Content

Content in its shift to become digital

EU Hope Pan-Euro Copyright Will Open Online Music Market
The European Commission announced yesterday that it wants to give a boot up the backside of the European market for online music services by making it easier for new providers to get licences to flog songs over the Internet.
If all goes to plan, it will get rid of pesky restrictions which prevent bargain-hunting Belgium’s and hussling Hungarians from buying cheapo downloads elsewhere due to current laws stopping companies offering EU-wide services.
Clipboard-toting investigators from the EC identified the hassle that companies face in getting licences to offer music across the whole of Europe, as the main obstacle to the growth of legal online music services.
Presently, online music providers have to laboriously apply for licences in each and every one of the 25 member EU states, and then deal individually with collecting societies charged with securing royalties for artists and music firms.
We’ve covered this before back in May and November last year, originally when the EU challenge EU-wide music royalty structure and latterly when the European Music Rights hearings were on.
Internal market commissioner Charlie MacCreevy said: “The absence of pan-European copyright licences made it difficult for the new European-based services to take off. This is why we are proposing the creation of Europe-wide copyright clearance.”
The European Commission’s study argues that entirely new structures for cross-border management of copyrights were needed, concluding that this could be best achieved by letting artists and content providers to choose a collecting society to manage their copyrighted work across the whole of the EU.
With the Commission cheesed off with collecting societies basking in actual or effective monopolies in many EU member states, the new measures would increase earnings for copyright holders by lowering administrative costs and allowing the most efficient societies to compete for artists.
A proposal from the Commission aimed at abolishing the current situation where copyright holders are compelled to register with their national collecting society is expected in the third quarter.
Lucy Cronin, executive director of the European Digital Media Association (EDIMA) was as pleased as Punch with the initiative: “After years of toil, we’re pleased that the Commission has recognised the problem in the online music licensing regime.”
“The current system, based on national licensing and collecting societies, is no longer appropriate for digital services” she added.
Cronin felt that this new legislation could also benefit consumers, with an increase in pan-European licences increasing the amount of downloadable music available, as copyright holders look to exploit larger markets.
With the IT industry arguing that sales have been held back by the lack of a simple, one-stop online licensing system, online music sales in Europe remain miserably small compared to our American cousins – €28m (~£19,1m, $33.3m compared to the whopping great €207m (~£142m, ~$246m) US trade.
European Union
8 July, 2005
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
Mobile Content Market To Triple to €7.6Bn: LogicaCMG
Consumer demand for mobile downloads is going bonkers, according to research by LogicaCMG.
Downloads are predicted to triple in the next 12 months, creating a €7.6 billion (£5.23bn, $9.12bn) global market for mobile content by this time next year.
Twenty per cent of mobile phone owners worldwide have already busied themselves downloading content to their handsets and this figure is expected to soar to 60 per cent in the next 12 months.
The international survey – covering Europe, Asia Pacific, North and South America – revealed subscribers are currently shelling out €6.32 (£4.35, $7.60) per month on downloads, with more than 40 per cent of respondents expecting their spending to rise.
With over 1.5 billion mobile users worldwide (predicted to rise to 2 billion by the end of 2005) the global market for downloading content looks sure to become a multi-billion euro money-spinner within a year.
Globally, subscribers just lurve downloading ring tones, games and music, with news and sports also gaining a growing audience in Europe.
Video and movie clips also showed promise, with more than 10 per cent of mobile phone users worldwide expecting to download such content within 12 months.
New multimedia phones are fuelling a growth in video and movie downloads, with more than 10 per cent of mobile phone users worldwide expecting to download video content within 12 months (this figure rises to 25 per cent in Asia Pacific, with 10 per cent expecting to be downloading full feature films to their mobiles within 12 months).
With consumers demanding ease of payment and the ability to share content with friends, there’s pressure on the industry to invest in digital rights management and intelligent payments systems.
Paul Gleeson, chief operating officer at LogicaCMG commented: “This survey proves that a substantial market for mobile content exists, with great opportunities for mobile operators worldwide.
Mobile phone users are starting to experiment with their phones’ capabilities but, drawing a parallel with the popular SMS experience, it is clear that the service needs to be simple, safe and intuitive from initial browsing through to payment and download.
To secure a share in this booming industry, mobile operators need to look at the bigger picture, building strong relationships with customers and content partners alike to deliver high-quality services that meet the markets’ needs.”
It’s also worth noting that there’s now nothing to stop individual countries legislating software patents on their own.
LogicaCMG
LogicaCMG report
7 July, 2005
YOU-WHO: You’re Never Alone
Dysfunctional drunks, lurking loners and nervous nerds need no longer feel alone thanks to a new mobile phone guessing game called YOU-WHO.
YOU-WHO is a social game for mobile phones that is billed as acting as a “gentle introduction for strangers.”
The software uses the personal area networks created by Bluetooth technology to introduce players to ~~weird geeks~~, ~~desperate losers~~, ~~lonely psychopaths~~, fellow game players in their locality.
The game can be played in any public space where Bluetooth-enabled folks might lurk – train stations, airports, cafés, bars, dark alleyways etc – and supports multi-play gaming.
After two players have agreed to take part in the game, one player will take on the role of ‘mystery person’, gradually feeding clues about their appearance to the other player, who builds up an Anime-style picture on their screen using (ahem) a “million-billion character combinations”.
Once a set number of clues have been given, the players’ phones ‘call’ to each other with a distinctive sound, thus revealing both players’ locations and identities, quickly followed by screams of “Aaaargh!” Get away from me you weird freakshow nerd!”
Billing their game as a “New Type of Social Network Game”, YOU-WHO claims that their game encourages “players to explore their social environment and to take risks”, and that their technology “uses Bluetooth to re-open these social spaces for new chance encounters.”
We’ve always thought that going up to interesting-looking people and just talking to them does the job for us, but no doubt some teenagers might prefer to sit in a corner slumped over their mobile phone instead.
You-WHO is offered as a free 28 day time-limited demo. The cheery young developers at AgeO+ hope to have a full commercial release soon.
The software won the Submerge Graduate Awards, a cross-format competition based in the South West of England. If you’ve a penchant for tiny text, pointless animation and fiddly Flash websites, you’ll love their Website
Age0
6 July, 2005
Cell Phone Shopping Launched By Yahoo In Japan
Buying goods with your PC may soon be as hip as dancing to a Chris De Burgh remix if the latest innovation from Yahoo Japan takes off.
Yesterday, the company opened a version of its shopping portal for cell phone Internet users, called Mobile Yahoo Shopping, allowing perambulating phone users to purchase products as they promenade around the place.
The service can be accessed from all three of Japan’s major wireless Internet services and brings together about 2,000 merchants, collectively offering up an estimated 2 million consumer-tempting items for sale.
Trying to squeeze all that info onto a teensy weensy screen might be a problem, so the portal uses a mobile optimised version of its PC shopping site, with cell phone users able to search for individual items or browse for goods and retailers by category.
Online shopping from PCs is already huge in Japan, but shopping from mobile devices is yet to really take off – a recent Japanese government survey revealed that 89 percent of respondents shopped online with their PCs, but only a miserly 18 per cent used their cell phones for shopping online.
Not surprisingly, the respondents complained of lower satisfaction levels with mobile shopping, citing ease of use and security amongst the biggest complaints.
6 July, 2005
Virtual Gleneagles G8 Protest Goes Ahead
It can be a confusing life for protesters keen to voice their opinions at the G8 meeting in Gleneagles.
First the police inform them that a march can go ahead, then they cancel it, and then – with just a few hours to go – they change their minds again and say the march can go on.
No such confusion exists in the virtual world where protesters keen to avoid a baton on the head – or those unable to attend the non-march/march – can shout at the screen, blow tuneless whistles, chant slogans and get involved with a virtual demonstration from the comfort of their own bedroom.
The “virtual rally”, put together by the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign, allows politically agitated web surfers to choose an avatar and take part in demonstrations in a virtual Edinburgh.
Via a slick Flash interface, surfers can mix and match the look of their virtual protester, add their own slogan to their virtual banner and then join the throng of thousands outside a virtual Gleneagles (happily with no virtual heavy-handed policemen around).
The organisers claim that over 38,000 people have so far taken part in the virtual rally.
All those signing up will have their names added to the online petition, the Live 8 list, which is being sent directly to the G8 leaders.
The Make Poverty History campaign have been quick to embrace new technology for their worthy cause, running a successful web banner campaign, SMS petitions, emails and the use of a text messaging lottery to offer tickets for Live 8.
This latest online rally is a great example of how the web can be used to mobilise protest. We like it!
www.g8rally.com
Make Poverty History
6 July, 2005
DVB-H Digital Mobile TV Pilot For Spain
Abertis Telecom, Nokia and Telefonica Moviles Espana have emerged smiling from a big converging huddle with news of a mobile TV pilot using Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) technology.
The project, backed by major regional and local Spanish channels, is said to be the first of its kind to take place in the country and will serve up a feast of converged mobile communications and TV broadcasting technologies.
Scheduled to take place in Madrid and Barcelona from September 2005 to February 2006, the pilot will also coincide with the closing ceremony of the GSM World Congress 2006 in Barcelona.
The trial will let 500 lucky users from Madrid and Barcelona gorge themselves on high quality broadcast TV content from Antena 3, Sogecable, Telecinco, Telemadrid, TVE and TV3 on Nokia 7710 smartphones.
These will be equipped with a “special accessory” to receive the mobile TV broadcasts.
With the units sporting a wide (640 x 320 pixels) colour touch-screen and a built in stereo music player, users will also be able to take part in programme-related interactive services while viewing TV.
White coated boffins have already started technical trials, with the consumer pilot designed to allow the three companies to test the feasibility of the DVB-H technology and the new mobile TV services.
The trial will also allow interested parties to assess new business opportunities, tweak the user experience (ooo-er!) and measure public interest in mobile TV services.
Outdoor and indoor signal and broadcast quality will also be tested to help fine tune the best technical parameters for the viability of DVB-H based services.
The deal gives Telefonica Moviles responsibility for customer support, invoicing and interactive services, Abertis Telecom will be charged with broadcasting the programmes in Madrid and Barcelona – and taking care of technical issues – while Nokia will provide the Mobile TV solution and smartphones for the pilot.
Telefónica Móviles España
Abertis Telecom
5 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
HowTo: Play Films on PSP
Sony’s PlayStation Portable is a media hub, but unfortunately, apart from games there isn’t really any content available for it (not forgetting unlucky UK citizens who can’t even officially buy one until September).
It’s possible to put MP3’s on to your memory stick (Duo Pro) and listen to them through your PSP, but an iPod is probably a better system for just audio.
What makes the PSP special is its screen, very bright, lots of colours and wide. When Sony release movies on UMD they’ll sell thousands and you’ll get the public transport commuter zombies staring at their PSPs, earphones stuffed in their ears watching the latest blockbuster trying their hardest to escape from the real world.
Become a Zombie now
Though it’s not possible to get UMD movies yet, the PSP will play MPEG4 movies off the memory stick. A 1GB memory stick costs about £100 (~US$177, ~€148) which will hold about 2 full length movies (more, if quality is compromised).
Making movies used to be complicated, but luckily there are programs out there that considerably simplify the process and make it easy.
Using an Apple Mac has many advantages and ripping DVDs is one of them. Look for an application MacTheRipper, it does exactly what is says on the tin, and takes the MPEG2 information from a DVD while removing region coding, macrovision and other DVD annoyances and stores the resulting files on the hard disk.
In order to make it PSP friendly, just extract the main title.
Now find a nice utility PSPWARE, which links the Mac with the PSP. It backs-up saved programs from the PSP, but from the Mac to PSP it does a whole lot more, like syncing photo albums, playlists from iTunes but more importantly movies.
PSPWARE just takes the movie directory (produced from MacTheRipper) and magically out pops some MPEG4 files. They take a while to convert, but when the PSP is plugged in, they zap across and just work.
They really do look good and are very watchable.
Windows users don’t despair
PSPWARE has just been released for Windows with the same functionality as the Mac version. Unfortunately though there are DVD rippers out there they can be difficult to use.
DVDdecrypter was one of the best (very similar to MacTheRipper) and it’s still available from various sites, but the author has stopped supporting it as he was “put under pressure” from a major corporation.
PSPWARE is available from NullRiver it costs about £8 (~US$14~€11) for a perpetual license (free upgrades).
MacTheRipper is availble from RipDifferent and is freeware.
Windows users will have to do a bit of digging for DVDdecrypter – but it’s out there and free.
NOTE: Incredible as it may seem, making digital copies of films may be illegal in your country, even if for personal use.
1 July, 2005