tad here, seeing as a Web site set up by the company will happily despatch emails to users explaining how they can unlock the CD’s software and make music files available for unlimited copying and transferring.
Mike McGuire, an analyst at Gartner G2, summed up the move by Sony BMG by describing it as a “very interesting public negotiation”.
New software may sink music pirates (via NY Times)
20 June, 2005
Ericsson And Napster Team Up For Mobile Music Service
After a long cuddle on the sofa, Napster and Ericsson have announced a global partnership to offer a fully integrated new digital music service aimed at mobile phone customers around the world.
The service – yet to be given a snappy name – will combine elements of Napster’s popular PC offering and Ericsson’s personalised music service and serve up iTunes-like song downloads with a monthly subscription plan.
Scheduled to go live in Europe over the next 12 months, the service “accommodates mobile operator participation in all revenue streams” and will initially be offered to operators in selected markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America and North America.
“Ericsson’s world-leading wireless and telecommunications solutions experience, along with their exceptional client base, make them the ideal partner to deepen Napster’s presence in the global mobile arena”, entoned Chris Gorog, Napster’s chairman and CEO.
“Ericsson and Napster are uniquely suited to offer mobile operators a simple, cohesive and personalised digital music experience for their consumers”, he added.
The new joint service will let users coordinate wireless and PC downloading of digital music (in both subscription and a la carte models) with songs downloaded via the phone playable on the user’s home PC.
The service works on most suitably equipped handset models and networks, with next-generation phones being able to support the digital rights management stuff.
The service is designed to deliver a “complete digital music solution under one brand”, with users benefiting from a consistent user interface and integrated billing from their mobile operator.
The two companies hope that their service will allow mobile operators to get their grubby mitts on the “growth opportunities for personalised digital entertainment on the mobile phone and PC” and will, no doubt, include the usual slew of lucrative, downloadable offerings like ringtones, master tones, images, wallpaper and video content.
With doe-like eyes, Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg praised Napster as “the strongest digital music brand in the world”, adding: “With Napster we are uniquely positioned to deliver the easy to use, complete suite of music offerings our customers are asking for.”
It’s anticipated that the announcement could stir things up in the accelerating mobile music sector, driven ever-onwards and upwards by the growth of high-speed networks in Europe and Asia.
More and more mobile operators are already cutting themselves a slice of the mobile digital music services pie, with the largest Korean mobile phone operator recently purchasing a controlling stake in the country’s biggest record label.
Napster’s no stranger to the world of mobile music either, offering limited access to its service through selected US phone networks and operating a ringtone download store.
If the joint venture manages to persuade mobile phone operators that customers are going to lurve the integration between handsets and online services, the two companies could be on to a winner.
Sony Ericsson
Napster
15 June, 2005
Gorillaz Launch ‘Next Generation’ Enhanced Video
Animated UK act, Gorillaz, are proudly claiming a world first for their ‘next generation’ enhanced video for ‘Feel Good Inc.’
Using new “template technology” brewed up by MTV and its partner Ensequence, the video for ‘Feel Good Inc’ utilises the technology’s modular capabilities which – apparently – allow “more in-depth, bespoke, multi-layered content to be added behind the red button.”
After consulting our buzzword translator, we’ve worked out that their next-gen video will allow viewers to call up more interactive content, including track info, competitions and artist biogs, as well as each band member’s audio commentary on the video.
“The new Gorillaz video takes the extended relationship interactivity offers and takes it a step further, giving fans a much richer experience, “offered Lisa Gower, Digital Media Manager at Parlophone.
“The new technology allows fans to get closer to their favourite artists and brings interactive content closer to the quality and choice found with the ‘extras’ on DVDs,” she added.
Bundling in a host of interactive freebies is clearly being seen as a useful marketing tool for record companies, keen to discover new ways to part loyal fans with their cash.
Matthew Kershaw, Head of Interactive, MTV Networks UK & Ireland, explains, “Offering greater flexibility, we now have the creative freedom to create bespoke interactive layers that complement each video and can be different depending on when the viewer accesses them, giving fans a far richer and more enhanced experience than they have had before”.
Elsewhere, the Gorillaz have confirmed details for an innovative virtual US tour, with unique performances being streamed via the Web sites of radio stations across the country.
The Demon Detour virtual tour starts on June 6 at KNDD Seattle’s 1077theend.com and will go on to ‘visit’ the sites of 39 US radio stations and include two national broadcasts.
The band – brainchild of Blur’s Damon Albarn (aka 2D) and Tank Girl” creator Jamie Hewlett (aka Murdoc) – are already celebrating the US success of their second album, “Demon Days,” which has debuted at No. 6 on The Billboard 200.
“It’s not enough that we’ve just recorded and released the defining album of the century, now we’ve gotta go tell the world about it,” quipped. “We’re gonna play some live songs, maybe talk a little about the album, crack some jokes.”
Gorillaz
Ensequence
10 June, 2005