Content

Content in its shift to become digital

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
UK eGovernment – Pressure Builds For Awareness Campaign
eGov Monitor is reporting that pressure is building for a national campaign to spur demand for eGovernment, with the government likely to be asked to fund a large-scale marketing campaign to promote online public services.
According to the article, only around 15 per cent of the public are presently using eGovernment services, a figure so rubbish that senior officials are banging tables and demanding something should be done.
After three tables collapsed under the strain of their repetitive beats, the top brass have arrived at the conclusion that to boost the current low levels of take-up, the Government must dish out the dosh to a dedicated marketing drive for e-services.
However, recent research funded by the government revealed that although marketing campaigns can effectively promote public awareness of eGovernment services, they don’t always result in actual take-up increasing.
The same research, produced for the e-Citizen National Project on Take-Up and Marketing, came up with the more encouraging news that 46 per cent of adults in England are willing to use online public services.
Although growth in the take-up of some e-services has been promising, the eGov article states that the need to drive up public usage across the board remains a major concern for the UK’s eGovernment programme.
Earlier this month an official from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister reportedly gave an eGovernment conference in Washington, DC, mulling and musing over a possible UK e-Government marketing campaign.
Winning friends and influencing people with every word, Julian “The Diplomat” Bowrey, the ODPM’s local eGovernment divisional and programme manager, is reported to have told delegates to target the campaign at two key groups of potential users.
The first was “grumpy young men who want to pay their parking fines online and want to complain, preferably at three in the morning” and the second was “women who have an interest in local community services”.
Hmmm. Maybe we can think of some other reasons why take-up has been slow.
Government Faces Call for E-Service Take-Up Drive
Local e-Gov site
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
Nokia And Wayfinder Introduces 6630 GPS Package
Nokia and Wayfinder Systems have proudly proclaimed the availability of the Nokia 6630 Navigation Pack, a compact smartphone-based navigation package for folks on the move.
The navigation package comes in three parts; the Nokia 6630 smartphone, a Nokia Wireless GPS Module and the Wayfinder Navigator application.
WayFinder isn’t unique in offering this application to the Nokia 6630, with other available including NaviCore, launched in the UK a few weeks ago. Having Nokia put their name to the Wayfinder Navigator will provide a sense of authority that competing products will find it hard to compete with.
Getting a little carried away, the announcement insists that the Nokia Navigation Pack “puts the world into people’s pockets”.
Although the idea of people flapping around with planet-threatening trousers amuses, all the package actually does is let users connected to the Nokia Wireless GPS Module access position and route information on their Nokia 6630 smartphone screens.
It’s a clever wee thing though, offering turn-by-turn voice instructions, searching for street addresses, restaurants and other points of interest with locations or points of interest shared by forwarding maps via MMS or email.
The Nokia 6630 Navigation Pack does not require fixed installations with the automatic settings configuration tool serving up maps from Wayfinder’s extensive catalogue, currently covering Western Europe, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Greece.
“Location based services are among the top consumer choices for new mobile applications,” asserted the wonderfully named Kirsi Kokko, Director, Smartphone and Business Solutions, Multimedia, Nokia.
“With the Nokia 6630 Navigation Pack, we wanted to address this demand with a highly advanced, portable package combining the benefits of a smartphone and navigation. When not using navigation based services, people can enjoy the same device for productivity purposes, taking pictures or video, surfing the Internet or listening to music.”
Never one to knowingly undersell his product, Jonas Sellergren, VP Product Management, Wayfinder Systems proclaimed “the Wayfinder Navigator application on the Nokia 6630 brings the ultimate navigation solution to the consumer.”
“The Wayfinder Navigator(TM) in a Nokia smartphone delivers a complete navigation experience that previously has been found primarily built into cars. Wayfinder Navigator is the perfect travel companion, the ideal tool for people on the move,” he continued, selling furiously.
The Wayfinder Navigator app comes on the Nokia 6630’s Reduced Size MultiMediaCard (MMC) with a 6-month freebie period of navigation including automatic map updates. After that date, users will have to dip in their pockets to extend the service.
The navigation pack will also be available with the Nokia 6670 smartphone in some areas.
MyWayfinder
Nokia
NaviCore
20 June, 2005
AOL Is King Of The Zombies
A recent study by security vendor Prolexic Technologies has declared AOL to be king of the zombies, with their customer’s machines accounting for more infections than any other ISP.
A well as being a scary 1960s monster, zombies are also computers that have been infected with a daemon that puts it under the control of a malicious hacker – with the computer owner remaining blissfully unaware.
Zombie machines are often used by malicious hackers to launch Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, and Prolexic spent six months studying the data from real-world DoS attack attempts from hijacked machines.
Their findings put AOL right at the top of the Zombie league with 5.3 percent of all infections, followed by Deutsche Telekom in second place with 4.67 percent, and Wannadoo third with 3.27 percent.
Country by country, the good ol’ USA led the way, totting up a global market share of 18 percent of the total detected.
China lagged behind at 11.2 percent, with Germany on 9.6 percent,and the UK and France both with 5.1 percent.
If the figures are calculated on zombie numbers on a per capita basis, the most infected countries were – in descending order – Hong Kong, Germany, Malaysia, Hungary, and the U.K.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise to find that some of the most high profile Internet Service Providers are most susceptible to providing a safe haven for large numbers of Zombie PCs,” says Prolexic CTO Barrett Lyon. “It is these networks which are continually being exploited to support large scale DoS attacks.”
“Just because a home user subscribes to a reputable brand doesn’t mean they’re safe from the online criminal fraternity,” he says.
AOL was having none of it, saying that the suggestion that it is the most infected network on the Internet was “silly.”
In full-on PR schmooze mode, AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein declared the numbers to be “great news” for the company, pointing out that the number of Zombies on its network is actually low in relation to the total number of its members.
“We’re the largest ISP, so we’re going to have the largest of everything,” he whooped.
“Even though we’re several times larger than the next largest ISP, the rates of infection for those next-largest ISPs are basically the same.”
Although Weinstein acknowledged that over 10 percent of the Zombie attacks came from AOL, he was quick to point out that the company accounts for roughly 40 percent – or 21.7 million – of US Internet subscribers, thus making AOL customers three to four times safer than the average user of another ISP.
“I think this report is kind of silly; it’s like saying the US is the most dangerous country to drive in because we have the most cars,” he added.
Although Prolexic are yet to comment on AOL’s response, the company has emphasised that its Zombie data was culled from attempted real-world attacks, and not sneaky “honeypots” designed to lure in Zombie hackers.
The company also noted that Zombie attackers now favour the brute force “full connection based flood” approach, using real IP addresses in such numbers that they might overload blacklisting systems.
Prolexic
17 June, 2005
One Fifth Of News Junkies Score Online
According to a new study from Internet audience statisticians Nielsen//NetRatings, nearly one-fifth of Web users who read newspapers prefer online to offline editions.
The study revealed that 21 percent of those Web users now primarily use online versions of newspapers, while 72 percent still prefer to get their fingers inky with print editions.
The remaining 7 percent went for the best of both worlds and dipped into both online and offline editions evenly.
“It’s great news for the online entities,” boomed Gerry Davidson, senior media analyst with Nielsen/Net Ratings. “It shows people are going to those sites and they are responding.”
The statistics are in line with the underlining trend in the newspaper publishing industry where print circulation has slumped as consumers look to the Internet for news, scouring both newspaper-run sites and news gathering sites like Yahoo and Google.
“A significant percentage of newspaper readers have transferred their preference from print to online editions,” said Davidson.
“Accordingly, many online editions now feature original content and have developed an online strategy that includes online message boards and editorial blogs, which leverage the medium’s strengths of interactivity and immediacy,” he added.
Yahoo and Google are both enjoying booming revenues, with cash rolling in from fast-growing Web search ads and a revival in traditional online advertising.
Although newspaper publishing revenue is growing slowly, it still remains stuck in an extended slump.
As traffic has increased traffic to news sites, newspaper editors have been allocating more content to their online editions, adding frequent news updates, weather news, original content, message boards and editorial blogs.
The New York Times Website, www.NYTimes.com, is ranked as the most visited site in the US, boasting an audience of 11.3 million in May – up 25 percent from last year, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Second in line is USATODAY.com, with an audience up 15 per cent to 9.2 million in May, followed by the washingtonpost.com, attracting an audience of 7.4 million, up 10 percent, year on year.
By comparison, Yahoo News registered a modem-busting online audience of 23.8 million, with Google lagging behind at 7.1 million, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
The report observes that a greater proportion of blokes accessed newspapers primarily online, making up 53 percent of online readers, with the lay-dees preferring to read newspapers primarily in print.
Nielsen//NetRatings
Nielsen//NetRatings report [PDF]
17 June, 2005
Apple And Sundance Sign iTunes Podcasting Deal
Apple and the Sundance Channel have signed a deal that will make content from the cable network exclusively available as podcast downloads from the Apple iTunes Web site next month, according to AdAge.
Sundance will be one of the first exclusive iTunes partners in a deal that sees Apple spreading the focus of its iTunes operations to incorporate radio-like media within its music distribution hub.
One of the first iTunes podcast features scheduled for download from the Sundance Channel will be The Al Franken Show who is, apparently, an Air America talk show host.
Apple will also be hosting a streaming collection of video clips from the show on their site.
Apple is currently believed to be propositioning a host of media and entertainment outlets – including magazines and radio stations – in an attempt to strike deals to make more content available via iTunes podcasts.
The feature in AdAge also reports that Sundance will receive Apple’s post-production editing equipment and expertise as part of the barter deal, with the two companies likely to collaborate on the Apple retail level in the future.
“For us Apple is absolutely a like-minded brand in the way they position themselves,” said Kirk Iwanowski, senior vice president for marketing at Sundance.
Apple clearly view podcasts as an important development, with Apple CEO Steve Jobs previously talking about providing podcast directories within iTunes, supported by an editorial team dedicated to identifying the best podcasts.
Apple
Sundance Channel
AdAge [subscription site]
16 June, 2005
Lastminute.com Launches Print Magazine
In an interesting reversal of new media trends, online leisure retailer lastminute.com is to launch its first print magazine.
The new “lifestyle” title, set to launch in mid-July, will be sent to the retailer’s top 100,000 customers and will include travel mag-style guides and more informal features on holidaymaking and leisure pursuits.
The move reflects the company’s strategy to reposition itself as a “lifestyle brand” rather than just a run-of-the-mill online travel retailer.
The 72-page quarterly title will be headed up by former-Guardian Guide and Hotdog editor Ben Olins, who is tasked with editing the magazine and leading an editorial and design team at publishing company Zone, appointed to oversee the process.
Inhaling deeply on a heady perfume of Eau de Buzzword, James Freedman, chief executive at Zone rhapsodised, “Lastminute.com has developed a fantastic business inspiring and fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of a growing group of dynamic, confident and adventurous consumers.
“Creating a magazine that reflects the choices and interests of this group of ‘action-leaders’ will reinforce and highlight Lastminute.com’s position as a lifestyle icon.”
Not to be outdone, Brent Hoberman, chief executive of Lastminute.com, brewed up his own beefy brand of buzzword blather: “The launch of this magazine is a fantastic opportunity to engage with our most loyal customers and reinforce our brand values through inspirational and informative editorial.
Our ‘raison d’être’ is to improve people’s leisure time and this lifestyle magazine which generates ideas on how to do just that is the ideal way to give something extra to our customers.”
Lastminute.com’s in-house sales team will be handling the magazine’s advertising, marking their first foray into off-line advertising.
With the magazine offering readers “a mix of pure temptation and stimulation to try out new experiences”, it’s clearly hoped that the publication will stimulate online sales for the company.
Today’s announcement follows news of the company’s £577m takeover by Sabre Holdings, the owner of Travelocity.
LastMinute.com
15 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