Category: Content

Content

Speedera Content Network Picks Up Flash Video

Speedera Networks, a content delivery provider connecting more than 1,000 carrier backbones in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific region has partnered with Macromedia to deliver video clips in Flash format.

Speedera manage the delivery of file downloads and media for companies that have no wish to host content themselves. Customers include Fox Broadcasting, AMD and NASA. No doubt Speedera were very busy this morning with everyone hitting the NASA site to see the transit of Venus.

Flash has come along way since the mid-90s when cropped-trousered Hoxtonites first used its sprite and vector-based tools to create annoying banner ads and awful games. Flash has matured to be an excellent development environment and has produced some truly great internet content. By incorporating a video engine based on Sorenson Media’s software, Macromedia are now pushing Flash in a direction that was never dreamed of when it first appeared. As en example, video conferencing application can be created in seconds by dragging objects to your work area, and can be highly customised with brand identity and further functionality.

Since there’s a Flash player on an estimated 90% of PCs out there, most users already have all that’s required to enjoy video embedded in a Flash object, as no further client software is required.

However, the reason that Flash video is not as prevalent as formats such as Windows Media is that Flash development tools are expensive, whilst Microsoft’s are free.

Speedera

Macromedia Flash

BT to Use Technology to Block Child Pornography

BT have reported to the Home Office that trials of their Cleanfeed (not connected with the Cleanfeed company who offer internet filtering software, coincidentally enough) program have proved successful, and from next month they will be blocking access to child pornography sites.

The move has been applauded by children’s charities, with other internet service providers looking to adopt a similar strategy.

Internet Watch Foundation’s register of illegal sites has been around for a while to warn authorities, but technology and the fact that most of the sites are outside the UK has meant that, up until now at least, no real action has been taken.

The ban is an initiative of John Carr, internet adviser to NCH who prompted Home Office minister Paul Goggins after Carr’s successful campaign to block offending internet usenet groups. Goggins approached ISPs, including BT, for an answer.

This move from BT is sure to be a relief for many people, but at the same time poses free speech concerns: the UK is now the first Western country to impose mass censorship of the internet.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, said in a statement: “You are always caught between the desire to tackle child pornography and freedom of information. But I was fed up with not acting on this and always being told that it was technically impossible.”

The NCH’s guide to child safety on the internet

eBooks on the Rise?

For as long as there has been ASCII, there have been electronic books, but every attempt to make eBooks into a commercial product with mass-market appeal has been a disappointment. However, new sales figures from the Open eBook Forum point to a 46% rise in eBook revenues in the first quarter of this year.

Additionally, Forum President Steve Potash claims that “eBooks represent the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry.”

Sadly, the titles that are shifting are not the forward-looking science, philosophy literary masterpieces I’d hoped for: Dan Brown’s nonsense numerology pot boiler The Da Vinci Code leads the bestseller chart, followed by Van Helsing by Kevin Ryan at number two.

Figures are still modest: 421,955 eBooks were sold in Q1 2004, compared to 288,440 for the same period last year. This translates into US$3.2 million (€2.6 million) in revenue, opposed to US$2.5 million (€2 million) for Q1 2003.

The market is still dogged with issues: competing formats, lacklustre content, over-priced products and expensive reading devices. People still prefer reading printed books, but the sheer convenience of being able to carry a number of titles for consulting at will has prompted people to experiment in the format. There’s still no “killer application” for eBooks (like iTunes was to the iPod), and certainly no “system seller” (for example, the Matrix DVD prompted many thousands of people to buy a DVD player), and there possibly never will, but we hope that this important media format gets the attention it deserves.

Open eBook

European iTunes: 15th June?

Apple has let major publications know that it intends to make a big announcement on 15th June, but isn’t giving away exactly what it is. The giveaway is that the press conference is billed “The biggest story in music is about to get even bigger”, and the invite carries the iPod dancing people motif. We think it’s going to be European iTunes – but will no doubt be disappointed when it turns out to be the UK launch of iTunes Mini.

Some websites are already quoting 15th June as an established fact – it’s just wild speculation at the moment, Apple aren’t telling anyone.

Which countries will get iTunes? How much will it cost? How many songs? Perhaps all will be revealed in the next few days.

iTunes

Mobile Peer to Peer File Sharing with PDAs

Simedia, a small software publisher in Bucharest, has ported a clone of Apple’s Rendezvous application to PocketPC and teamed it with a web server. The result? A mobile P2P file sharing program.

The application discovers other devices on the same WiFi network and allows people to share files and documents. And of course, music.

Simedia themselves give various uses for the application, including using it to “share your music collection with passers-by or listen to their collections whilst sharing a ride on the bus”. Features like these will no doubt have music execs jumping out of windows, whilst RIAA lawyers will be lighting cigars with $100 bills.

The software will be available from 16 June in two versions: a free version, and a paid version with corporate functionality.

Simedia already have a history for off-beat PDA products – they are well known for their SounderCover application which plays background noises (trains, the dentist, a errr, circus parade) over phone calls for those wishing to deceive spouses and employers that they somewhere different to their real location.

Simedia

Microsoft Scraps Major Online Game Before Launch

The hugely anticipated MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) True Fantasy Online, seen as a competitor to Final Fantasy X and tool for winning over Japanese gamers has been scrapped after more than three years in development.

The title had already been delayed three times – it was originally intended to go live in Spring. Role-playing games are enormously popular with Japanese players, and indeed the country is the source of all the best RPG franchises: Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Vagrant Story, to name just a few. Japan also is home to a phenomena known as “Final Fantasy Flu” where there is a sudden peak in staff calling in sick on major RPG launch days.

Level 5, developers of the game have an incredible track record when it comes to games – they’re already responsible for the best-selling Dragon Quarter and Dark Cloud series.

Peter Moore, of Microsoft’s games unit, and formerly of Sega, said: “It was very, very clear to us that there was no way for the quality level we needed that it was going to make winter. We wish that we could just through sheer force of will bring this game to market. It just isn’t happening. We started to be concerned with timetables and milestones in recent months. The developer, who we have the greatest regard for … agreed with us.”

Since launch, Microsoft have sold just 500,000 consoles in Japan – reasons given revolve around the sheer size of the console (it originally launched with a special controller that was smaller than the standard US/UK issue – now available worldwide) and lack of games designed to appeal to Japanese gamers. By comparison, Sony has sold 15 million Playstation2 consoles, Nintendo has sold 3.2 million GameCubes.

The MMORPG market worldwide is acknowledged as being difficult to crack – despite being relatively new, there are already well-established games in operation and players are loath to switch between them. Everquest is undoubtedly the most popular with more than 420,000 subscribers paying $12.95 per month to punch rats in the face and steal their whiskers for one experience point.

Level 5

NPD Group: US CD Price Cuts Are Accelerating

NPD Group’s MusicWatch PriceLab latest information shows that US price cuts to CDs are accelerating. CDs in Q1 2004 were 4% cheaper than in Q1 2003. By Q3 2003, the prices had only fallen 1%, by Q4 2003 they’d fallen 2.5%.

This means that the average price of a CD in the US has fallen to US$13.29 (€10.90) from US$13.79 (€11.31) in 2003. Titles older than 18 months are cheaper still, averaging at US$12.99 (€10.65).

“There are several reasons for the accelerating decline,” according to Russ Crupnick, president of NPD Music. “First and foremost the recording industry has had to deal with a changing market over the past few years, which was fuelled in part by file-sharing. But the retail landscape has also changed, and consumers are increasingly exposed to everyday low prices or terrific discount offers. Everyone also recognizes the increasing competition for entertainment dollars, as DVDs and video games are growing at double digit rates. These situational factors are causing the industry to reduce rethink pricing.”

NPD Group

Amazon’s New Preview Jukebox

Amazon's new jukebox featureAmazon.com have quietly rolled out a nifty new music preview feature, allowing much more convenient previews than before. The site’s erstwhile preview system was always a bit hit and miss, lacking in some obvious functions, but the new system, comprising of a pop-up box control panel with more than a whiff of iTunes about it is much better and demonstrates that it’s not just the better download sites that allow you to try before you buy.

The new feature makes it mush easier to browse music samples and discover artists and tracks that you might like, with all the pertinent information and links near at hand. Tracks from albums are queued up and played in order, so you can get a feel for a whole albums without having to budge.

The Preview section has been reorganised, with the new Amazon Music Sampler coming first – clicking on a link opens up the preview window. Customers can now jump between albums by the same artists, or even samples of recommendations and top sellers, from the same window. For convenience, the Add to Basket button is never too far away.

Samples are streamed to your PC without firing up an external media player, and most samples are 20Kps quality-wise.

Try it out

UK Music Downloads Exceed 500,000 Tracks Sold

Figures from the Official UK Chart Company demonstrate that the record industry can’t have its cake and eat it: although paid music downloads this year have just broken the 500,000 barrier, CD single sales are down. Something has to give somewhere, and music lovers are turning to the convenience of downloads whilst buying correspondingly less singles.

The bestselling download in the UK so far this year is “2,000 Miles” by Coldplay.

Looking at the quarterly totals for January/March, the sales value of CD singles is down by 32% on last year, whilst CD albums are down nearly 3% this year, though the picture for the entire last 12 months is more encouraging.

Surprisingly, that great love of DJs, the 12” single has suffered a dip of 14%, possibly due to the slump in interest in trance – but bafflingly, 7” singles are up 47% on last year. Expect a retro CD single sales peak in about 2021.

Once iTunes launches in the UK and the new Napster finds its feet, we expect that CD singles will be affected even more dramatically, and music labels will need to find some way to make singles more compelling to the public to avoid cannibalising the market.

The British Phonographic Industry is upbeat about the state of the market, expecting great things from DVD music sales and “truetones” (ringtones that sound just like the track they’ve sampled) – no doubt something to do with the 3.8% increase in CD album sales that the year to March 2004 saw above 2003.

BPI Quarterly Market Review

Ofcom’s Media Literacy Strategy

Centring around the principles of research, partnering and labelling, Ofcom have published a report outlining a strategy for media literacy in the UK.

Ofcom recognise that the public are now faced with a huge choice of media, and that familiarity and media awareness are essential to managing this choice, protecting children and understanding the world around us. The regulator wishes to promote media literacy as “A media literate person will have the potential to be an efficient worker, an informed consumer and an active citizen. People who are not able to use effectively the new communications technologies will not be able to take full advantage of the benefits they bring and may become marginalised in society.”

Ofcom’s strategy is based around three main work strands:

“Research. Key to the success of our early work and in defining future priorities is to develop an evidence-base of research. This will help us to identify the issues, to direct our work and inform progress towards achieving our goals.

Connecting, partnering & signposting. We aim to add value to existing media literacy activity, to stimulate new work and to promote and direct people to advice and guidance concerning new communications technologies.

Labelling. Viewers and listeners need to have clear, accurate and timely information about the nature of content so that they can make informed choices. Our prime concern is to ensure consistency in the presentation of information related to possible harm and offence, in particular to help protect young and vulnerable people from inappropriate material. This advice can be effectively delivered using a content labelling framework. Ofcom will work with industry players to explore the possibility of creating a common content labelling (information) scheme for electronic audiovisual material.”

Of primary interest to many, the call for a universal e-content label covering TV, internet, mobile products and games presents a considerable challenge to industry. Ofcom isn’t even sure it can be done – and of course the regulator has no remit when it comes to internet content.

Ofcom’s strategy and priorities for the promotion of media literacy